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 BPUMBV A CLARKE, LTf . L1TH09. MULL A T, u LONDON 
 
 Figs. 73—75 Coai,-Tit. 
 
 76—77 Marsh-Tit. 
 
 78—81 Blue Tit. 
 
 82 Crested Tit. 
 
 83—84 Nuthatch. 
 
 85—87 Wren. 
 
 88—90 Tree Creeper. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 % 
 
 34 
 
 100 
 
 
 *i& 
 
 /u; 
 
 'V* 
 
 /0£ 
 
 9 
 
 Figs. 91 Pied Wagtaii,. 
 
 92 White Wagtail. 
 
 93 Grey Wagtail. 
 
 94 Blue-Headed Wagtail. 
 95—96 Yellow Wagtail. 
 
 97- -100 Tree-Pipit. 
 
 loi Meadow-Pipit. 
 
 Figs. 102 Rock-Pipit. 
 
 103 Golden Oriole. 
 
 104 — 108 Red-Backed Shrike. 
 
 109 WooDCH.\T Shrike. 
 
 no Pied Flycatcher. 
 
 Ill— 113 Spotted Flycatcher. 
 
PL. II. 
 
 SRUUtV 4 CkAPKC. LTD.. LITHOS. HULL «N0 LONDON 
 
 Figs. 32 — 34 Whitethroat. 
 
 35—37 Lesser Whitethroat. 
 
 38 — 41 Blackcap. 
 
 42 — 44 Garden Warbler. 
 
 45 Dartford Warbler. 
 
 46—48 Golden-Crested Wren. 
 
 Figs. 49—51 Chiffchaff. 
 
 52—54 Willow-Warbler. 
 
 55 Wood-Warbler. 
 
 56 — 57 Reed-Warbler. 
 
 58—60 Marsh-Warbler. 
 
 61—62 Sedge-Warbler. 
 
 63 Grasshopper Warbler. 
 
 Figs. 64 Savi's Warbler. 
 
 65—67 Hedge-Sparrow. 
 
 68 Bearded Reedling. 
 
 69 Long-Tailed Tit. 
 
 70 Dipper. 
 71—72 Great Tit. 
 
PL.;. 
 
 • ft • 
 
 •'■7^ 
 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 U> 
 
 zi 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 X8 
 
 • 
 
 Figs. I — 4 Missel Thrush. 
 5 — 9 Song Thrush. 
 lo — 17 Blackbird. 
 
 Figs. 18 — 19 Ring Ouzei.. 
 20 Whe.\te.4R. 
 21— ^j Whinchat. 
 j 23 Stonechat. 
 
 Figs. 24 Redstart. 
 25—28 Redbreast. 
 29 — 31 Nightingale. 
 
BRITISH BIRDS 
 
 WITH THEIR 
 
 Rests akd Eggs 
 
 IN SIX VOI.UMES 
 
 ORDER PASSERES 
 
 (First Part) 
 
 . By ARTHUR G. BUTLER, Ph.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S., 
 
 Corresponding Member of Various Foreign vSocieties 
 
 Author of "British Birds' Eggs, A Handbook of British Oology" (Illustrated by the Author) 
 "Favourite Foreign Cage-Birds" And numerous vScientific Works and Memoirs 
 
 DEALING WITH various BRANCHES OF ZOOLOGY 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 F. W. FROHAWK, M.B.O.U., F.E.S. 
 
 VOLUME I, 
 
 BRUMBY & CLARKE, Limited, 
 Baker Street, Hull, and 5, Farringdon Avenue, London, E.C. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Those marked thus, * not being recognised as British Birds, are not figfured. 
 
 Acce7itor collar is 
 Accentor viodularis - 
 Acredula caudata 
 Acrocephalus aqjiaticus 
 Acrocephahis pal list r is 
 Acrocephalus pkragmitis - 
 Acrocephalus strepencs 
 
 *Acrocephalus turdoides 
 
 *A'edon galactodes 
 Alpine Accentor 
 
 *American Robin 
 An thus campestris 
 
 *Anthus cervinus 
 Anthus obscurus 
 Anthus pratensis 
 Anthus richardi 
 
 * Anthus spipoletta 
 Anthus ttivialis 
 Aquatic Warbler 
 
 Barred Warbler 
 Bearded Reedling - 
 Blackbird - - - - 
 Blackcap - - - - 
 Black Redstart 
 *Black-Tliroated Thrush - 
 *Black -Throated Wheatear 
 Blue-Headed Wagtail 
 Blue-Tit - - - - 
 
 Cert Ilia familiar is 
 
 Chiffchaff- 
 
 Cinclus aquaticus 
 
 Coal-Tit - - - - 
 
 Crested-Tit 
 
 Cyanecula suecica 
 
 Dartford Warbler 
 Daulias luscinia 
 
 133 
 129 
 
 145 
 121 
 112 
 117 
 108 
 116 
 106 
 
 133 
 
 28 
 
 199 
 
 199 
 
 205 
 
 195 
 202 
 205 
 191 
 121 
 
 77 
 141 
 
 19 
 69 
 
 44 
 27 
 
 33 
 184 
 
 157 
 
 172 
 96 
 
 137 
 
 151 
 
 161 
 
 48 
 
 81 
 
 57 
 
 *Desert Wheatear 
 Dipper - - - 
 
 Erithacus rubecula - 
 
 Fieldfare - - - 
 Fire-Crested Wren - 
 
 Garden Warbler 
 Golden-Crested Wren 
 Grasshopper Warbler 
 *Great Reed- Warbler 
 Great Tit - 
 Gre3' Wagtail - 
 
 Hedge-Sparrow 
 *Hypolais icterina 
 
 *Icterine Warbler 
 Isabelline Wheatear- 
 
 Lesser Whitethroat - 
 Locustella lusci^iioides 
 Locustella nczvia 
 Long-Tailed Tit 
 
 Marsh-Tit 
 Marsh-Warbler 
 Meadow- Pipit - 
 Missel Thrush - 
 Motacilla alba - 
 Motacilla /lava - 
 Motacilla lugubris 
 Motacilla melajiopc - 
 Motacilla rail - 
 ^Monticola saxatilis 
 
 Nightingale 
 Nuthatch - 
 
 *Orphean Warbler 
 
 33 
 137 
 
 52 
 
 14 
 89 
 
 73 
 
 84 
 
 123 
 
 116 
 
 147 
 181 
 
 129 
 107 
 
 107 
 32 
 
 65 
 127 
 123 
 
 145 
 
 154 
 112 
 
 195 
 3 
 180 
 184 
 176 
 181 
 187 
 28 
 
 57 
 165 
 
 69 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Panurus biarmicus - 
 Parus ater - - - 
 Parus ccBfulcus - - - 
 Parus cristatus- 
 Parus major - - - 
 Parus palustris 
 Phylloscopus rufus 
 Phylloscopus sibilatrix 
 Phylloscopus superciliosus - 
 Phylloscopus trochilus 
 Pied Wagftail - - - 
 Pratincola rubetra 
 Pratincola rubicola - 
 
 Redbreast- - - - 
 
 Red-Spotted Bluethroat - 
 
 Redstart - - - - 
 *Red-Throated Pipit - 
 
 Redwing . . . 
 
 Reed-Warbler - 
 
 Regulus cristatus 
 
 Regulus ignicapillus - 
 
 Richard's Pipit 
 
 Ring-Ouzel 
 
 Rock- Pipit 
 *Rock Thrush - 
 *Rufous Warbler 
 
 Ruticilla phoenicurus - 
 
 Ruticilla titys - 
 
 Savi's Warbler - 
 
 Saxicola cenanthe 
 *Saxicola descrti 
 *Saxicola isabellina 
 *Saxicola stapazina - 
 
 Sedge-Warbler 
 *Siberian Ground Thrush 
 
 Sitta ccesta 
 
 141 
 151 
 157 
 161 
 
 147 
 154 
 
 96 
 103 
 
 92 
 
 99 
 
 176 
 
 33 
 37 
 
 52 
 48 
 40 
 
 199 
 II 
 
 108 
 84 
 89 
 
 202 
 
 25 
 205 
 
 28 
 106 
 
 40 
 
 44 
 
 127 
 29 
 
 33 
 32 
 33 
 
 117 
 28 
 
 165 
 
 Song Thrush - 
 Stonechat 
 Sylvia atricapilla 
 Sylvia cinerea - 
 Sylvia curruca - 
 Sylvia hortensis 
 Sylvia nisoria - 
 *Sylvia orphea - 
 Sylvia undata - 
 
 Tawny Pipit 
 *Tichodroma muraria - 
 
 Tree-Creeper - 
 
 Tree- Pipit 
 
 Troglodytes parvulus - 
 *Turdus atrigularis 
 
 Turdus iliacus - 
 
 Turdus nierula - 
 *Turdus 7nigratorius - 
 
 Turdus musicus 
 
 Turdus pilaris - 
 * Turdus sibiricus 
 
 Turdus torquatus 
 
 Turdus varius - 
 
 Turdus viscivorus 
 
 *Wall-Creeper - 
 *Water-Pipit 
 
 Wheatear 
 
 Whinchat - - - 
 
 White's Thrush 
 
 Whitethroat 
 
 White Wagtail - 
 
 Willow Warbler 
 
 Wood Warbler - 
 
 Wren - . . 
 
 Yellow-Browed Warbler 
 Yellow Wagtail 
 
 7 
 37 
 69 
 62 
 
 65 
 73 
 
 77 
 69 
 
 81 
 
 199 
 
 175 
 172 
 191 
 168 
 27 
 II 
 
 19 
 28 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 28 
 
 25 
 
 17 
 
 3 
 
 175 
 205 
 29 
 Z2, 
 17 
 62 
 180 
 
 99 
 103 
 168 
 
 92 
 
 187 
 
 ERRATA ET CORRIGENDA. 
 Plate I of Eggs— figs. 21 and 22 Stonechat ; 23 Winchat. 
 Page 37, line three from bottom— /or "Whinchat," read Stonechat. 
 Page 41, line ten from hoVlora.— before "lateral," insert often. (The fact 
 
 times both lateral and vertical at the same moment.) 
 Page 56, line two from top— /or " become," read became. 
 Page 83, line six from bottom— /)>- " is somewhat," read is a somewhat 
 Page 119, line twelve from top— /)r " similiar," read similar. 
 
 that the movement is some- 
 
BRITISH BIRDS, 
 
 With their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 ORDER PASS E R ES. 
 
 THIS group of Birds has always been a favourite with me, as Avith most 
 students of the feathered race. I have taken and preserved both nests and 
 eggs of most of the British species, and have studied the habits of mau}^ of them 
 in captivity, as well as in a wild state : possibh- for this reason, the task of 
 preparing this portion of the present Work has fallen to my share, instead of 
 that of some more erudite Ornithological writer. 
 
 The Order Passeres (following the classification adopted by Howard Saunders 
 in his admirable " Illustrated Manual ") includes seventeen families, the members 
 of which are mostly suitable for aviarj^ or cage-life ; of these the Turdida (Thrush- 
 like birds), the Fringillida: (Finches), and A/aiididcc (Lark-like birds) find favour 
 with the larger number of Aviculturists. 
 
 The famil}^ Turdidcr, the first on our list, has been sub-divided into three 
 sub-families : — 
 
 I. — Turdina (Thrushes) in which the first plumage is spotted above and below. 
 
 2. — Sylviincc (Warblers) in which the young closely resemble their parents 
 excepting in their paler or dxiller colouring. 
 
2 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 3. — AccciitoriiHc (Accentors) including our so-called "Hedge-Sparrow," birds 
 which, though spotted after the manner of true Thrushes when the}' leave the 
 nest, exhibit aiifinity to the Titmice in their strong straight subconical bills, 
 rounded wings witli short bastard-primary (the first feather in the wing), and 
 strong scaled feet : the latter have the outer and middle toes united and the upper 
 extremity of the tarsus is feathered. 
 
 In their habits the Accentors seem to me more nearly to resemble the Tits 
 than the Thrushes. Not only do their quick jerk}- movements and acrobatic actions 
 remind one of the former ; but, like the Tits, they are largely seed-eaters. 
 
 The Thrushes of Great Britain are represented by eight genera: — Tiirdiis 
 (Thrushes so-called) ; Moiiticola (Rock-Thrushes) ; Saxicola (Wheatears) ; Pratincola 
 (Chats) ; Kitticilla (Redstarts) ; Cyanecula (Blue-throats) ; Erithacits (Redbreasts) ; 
 and Daulias (Nightingales). 
 
 The more typical Thrushes are the largest members of the Sub-family ; they 
 are bold, handsome, strongly-built birds, with a vigorons direct flight, at times 
 somewhat sinuous but generally in a straight line. On the earth they proceed, 
 either by running for short stages, with the head depressed and neck somewhat 
 extended (but, at the end of each stage, assnming an erect and attentive posture, 
 sometimes with a simxiltaneons elevation of the tail) ; or, if in a hurry, they clear 
 the ground by long hops. Some of these are admirable songsters, and consequently 
 are greatly sought for as cage-birds. — 
 
 Excepting in ver}' se\'ere weather. Thrushes are ver}' shy of entering traps ; 
 they also show considerable cunning in upsetting some forms of net-traps, especially 
 that known to bird-catchers as the 'Caravan': indeed it is rare to find any but 
 birds of the year caught by this ingenious contrivance. This fact is perhaps rather 
 an advantage than otherwise to the trapper, for young birds not onl}' become more 
 rapidly reconciled to captivity, but naturally last longer, as song-birds, than those 
 which have spent several years of their lives in freedom. 
 
 All the typical Thrushes build open cup-shaped nests, the walls of which are 
 strongly built, usually with a lining of mud, clay, or cow-ditng, and in most cases 
 with a thick outer lining concealing the mud : the eggs usually number from four 
 to six and, more frequently than not, are of some shade of green marked with 
 some shade of brown. 
 
 A. G. BUTLER. 
 
X 
 
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 X 
 
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Family— TURDIDAl. Siibfamily—TURDINAl. 
 
 The Missel Thrush. 
 
 Turd lis viscivorus, LiNN. 
 
 THIS, the largest of our resident Thrushes, breeds throughout the suitable 
 districts of temperate Europe, from Norway southward to Spain, and 
 even to Northern Africa. Eastward, its range extends through Turkestan to the 
 North-western Himalayas and Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is resident in many 
 of the milder regions, but the greater number winter in Southern Europe 
 and Northern Africa, the Siberian birds migrating to Northern India, Persia, 
 and Africa north of the Sahara. 
 
 In Great Britain the Missel Thrush is generally distributed throughout 
 England and Wales ; in Ireland also, since 1800, it has become tolerably 
 common; in Scotland its range has gradually extended northwards throughout 
 most of the Hebrides; in the Orkneys it has appeared after easterly gales, 
 tut from Shetland it has not been recorded. 
 
 The upper parts of the adult bird are greyish olive brown, slightly 
 darker on the head, and slightly more golden on the lower back; the variation 
 of tint is, however, barely perceptible; the under parts (excepting the chin 
 and throat, which are white, and the cheeks which are huffish white) are buff, 
 strongly pronounced in young birds, but growing paler year by year until, 
 in old birds, it becomes huffish white; the fore-chest and flanks are of a 
 deeper buff, the cheeks and sides of neck indistinctly streaked with greyish 
 brown and a few spear-shaped spots; on the chin and throat the spots are 
 'more arrow-shaped, on the fore-chest black and spear-shaped, and on the 
 remainder of the itnder parts fan-shaped; the upper wing-coverts are broadly edged 
 at the tips with dull white, the flights are slaty-grey, the primaries with 
 white outer edges, the secondaries externally suffused with buflfish, and nar- 
 rowly tipped with white; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white; tail 
 feathers smoky-grey, narrowly pale-edged towards the tips; bill dark brown, 
 paler towards the base, especially on the lower mandible; legs pale brown; 
 iris dark brown. 
 
4 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The Missel Thnish may be met with in ahiiost any locality where trees 
 are to be fonnd, in woods, coppices, plantations, parks, pleasure-grounds, 
 shrubberies, large gardens and orchards; in such places it makes its home and 
 brings up its family. The nest is frequently built either in the fork of a 
 branch or on the top of a strong horizontal bough, but perhaps the favourite 
 site is in the central hollow, formed by the branching off of the lichen-covered 
 boughs of some old apple tree. In the experience of the writer it is rare to 
 find this nest either in a very lofty or lowly position, but on one occasion he 
 saw it in a forked branch near the top of a tall elm tree in Hyde Park ; whilst, 
 on the other hand, the late Mr. E. T. Booth once observed it in a small 
 stunted bush within three feet of the ground. Iiastances of this bird building 
 in bushes are, however, extremely rare. Most nests will be found at an altitude 
 of from ten to fifteen feet. 
 
 The structure of the nest of the Missel Thrush is very solid, not un- 
 like that of the Blackbird. It is frequently placed upon a foundation of mud, 
 sheep's wool and twigs. The outer walls are usually formed of twigs, roots, 
 straws, and grasses, sometimes interwoven with wool and coarse moss; within 
 this is a lining of mud or clay, brought in pellets and mixed with grass or 
 roots. The inner lining is composed of finer grass, roots, and sometimes a 
 little moss. When lichens abound on the tree where the nest is situated a 
 few pieces are occasionally used to ornament the exterior, but one can hardly 
 suppose that a bird which places its nest almost invariably in a conspicuous 
 position, would make this addition with a view to concealment, although, by 
 rendering the outer walls of its domicile more like the branch on which it 
 rests, this result is, in a measure obtained. 
 
 The number of eggs laid by the Missel Thrush varies from three to five, 
 but four is the usual number. The colouring is rather suggestive of those 
 of the Chafl&nch, the ground colour being either pale greenish blue, yellowish 
 green, or brownish flesh tinted, boldly speckled, spotted and often blotched 
 with deep chocolate brown, and showing pearl grey or lavender underlying 
 spots; in size they correspond very nearly with those of the Blackbird, 
 but as regards their outline they more often give one the impression of being 
 widest near the centre, than the eggs of that species. 
 
 The pairing time of the Missel Thrush is earl)' in February, and at this 
 season, like most birds, they are exceedingly quarrelsome; the first nest is 
 occasionally commenced before the end of the same month, but only in the 
 South of England, where the bird is generally double-brooded; in my own 
 experience its nidification extends from March to May, April being the month when 
 
The Missel Thrush. s 
 
 most nests are to be found. 
 
 If disturbed when sitting, the Missel Thrush is very noisy, but an}' attempt 
 to interfere with the young is the signal for a perfect uproar; then too is 
 the time to watch the perfect flight of this powerful bird as he sweeps round 
 in wide circles, or, as the intruder stoops to examine the nest, flashes through 
 the very branches close to his head, uttering wild guttural curses and shrieking 
 out horrid oaths: well has this bird earned its titles of "Screech Thrush" 
 and " Holm screech.'' 
 
 The song of the Missel Thrush is wild, powerful and not without melody, 
 although somewhat monotonous; it is uttered from earl}' autumn until its 
 nesting duties commence; and, wet or fine, from earlj- dawn to dewy eve, its 
 rich notes may be heard; in the wildest and stormiest weather, it tries to 
 raise its voice above the uproar of the elements; on which account the well- 
 known name of "Stormcock" has been bestowed upon it. In the East Riding 
 of Yorkshire it is called " Charley Cock." 
 
 The food consists of berries, small fruits, seeds, snails, slugs, worms, larvae 
 and insects. It is especially fond of the berries of the mountain ash, and after 
 these it chooses those of the hawthorn or ivy; the berries of the mistletoe, to 
 which it owes its name of Mistletoe Thrush, or Missel Thrush, are rarely 
 eaten by it; during the autumn when grain is being sown, this bird eats it 
 greedily, a fact which should be borne in mind by those who keep cage birds, many 
 of whom labour under the delusion that, because a bird is called "insectivorous" 
 it should have no farinaceous food. As a matter of fact, many "insectivors," when 
 kept in the same aviary with seed-eating birds, swallow quantities of seed. 
 
 Excepting when feeding, the Missel Thrush spends most of its time either 
 in trees or shrubs, it is a somewhat shy bird, though bold in defence of its 
 young, it having been known to drive predaceous birds from the vicinit}^ of 
 its nest by the impetuous and noisy attacks which it has made upon them. 
 Moreover, it always seeks its food in the open fields, not skulking along 
 under hedges and shrubs after the manner of the Song Thrush. In captivity 
 it soon becomes tame and confiding, and if reared from the nest, it is quite 
 as friendly and playful towards its owner as a Canar\-. 
 
 In May, 1886, during a birdsnesting expedition in Kent, I came across a 
 nest of the Missel Thrush containing two young birds, in an old apple 
 orchard. With the assistance of the owner, upon whose shoulders I climbed, I 
 succeeded in pulling myself up into the lower branches, when it was easy to 
 climb to that which bore the nest: the question now was, how to get the 
 young birds into my basket without injury; however, as I leaned over the 
 
6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 nest, the youngsters quickly settled the difficulty by leaping out and fluttering 
 to the earth, screaming loudly the while. What with the old and young 
 birds together, the noise was something to be remembered. 
 
 I reared both these birds without the slightest trouble, iipon snails (dropped 
 into boiling water, taken from their shells, and cut into small pieces,) small 
 worms, and a paste made of oat-flour, known as " fig-dust," and fine pea- 
 meal; as they grew older, however, they refused both worms and large snails, 
 though they would readily swallow small living snails in their shells. They 
 also ate both hawthorn berries and wheat greedily, subsequently ejecting the 
 seeds of the former and the tough skin of the latter from the crop with 
 considerable force, so that I have frequently found the ejected pellets several 
 feet from their cage. 
 
 These two birds proved to be unmistakably a pair, the male having a 
 distinctly narrower head, slimmer build, more alert carriage and more master- 
 ful disposition; indeed, after a time, he so tormented his companion, pulling 
 out her feathers and scolding, whenever she approached him, that when a 
 friend took a fancy to her, I gladly gave her away. 
 
 As the male bird gained strength, I gave him, as staple food, a mixture 
 of oat-flour, pea-meal, and Spratt's food (crushed dog biscuit), moistened with 
 sufficient water to form a crumb-paste; on this diet he lived, with the addition 
 of an occasional insect or earthworm, and throve amazingly for nearly four 
 years, never having a day's illness, and always being ready for a frolic. If 
 I put my finger into his cage he would put one foot on it and thus holding 
 it down would flap his wings and hammer it with his bill; when I wished 
 to move him from one cage to another, he never attempted to get away until 
 I had grasped him firmly, then indeed he would kick a bit and utter his 
 harsh guttural call. 
 
 At length, in 1890, when my friend was three years and nine months 
 old, I was persuaded to send him to a show, but, unhappily, he who had 
 never tasted a particle of flesh was fed entirely on a mixture of finely minced 
 raw beef mixed with breadcrumbs; the result may be imagined — he had in- 
 cessant fits during the week of the show, was returued to me in a state of 
 apoplex}' and died in a fit about an hour after he reached home. Never give 
 raw flesh to anj- but predaceous birds. 
 
 Although hand-reared birds may make amusing pets, unless taught by 
 a wild bird, they never learn the wild song; my Missel Thrush only sang 
 two notes, one high, the other low, its song was far behind that of the 
 Ox-eye Tit for melody. There is not the least trouble in keeping and taming 
 
I 
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 CC 
 
 I 
 
 H 
 
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The Song Thrush. 7 
 
 wild Thrushes. They sulk at first, but a few lively worms quickly induce 
 them to feed. 
 
 Family— TURDID/Ii Subfaviily—TURDINAL. 
 
 The Song Thrush. 
 
 Tiirdiis iiiiisiciis, LiNN. 
 
 FOUND throughout the Palaearctic Region, but rare in the extreme East, 
 generally migrator}' in Western Europe, though resident in some countries; 
 generally distributed throughout the British Islands, though of rare occurrence in 
 the Shetlands. In England this bird is a partial migrant, great numbers 
 travelling southward late in the autumn but returning to their old haunts at 
 the first sign of spring weather; nevertheless, a considerable number remains 
 with us during the winter. 
 
 The adult bird above is deep olive-brown, the wing coverts tipped with 
 bright deep buff, under parts mostly white, the cheeks somewhat yellowish, 
 streaked with brown; the breast and sides ochraceous buff, boldly marked with 
 fan-shaped black spots ; spots on the white ventral surface of the body more 
 elongated, spindle-shaped and less numerous ; bill dark brown, paler at the 
 base of the lower mandible; legs pale brown, iris brown. The female resembles 
 the male, but has a slightly broader head. Nestlings differ from adults in 
 having the upper parts mottled with buff. 
 
 Wherever there is cover, you may expect to see the Song Thrush, he is 
 fond of shrubberies, hedgerows, and all places which afford partial conceal- 
 ment. Watch him in the garden, you will see him running down a path, 
 stopping after every few feet to look cautiously around; now he spies a large 
 bush or evergreen upon a bed to right or left and suddenly darting under 
 it commences to dig vigorously for worms ; presently he appears again upon 
 another path running as before and again disappearing in like manner, he 
 
8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 rarely remains very long in the open, yet is less skulking than his cousin, 
 the Blackbird. 
 
 Sometimes the Song Thrush proceeds by a series of hops, but certainly 
 not always. He frequentl}- runs as above described, but never walks sedately 
 after the manner of a Starling; even when seeking for worms in a meadow 
 or on a grass-plot he hops, and so he does when crossing a flower bed; but 
 on a path, I have rarely known this Thrush to move in anj- other way but 
 by running. 
 
 The nest of the Song Thrush is usually built low down in the fork of 
 a young tree, a shrub, especialh' an evergreen, the lower branches of old yew 
 trees are also frequentl}' selected as a building site. Occasionalh', a nest may 
 be seen among matted creepers, or even in the upper twigs of a rude wattle 
 fence forming the walls of a conntr}- cart-shed. In hawthorn hedges, on ivy- 
 covered walls, among stunted willows by streams, in crevices of rocks, or at 
 the roots of a tuft of heather it ma}' also be met with. The formation 
 of the nest is somewhat different from that of the other British Thrushes. 
 Bxternally, it is somewhat similar, being formed of slender twigs, roots, grasses, 
 dead leaves, and moss; but internally it has a lining of mud and rotten wood 
 or cow dung, so neatly rounded and smoothed off, that it much resembles 
 the interior of half a large cocoa-nut shell. This deep smooth cavity is pro- 
 duced in the most simple manner, namely' : by the hen bird squatting down and 
 turning round and round in it whilst the lining is soft. 
 
 The number of eggs laid bj^ the Song Thrush varies from three to six, 
 but five is the usual nimiber; where only three eggs are deposited, it is 
 probable that the first nest has been taken and a second one built immediately. 
 In such cases I have known the new home to be built and lined in two 
 days, the first egg being deposited whilst the mud lining was still moist; but 
 the Song Thrush rarely builds in less than three days. In the case of this 
 and all species at the beginning of the breeding season, a commencement 
 of building operations is frequently made before the mother is nearly ready 
 to lay. A nest is started and pulled to pieces, or deserted in an unfinished 
 condition; this playing at building has given careless observers, or such as 
 have not noted, year by year, the building of nests by the same species, an 
 exaggerated idea of the time required for the construction of bird-homes.* 
 
 The colouring of the eggs of Turdiis musicus is greenish blue, with distinct 
 deep brown (almost black) spots ; usually scattered sparsely over the larger end, 
 
 •Uixon mentions the fact of the Song Thrvish, after being robbed of its first uest. building in succession 
 no less than three perfectly constructed nests within five days. 
 
The Song Thrush. 9 
 
 though sometimes over the whole surface, or only on the smaller end; spotless 
 examples occur also, but rarely, though I have taken entire clutches without marking ; 
 on the other hand some eggs are heavily blotched, and one, which I have 
 represented on Plate xxxvii. of my " Handbook of British Oology," has these 
 blotches so arranged as to form an irregular half-zone towards the larger end. 
 The form of the eggs of this species usually varies between a short pear- 
 shape and a true oval; in size they differ a good deal, probably the largest 
 eggs are deposited by the older birds. 
 
 When sitting, the hen Song Thrush is not easily scared from her nest; 
 possibly she may dread to uncover her very conspicuous eggs, and may hope 
 that her protective colouring and absohite stillness will serve to protect them; 
 so she sits close, her bill pointed upwards above one side of her castle, her 
 tail cocked up over the other, until one may almost put one's hand upon 
 her; then suddenly she is gone like a shadow,' usually without noise,* and the 
 bright spotted eggs are exposed to view. 
 
 Without doubt the comparative difficulty of flushing the Song Thrush 
 does tend to its preservation : even a Naturalist, unless he is a bird-nester, 
 often fails to notice the nest; though, when one has acquired eyes to recognize 
 birds' homes at a glance, it seems marvellous that so conspicuous an object, 
 and one so common in well-wooded country, can fail to be observed. 
 
 The Song Thrush is one of the earliest birds to sing and also go to 
 nest ; in unitsually mild seasons it will build as early as February, but March 
 to Aiigust may be considered its breeding season. May and June being the 
 months when nests of this bird are most abundant. 
 
 The song of the Throstle or Mavis (as North countrymen call it) is very 
 loud ; so much so, that in a room or conservatory its notes are almost 
 unbearable ; in the open, however, they are cheerful and inspiring, though 
 somewhat monotonous, each phrase being repeated at least four times in 
 succession, and occasionally (more especially when the musician has hit 
 upon something novel), as many as seven or eight times. To my 
 mind the song is rather joyous and vigorous, than melodious : when heard at 
 early dawn as one wakens, it pleases the first time, annoys the second, 
 irritates the third, and finally becomes an intolerable nuisance: the Blackbird's 
 melody, on the contrary, is always welcome. As one lies in bed trying to 
 sleep, the whistle of the Song Thrush resolves itself into short sentences. I 
 
 • Seebohm slates that, when put off her nest " her harsh cries and active motions, with tliose of her 
 mate, awaken the silent woods, and speak most plainly of the anxiety of the birds for their treasure." I have not 
 found this to be the case, excepting where the young were almost ready to fly, and only when they have 
 uttered a cry of alarm. 
 
 Vol. I. C 
 
lo British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 remember one particular bird which bothered me for weeks ; in all weathers 
 he would sit on a tree, within sight of my bedroom window, shouting as 
 follows: — "Deal d ivet, deal d tvct, deal d wet, deal d tvct ; I do, (pronounced 
 dough as if he were trying to sa}^ knmv with a cold), / do, I do, I do; 
 Whdd do it? Who d do it? Who d do it? Who d do it? Pretty dick, pretty dick, 
 pretty dick, pretty dick;''^ and so on ad nauseam. 
 
 The food of the Song Thrush, when at liberty, consists of insects and 
 their larvas or pupae, worms, snails, berries, and seeds; in the spring and 
 summer living food is preferred, but towards autumn and throughout the 
 winter, berries and grain when procurable, are devoured, husks and hard 
 kernels being ejected some five or ten minutes after the food has been 
 swallowed; thus it is that woody seeds like that of the hawthorn are carried 
 far from the parent tree, to spring up and make the unthinking wonder 
 whence they came. 
 
 In captivity the Song Thrush sings quite as well as in its native haunts, 
 indeed, a good bird often continues his song from November to the end of 
 July; but if it is to reproduce the wild notes, it must be a wild-caught bird; 
 for a nestling, brought up by hand, either sings a few short monotonous sing- 
 song phrases; or, if it be a vigorous bird, brought up amongst other feathered 
 companions, it shouts out the most deafening, though sometimes comical jumble 
 of notes imaginable. My experience of hand-reared birds as compared with 
 those caught wild is also unfavourable to the former in other respects, I have 
 found them vicious and domineering in an aviar3% dirty and wasteful in a 
 cage; they are always more wild than a cage-moulted trapped bird. The 
 latter, after its first moult, becomes gentle, confiding, and neither wasteful 
 nor dirty ; it has even been trusted in an aviary with small Finches, and I 
 have never seen it molest them. As to the cruelty of caging up wild birds, 
 it is more fanciful than real, a bird does not sing when it is unhappy, 
 much may, however, be said as regards the cruelty of rearing birds from the 
 nest ; the parents' anger and annoyance is the least part of it, the bungling 
 method of feeding the 3'oung, often upon the most unsuitable food, is its 
 worst feature. 
 
 The best staple food for this, and all other insectivorous birds, is composed 
 of stale household bread crumbled, mixed with half the quantity of preserved 
 yolk of egg, preserved ants' cocoons, and Abrahams' food (or one of the 
 many advertised &g^ foods), the mixture being moistened by the addition of 
 potatoes, boiled the day before, and passed through a masher when required 
 for use; on this mixture with the addition of a few insects, or worms, and 
 
=♦> 
 
 a 
 z 
 
 Q 
 
 m 
 a: 
 
The Song Thrush. h 
 
 a little fruit, I have kept Thrushes, aud maity other birds, in perfect health 
 for years; grocers' currants, which are often recommended, should be avoided, 
 they have a tendency to irritate the intestines and often produce diarrhoea; 
 thin slices of apple, over-ripe pears, sweet-water grapes, sweet oranges, or 
 ripe strawberries and currants, when in season, are as good as anything. In 
 an aviary Thrushes and man}- other so-called "soft-billed" birds will swallow 
 seed whole, and it seenis to agree wonderfully well with them, rendering 
 their flesh firm and their plumage gloss}' ; but to feed a Thrush on bread 
 and hempseed alone is the height of folly, and usually results in the earl}^ 
 death of the captive. 
 
 This, like most of the British Thrushes, has been bred in aviaries, and, 
 from experiments made during the last few years, it appears that they will 
 even go to nest in comparatively small cages. 
 
 Family— TURDIDAi. SubfaviUy~TURDIN/E. 
 
 The Redwing. 
 
 Turdus iliaciis, LlNN. 
 
 THIS, the smallest British Thrush, breeds from the Arctic circle through- 
 out the Palsearctic region, and winters in Westeni and Southern Europe 
 and Northern Africa; it visits the Volga islands when on migration. West- 
 ward it has straggled to the Canaries and Madeira. In Asia it has wintered 
 in Persia, Turkestan and N.W. India, and in Siberia as far as Lake Baikal. 
 Mr. Seebohm found it in the valley of the Petchora as far North as latitude 
 68°, he observes: — "The Redwing frequents the birch region and the upper 
 zone of the pine region, occurring in limited numbers South of the Arctic 
 circle in many places where these trees are found, in South Norwa}' and 
 Sweden, and on the Russian shores of the Baltic. It is the most northerl}^ 
 
la British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 in its range of any of the Thrushes, and occasionally wanders as far as 
 Greenland." 
 
 To the British Islands the Redwing is a regular winter visitant, arriving 
 on our Eastern coasts either towards the end of October or early in November; 
 it is supposed to linger longest in the Hebrides, the last examples probably 
 leaving us during the month of April. The assertions which have, from time 
 to time, been made, that this species has remained to breed in Great Britain, 
 are not satisfactory, neither the birds or eggs having been secured as evidence 
 of the fact. 
 
 The Redwing, when in breeding plumage, is, next to the Blackbird, the 
 most strikingly coloured of our Thrushes; its upper surface is olive brown; 
 a clear creamy white eye-brow stripe extends backwards to the nape; wing- 
 coverts with pale tips; the under surface is buff, gradually fading off" into almost 
 pure white on the belly; the breast and throat broadly streaked with dark 
 brown; the ilanks and under wing-coverts chestnut red, spotted with deep 
 brown. The sexes are very similar, the young, however, differ in having 
 their upper and under surfaces spotted. In general appearance the Redwing 
 is like a small Song Thrush, but its whitish eye-stripe and red flanks give 
 it a very distinctive character; when seen from the front it has a curious 
 resemblance to a frog. 
 
 Soon after their arrival in this country Redwings may sometimes be 
 seen, even in our suburban gardens, feeding at twilight upon the berries of 
 the hawthorn. I remember on one occasion, chancing to look out shortly 
 before dusk at my garden, I was puzzled to see the entire length of a thick 
 hawthorn hedge which closed in the end of my plot of ground covered with 
 moving shadows. I ran for a field glass and discovered that no less than 
 thirty Redwings were fluttering up and down like huge moths in front of 
 this hedge, eagerly snatching off" and swallowing the berries. The following 
 day I discovered that an unusually fine crop of haws had almost entirely 
 disappeared.* 
 
 Seebohm says that " The favourite haunt of the Redwing is a sheltered 
 valley down which a little brooklet runs, with trees scattered here and there, 
 and tall hedgerows of thorn and hazel. They are very partial to small parks 
 thickly timbered and studded with clumps of white thorn trees, with here 
 and there a cluster of hollies or a dense shrubbery, whither they repair at 
 nightfall to roost." 
 
 • The birds were clearly distinguishable with the glass as Redwings, not Fieldfares, the latter arrived 
 some weeks later and found hardly a berry left. 
 
The Redwing. 13 
 
 In wooded districts the Redwing usually builds in bushes or low-growing 
 trees, but in more desolate regions a low fence, a hollow between stones, 
 or a sloping bank serve as a nesting-site. The nest itself is a neat structure 
 formed of plaited twigs, grass and reindeer-moss, plastered inside with mud or 
 clay, and lined with fine grasses and root- fibre. The number of eggs varies 
 from four to six, some writers giving the former, and some the latter, as 
 the usual number. In colour they are pale green, either finely and closel}^ 
 streaked with reddish brown, like small specimens of some Blackbird's eggs, 
 or zoned with brown blotches; but, as with other Thrushes, eggs are some- 
 times found of a uniform green colour. 
 
 When the nest is approached, but especially when it contains young birds, 
 the Redwing becomes much excited, flying angrily round the intruder and 
 snapping its bill after the manner of its kind. It frequently produces two 
 broods in a season. 
 
 The food of the Redwing consists preferably of insects, worms and snails, 
 but when frost and snow deprive it of these it feeds on various berries, more 
 particularly those of the service tree and hawthorn ; it is distinctly more insectivorous 
 in its tastes than other Thrushes, nevertheless in confinement it thrives well 
 upon the same soft food. 
 
 One winter a bird-catcher brought me a bag, containing six Redwings 
 and a Fieldfare which he had just caught. I would not, however, be persuaded 
 to take the whole of them, but, selecting two of the Redwings (which fortunately 
 proved to be a pair) and the Fieldfare, I sent the man away. The Red- 
 wings I turned loose in an unheated aviary with other British birds. At 
 first the new-comers were somewhat wild, but they soon settled down in 
 their new home. They never showed the slightest uneasiness at the season of 
 migration, as I had been informed they would do, but early in the year assumed 
 such rich colouring, that Naturalists who saw them in my aviary, expressed 
 astonishment at the beauty of their plumage. Very early the male began to 
 record his song, but usually in the morning only; in the evening its call- 
 note — a soft plaintive whistle, which reminded me of that of the American 
 Blue-bird, was all that I heard at that time; later, however, he began to sing 
 out loud. 
 
 As an aviary bird, I found the Redwing ornamental, and most inoffensive, 
 but by no means lively; it would sit in one place on the earth without 
 moving for half an hour at a time, still as a breathing statue — a frog in 
 behaviour and appearance ; but, throw a spider or a smooth-skinned caterpillar 
 into the aviary, and, like that Batrachian, it was instantly alert. In spite of 
 
14 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs, 
 
 its beauty I should imagine that the Redwing, if kept in a cage, would be 
 intolerable; after two years I wearied of my pair, and sold them for a small 
 sum to a friend, who immediately entered them for a show and carried off 
 a first prize with them. Poor Redwings! I fear that their life after they 
 left niv home was not an enviable one. 
 
 Although the breeding of the Redwing in Great Britain needs confir- 
 mation, there seems to be no reason why it should not be possible, inasmuch 
 as it has been proved that stragglers have remained with us throughout the 
 summer. It has been known to nest in the Faroes. 
 
 Family—TURDIDyE. Subfamily— TURD IN A<. 
 
 The Fieldfare. 
 
 Tiirdus pilaris, Lixx. 
 
 RESPECTING the Geographical distribution of this species, one cannot do 
 better than quote Seebohm, he says: — "A regular winter visitant to the 
 British Islands, the Fieldfare is commonly distributed over the cultivated 
 districts, and as far on the uplands as the mountain farms extend. The 
 arrival of Fieldfares in Scotland is usually noticed first in the eastern counties, 
 as it is quite natural to expect it would be, for their path in autumn is 
 south and south-westwards. A few birds are said to be found on the Orkneys 
 throughout the year, but they do not breed there. On the Hebrides the Fieldfare 
 does not arrive till mid-winter, and is only found on the farms and pastures 
 ^in the little oases of cultivated land so sparingly scattered amongst the wide- 
 stretching moorland wastes. In Ireland these birds also arrive late, and are 
 foiind commonly distributed over those districts suitable to their habits and 
 needs — the cultivated tracts. Fieldfares have been said to have bred in the 
 British Islands; but until definite proofs are forthcoming it is not safe to admit 
 the truth of the statement, the .birds being ver\' liable to be confounded with 
 
til 
 
 a: 
 < 
 
 Q 
 Lu 
 
'■t 
 
 r 
 
 i 
 
The Fieldfare. 15 
 
 Missel-Thrushes bj- careless observers. The Fieldfare has a somewhat more 
 southerly breeding-range than the Redwing. It breeds in the Arctic circle, 
 extending up to, and occasionally beyond, the limit of forest growth, and in 
 north-temperate Europe as far South and West as the basin of the Baltic, and 
 throughout Siberia as far East as the watershed of the Yenesay and the Lena. 
 Its occurrence in Iceland is doubtful,* but it has been occasionally met with 
 on the Faroes. It winters in Southern Europe, occurring very rarel}- in the 
 Spanish peninsiila, but crossing the Mediterranean to Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, 
 and Nubia. In Asia it winters in Turkestan and Cashmere; and one specimen 
 at least has been obtained at Simla, in the North- West Himalayas." 
 
 The Fieldfare in breeding plumage is slaty-gre}' on the upper parts with 
 the exception of the mantle which is chestnut brown, and the wings and tail, 
 which are dark brown ; the head is streaked with black ; the throat and breast are rich 
 golden brown, spotted and streaked with blackish brown; the flanks are similar, but 
 more orange internally ; the centre of the belly is pure white and unspotted ; the bill 
 yellowish; feet black; iris deep brown. The female greatly resembles the male, 
 but the young on leaving the nest are spotted with buff" on the back, though after 
 the first moult they much resemble their parents. 
 
 The Fieldfare's season of migration varies somewhat in accordance with the 
 milder or colder temperature of its breeding-haunts; in like manner its time of 
 departure from our shores depends greatly upon the appearance of spring weather; 
 there is no defined appointed time for its migration. Cold and scarcity of food in 
 its native home represent the voice of Nature calling upon it to seek comfort in 
 somewhat milder regions; then again, the return of warmth and living food remind 
 it that the season of love is at hand, and the inherited habit of centuries teaches 
 this bird to seek for the fulfilment of its hopes in the land of its birth; doubtless 
 this is largely the cause of the so-called migratory instinct in all birds, the weaker 
 and more sensitive to cold and hunger being the first to migrate ; therefore it is 
 that the Redwing precedes the Fieldfare. 
 
 It is easy to distinguish a Fieldfare from a Missel Thrush when it is on the 
 ground, for, although it frequently associates with the latter bird, its grey rump, 
 thrown into strong relief by the dark wings and tail, looks almost white. This 
 species, however, is far less frequently seen upon the earth than our native 
 Thrushes. Its favourite resort is a berry-laden hawthorn, upon which it will eat its 
 fill unless disturbed, when with a clatter of chacks and chicks it shoots off" in a 
 straight line towards another of Nature's restaurants. 
 
 Among the birches and pines of Norway the Fieldfares breed in colonies, in 
 
 * There seems, however, to be very Httle question that this species is an occasional Icelandic visitant. — A.C'j.B. 
 
i6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 the former the nests are said to be situated in a cleft between the trunk and a 
 large branch, but further north these birds become less gregarious, and their nests 
 are then situated in low bushes, heaps of firewood, on fences and similar places, 
 after the fashion of our Blackbird ; whilst on the bare tundras of Siberia they 
 select a hollow under the grassy edge of a cliif or bank for a breeding-site, like 
 the Ring-Ouzel. 
 
 The nest is very like that of the Blackbird, externally it is constructed 
 of coarse dry grass, sometimes interwoven with birch twigs and a little moss, 
 plastered inside with mud, and thickly lined with fine grass. The number of 
 eggs varies from three to seven, but usually from four to six ; according to 
 Seebohm, they vary more than those of any of our British Thrushes; but I 
 think most of those which I have seen could be matched among the almost 
 endless variations of our Blackbird's eggs; their groiind-colour is either paler 
 or deeper green, blotched, mottled, and speckled with reddish brown, sometimes 
 over the entire surface, but more frequently concentrated at the larger end. 
 The markings of some examples (as with our Blackbird) are indistinct, evenlj'^ 
 distributed, in others they are few and rich brown upon a deep blue ground 
 (a variety which I have not seen in eggs of the Blackbird; though they are 
 sometimes as blue as those of the Song Thrush). 
 
 The food of this species consists in summer of worms, insects, as well as their 
 larvae and pupae and small wild fruits; in winter, principally of berries, especially 
 those of the hawthorn, also insects, snails and worms when procurable, and seeds 
 of grain and grasses. 
 
 The Fieldfare is a poor songster. He rarely sings excepting in the breeding 
 season, and his performance consists of a wild warble, at times interrupted by 
 chattering somewhat similar to that of the Starling. The example which I had 
 for two years never sang at all, but occasionally uttered a harsh guttural sound like 
 that of the Missel Thrush. 
 
 As a cage bird the Fieldfare is most uninteresting, he soon becomes tame, and, 
 if allowed to bathe, keeps his plumage in beautiful condition; but, excepting for 
 show purposes, is only an expense: like all Thrushes, he is a large eater, and 
 therefore needs frequent attention. I parted with mine when I sold my Redwings, 
 and have never wished to keep another. 
 
 I fed him on the same food as my other insectivorous species, adding a few 
 worms, snails, caterpillars, and berries when obtainable; he was always in perfect 
 health, even when moulting, and never showed restlessness at the seasons of 
 migration ; in fact, he was one of the steadiest and most apathetic birds I ever 
 possessed. 
 
C/) 
 
 (- 
 
 en 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
White's Thrush t? 
 
 His name has been corrupted to " Felfer," " Felt," " Pigeon Felt," or 
 "Blue Felt" by country folk. 
 
 Family— TURD ID. E. Subfamily— TURDINAL. 
 
 White's Thrush. 
 
 Turdus varins, Pallas. 
 
 THIS bird, also known as " White's Ground-Thrush " and placed in the genus 
 Geociclila, is only an accidental straggler to our shores ; about a dozen 
 examples having been obtained in the southern and midland counties of England 
 and two in Ireland. Therefore, although, from the writer's standpoint, it has no 
 more claim to be called British, than au}^ foreigner stranded on the British coast 
 has to be called an Englishman, its claim to the title is stronger than in the 
 case of the " Black- Throated," the " Rock Thrush," and many other species 
 usually included in the British list on the strength of single examples which have 
 come to hand. 
 
 White's Ground-Thrush is a native of South-central and South-eastern Siberia 
 and of North China: at the approach of winter it migrates to South Japan, South 
 China, the Philippines and even to Sumatra. The first example obtained in Great 
 Britain was shot in Hampshire in January, 1828 ; and, being supposed to be new to 
 science, was named Turdus whitci by Eyton, in honour of White, of Selbourne : 
 thus the trivial name of White's Thrush was first applied to it. 
 
 The upper surface of this species is ochraceous brown, with black tips to the 
 feathers; the wing feathers are darker and tipped with buff; the tail \\2& fourteen 
 feathers, the four central ones ochraceous brown, the others dark brown, all tipped 
 with white ; the under surface is white, tinged with buff on the breast, and boldly 
 spotted with black crescent- shaped markings : the bill is brown, the lower mandible 
 paler; the feet yellowish brown, the iris dark brown. The sexes are supposed to 
 
i8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 be alike. In size, this species rather excels the Missel-Thrush. 
 
 The nidification of White's Thrush was observed in 1872, at Ningpo, by the 
 late Consul Swinhoe : the nest was roughly built, and situated on a fork of a 
 horizontal pine-branch ; its outside consisted of dead rushes, grasses, a few twigs, 
 dead leaves and a little moss ; it was thickly plastered with mud, amongst which 
 were fragments of some green weed ; the inside, like that of the Blackbird, was 
 thickly lined with mud, covered with an inner lining of coarse rootlets and sedgy 
 grass. 
 
 Three eggs only were in the nest ; but the complete clutch would probably 
 number four or five ; Mr. Seebohni, who secured the nest and two of the eggs 
 for his collection, thus describes them : — " They resemble those of the Missel- 
 Thrush ; but the ground-colour is slightly paler, and the spots much finer, more 
 numerous, and more evenly distributed." 
 
 The flight of White's Thrush, unlike that of our common species, is said to 
 be " very undulating, like that of the Green Woodpecker, and low, often settling 
 on the ground, and only making choice of a tree when it happened to pass under 
 one, into which it rose almost vertically." It is more strictly insectivorous than 
 the true species of Tiirdus, living principally upon insects, their larvae and pupae, 
 spiders, worms, and such mollnsca as are found in moist situations. In China it 
 is known to feed also on berries, especially those of the banyan ; nevertheless 
 most of its food is obtained on the ground amongst decayed vegetation, in ditches, 
 under bu.shes, or among the roots of trees. 
 
 It is not known whether this species has any song ; its call-note is said to be 
 " a soft plaintive see, audible at a long distance," and when on migration it some- 
 times " litters a melodious whistling cry." 
 
 As a cage-bird, White's Thrush would probably prove an utter failure ; 
 whether it sings or not, it can hardly be an industrious performer, moreover it 
 would probably pass much of its time on the floor of its cage or aviary. 
 
The Blackbird. 19 
 
 Family— rURDID^. Subfamily— TURD IN^. 
 
 The Blackbird. 
 
 Turdns meriila, LiN'N'. 
 
 THIS handsome Thrush is generally distributed over nearly ever}- country of 
 Europe and North Africa. In Norway at about 67° N. lat. it appears to 
 reach its highest breeding range ; it also occurs in Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, 
 Turkestan, Afghanistan and Cashmere, being somewhat larger in the three last 
 mentioned countries, and, on that account distinguished by Mr. Seebohm as a 
 race to which he has given the name of Menila maxima. In Great Britain it is 
 generally distributed and partialh^ resident, but in the Shetland Islands it occurs 
 only in the winter ; and, in the Hebrides its appearance is irregular, although on 
 some of them it is recognized as a rare resident. In the southern counties in 
 winter its numbers are largely increased by immigrants from the north. 
 
 The aditlt male is entirely glossy black in plumage ; the bill in young birds 
 golden ochreous, gradually becoming deep orange with age, feet brownish black, 
 iris hazel, edges of eyelids golden yellow. The adult female, when young, is deep 
 brown ; somewhat rufous on the throat and breast, which are streaked with smoky 
 black ; the bill brown : as the bird grows older, the gape becomes more or less 
 edged with ochre yellow, the black throat- streaks become more pronounced 
 and the chin sometimes becomes whitish. In the nestling birds most of the 
 feathers have pale shaft-streaks, and those of the upper parts have dark tips ; 
 whilst those of the under parts have dark bars ; in other respects they resemble 
 young hen birds : young males are said to be slightl}' more dusky than females ; 
 but if such a diflference exists, I never could satisfy myself of the fact in the case 
 of the young birds which, from time to time, I have hand-reared : the more 
 active and pugnacious disposition and narrower crown would be far better guides 
 in the selection of cock nestlings. 
 
 Talking of pugnacity, it is pre-eminentl}' a characteristic of the Blackbird, 
 and especially at the pairing season : the Song- Thrush is combative enough, but 
 the Blackbird will fight to the bitter end. I remember, on one occasion when in 
 my garden, hearing a violent rustling and flapping of wings and supposing that 
 some unfortimate Thrush or Blackbird had been seized b}' a cat, I slipped up as 
 

 20 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 ■quickly and quietly as possible to the scene of the disturbance ; there I saw two 
 cock Blackbirds firmly clutching one another and tearing out feathers by the 
 mouthful, violently flapping the while and so intent upon murder that, until I 
 was almost within reach of them, they were not aware of my approach ; then just 
 as I was meditating a double capture, they saw me, and simultaneously letting go 
 of one another, flew off in opposite directions with loud chattering cries. 
 
 Fighting is not the only sin of which the Blackbird is guilty ; some individuals 
 of the species have ovivoroiis tendencies : at a house where I was once staying, a 
 pair of Blackbirds had built a nest on a trained plum-tree ; as usual, I had inter- 
 ested myself in noting the time occupied in building and in the deposition of the 
 eggs : on the third day the nest was completed and the hen settled down in it 
 for the night. I rose early in those days, frequently taking a country ramble 
 before breakfast ; that morning, before starting, I looked in the nest, and there 
 was the first egg ; but, when I returned an hour later, the shell alone lay on the 
 earth below the nest. Determined to discover the thief, if possible, I took a pair 
 of opera-glasses upstairs that night, and, getting out of bed about 6 a.m., I 
 waited and watched : presently I heard the cock Blackbird singing, and then he 
 flew on to the end wall of the garden — " Chi)ik, cliinka chuck, chuck, chuck, chack ; 
 swee ; szvce.'' Out flew the hen and on to the nest went the old wretch, deliber- 
 ately pecked and picked up the egg, and devoured the contents, dropping the 
 shell as before. This trick was repeated again the following day, and then the 
 hen deserted her nest. 
 
 In all well-wooded districts the Blackbird is extremely abundant, and where 
 wood and water are combined it is so common that, on one occasion, I came across 
 nearly forty nests in the course of a single morning's ramble. In suburban 
 gardens it is also common, but not nearly so much so as the Song- Thrush : this 
 can be easily proved, not merely by the numbers seen, for with so skulking a bird 
 many might be overlooked ; but, by the relative number of nests built in such 
 places in spring, and the largely disproportionate number of Thrushes trapped in 
 winter. 
 
 The nest of the Blackbird is built in the most diverse situations, such as 
 hedges, shrubs, trees, faggot- stacks, holes in walls or rocks, niches in sides of 
 gravel- or chalk-pits, or even in very low banks ; its favourite sites are perhaps 
 in wattle fences overgrown with bramble or ivy, in evergreen shrubs, or on 
 branches of fruit-trees trained against walls. It is a bulky cup-shaped structure, 
 usually placed upon a foundation of twigs, dead leaves, rags, paper, sometimes a 
 draggled quill feather or two, and mud ; the form of the outside walls varies 
 according to the position of the nest ; they are constructed of stalks of grass and 
 
The Blackbird. 21 
 
 twigs intertwined and compacted with moss ; the inside of the cup plastered with 
 mud in pellets, almost or entirely concealed by dead leaves, rootlets and fine grass: 
 occasionall}- the mud plastering is entirely absent, but the only two nests having 
 this peculiarity which I have seen, I met with on the same morning ; one of these 
 I retained for my collection. 
 
 The eggs are marvellously variable, both in size, shape and colouring ; they 
 number from four to six, but usually five. The following are some of the more 
 distinct varieties which I have taken: — i. Greenish blue, precisely like some eggs 
 of the Song- Thrush in tint ; but, when examined through a lens, showing ver}^ 
 minute and indistinct reddish longitudinal dashes over the whole surface ; 2. 
 Greyish olive, showing (under a lens) extremely fine dust-like brownish speckling, 
 a few black dots near the small end, this form somewhat reminds one of some 
 eggs of the Jay. 3. Large and broad, pale chalk}- blue, with' indistinct rusty spots 
 and dots scattered sparsely over the entire surface, the larger half sprinkled with 
 little rugosities. 4. Much elongated, pale blue, mottled all over with pale rusty 
 reddish. 5. Short and broad, greenish blue, mottled and blotched all over with 
 reddish-brown. 6. Very broad; pale chalky blue, speckled sparsely all over, and 
 heavily blotched at both ends, with rust- reddish and greyish lavender. 7. Similar, 
 from same nest, but only heavily blotched at the larger end. 8. Pale sandy 
 brownish with very indistinct rust- reddish marbling all over : this is a small egg, 
 evidently laid by a young bird. 9. Pale greenish blue sparsely but boldly spotted 
 from the shoulder (or larger terminal third) and heavily spotted and clouded at 
 the larger end with rusty brown leopard-like markings. 10. Pale greenish, so 
 covered with indistinct reddish smears and speckles that the green is almost lost. 
 II. Deep blue-green, boldly spotted with rusty brown, which collects into a large 
 patch at the small end. ,12. Flesh-whitish, densely speckled and marbled with 
 rust red. 13. I also have a chalky white egg, with faint indications (visible 
 through a lens) of olivaceous mottling. This egg was given to me by a lady 
 friend and was obtained by her from an ordinary nest, at Wateringbury, near 
 Maidstone. Of the above (which I have selected for description from a picked 
 series of forty-four in my egg-collection) Nos. i, 2, 3, 8, 12, and 13 are all rare 
 varieties, not very characteristic of the species : possibly No. 1 , which is not 
 unlike a very deep-coloured Starling's egg, may, as Howard Saunders suggests, 
 be the result of a union between the Song- Thrush and Blackbird, the fact that 
 these two species do sometimes interbreed in a wild state being thoroughly well 
 established. 
 
 In the winter of 1894-5 a bird was caught in one of my traps which 1 firmly 
 believe was a hybrid Thrush- Blackbird : when first captured it was very dirty, 
 
British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 and I then supposed it to be an old hen Blackbird; but, after a good wash, its 
 true colouring came out clearly ; the whole upper parts being deep smoky brown, 
 the chin and throat white streaked with dull black ; the breast, in certain lights, 
 showing traces of the true Song- Thrush spotting ; the bill deep orange with the 
 basal half of the culmen black ; feet yellowish horn-brown. 
 
 This bird, of which Mr. Frohawk made 
 a careful sketch, became very tame in a few 
 weeks and I should certainly have kept it 
 up to the present time, had not a friend, 
 who had given much attention to British 
 cage-birds, visited me and asked me wh}- I 
 was keeping a hen Blackbird. I pointed out 
 the orange bill, the extent of white on the 
 throat, the heavy black streaking and ill- 
 defined breast spots, and he admitted that 
 he had never seen a similar hen Blackbird. 
 Unfortunatel}' I wanted the cage, in which 
 I had kept this supposed hybrid, for my 
 Mocking-bird (which I found too tyrannical for an aviary) therefore I gave 
 the Thrush its liberty: but, on the following day, one of ni}- neighbours was 
 walking round my garden, when a bird in the adjoining plot began to sing a 
 most marvellous song, which my neighbour characterized as neither like that of 
 Blackbird or Song Thrush, but a combination of both. I have no doubt, as I 
 told him, that my recently liberated bird was the singer. 
 
 The song of the Blackbird is quite unlike that of any other British Thrush, 
 clear, mellow and melodious, it is one of the finest productions of our feathered 
 choir: it however varies wonderfully in merit in different individuals, and no two 
 Blackbirds sing precisely alike. The finest singers are rarely heard, their per- 
 formance is continuous, flowing, ever changing, somewhat reminding one of the 
 Blackcap's song; most Blackbirds, however, sing set phrases, more or less 
 plaintive but always vigorous in character. 
 
 Frequently, in the middle of its song, a Blackbird stops abruptly and 
 ridicules its own performances, singing over the last phrase in a minor ke}' and 
 following it up with derisive caricatures ending in meaningless squeaks: some- 
 times it pauses abruptl}' and (perhaps for five or ten minutes) repeats, at 
 intervals its dismal ear-splitting call note — a shrill reedy tseet; or it will break off 
 into its noisy go-to-roost rattle — " Chink, cJiink, chink, chink, chink; cJiacka, chack- 
 a-rack, chack, chack, chack, chack ; chuck, chuck, chuck." Passing through shrubberies 
 
The Blackbird. 23 
 
 at twilight, this good-night greeting may be heard on all sides; sometimes a 
 little varied, but usually commencing with " chink " and terminating with 
 ^' chuck'''' : at dawn it frequently leaves out the harsh " chnck" 
 
 The flight of the Blackbird is usually very direct, it may be seen passing 
 over garden after garden with steady regular beat of wing, until perchance it 
 nears some favourite tree, when its course is almost imperceptibly changed to an 
 upward slant which lands it on its chosen branch ; when suddenl}- flushed from 
 the nest, the flight is usually direct at first, bxit with a rapid swerving to right 
 or left and a return to roost in some neighbouring cover. When it alights, 
 the Blackbird throws its tail up almost at right angles to the body, stretches the 
 neck and holds its legs wide apart ; this gives it a wonderfuU}' alert and 
 attentive aspect. In this respect it somewhat resembles Magpies, or Ja3^s of the 
 genus Cyanocorax, which always throw up the tail when they alight, but assume 
 the attitude of attention as this appendage drops back to its ordinary level. 
 
 Although usually a very skulking bird, seeking its food mostly under hedge- 
 rows, in ditches, or among shrubs and bushes ; when it has young to feed the 
 Blackbird may often be seen among Starlings and Thrushes upon our lawns, busily 
 engaged in the pursuit of worms. In fields of turnip or cabbage it may also be 
 seen seeking for worms and caterpillars ; for the common garden snail and slugs 
 the Blackbird seems to care less than does the Song-Thrush, but the prettily 
 banded hedge-snails it delights in : like all insectivorous birds, its favourite morsels 
 are spiders, insects and their grubs. Mr. Frohawk tells me that, in the late 
 autumn, he has watched a Blackbird slowly hopping down a garden path and 
 carefully turning over every fallen leaf in its search for insect food. Unfortunately 
 for the Blackbird's peace of mind, it is not exclusively insectivorous ; it is also 
 to some extent graminivorous and largely frugivorous, being especially fond of 
 strawberries, in pursuit of which it often loses its life at the hands of the short- 
 sighted fruit-grower; it also devours a good many currants, gooseberries, cherries, 
 and peas in their season, whilst the raspberry, blackberry and sloe are not 
 despised. Late in autumn when the more pleasant fruits are becoming scarce, the 
 Blackbird turns its attention to hips and haws, as well as the berries of the ivy 
 and mistletoe. 
 
 Upon the earth the Blackbird proceeds by a series of hops, then a pause at 
 attention and on again : in its actions it strongly reminds one of the Robin ; but 
 it does not appear, like our little Christmas favourite, to suffer from chronic 
 epileps}^ fidgets, St. Vitus' dance, or whatever it is which makes the latter give 
 that absurd little duck everj' half minute, when sitting on a branch : no, the 
 Blackbird is far too sedate for such frivolity. 
 
24 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs, 
 
 The Blackbird is especially bold in defence of its young ; even when the 
 nest contains eggs alone, I have known this bird to sit so close, that it has been 
 caught upon the nest and ruthlessly killed by its heartless captor. To some 
 creatures having the outward form of man, a few cherries, hastily swallowed and 
 forgotten, are of more importance than months of woodland music : unhappily 
 many such mere animals are trusted with firearms, and do their utmost to destroy 
 the farmer's and fruit-grower's most useful and industrious assistants ; either not 
 knowing, or not caring to know, that the birds are only taking wages in kind 
 for the fruit which they have worked hard to save from the ravages of insect 
 enemies. 
 
 As a cage-bird, the Blackbird is without a rival among our Thrushes ; clean, 
 lively, pleasing both in form and in his simple colouring, readil}' tamed, easily 
 kept in health for years, it is no wonder that he is a general favourite : but, if he 
 is to turn out a good songster, he must be caught, not reared from the nest. A 
 hand-reared bird never sings the wild song, and hardly ever pleases with his per- 
 formance ; indeed I have only known one bird (reported to be hand-reared, and 
 fed upon sopped bread only) which really had an attractive song. Of the numbers 
 which I reared when I first began to study aviculture, the best singer never got 
 beyond six notes of a dismal psalm-tune. On the other hand, every trapped cock 
 Blackbird, if properly fed, is sure to sing the true wild song sooner or later ; 
 xisually in the first spring after his capture. 
 
 Like many other birds when first caught, the Blackbird often refuses to feed 
 at all the first day ; and, if in good condition when caged, he ma}- continue to 
 sulk for a day or two longer ; but even a sulky Blackbird cannot resist the 
 attractions of a lively mealworm, spider, or even earthworm, and when he once 
 begins to eat, he will continue ; so that there is never much difiiculty in inducing 
 him to empty his pan of soft food. The latter, as already hinted previously, should 
 be largely farinaceous, but with an admixture of yolk of egg and ants' cocoons ; 
 slices of apple or pear, and berries, as well as insects and worms, should also be 
 given from time to time ; but meat nnvr, if you value the health of your bird : 
 if given, it will assuredly produce diarrhoea, resulting sooner or later in cramp, 
 or fits. I tried it with fatal results, for several years. 
 
_1 
 
 LlI 
 
 N 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 z 
 
The Ring-0u2el *5 
 
 Faviily— TURDIDyE. Subfamily— TURDINAi. 
 
 The Ring-Ouzel. 
 
 Turdus torquatus, LiNN. 
 
 UPON the Continent of Europe this bird is a summer visitant to the more 
 desolate portions of the pine districts ; it nevertheless breeds freely in 
 the mountainous regions of the South. Eastward its range appears to be limited 
 by the Ural Mountains. It winters in the lowlands and alpine districts of South 
 Europe, in North Africa, Asia Minor, and Persia. 
 
 In Great Britain it is rarely resident ; indeed during the winter it is usually the 
 only British Thrush which is absent. Though in mild seasons it has been known 
 to remain with us up to Christmas, as a rule the Ring- Ouzel leaves us in 
 September or October, returning in April to breed. Although far more abundant 
 as a breeding species in the wild moors and mountainous districts of the 
 North, it is known to have bred in rocky parts of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, 
 Hampshire, Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, Warwick, Leicester, Gloucestershire, Mon- 
 mouthshire, Wales, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire : in the 
 wilder portions of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Wales it breeds freely. 
 
 The general colour of the male Ring- Ouzel is a dark sooty brown inclining 
 to black, with the exception of a broad white crescentic gorget ; the wing feathers 
 edged externally with grey ; under wing-coverts and axillaries mottled with grey 
 and white : bill yellowish, black at the tip ; feet brownish black ; iris dark brown. 
 The female paler and browner than the male and with somewhat brownish gorget. 
 Birds of the year have broad pale margins to the feathers of the under surface, 
 the gorget in the male is brownish and in the female barely discernable. 
 Nestlings have the feathers of the back and breast barred with black and pale 
 brown, and the wing-coverts tipped with ochraceous buff. 
 
 The nest of this species is not at all unlike that of the Blackbird, but it is 
 somewhat looser in construction : externally it is formed of dry bents and grass, 
 frequently intertwined with twigs of heather or larch and compacted with dead 
 leaves, moss and mud ; inside it is lined with clay or mud, concealed by a thick 
 inner lining of fine grass. It is almost always built on the ground, most 
 frequently amongst ling on the sharp edge of an embankment; also under furze, 
 
 Vol. I. F 
 
a6 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 or among heather upon steep declivities, very rarely in a low bush or tree. 
 
 The eggs number from four to five, usually four, and are extremely similar 
 to those of the Blackbird and Fieldfare ; indeed, unless the collector takes them 
 himself, I do not for a moment believe that he could be assured of their origin. 
 I obtained eggs from two nests in Kent, in both cases 'flushing the bird from 
 them ; she flew off with harsh cries — ''chack-chack-chack"* after the manner of a 
 Blackbird, but did not go far away ; probably had the nest contained young she 
 would have flown round my head with loud cries after the manner of the Missel 
 Thrush ; but I have rarely found birds so devoted to their eggs as to their young, 
 unless they have actually commenced incubation. I found my second nest 
 amongst a clump of heather growing under a furze bush, on the edge of a wild 
 plantation bounding part of a large park at Tunstall, near Sittingbourne, on May 
 17th, 1879: the nest unfortunately only contained one e.^g. My first nest was 
 found on the margin of an unreclaimed bit of heathery moorland in the Stock- 
 bury Valley under a straggling tuft of ling overhanging the edge of a steep 
 embankment at the side of a little frequented road, on May 24th, 1875 : ^^^^^ 
 nest contained two eggs. In both cases I omitted to take the nest, and 
 consequently this is a desideratum to my collection ; probably the birds continued 
 to utilize them. 
 
 The habits of the Ring-Ouzel are very similar to those of the Blackbird ; 
 its flight is very similar and its trick of throwing up the tail as it alights, its 
 method of searching for food, characterized by a shy, alert, almost nervous 
 manner, and its harsh cry uttered when the safety of its nest is threatened and at 
 roosting time. Even its song bears some similarity to that of. its ebony relative, 
 though harsher in character and in some respects more nearly approaching that 
 of the Song Thrush ; its habit of interrupting and criticizing its own performance 
 is also eminently characteristic of the Blackbird : its call-note is a thin piercing 
 whistle, like that of our other Thrushes. The harsh gurrrh, characteristic of the 
 Missel and Song Thrushes, can hardly be the true call note, since they certainly 
 call to one another in the still more unpleasant whistled note above mentioned. 
 
 The food of the Ring-Ouzel consists of worms, slugs, snails, insects and 
 their grubs, many kinds of berries, small fruits such as currants, gooseberries, 
 blackberries, cherries, grapes and also plums. 
 
 Seebohm says : — "A true bird of the wilderness, it prefers the deepest 
 solitudes that our land affords. Truly, indeed, the Ring-Ouzel's home is a wild 
 
 •This sound is usually rendered by the word talc: >)ut there is a thickness about the initial letter better 
 represented \yy ch: the almost metallic flint splitting sound which I render t/!!'«/.-, in the account of the Black- 
 bird, has been incorrectly written as "pink" : a Blackbird is as likely to say "purple" as "pink" 
 
The Black Throated Thrush. a? 
 
 and romantic one. You will first make his acquaintance where the heath begins, 
 where the silver birch trees are scattered amongst the rock fragments, and the 
 gorse bushes and stunted thorn and bracken are the last signs of more lowland 
 vegetation. The scenery gets wilder, but still the bird is your companion ; he 
 flits from rock to rock before you, or, by making long detours, returns to the 
 place whence you flushed him, uttering his loud, harsh, and discordant call-notes. 
 The hills of Derbyshire are one of his favourite haunts : almost on the very 
 summit of Kinder Scout, the highest peak of the High Peak, nearly two 
 thousand feet above the sea level, the Ring-Ouzels rear their young." 
 
 I cannot speak personally as to the Ring-Ouzel's suitability for cage life ; 
 so far as I have been able to judge, from the specimens occasionally exhibited at 
 bird shows, it appears to be as easily tamed as our other Thrushes ; but it is 
 possible that these specimens may have been hand-reared birds : I certainly never 
 heard one of them attempt to sing. There are several reasons for this dumb 
 behaviour in captive birds ; some that will not sing at all in a cage, warble 
 splendidly in an aviary ; then, insufiiciently nourishing, or unnatural food may be 
 the cause, the first from its lowering effect and the second by making the 
 prisoner feel positively ill. Birds which are accustomed, when wild, to feed 
 almost entirely on insects and fruit, are provided at our shows with a mess of 
 finely grated raw beef and bread crumbs : on such hopelessly unnatural diet, it is 
 no marvel, not merely that they feel disinclined to sing, but if they die before 
 their term of punishment is completed. 
 
 With the Ring-Ouzel, in the writer's opinion, the true British "Thrushes," 
 so called, should terminate. Other species recorded as belonging to our fauna, 
 in works upon the Birds of Great Britain, are : — 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURD I N^. 
 
 The Black Throated Thrush. 
 
 I 
 
 Turdus atrigularis, Temm. 
 NTRODUCED, because one young male was shot near Lewes in 1868. 
 
28 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURBINE. 
 
 The Rock Thrush. 
 
 Monticola saxaiilis, Linn. 
 A DMITTED, because one specimen was shot at Therfield, Herts., in 1843. 
 
 So far as I can see, there is no more reason for admitting these birds to 
 our list, than for excluding the following : — 
 
 Family— TURD I D^. Subfamily— TURBINE. 
 
 The American Robin. 
 
 Turdus viigratorius, LiNN. 
 
 OBTAINED at Dover; but excluded, on the ground that it may have 
 escaped from captivity. In these days of aviculture, even the rarest and 
 least suspected birds may have reached our shores in this manner. 
 
 Family— TURDIDAL. ■ Subfamily— TURBINE. 
 
 The Siberian Ground Thrush. 
 
 Turdus sibiricus, Pall. 
 
 SOME writers admit, and others exclude this species; one example only 
 having been obtained (on the authority of a dealer) between Guildford 
 and Godalming, in the winter of 1860-61. 
 
 In other branches of Zoology, we should not necessarily regard a species 
 as British, on the score of one or two examples having been obtained on our 
 shores : the fact of their occurrence would be recorded, and possibly an 
 illustration published, but subsequent works would not be considered incomplete 
 which did not describe them as British. 
 
cc 
 < 
 
 Hi 
 H 
 
 < 
 
 X 
 
The Wheatear. a9 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURDIN^E. 
 
 The Wheatear. 
 
 Saxicola ananthe, LiNN. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Howard Saunders associates the Wheatears with the "Bush- 
 chats," he points out the fact that they differ in their longer tails and 
 white rumps, and states also Dr. Sharpe's belief that the members of the genus 
 Pratincola are Flycatchers (Muscicapidce) : the habits and actions of Saxicola and 
 Pratincola are certainly not exactly similar, although a general likeness in the 
 distribution of colours on the head, gives one the impression of relationship 
 between them. 
 
 The Wheatear is a very remarkable bird in appearance, its head appearing to 
 be far too large for its body : in stuffed specimens its whole character is invariably 
 lost by the taxidermist, who produces an indentation, where none exists in life, 
 just at the back of the skull : illustrations also, being mostly taken from prepared 
 skins, do not usually do justice to the bull-headed Robin-like aspect of the living 
 bird. 
 
 Occurring all over the Western Palsearctic region from Greenland to Africa, 
 and eastward through Siberia to North China, the Wheatear is also found in 
 Eastern N. America and Behring's Straits ; it is common, though local, throughout 
 Great Britain, arriving early in March and departing in September; but its 
 numbers increase as one travels northward, comparatively few pairs breeding in 
 the southern counties. In winter it occurs both in North and West Africa, whilst 
 Asiatic examples migrate to Mongolia, N. India and Persia, and American birds 
 travel as far as the Bermudas. 
 
 The male Wheatear in breeding plumage has the upper parts grey, the wings 
 dark brown and black, the rump white, the two central tail-feathers black to near 
 base, the others white, broadly tipped with black ; forehead and superciliary streak 
 white ; lores and ear-coverts black ; under surface of body pale buff, slightly deeper 
 on throat and breast ; but in old birds almost white, with throat and breast buff; 
 under wing-coverts and axillaries mottled with dark grey and white; bill black, 
 feet black, iris dark brown. 
 
 The female is huffish brown, darker above, the ear-coverts dark brown instead 
 of black. In autumn owing to the broad pale buff borders to the new feathers, 
 the male nearly resembles the female; but during the winter these borders seem 
 to be partly lost and the colour (as with that in the plumage of many other birds) 
 
30 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 grows in the feathers themselves without a further moult.* 
 
 Young birds are spotted above and below, the feathers of the wings and tail 
 being also edged and tipped with biiff. 
 
 The name Wheatear is derived from the words white and the Anglo-Saxon 
 cers (rump); I believe the bird is still called '■'■ Whitus'" by the peasantry in some 
 parts of England; it is also known by the names of "Stone c/atter" and 
 "■ Clacharan" (Little mason.) 
 
 In Kent I have seen this bird but once, and then only on a wild neglected 
 piece of grass-land close to a cultivated watercress stream ; in the side of a bank 
 overhanging this stream was a hollow, probably the end of a mole burrow, which 
 had been cut across to lengthen the bed of the stream ; and, in this hollow was 
 the Wheatear's nest ; unfortunately she had not commenced to lay. In the same 
 place a lady friend obtained eggs of this species the year before. 
 
 In June, 1886, I saw a considerable number of Wheatears : they were flying 
 about the broken cliffs between Yarmouth and Caister, where sand and patches of 
 reedy grass are commingled over irregular slopes and hollows ; an expanse desolate 
 indeed in appearance, but the home of numerous rabbits, whose burrows in every 
 direction form traps for the heedless pedestrian. I looked in many a hole for 
 nests, but my search was not rewarded. I thought of, and put into practice, the 
 advise given in the following extract from Yarrell, 4th edition, to no purpose. 
 
 "When the nest is in a rabbit-burrow it is not unfrequently visible from the 
 exterior, but when under a rock it is often placed a long way from the entrance, 
 and out of sight. It can nearly always be found with certainty, by watching the 
 hen-bird ; and Salmon says that on the large warrens of Suffolk and Norfolk its 
 position is easily detected by the considerable number of small pieces of the 
 withered stalks of the brake amassed at the entrance of the burrow. When the 
 place of concealment, however, is beneath a rock or earth- fast stone, the nest is 
 often inaccessible to the finder." 
 
 In addition to its favourite rabbit-burrow, the Wheatear utilizes heaps of 
 stones, niches in walls, peat-stacks, or banks ; or even hollows partly sheltered by 
 a large clod or stone, as building sites. The nest is a rather large and flattish 
 structure, losely formed of very fine dried grass, sometimes rootlets and a little 
 moss, and lined with feathers and hair, or hair alone. The eggs are said to vary 
 from four to eight in number, six being the usual clutch ; they are somewhat 
 elongated, pale greenish blue, and (almost invariably) unspotted, but very rarely 
 
 * In the case of the Indigo Bunting of N. America, the change from brown winter plumage to the bright 
 blue and green of the breeding dress, is chiefly due to a gradual growth of the bright colouring in the feathers, 
 comparatively few feathers being shed : I have the skin of a bird which died half through its spring change, 
 showing the feathers in their transitional stage. 
 
The Wheatear. 31 
 
 there are a few very indistinct purplisli dots at the larger end. 
 
 The Wheatear is largely insectivorous, capturing much of its food on the 
 wing after the manner of the Flycatchers. It also eats larvse of various insects, 
 spiders, small worms and molluscs, but in the autumn it also eats the wild moor- 
 land fruits : it is a pretty sight to watch this bird perched upon a wall, its tail 
 swaying up and down like that of a Wagtail : presently you see it jerk its 
 head upwards and off it darts with graceful fluttering flight after some passing 
 beetle or fly, which it captures without difficulty. If you creep up to watch 
 more closely, it waits until perhaps only a few yards intervene between you and 
 it, then away it flits, somewhat after the fashion of a Wagtail, to some more 
 distant rock. When searching for the nest in Norfolk and hoping that the bird 
 would reveal its proximity by returning, after a short journey in one direction, to 
 some previously occupied rock, we found that it still flew before us from rock to 
 rock ; it became evident that our fruitless search could only be explained by the 
 fact that we were too late upon the scene. 
 
 The Wheatear first arrives in the south of England towards the end of 
 March, the males reaching our shores a little earlier than the females, but they 
 usually begin to build about the middle of April and the nest may be found from 
 this time to about the middle of May, but although the species is double-brooded, 
 the June nests seem less easy to discover, possibly they may be more carefully 
 concealed, or the increased power of the sun makes stooping more irksome to the 
 searcher. In August and September numbers congregate together, in preparation 
 for their migration to the south ; at this season many are snared by the shepherds 
 on the Sussex Downs and destroyed for food ; by the beginning of October most 
 of the survivors have left the country. 
 
 The song of this bird is a short, but not unpleasant warbling, but its call 
 notes are less musical, resembling the sharp chink, chack, chack produced by the 
 concussion of a flint and steel. 
 
 In confinement the Wheatear or "Clod," as the London birdcatchers call it, 
 soon gains confidence in the goodwill of its owner and flies up to the wires to 
 take flies or mealworms from his fingers; it is a peaceful law-abiding subject; 
 but when some favourite morsel has been snatched from under its very bill, it 
 sometimes shows its annoyance by the sharp click of its mandibles, characteristic 
 of most insectivorous birds. The first Wheatear I ever possessed was brought to 
 me one evening by a small bird-dealer, who informed me that it had been caught 
 that afternoon and that, if I did not care to give ninepence for it, he meant to 
 kill and stuff it for one of his customers. Of course I bought it, turned it into 
 a large flight cage in my study and hoped to reconcile it to captivity. Unlike 
 
32 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 many birds when newly caught, this Wheatear appeared to be quite at home at 
 once, but I could not succeed in inducing it to eat anything but mealworms and 
 house-flies ; berries it would not look at, and soft food it regarded with utter 
 contempt : in three days it died. 
 
 A second specimen was brought to me, about nine years later, by a friend 
 who had already kept it for about a week, in a room with other British Birds. 
 I turned it out with Wagtails and other birds in a large unheated aviary ; it took 
 kindly to the soft food from the first, and ate a good many cockroaches daily ; 
 passed through the winter without mishap, came into full breeding plumage and 
 commenced to sing in the spring : sometimes, but rarel)', it sang on the wing ; 
 it usually preferred to sit close to a wide casement, which is kept open during 
 the mild weather, and warble at intervals. When a fly passed into the aviary, 
 it had little chance of escaping ; the Wheatear, a Redstart and a Grey Wagtail 
 were all after it at once, and the Redstart was generally the winner ; the 
 Wheatear coming in second, and the Wagtail rarely getting a chance, in spite 
 of its marvellous aerial acrobatic powers. Unfortunately this bird did not live 
 many months ; before I had kept it a year it died suddenly ; although, the day 
 previously, it had appeared to be in excellent health. 
 
 Other species of Wheatears have been admitted into the British list, but 
 their claim to this position is based upon the chance occurrence of one or two 
 examples in this country. Whilst denying that this gives them a title to the 
 name of Britisher, it may perhaps be as well to record their names : — 
 
 Family— TUDID^. Subfamily— TURDIN^. 
 
 The Isabelline Wheatear. 
 
 Saxicola isabellina, RuPP. 
 
 ADMITTED to be an English bird on the ground that a single female 
 example was shot at AUonby, in Cumberland, on the nth November, 1887. 
 
The Black Throated Wheatear. The Desert Wheatear, The Whinchat. 33 
 Family— TURDIDAL. • Stcbfamily—TURDIN/^. 
 
 The Black Throated Wheatear. 
 
 A 
 
 Saxicola stapazina, ViEILL. 
 
 SINGLE male specimen was shot near Bury, in Lancashire, about the 8th 
 May, 1875 ; it belonged to the Eastern race of the species. 
 
 Family— TURDIDAi. Subfamily— TURDINyE. 
 
 The Desert Wheatear. 
 
 Saxicola deserti, RtJPP. 
 
 A MALE was shot near Alloa in Clackmannanshire, on the 26th November, 
 1880, a female on the Holderness coast, Yorkshire, on the 17th October, 
 1885, and a second near Arbroath on the 28th December, 1887. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURDINAi. 
 
 The Whinchat. 
 
 Pratiyicola rubetra, LiNN. 
 
 BREEDS in suitable localities throughout Northern and Central Europe, its 
 eastern boundary in European Russia being probably the Ural Mountains ; 
 it winters in Southern Europe and Northern Africa, extending its range west- 
 ward to Fantee and eastward to Abyssinia. It also occurs in Arabia, Asia 
 Minor and Northern India : but in the Indian examples the relative length of 
 the primaries is said to differ, and the birds themselves are larger than ours. 
 In Great Britain the Whinchat is pretty generally distributed; being abundant 
 in certain localities, but absent from many districts of Scotland, and somewhat 
 local in Ireland. 
 
 Vol. I G 
 
34 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The Whinchat above is blackish brown, the feathers edged with sandy buflF, 
 slightly redder on the upper tail-coverts; wings dark brown, smaller coverts 
 white; two central tail-feathers dark brown, white at base; other tail-feathers 
 with the basal half white and the terminal half dark brown, with buff margins ; 
 a clear white superciliary streak ; lores, ear-coverts and cheeks dark brown : 
 chin white, continuous with a streak bounding the lower part of the cheek and 
 sides of neck ; throat and breast reddish fawn colour, shading into buff towards 
 centre of belly; under tail-coverts also buff; bill and feet black; iris brown. 
 
 This bird is most commonly seen on broad open commons, heathery 
 mountain slopes, pastures (whence its local name of "Grass -chat,") meadows 
 and wild briar-clad wastes ; it haunts both mountain and valley, hill and dale, 
 and wherever vast tracts of furze-covered land exist, it may be confidently 
 looked for: to this it owes its common nickname of "Fuz-chat," the only title, 
 I believe, by which the London birdcatchers recognize it. In some districts it 
 is also known by the name "Utick" on account of its call note u-tic, u-tac or 
 u-chack. 
 
 I first met with the Whinchat in fair numbers, about the middle of May, 
 amongst the gorse bushes covering a wide expanse not far from Detling, on the 
 road from Sittingbourne to Maidstone. The birds were dotted about here and 
 there on the topmost sprays of the gorse, whence every half minute or so they 
 darted off after some insect, returning almost invariably to the same perch. 
 Every few minutes one of them would flit off, warbling softly, to some distant 
 bush, under which it would dive ; but when I imagined that its nest was there 
 concealed, and walking straight to that point, began carefully to seek for it, 
 I invariably found that there not only was no trace of a nest, either in or 
 under the bush, but that the mischievous bird had simply passed through an 
 opening and onwards, perchance in some new direction with the distinct purpose 
 of misleading me, or else had sought some fresh article of diet below the 
 shelter of that prickly cover. 
 
 The Whinchat is very largely insectivorous, its food consisting chiefly of 
 insects, their larvae and spiders : it also eats small worms, small molluscs, and 
 it has been known to feed upon growing corn : it is a great friend to the 
 farmer, on account of its fondness for wireworms (the larvae of spring-back 
 beetles) ; these it obtains in considerable numbers in the Spring when the land 
 lies fallow ; and later, when the young turnips are opening their first leaves, it 
 is a great enemy to the destructive turnip fly. I have tried it with the turnip 
 beetle, but the offensive red ink flavour of this insect was too much for it, and 
 it turned away in disgust after tasting the first sample: berries, which (I 
 
The Whinchat. 35 
 
 believe) the Whinchat has been credited with eating, and red or white currants, 
 it refused even to glance at. 
 
 The nidification of the Whinchat commences early in May and I have seen 
 nests of fresh eggs which were taken quite a month later; but, in that case, 
 the first nests had been robbed: although this species has been stated to be 
 double-brooded, the evidence in support of that belief requires confirmation; the 
 male bird certainly ceases to sing in July ; this, one would not expect to be the 
 case, unless it had concluded its domestic duties. The nest is usually placed on 
 the ground among grass or heather; sometimes in the middle of a field or 
 under shelter of a hedge, freqently under a furze bush, either on the ground 
 or just above it among the branching stems : it is a large and rather loose 
 structure formed of bents, fibrous roots and somtimes a little moss, and is lined 
 with fine dry grass and hair. 
 
 The eggs vary from four to six, the latter being the usual number; they 
 are greenish blue, in tint not unlike those of the Hedge Accentor, but generally 
 of a less perfect oval, the larger, as well as the smaller extremity being some- 
 what pointed ; they are finely speckled with reddish brown, the dots forming a 
 pale zone round the larger end. The parents are very wary in discovering the 
 position of their treasures, and will not approach the nest when they discover 
 the presence of an intruder ; but, if by chance you wander towards it, they fly 
 round your head in the greatest anxiety uttering a thin dismal cry, which to 
 me sounded like the word is7vee, varied at times by their call note u-tic : I have 
 also seen them drop on the grass and scramble along as if injured, apparently 
 with the object of inviting pursuit; a trick which, did they but know it, only 
 renders the bird'snester more satisfied that he is on the right scent. 
 
 The flight of the Whinchat is graceful and undulating, and during the 
 breeding-season consists of short journeys from bush to bush, varied by aerial 
 evolutions in pursuit of gnats or other small winged insects. Suddenly it swoops 
 downwards as it perceives some tiny beetle on a grass stem, to which as it seizes 
 its prey, it clings for a moment with fluttering wings, then darts away to the 
 topmost spray of a whin bush, and watches with ever springing tail for another 
 victim. To the novice in the study of bird life this active little fellow is a 
 revelation. 
 
 Seebohm says: — "Although the Whinchat so often chooses a perch near the 
 ground, it by no means shuns the trees, and, especially towards the end of 
 summer, it is seen with its young brood high up amongst the branches. The 
 bird does not show that partiality for walls and rocks which is so marked a 
 feature of the Redstart or Wheatear. In the pastoral districts the Whinchat, 
 
36 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 directly after its arrival, frequents the fallows which are being worked for the 
 turnip crops, and on these places is found almost continuously until the neigh- 
 bouring pastures afford it sufficient shelter. The Whinchats never roost in trees, 
 but always on the ground. When they first arrive we find them at night on the 
 fallows, but for the remainder of the season grass fields and turnip lands are 
 frequented. In the wilder parts of its haunts the Whinchat roosts amongst the 
 heath and the tangled undergrowth of gorse covert and brake. Another remark- 
 able trait in the character of this bird is its activity in the dusk of the evening, 
 a time probably when some insect that forms its favourite food is abundant ; and 
 its well known call notes may be heard long after the birds themselves are con- 
 cealed from view by the falling shadows of night." 
 
 This species is not a resident bird, although a few instances have been 
 recorded of its passing the winter in England. It arrives in the South of 
 England about the middle of April, reaching our northern counties a week or 
 two later: late in September it again journeys southwards. 
 
 My second captive Whinchat was given to me early in September, 1893, and 
 I turned it into an aviary with other British birds and a pair of Rosa's Parrakeet. 
 I found it very shy ; but unfortunately I was unable to keep it long enough to 
 judge whether it was likely to overcome its want of confidence ; for, within a week, 
 one of the Parrakeets caught it and crushed its skull, thus not only killing it but 
 rendering it useless as a cabinet specimen. . It took readily to the usual soft food 
 mixture, commencing, like all soft-billed birds with the egg and ants' cocoons 
 and only eating the bread and potato when these failed ; it was especially keen 
 on mealworms, probably not discovering any difference between them and its 
 natural diet of wireworms, and it devoured a considerable number of small 
 cockroaches ; flies and small moths it pursued and caught on the wing. It 
 usually passed the night either on the earth or upon some twigs stuck into the 
 earth. At times it uttered its thin piercing cry and its singular call-note; but, 
 at that season, I, of course, could not expect it to sing. When anyone entered the 
 aviary it flew wildly from side to side ; but, at other times contented itself with 
 keeping at a respectful distance, never showing any anxiety to escape, or 
 even that restless impatience of captivity characteristic of the Hedge 
 Accentor and many other small birds, when freshly captured. 
 
< 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 z 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 C/5 
 
The Stonechat. , 37 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURBINE. 
 
 The Stonechat. 
 
 Pratincola rubicola, LiNN. 
 
 INHABITS the central and milder parts of Northern Europe and southwards 
 to Asia Minor, Palestine and North Africa ; specimens have also been obtained 
 south of Senegal. 
 
 In Great Britain the Stonechat is resident and breeds locally in every county 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, as also in the Hebrides : in the Orkney and Shetland 
 Islands it is known to occur, but not to breed. 
 
 The Stonechat is a very handsome little bird, especially when in breeding 
 plumage. The male has the whole of the feathers of the upper surface (excepting 
 those of the upper tail-coverts which are white) dull black fringed with tawny 
 brown ; the head from a line above the eye and the throat velvety-black ; wings 
 and tail blackish brown ; smaller wing-coverts, bases of inner secondaries and sides 
 of neck broadly white ; under parts tawny-rufous, deepest on the breast and sides, 
 almost white at centre of chest, but shading into buff on abdomen ; bill and feet 
 ebony-black, iris dark brown. The female is altogether duller in colouring ; the 
 white wing-patch smaller, the tail-coverts reddish brown, the throat mottled with 
 black. In winter the white on the sides of the neck becomes mottled with tawny, 
 the secondaries have broad tawny borders and either whitish or tawny tips, the 
 tail-feathers are also broadly bordered with buff; the ear-coverts, chin and throat 
 feathers are also slightly tipped on the fringe with tawny or white, and 
 the upper part of the white neck-patch is mottled with tawny. The nestling is 
 spotted above and below, and does not show the dark throat, or white patches of 
 the adult bird; but, in other respects, resembles it in its winter plumage. 
 
 Though so different from the Whinchat in pattern, this species resembles it 
 greatly in form and in its habits ; it frequents similar localities — wild heathery 
 moorland, gorse-clad commons, uncultivated broken ground, dotted with bush and 
 bramble, with here and there loose stones, or bedded rocks moss-grown and 
 venerable : in such haunts the Whinchat breeds, and there he may be seen poised 
 on the topmost spray of the flowering furze with ever restless tail, anon darting 
 from bush to bush with undulating flight, or hovering mothlike to seize some 
 
 Vol. I. ' ■ H 
 
38 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 fluttering insect. All attempts of the stranger to investigate its family concerns 
 are met by the Stonechat with alarm and resentment ; to anyone seeking the nest 
 it is most confusing to hear the two parent birds chacking in different places, 
 rarely in the same bush ; the male also from time to time uttering a queer double 
 note, in which he seems to proclaim himself a Wheatear.* 
 
 The nest is frequently placed in some depression of the soil partly or wholly 
 concealed by herbage, below a furze-bush, or shrub ; so that one may look beneath 
 the very cover where it is situated, and not perceive it ; it is always on the 
 ground: its construction is loose, but tolerably neat, dry grass or rootlets and a 
 little moss being used for the outside; finer grass, hair, feathers and sometimes 
 wool, for the lining. 
 
 The eggs vary from four to six in number, and are not unlike those of the 
 Whinchat; but they are greener in tint, and usually much more heavily zoned 
 and spotted with red-brown ; the spotting sometimes covers a much larger area ; 
 but frequently forms a suffused patch on the larger end, or a broad belt near the 
 end ; occasionally it is barely indicated : I once took eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher 
 similarly marked, and which, but for their slightly paler ground-tint, might 
 have been mistaken for eggs of this species. 
 
 The song of the Stonechat is soft, low, irregular but rather pleasant to listen 
 to ; it reminds me somewhat of the first efforts of the Indigo- Bunting of N. 
 America, when that bird is "recording" his song. The call-note, which has 
 nothing to do with his scolding, or complaining notes, is a sharp tsik, tsik, tsik, 
 almost like the sound produced by striking two flints together. 
 
 The Stonechat feeds on insects, their larvae, spiders, small worms, and during 
 the winter on seeds : moths and butterflies it catches on the wing, and I was 
 much interested, on one occasion, in watching it in pursuit of a Vapourer-moth, 
 the circling onward flight of which seemed for some time to bafile it, though 
 success at last rewarded its efforts to seize it. I have seen a House-Sparrow 
 utterly nonplussed by the progressive gyrations of this little moth ; the difficulty 
 of catching it being increased by the fact that, when pursued, it constantly rises 
 higher and higher; in the capture of such a moth only a bird with the agility 
 of a Flycatcher or Wagtail can hope for success. 
 
 The flight of this species is short and undulating, its greatest efforts being 
 made in pursuit of prey : when roosting or hopping, its tail is incessantly in 
 motion : if terrified, this bird seems to prefer concealment to flight, always seeking 
 the densest cover in the immediate neighbourhood, but sometimes revealing its 
 whereabouts by uttering its alarm cry : even when the nest is approached, as already 
 
 * This scolding note is best expressed by the words hweet-jurr, the terminal r having a vibrant sound. 
 
The Stonechat, 39 
 
 hinted, the Stonechat is only seen when flitting from bush to bush, but it is heard 
 incessantly. 
 
 I have only once had an opportunity of studying this species as an aviary 
 bird. Mr. E. P. Staines of Penge, an enthusiastic student of British cage-birds 
 gave me a specimen, at the same time that he also brought me my Whinchat, in 
 September 1893 : I turned it into the same aviary, and although I kept it for 
 over a year, it ultimately lost its life from a similar cause, a Rosa's Parrakeet 
 breaking one of its legs at the mid-tarsal or so-called knee-joint. I caged the 
 bird up separately, after binding the limb up, but it only survived two days. 
 
 In the aviary the Stonechat is gentle and extremly lively ; never quarrelling, 
 but often obtaining a delicacy by superior activity : thus I have seen it seize a 
 spider from under the very bill of a Wagtail and carry it half across the aviary 
 before the larger bird had solved the problem as to how it had disappeared : it 
 was also very expert in catching white butterflies on the wing, though it frequently 
 lost them through getting hold of their wings only. 
 
 The Stonechat took to soft food without hesitation, and, many a time when 
 the other inhabitants of the aviary were waiting for a fresh supply, I have seen 
 him alight on the edge of the Parrakeet's seed-pan and swallow canary and millet : 
 possibl}^ it was in this manner he got in the way of one of these treacherous birds, 
 and so lost his life. Of cockroaches he was inordinately fond, jumping into the 
 beetle-trap and flinging them out, or swallowing the smaller ones at a gulp : 
 sometimes he would snatch out a large female by one leg and fling the body away, 
 following it up and again catching at a second leg with the same action, until he 
 had completely dismembered the body, which would then be swallowed entire : it 
 is astonishing to see what large morsels can be gulped down by these little birds ! 
 
 This bird often sang in the early spring ; but, as in its wild state, its warbling 
 ceased entirely before the end of June : it was fairly tame, but would not actually 
 take an insect from my fingers, always waiting until I dropped it, before attempt- 
 ing to secure it : like all insectivorous birds, it was more keen on spiders than 
 anything else, and the larger they were the better it was pleased. 
 
40 British Brids, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURDIN At. 
 
 The Redstart. 
 
 Ruticilla phcenicurus, LiNN. 
 
 BREEDS tlirougliout Central Europe as far as the North Cape and in the 
 Pine regions of Southern Europe; where, however, it is rarely seen 
 excepting on migration ; in winter it migrates to Northern Africa, the Canaries, 
 Madeira, Senegal, Abyssinia, Arabia and Persia. It is pretty generaly distributed 
 throughout Great Britain, though locally scarce ; its occurrence in the Orkneys 
 and Shetlands and in Ireland is rare, and it is unknown in the Hebrides. 
 
 The male bird in breeding plumage is very attractive, vaguely resembling 
 the Robin in front and the Nightingale at the back. The upper surface is slaty 
 grey, with rufous-brown tips to the feathers; the back of forehead and an 
 irregular line over the eye white ; rump and upper tail-coverts chestnut red ; 
 the two central tail feathers dark brown, the others chestnut red ; wings smoky 
 brown, secondaries with pale buff margins to the outer webs ; base of forehead, 
 face, ear-coverts, chin and throat black ; chest and axillaries chestnut red ; 
 abdomen and flanks tawny buff: bill and feet black, iris brown. The female 
 is altogether duller in colouring without the bright hues on the head and with 
 the under surface paler. Both sexes in autumn have long white fringes to the 
 feathers, giving them a greyish appearance which disappears in the Spring.* 
 Nestlings are spotted both above and below and, but for their redder tails, might 
 be almost mistaken for young Robins. 
 
 The Redstart is a summer visitant to Great Britain usually arriving in 
 April, though its advent is somewhat dependent on the state of the temperature. 
 It goes to nest in May, and in September flits by night to its winter quarters. 
 
 The favourite haunts of this species are ivy-grown rocks and ruins ; old 
 walls round gardens and orchards ; plantations ; shrubberies ; scattered open wood- 
 land with ancient timber ; groves of birch ; wild commons, on poor and rocky 
 ground strewn with bramble and brake. I first met with it in the Stockbury 
 
 ♦ It is usually supposed, that when the plumage of birds alters in the spring, it is done by casting the 
 pale or dull tips; but, judging from birds of various species which have died in the middle of their tarnsfor- 
 mation, I feel certain that in many cases the colouring grows in the feathers themselves. I have a Redstart 
 before me in which the long fringes are partly buff and partly white, whilst the throat feathers are black 
 excepting at the extreme tips. 
 
I 
 
 Redstart 
 
The Redstart. <i 
 
 valley in Kent : I was examining a tall roadside hawthorn hedge for nests, when 
 suddenly a small bird appeared, out of the field at the back, right in the centre 
 of an open part of the hedge its tail quivering laterally, with a remarkable 
 springy action quite new to me: at first I wondered what this lovely little 
 creature could be; and then, suddenly, its identity with the Redstart revealed it- 
 self, and the next minute it turned and flitted away. The flight is irregular, 
 jerky and not specially rapid, excepting when the bird is either startled or in 
 pursuit of prey ; in the latter case I know of no bird of its size which can equal 
 it in activity, or in its power of doubling; the same may also be said of the 
 male bird, when in pursuit of another of its own sex. 
 
 The food of the Redstart consists of insects and their larvas, spiders, 
 centipedes and, towards autumn, of unripe com and small fruits: most of its 
 prey is captured in the air and no insect pursued by it has the least chance of 
 escaping : it will stop in midflight and poise itself, fluttering in one spot whilst 
 it seizes a sun-fly ; or, with equal ease, it will follow the wild zigzag wanderings 
 of the small white butterfly : in pursuit of spiders, it will rise up and down, like 
 the Humming-bird moth, before old moss-grown walls, searching every crevice 
 for the lurking victims ; an unwary centipede, projecting its head in a tentative 
 manner from behind a fragment of loosened bark, or running hurriedly from the 
 shelter of one boulder to another, is snatched up in a second and devoured ; if a 
 small green caterpillar crosses a woodland path, the Redstart darts obliquely 
 down as though hurled from a catapult, alights for one second with quivering 
 expanded tail, and seizing its victim gives it a bang or two and swallows it. If, 
 however, the caterpillar is a large one, the bird either remains on the earth until 
 it has knocked it to a pulp, or carries it to a branch and there, holding it by 
 the head, strikes it backwards and forwards across its perch : gnats and flies are 
 caught and swallowed on the wing. 
 
 It has been said that the action of the Redstart's tail is vertical, not lateral ; /i^ f/^^v^fid, 
 
 but certainly to my eye it is lateral and not vertical, and I have watched it in C^'/jU^ iixe.ZtA^ 
 an avairy for an hour at a time : the action bears no resemblance whatever to 
 that of either the Whinchat or Stonechat, but consists of a sudden lateral 
 springiness with a slight expansion of the feathers. I repeatedly called the attention 
 of others to this abnormal tail-movement and everyone who saw it agreed with 
 me that it was a vibrant wag. When the bird is at rest on a branch, every 
 thought of the little creature seems to be emphasized by a jerk, or an expansion 
 of the feathers. 
 
 Nidification commences early in May, the site being just such as a Robin 
 would select ; a hole in a tree or wall, but sometimes a hollow gate post, or a 
 
42 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 flower pot is chosen : it is usually not far from the ground. The nest itself is 
 externally carelessly constructed of dry grass, rootlets, moss and sometimes a 
 little wool, the interior being carefully lined with hair and feathers : the number 
 of eggs varies from five to eight, though rarely exceeding six; in colour they 
 much resemble those of the Hedge Accentor, but are slightly paler and more 
 glossy. 
 
 Although the Redstart usually builds in holes and under cover, instances 
 have been recorded of its forming its nest in an exposed situation; thus in the 
 "Zoologist" for 1888, pp. 352-3, Rev. H. A. Macpherson says: — 
 
 "In June last, Mr. Bell of Liddle Bank, Dumfriesshire, an enthusiastic field 
 naturalist, was kind enough to ask my friend Mr. Baily and myself to spend a 
 couple of days in bird'snesting with him on the Liddell. I was detained at home, 
 but Mr. Baily went, and on his return reported the find of a Redstart's nest 
 built into an old nest of a Song- Thrush. There was no doubt about the owner- 
 ship of the nest, for the hen bird was seen sitting on the eggs, two of which 
 were taken." 
 
 "The Thrush's nest measures about four inches across, and that of the Red- 
 start two inches and one fifth inside measurement : the former was placed in a 
 thorn bush, and was, therefore, open to the sky, though well concealed by 
 branches above. I have seen a good many Redstarts' nests, but I can only recall 
 one instance in my own experience in which a nest of R. phmnicurus, has been 
 open to the sky. The nest in question was placed in a thick bush, and was 
 surrounded by thickets." 
 
 The song of the Redstart is uttered either on the wing, or when perching ; 
 it is both insignificant and monotonous, somewhat resembling that of the Wren, 
 though much more feeble ; its call-note is wheet-tit-tit and its note of alarm a 
 melancholy wheel: when courting, like some other species, it records its song; 
 that is to say, it sings it in a whisper, omitting the louder notes. 
 
 As an aviary bird, I have found the Redstart especially pleasing; it is quite 
 hardy, provided that plenty of insects can be supplied daily, it rapidly becomes 
 very tame and confiding, and is a most ornamental addition to one's feathered 
 family. 
 
 In September, 1893, Mr. Staines brought me a healthy example, which I 
 turned out with the Stonechat and Whinchat into one of my unheated aviaries, 
 disregarding utterly the reputed extreme delicacy of this species. That winter 
 the thermometer on several occasions registered ten or twelve degrees of 
 frost, nevertheless the Redstart was not in the least disturbed by the cold, 
 but seemed quite at home and happy. Every morning I put a "Demon 
 
The Redstart. 49 
 
 beetle trap" into the aviary, and the Redstart was the first bird to rush in among 
 the evil-smelling captives, seize one and fly off with it : no sooner was the first 
 swallowed than he was back again for another, and so on until he was sated : 
 he was always actively flying about, and when I put in the saucer of soft food he 
 invariably skimmed over it snatching up a fragment of yolk of egg, whilst the 
 saucer was still in my hand. If I offered mealworms or spiders in my fingers it 
 was always the Redstart who snatched the first, flying up to the wires and either 
 poising with rapidly fluttering wings, almost like a Humming-bird, or clutching 
 the wire work with his claws for one second, to ensure a correct aim at the 
 dainty. 
 
 I found the Redstart rather fond of red and white currants in the early 
 summer, and in the autumn thin slices of apple were pecked to pieces by it ; but 
 white butterflies seemed to form its favourite morsels and the astounding manner 
 in which it would swallow one after another (wings and all) was worth the 
 attention of visitors to my collection. One thing I specially noted ; in common 
 with every migratory species which I have kept, the Redstart failed to show any 
 access of restlessness as the season of migration approached. Personally I do not 
 believe, for a moment, that any bird, properly attended to in the matter of food, 
 in an aviary, is even aware that there is a season of migration. 
 
 Aviculturists go at night and glare at their birds, with the moon lighting 
 up their eyes into balls of fire, and the frightened creatures bang about recklessly 
 in their terror of the vague monster near their cages. The verdict is: — "See 
 the effect of the migratory instinct!" There may possibly be an inherited desire 
 in some birds to travel at the approach of cold weather, but the true explanation 
 of the so-called "migratory instinct" in birds is, to most of them, merely another 
 name for short commons ; and, to the more delicate species, the added discomfort 
 of chilly nights. It must also be borne in mind that, at all seasons of the year, 
 birds in aviaries are extremely restless on bright moonlight nights, the clear 
 white light with the black shadows which accompany it, seem to startle birds ; 
 and, if your bedroom window is above an aviary, you will hear your captives 
 thumping the wirework at the end of each flight, at all hours of the night: 
 moreover the resident birds are quite as much given to this somewhat risky 
 exercise as the migratory species. 
 
 During the winter of 1894-5 the temperature of my unheated aviaries was 
 unusually low; on one night (when the cold outside was very intense, two 
 degrees below zero, in fact) the thermometer registered twenty-one degrees of 
 frost in the passage between these aviaries ; my Redstart, however, was as lively 
 as before, and I hoped to keep him for many years in health ; but one night, 
 
44 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 during his spring change of plumage, he crept into a log-nest and died : I am 
 afraid that, in spite of abundant insect food, the cold of that winter was rather 
 too much for him; yet he was bright and active to the last day of his life, 
 showing no symptoms of distressed breathing, or any other signs of impending 
 dissolution. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURD IN/E. 
 
 The Black Redstart. 
 
 Ruticilla titys, ScOP. 
 
 RESPECTING the geographical distribution of the Black Redstart, Seebohm 
 writes: — "In the south it extends from Portugal through Algeria to 
 Palestine. Northwards its range becomes more restricted, and apparently does not 
 extend east of the valleys of the Dneister and the Vistula or north of Holstein. 
 In autumn stragglers have been known to occur in West Russia, Scandinavia, the 
 north of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Faroes (on the authority of Captain 
 Feilden), and even, it is said, as far as Iceland. North of the Alps it is for the 
 most part a migratory bird, though a few are known to frequent situations where 
 open water is to be found during the winter. South of the Alps it is found 
 throughout the year, its numbers being increased during winter, its range at that 
 season extending as far south as Nubia." "As the Black Redstart very rarely 
 occurs in Norfolk, and has not been recorded from the Lincolnshire coast, it 
 seems probable that the birds which visit our islands come from Holland, where 
 it is exceedingly common, and follow the coast, choosing the shortest passage 
 across the Channel." 
 
 This is an autumn and winter visitant to our southern coasts, being most com- 
 monly met with in Devon and Cornwall ; but whether it really remains to breed 
 with us has been questioned : eggs supposed to belong to this bird have, from 
 
H 
 a: 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 Q 
 uu 
 
 a: 
 
 o 
 < 
 
 CQ 
 
 \ 
 
The Black Redstart. 45 
 
 time to time been obtained in various localities, but in no case have the birds 
 themselves been satisfactorily identified in connection with these eggs : thus an 
 egg, believed by several eminent Ornithologists to be that of the Black Redstart, 
 was passed round at a Meeting of the Zoological Society in 1878, by the Rev. R. 
 P. Barron, M.A. ; he having obtained it with two others in Hertfordshire in 1876. 
 This egg was sent to me for illustration in my "Handbook of British Oology," 
 together with the remains of the nest: Mr. Barron writing respecting it as 
 follows : — 
 
 "The nest, I fear, is not very perfect, having been two years left in its place; 
 it was found in the middle of May, 1876, right inside the hollow trunk of a living 
 elm-tree, at a distance of about seven or eight feet from the ground, in a projecting 
 ledge of the inside wood, and within a few feet of a small lake. There were 
 originally three eggs, of a slightly pinkish tint before being blown ; they had been 
 forsaken; the nest seemed to be lined with hair and hay. You need not, of 
 course, return the egg or nest." 
 
 When I received this egg I was satisfied, from the distinctly unhesitating 
 decision of well-known authorities, that it was a genuine Black Redstart's ; by 
 daylight, it then showed a scarcely perceptible bluish green tinge, which has since 
 entirely faded : looking at it now in conjunction with the remains of the nest, I 
 see no reason why it should not be a white egg of the common Robin. 
 
 With regard to Mr. Stirling's nests, he does indeed note that in one instance 
 the hen was engaged in incubation; but, as he does not appear to have secured 
 her, and all his nests were found in hedges or thorn fencing, the nidification of 
 this species in Great Britain must still remain unproved, so far as his observations 
 are concerned. His account however is worth quoting:— ("Birds of Sherwood 
 Forest," pp. 67, 68) "My first acquaintance with it was the discovery, on May 
 17th, 1854, of a nest in a thorn hedge by the side of the road leading from 
 Ollerton to Edwinstowe. It was placed about four and a half feet from the 
 ground, and was constructed of dry bents, intermingled with a little moss, and 
 lined with hair. When I found it, it contained four eggs ; had it remained 
 undisturbed, I have no doubt they would have increased to the usual number of 
 six, as the female was on the nest. As it was, I appropriated them as a valuable 
 addition to my collection. This, however, was not a solitary instance, for two 
 years later, on May i8th, 1856, another nest was taken from the same hedge, 
 near the place from which I had taken the previous one ; it contained one egg, 
 which was brought by the finder to me. A third nest was taken the next day at 
 Ollerton; it was placed in the side of a cattle hovel, amongst the thorns with 
 which the upright framework was interlaced, and was constructed of dry grass 
 
 Vol. I. I 
 
46 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 only, and lined, as were the others with hair. 
 
 The second nest had moss mixed with the grass, like the first." 
 
 I have eggs of the Yellow-Hammer which might easily be mistaken for 
 those of the Black Redstart; they are small for the species, being evidently 
 deposited by a young bird, and are pure white. Unless the female was distinctly 
 identified on the nest before she slipped away, it is possible that she may have 
 belonged to quite another species : white eggs occur now and again with many 
 birds, and it is probable that the same hen would lay white eggs year after year. 
 
 The Black Redstart in breeding plumage has the upper parts slate-greyish, 
 the rump and upper tail-coverts chestnut ; wings brown, with the secondaries 
 broadly bordered with white on their outer webs ; tail chestnut, with the two 
 central feathers brown ; forehead, face, chin, throat, breast, axillaries and under 
 wing coverts black; belly and flanks buff; bill black, feet blackish, iris brown. 
 
 The female is much diiller than the male, being smoky brown above and 
 slightly paler below, the white margins to the secondaries sordid, the chestnut of 
 rump and tail suffused with brownish. Nestlings are spotted above and below, 
 but as soon as they acquire their adult plumage they resemble the female ; their 
 full colouring not being attained until the second year. 
 
 In its habits the Black Redstart is very like the Robin, but especially in its 
 frequent characteristic stoop, accompanied by an upward jerk of the tail, and its 
 alarm note tek, tek, iek. It appears to court the neighbourhood of mankind, 
 frequenting farmyards, orchards and gardens ; and, as recorded by Howard 
 Saunders, "Even in London one frequented the grounds of the Natural History 
 Museum, South Kensington, from November 1885 until the snow-fall of January 
 6th, 1886." 
 
 The nest of the Black Redstart is usually placed, like that of the commoner 
 species, in holes in walls or clefts of rocks, but at other times on rafters in sheds 
 and outhouses, or niches and shelves in old castles or summer houses. No 
 particular effort is made to conceal it. The structure itself is externally rough 
 and loose, like that of the Robin ; being composed of twigs, bents, rootlets and 
 moss ; the lining is neat and well rounded, of hair and sometimes feathers and 
 cobwebs. The eggs number from four to seven, but usually five ; they are as a 
 rule pure glossy white, occasionally with a faint bluish tinge and more rarely still 
 slightly brownish or minutely speckled at the larger end with brown. 
 
 Now, although my &gg, when exhibited, was at once pronounced that of the 
 Black Redstart, it was, unfortunately, found in a nest built in a hollow tree, 
 and it is believed that this species seldom, if ever, builds in such a situation. 
 On the other hand there is no reason why some of the considerable numbers 
 
The Black Redstart. 4% 
 
 of this species which visit Great Britain when on migration should not remain 
 to breed with us. 
 
 John Cordeaux, in the "Zoologist" for 1893, states that this species is a 
 very frequent visitor at Flamborough Head ; both in spring and autumn : in 
 1 89 1, he says, they came in battalions, first some on April 6th and again a 
 great rush on May loth and nth, scores of fine males being seen in hedges 
 and gardens. Then again, in the volume of the same publication for 1894, G. 
 W. Bradshaw records the fact that a male was shot at Ninfield near Bexhill, 
 on April loth. 
 
 It, therefore, seems far from improbable that the discovery of the nest by a 
 lady in Dumfriesshire in 1889, an account of which was published in the 
 "Zoologist" for 1890 by Mr. O. Hammond, was genuine; he says: — 
 
 "A lady, a near neighbour of mine, who is fond of observing birds, tells me 
 that about the 1 2th of June last year, she found a nest of the . Black Redstart 
 about half a mile from Maxwelton, in Dumfriesshire. The nest was in a stone 
 "dyke" (wall), by the side of a road on a high hill, called "Crossford." The 
 young were hatched. She tells me that she often went to watch the birds, both 
 with a field glass and without one ; that they let her get very near, that she is 
 certain of their identity, and that they were Black, and not Common, Redstarts." ' 
 
 The food of this species consists of insects and their larvae, spiders, small 
 Crustacea, and occasionally of small garden fruits : winged insects it captures in 
 the air, after the manner of the commoner species, beetles, larvae and spiders it 
 seeks for on the earth, especially on ground which has been newly turned up. 
 
 In captivity the usual soft food, with the addition of cockroaches, spiders, 
 mealworms, or wireworms, will sufl&ce ; but most small insects will be acceptable. 
 
 The song of this bird is simple, but the few notes are full and rich : it is 
 therefore not suprising, seeing how handsomely it is coloured, that it should 
 sometimes be kept in cage and aviary. 
 
 Although not infrequently exhibited at the bird-show of the "Omis" 
 Society in Berlin, the Black Redstart seems to have rarely put in an appearance 
 at an English exhibition : I have, however, seen it at the Crystal Palace Show. 
 
 I can say nothing experimentally of this species : doubtless it would be easy 
 to keep, and would make an engaging pet: but it ought to be turned loose in 
 an aviary. Small insectivorous birds, when permanently kept in cages, rarely 
 sing and usually die of apoplexy; at least that is my experience, excepting 
 in the case of the Skylark, Woodlark, Nightingale, and sometimes the Robin: 
 the last mentioned generally singing more or less, even when caged, but rarely 
 living long in close captivity. 
 
 I 
 
48 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 So long as any part of your domain is infested with cockroaches, you need 
 never question tlie practicability of keeping Redstarts alive, no matter whetlier 
 your aviary be warmed or unheated ; if you can give them their daily beetle trap 
 to forage in. Redstarts will live ; but, if possible, extreme frosts should be avoided. 
 
 Family— TURD ID ^. Subfamily— TURDIN^. 
 
 The Red-Spotted Bluethroat. 
 
 • Cyanecula suecica, Linn. 
 
 ALSO known as the "Arctic Blue-throated Robin"; it is an occasional 
 straggler to Great Britain, but chiefly to the southern and eastern coasts 
 in autumn and spring; it has, however, been recorded from Scotland.* Seebohm 
 gfives the following account of its distribution : — 
 
 "The Arctic Blue-throat breeds within the Arctic circle, or in the birch-regions 
 at high elevations of more southerly climes, both in Europe and Asia; in the 
 latter continent it breeds as far south as the Himalayas, and occasionally crosses 
 Behring's Straits into Alaska. The European birds pass through Central and 
 Southern Europe and Palestine on migration, and winter in North Africa as far 
 south as Abyssinia; whilst the Asiatic birds, with the exception of those individ- 
 uals breeding at high elevations in the south, pass through Turkestan, Mongolia, 
 and North China, and winter in Baluchistan, India and Celyon, Burma, the 
 Andaman Islands, and South China." 
 
 The male Bluethroat in breeding plumage has the upper surface brown ; the 
 tail-coverts chestnut, the two central tail feathers dark brown, the remainder with 
 the basal half chestnut and the outer half dark brown; a white or pale buff 
 superciliary stripe from the base of the upper mandible to some distance behind 
 
 * About sixteen or seventeen instances of its occurrence had been recorded up to 1877, but in September 
 1883, considerable numbers where observed on the eastern coast (chiefly in Norfolk) and a still greater number in 
 1884. 
 
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The Red-Spotted Bluethroat. 49 
 
 the eye ; the cheeks, chin, throat and gorget glossy cobalt blue, centred with 
 chestnut, bordered with black, and then on the chest again bounded by a belt of 
 chestnut ; remainder of under parts huffish white ; the wing coverts and axillaries 
 yellower; bill black, feet brown, iris brown. 
 
 The female is much duller, showing none of the blue or chestnut colouring 
 of the male until old, when she sometimes more nearly resembles him in hues ; 
 the band across her chest is dark brown. 
 
 In the autumn much of the bright colouring is lost, the new feathers being 
 broadly fringed with grey, but in the spring this bordering disappears. 
 
 Young males resemble the female ; but nestlings are streaked with blackish, 
 and, excepting in the chestnut base to the tail, are not unlike young Robins. 
 
 In its habits this species much resembles the Redbreast ; in Heligoland it is 
 said to frequent potato-fields in the autumn, but in the spring to haunt the 
 gooseberry and currant-bushes in gardens, or beds planted thickly with cabbages, 
 just beginning to throw out fresh sprouts. In the north however it is essentially 
 a marsh-loving bird. 
 
 The Rev. H. H. Slater in his " Field notes in Norway " (Zoologist 1883) 
 says of the Bluethroat: — "Very plentiful on the Dovre Fjeld. At Fokstuen I 
 might have shot twenty males any day, but the females were great skulkers, and 
 seldom showed themselves. The note of this bird is remarkably varied, but may 
 be recognized by the metallic ' ting ting ' with which it usually commences its 
 warble, which is just like a couple of strokes on a small high-toned triangle. It 
 also has a peculiar hurried way of singing, as if it were anxious to get to the 
 end of its song as soon as possible. At Hjerkiem it was very common also, both 
 in the birch scrub and even in the dwarf willow and juniper scrub above the 
 birch limit on the fells. I found a nest here with eight eggs, and sat down by 
 it to blow one of • them. The old birds at once came up and hovered angrily 
 round me, often within a yard of me, though the eggs were not at all incubated, 
 the female also quite forgetting her usual anxiety for concealment. Not only 
 they, biit every other Bluethroat within hearing of this excited couple, hurried up 
 also, until I must have had about a dozen scolding within ten yards of me at 
 once ; the moment I rose, however, they all vanished, like Roderick Dhu's 
 warriors, 'where they stood.' The nest was made of the finest grasses, and 
 placed in an open space in the birch wood, under a branch of trailing juniper." 
 
 The Bluethroat being, as already noted, an inhabitant of marshy land, it 
 usually constructs its nest either in some chance cavity in the side of one of the 
 many mounds or hummocks which abound on the irregular fjelds of Lapland and 
 the tundras of Siberia, or in the more swampy parts of the forest. Naturally it 
 
 Vol. I. ' K 
 
so British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 is not easily discovered, unless by chance the incubating female is flushed from 
 her eggs. 
 
 The nest itself is of loose construction, fashioned somewhat like that of the 
 Robin, the materials used being mostly dried grass and rootlets, the cup being 
 neatly lined with hair: the five to eight eggs have a greenish ground tint and 
 are finely speckled and marbled with rufous-brown. 
 
 The food of this bird consists of small worms, centipedes, spiders, insects and 
 their larvae and small seeds of weeds ; the young are fed very largely upon mos- 
 quitoes, which the parents capture on the wing, after the manner of Flycatchers. 
 
 Seebohm gives the following full account of its song : — " On its first arrival 
 it often warbles in an undertone so low, that you fancy the sound must be 
 mufiled by the thick tangle of branches in which you think the bird is concealed, 
 whilst all the time he is perched on high upon the topmost spray of a young fir, 
 his very conspicuousness causing him to escape detection for the moment. His 
 first attempts at singing are harsh and grating, like the notes of the Sedge- Warbler, 
 or the still harsher ones of the Whitethroat ; these are followed by several 
 variations in a louder and rather more melodious tone, repeated over and over 
 again, somewhat in the fashion of a Song- Thrush. After this you might fancy 
 the little songster was trying to mimic the various alarm-notes of all the birds he 
 can remember ; the chiz-zit of the Wagtail, the tip-tip-tip of the Blackbird, and 
 especially the whit-whit of the Chaffinch. As he improves in voice, he sings 
 louder and longer, until at last he almost approaches the Nightingale in the 
 richness of the melody that he pours forth. Sometimes he will sing as he flies 
 upwards, descending with expanded wings and tail to alight on the highest bough 
 of some low tree, almost exactly as the Tree-Pipit does in the meadows of our 
 own land. When the females have arrived there comes at the end of his song 
 the most metallic notes I have ever heard a bird utter. It is a sort of tinfr-tinsi, 
 resembling the sound produced by striking a suspended bar of steel with another 
 piece of the same metal." 
 
 It is curious that the Rev. H. H. Slater should have stated that the Blue- 
 throat ^''commences'''' its song with the same metallic ting-ting; because, judging 
 from the few birds I have kept which uttered metallic sounds, I should have 
 expected the latter, and not Seebohm's version, to be the case. 
 
 Gatke in his " Birds of Heligoland" observes : — " One would hardly believe that 
 the home of so lovely a creature as the Bluethroat extended so far north as the 
 coast of the Polar Sea, particularly as its beautiful azure blue and rusty orange dress 
 gives one the impression of its being a native of tropical latitudes. As a matter 
 of fact, its life is divided between its Arctic nesting stations and its winter quarters, 
 
The Red-Spotted Bluethroat. 51 
 
 which extend to the hot regions of central Africa and southern Asia. 
 
 The migratory flights of this little bird between regions so widely separated 
 have furnished the most interesting material towards a final solution of a 
 hitherto open question, viz: What is the greatest speed attainable by a bird 
 during its migration flight? and have yielded the astonishing result of one 
 hundred and eighty geographical miles per hour."* 
 
 Why one hardly ever sees this lovely bird in captivityt is a puzzle which 
 I have never been able to solve ; not only are its plumage and song admitted 
 to be well-nigh perfect, but it is itself naturally tame and confiding : Gatke 
 says, for instance : — " If, during one's garden occupations, one pays no special 
 attention to the bird, or pretends not to notice it, it will for hours long hop 
 around near one, at twenty, fifteen, or even a less number of paces oif, some- 
 times in rapid, sometimes in more measured leaps, catching insects the while ; 
 at each of its many pauses it gives a jerk with its tail, which it has raised 
 above its wings, and looks around with clear, dark eyes. If, however, it 
 becomes aware of being watched, it vanishes swift as lightning, in long bounds, 
 under some shrubs or among some bushes, only, however, after a few moments, 
 to again make its appearance as simple-hearted as before." 
 
 As regards the practicability of securing plenty of examples of this species, 
 Gatke says: — "I remember one occasion, in May, 1845 '^^ 1846, when there 
 were some sixty of the most beautiful male birds of this species, all picked 
 specimens, lying on a large flat dish in my cellar ; and I might easily have 
 doubled that number had I accepted all that were offered me on the same 
 day. Aeuckens obtained nearly as many, all these birds having been caught 
 by boys, in nets." 
 
 There is therefore not the least reason why this bird should not be as 
 readily procurable, and when reconciled to captivity, make as delightful an 
 aviary pet, as the universally beloved Pekin Nightingale fLiothrix luteusj : it 
 ought to be quite as cheaply obtainable ; possibly the White-spotted Bluethroat 
 may be purchasable from the Dutch dealers, but I never saw a specimen of 
 a Bluethroat exposed in the shop of any bird-dealer, either in England or on 
 Ihe Continent. Dr. Gunther, the late keeper of the Zoological Department in 
 the Natural History Museum, informs me that he has had several Bluethroats, 
 but he found them very delicate and diificult to keep alive : this may perhaps 
 be the reason for the rarity of this species in the market. 
 
 * This statement has since been called in question by scientific Ornithologists. 
 
 t An example of the Dutch race was exhibited at the Crjstal Palace in Febniarj- 1896 : it was somewhat 
 knocked about ; possibly freshly imported. 
 
 r 
 
52 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The Bluethroat is sometimes obtainable, for I know of two aviculturists 
 who have kept it ; Mr. Abrahams says that it has never come into his hands, 
 but Mr. Dresser informs me that he has seen it offered for sale in the market 
 of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. , Subfamily— TURDIN^. 
 
 The Redbreast. 
 
 Erithacus riibccula, LiNN. 
 
 THE Robin breeds throughout Europe northwards to the Arctic circle, east- 
 wards across Russia to the Ural Mountains, southwards to the south of 
 Spain, the west of Northern Africa, the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores. In 
 autumn it migrates southwards to Southern Europe, the Sahara, Egypt, Palestine, 
 Asia Minor, N.W. Turkestan and Persia. In Great Britain it is generally dis- 
 tributed ; it has not however, hitherto, been known to breed in the Shetlands. 
 
 Although called Redbreast the breast is rather tawny sienna than red. The 
 adult male has the upper parts olivaceous brown, slightly more ruddy on the 
 crown; outer wing-coverts with the tip of the outer web buff; primaries dark 
 ashy grey, with brownish outer webs, secondaries narrowly tipped with whitish ; 
 a frontal band, the lores, ear-coverts, chin, throat, and breast tawny sienna, or 
 orange chestnut ; belly pure white ; flanks and under tail-coverts sandy brownish 
 shading off into huffish white ; tail below ashy : bill black, feet brown, iris almost 
 black. 
 
 The female has the frontal band, lores, and chin more smoky, and the 
 throat of a duller, more sand}^ hue excepting at the sides ; the crown of the 
 head and the bill are also broader than in the male. 
 
 Nestlings have all the small feathers of the upper and under surfaces 
 spotted in the centre with buff and tipped with blackish ; but birds of the year 
 differ but little from their parents excepting that their colours are a little paler. 
 
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The Redbreast. 
 
 53 
 
 The habits of this most confiding and familiar little favourite are pretty- 
 generally known to bird lovers ; it is fond of haunting the homes of mankind, 
 but more especially in the winter-time, when it thereby has a chance of 
 appeasing the pangs of hunger ; but many^ pairs remain to breed in holes 
 and corners of garden, orchard or outhouse, and therefore are occasionally seen 
 about one's premises almost throvighout the year. It would appear that at 
 the pairing season each male Robin claims, and defends against all intruders of 
 his own species, an area sufficiently large to provide food for his expected family, 
 and many are the battles which are fought, even to the death, in the early spring. 
 
 In the winter if you care to try the experiment of putting out a trap 
 baited with a lively mealworm, you may catch Robin after Robin without 
 difficulty ; but, in the spring, should you have a nest in your garden, you 
 will see one pair only ; should a stranger appear, he is chased and attacked 
 immediately ; woe be to him if he be the weaker bird, for even his death 
 will not appease the rage of his opponent ; mutilation alone being satisfactory 
 to his vengeful eye. 
 
 The only time at which we miss the Redbreast about our homes is during 
 the moulting season ; for then it retires to the seclusion of the woods and 
 coverts of the country to change its clothing ; but no sooner has it donned 
 its bright winter dress than it is with us again. At this season when we 
 gladly welcome the reappearance of our trustful little friend, and delight, when 
 gardening, to watch it impudently hopping about within a foot of our spade, 
 or even for the nonce alighting on it to peep into the earth we have just 
 turned over,* the Latin races are capturing this charming bird in myriads and 
 slaughtering them for food. 
 
 Excepting when on migration the Robin rarely flies high or for great 
 distances. The flight itself is widely undulatory ; the moment it alights and 
 every half minute or so subsequently if it should have settled on a branch, 
 it goes through a spasmodic little stooping action accompanied by a lowering 
 of the head, flip of the wings and an upward jerk of the tail : on the earth 
 it proceeds by long hops, with a pause and the characteristic epileptic stoop 
 after every few hops. 
 
 The building site of this bird varies almost endlessly, fany hollow into 
 
 •When digging one day in my garden a Robin hopped between my feet alighting on the top of mj' spade, 
 from which, a moment before, I had removed my foot, and there it sat peeping into the hole and then glancing 
 sideways up in mj' face as if asking me to continue to turn over the earth; a feat which I could not accom- 
 plish without disturbing the bird. 
 
 t Mr. Frohawk writes that a pair of Robins built on the bend of a gutter pipe to his house in 1894 and 
 1895, at a height of 20 feet from the ground : the pipe was slightly concealed by a few entangled sprays of 
 Ampelopsis Veitchii : the situation was identical each year. 
 
54 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 which it can stuff its nest seems to be welcome ; if built near the habitation 
 of man, it may be placed in a corner of an outhouse, or a ledge in a dust- 
 bin, in a watering-pot hanging on a nail, a quart pot hanging on a fence, 
 a flower pot in a shed, in ivy on the house wall, in creepers on a fence, 
 in the side of a bean-stack or pile of brush-wood : in all which situations I 
 have found it ; in the country an old teapot flung into a plantation may be 
 chosen, or a slight depression in the ground below a tree or ivy-covered 
 stump, a cranny in a rock or a deserted chalk- or sand-pit, or a hole in a 
 grassy bank : but the Robin's favourite nesting-site is at the side of a wide 
 public road bounded on either hand by a wood, from which a sloping 
 irregular bank partly covered with ivy and bramble descends to the thorough- 
 fare : during the frosts of winter or during heavy rains a large flint or 
 a fragment of rock is dislodged and rolls into the road leaving a hollow 
 partly overhung by ivy or fern : such a site is tolerably certain to be occupied 
 the following spring, and each succeeding year, by a pair of Redbreasts. 
 
 I believe that of the many Robins which nest in our gardens and houses, 
 not one pair in twenty has the pleasure of seeing its young leave the nest ; 
 nearly the whole of them fall victims to cats. As to the cat not eating Robins, 
 that I have proved to be the wildest fiction; a mere rustic legend, no more 
 true to fact than the reputed poisonous qualities of the slow-worm and newt. 
 
 The nest of this bird, when placed in holes, is a loosely built structure, 
 but is more compactly formed when situated in ivy or creepers ; the outer 
 walls are made of fine roots, bast, or coarse dry grass, bents, and sometimes 
 a few dead oak leaves intertwined with hair and moss ; the cup is neatly lined 
 with fine grasses, fibre and hair : when built in holes moss is largely used 
 and when placed in ivy the front wall is largely covered with dead oak leaves, 
 giving it somewhat the appearance of a Nightingale's nest. 
 
 The eggs vary in number from four to seven, but there are rarely less 
 than five or more than six ; in colour they are usually fleshy white, more or 
 less mottled and spotted with sienna-reddish and red-brown ; sometimes the 
 spotting is weak, and forms a mere rusty nebula at the larger end; occasionally 
 the eggs are pure white. 
 
 The note of anxiety is a sharp tick, tick-a-tck, tek, tek ; but when the 
 young are out of the nest it is sometimes varied by a veritable croak, 
 reminding one of the Nightingale ; a thin plaintive piercing note, a kind of 
 tscet (the same as the distress note) is iisually repeated at intervals for a short 
 time before the bird sings. The song itself is sweet and clear but somewhat 
 plaintive : Henry Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk " thus poetically describes 
 
The Redbreast. 55 
 
 it : — " Clear and sharp it sounds in the fresh morning air, whilst still the 
 hoar frost hangs upon the trees, or glitters on the threads of endless gossamer. 
 The sportsman hears it by the covert side as at midday he rests awhile, and 
 seeks refreshment after all his toils; and later still, as he "homeward plods 
 his wear}- wa}^" that simple note, in some mysterious manner, awakens 
 recollections of the past, when the same sport was shared with dear and 
 absent friends. Again, in the months of September and October, as the day 
 declines and the evening " draws in," how we listen to him in our gardens 
 and shrubberies now chattering his little mandibles as he jerks up and down 
 on some projecting branch, now singing sweetly, or at short intervals waiting 
 for, and answering some neighbouring songster." 
 
 It has been said that the Robin sings best in the autumn and winter, 
 but this is not the case ; the song is best heard when Nature is asleep, yet 
 is quite as charming in the spring, when he carols to his mate as she sits 
 upon her dappled eggs ; yet he often wanders far away at this period and 
 she, disconsolate and hungry, calls to him with her far-reaching melancholy 
 tseet, until he reappears and brings some appetizing morsel to reward her patient 
 toil : for it must not be supposed that Finches alone feed their hens upon the 
 nest, many other birds do the same and often have I seen the Robin do so.* 
 
 The food of the Robin is very varied ; small worms, spiders, centipedes, 
 insects and their larvae forming its staple diet during the open months, but 
 it by no means despises currants and cherries, and during the winter it largely 
 subsists upon berries, probably seeds of weeds, and all kinds of household 
 refuse picked up in the farmyard, or purposely thrown out for him by those 
 who love to see a little bright life about their homes during the desolate 
 months of the year. 
 
 As a cage-bird the Redbreast is a great favourite, but it is almost a sin 
 to confine this trusting little fellow, and it is somewhat risky to turn him 
 out into an aviary ; for, although at various times I have kept Robins which 
 never molested other birds, individuals have been known to prove dangerous 
 companions to less active species. A friend of mine, who turned loose a 
 Robin into his aviary, lost a Bullfinch, Goldfinch, and Linnet in a single night, 
 the Redbreasted little ruffian having drilled a neat hole into the skull of each 
 of them. 
 
 My first experience of Robins in captivity was in the winter of 1886-7, 
 
 • The American Blue-bird is most attentive in this respect, constantly and most unselfishly giviug every 
 insect to his wife, from the time of courtship until the young are hatched. The ordinary call-note of our 
 Robin is a short sharp whistled note. 
 
56 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 when I caught twelve and selected the three brightest for pets, letting the 
 remainder fly. As usual, these birds readily become quite tame, taking worms, 
 insects, &c. from my fingers; indeed one of them did so on the third day 
 after its capture. It soon learned to know me so well that it would follow 
 me from one end of its flight- cage to the other. I used to sit down and 
 watch this bird and I made a note of the number of beats of the wing 
 which were required to take it from one end of its little aviary to the other ; 
 this I could only do accurately by ear, but the number hardly ever varied : 
 I then calculated that, flying in the same manner, the Robin would have to 
 flap its wings 9240 times to cover a mile. Two of these Robins died in the 
 spring, one after eight, and the other after nine months confinement ; the 
 third I gave away to a friend. 
 
 In September, 1887, I again caged two Robins, the first of which became 
 perfectly tame in about a week and would come at my call to take mealworms 
 or earthworms from my fingers ; both died of a pulmonary' complaint in the 
 spring of 1889, I having turned them into an unheated aviary: it thus 
 became clear that after eighteen months of comparative warmth, the Robin is 
 unfit to cope with the severity of an English winter. 
 
 Since then I have had several of these charming little songsters, but I 
 do not think I shall ever keep another ; I always feel that a bird which will 
 of its own free will enter your house and remain for weeks (if you permit 
 it) a willing captive, should not be " cribbed, cabined or confined." One 
 autumn, after allowing a Robin to take possession of a greenhouse for a 
 week, I was finally obliged to drive him out ; on account, not only of the 
 disfigurement of my plants, but of his propensity to dig for worms in the 
 flower-pots. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
/ V '». 
 
 
 /-.^^ 
 
 S!tt^''77^'C^Jt- CT ■ ■ 
 
 Nightingale. 
 
The Nightingale. 
 
 57 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— TURDIN^. 
 
 The Nightingale. 
 
 Daulias luscinia, LlNN. 
 
 HOWARD SAUNDERS gives the following as the geographical distri- 
 bution of this species : — " On the Continent, Northern Germany appears 
 to be the highest authenticated latitude for our Nightingale ; south of which, 
 except where systematically molested by bird-catchers, it is generally distributed 
 throughout Central Europe. In such southern countries as Portugal, Spain, 
 Italy, Greece and Turkey, it is very abundant in suitable localities ; breeding 
 also in North Africa, Palestine and Asia Minor. Its north-eastern limit in 
 Europe appears to be the valley of the Vistula; and in Russia it is confined 
 to the southern provinces." 
 
 The Nightingale visits Great Britain early in April but does not reach the 
 more northern counties until later, it leaves us again in August and September; 
 it has not been known to occur in Ireland, its occurrence in Scotland is doubtful 
 and in East Devon, Shropshire and South Yorkshire it is rare ; its distribution is 
 somewhat local, but in the woods of some of the southern counties it is very 
 abundant. 
 
 The colouring of this species above is russet-brown, the tail-coverts and 
 tail being chestnut reddish. Below it is pale buff, greyish on the breast and 
 flanks and brownish on the axillaries ; under tail-coverts buff, deeper than on 
 the centre of throat and abdomen. Bill brown above, pale horn-colour below ; 
 feet brown ; iris hazel. 
 
 The female has a broader crown and bill than the male, but resembles it 
 in colouring. Nestlings are darker and have most of the feathers above spotted 
 with golden-brown ; below they are barred with greyish-brown. 
 
 The Nightingale is a bird of the woods, its favourite haunts are copses, 
 plantations, shrubberies and all timbered land where trees rise amongst dense and 
 tangled undergrowth ; but open forest is not suited to its somewhat timid and 
 skulking nature. As one wanders on the outskirts of some of the almost 
 
58 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 impenetrable Kentish woods, it is no unusual thing to see this russet coloured 
 songster dart out from the covert, and after an irregular flight of a few yards 
 disappear again amid the thick foliage. 
 
 In its actions the Nightingale resembles the Robin, but it has none of the 
 impudent confidence of that bird ; and, though very pugnacious, it is no match 
 for the Redbreasted bird; of which, indeed, I proved that it stands greatljMU awe : — 
 On one occasion I turned a Nightingale loose in an aviary in which a Robin was 
 flying about and, no sooner did they catch sight of one another, than Bob flew 
 straight for Philomel, who crouched on the grovmd in such abject terror, that I 
 quickly snatched him up to save his life. (It was a male Philomel !) In a state 
 of nature, when scared, the Nightingale always seeks concealment in some tangled 
 cover of bramble, hawthorn, scrambling hone^^suckle or shady evergreen, uttering 
 the while its harsh croak of alarm, and clicking together its mandibles after the 
 fashion of other insectivorous birds. On the rare occasions when one catches a 
 glimpse of it, in some small clearing in wood or shrubbery, seeking for small 
 worms, beetles, or spiders, its behaviour is precisely that of the Robin, the manner 
 in which it jumps and jerks at the worm, and having gulped it down, stands for 
 a moment with head erect and tail slightly raised ; then bobs, flicks its wings 
 and throws up its tail, is in every respect a perfect facsimile of the Redbreast's 
 actions. Like most of the Thrush-tribe the Nightingale turns over dead leaves 
 most industriously in the search for concealed insects. 
 
 Such is my experience of this bird as seen in the Kentish woods ; but Henry 
 Stevenson, speaking of it in Norfolk says : — " Though frequenting the thick 
 cover of our groves and shrubberies, the Nightingale is by no means a shy bird, 
 at least on its first arrival, but sings fearlessh- throughout the da}^ in the most 
 exposed situations. In my own garden, bordered on two sides b}' public roads, I 
 have known one sing at intervals throughout the day, on the yet leafless branches 
 of an almond tree, perfectly indifferent to the voices and footsteps of the passers 
 by ; and on the ist May, 1864, a most exquisite songster stationed himself on a 
 small tree, in Mount Pleasant lane, close to the footpath, where groups of Sunday 
 walkers, both morning and afternoon, stopped to listen to its ' sweet descants,' 
 and probably for the first time in their lives saw, as well as heard, a Nightingale." 
 
 This last sentence chimes in exactly with my belief. It is not often easy to 
 discover the author of sweet Philomel's discourses ; one needs to look long 
 and carefully ; and perchance, at length, one finds that the singer which one 
 has been seeking for in the undergrowth, is perched among the smaller 
 branches of some lofty elm ; not that it always seeks so high a seat ; for, 
 man}' a time, on a hot spring morning I have seen it in full song in a 
 
The Nightingale. 59 
 
 plantation of birch trees grown for hop-poles, and among the briars and rank 
 vegetation at their roots I have often sought and sometimes found its nest. 
 
 The song of the Nightingale surpasses in melody and charm that of any 
 other bird ; it commences usually with a long-drawn plaintive pinvee, phwee, phwee, 
 phwee, repeated from four to six times in succession, and followed by a rapid 
 water-bubble chooka, cJiooka, chooka, chooka, cliooka, chookee, and then perhaps a 
 series of clear notes commencing tooey, too, too, too, tooti, more and more rapidly 
 uttered and increasing in power ; sometimes the song commences with this 
 tooey, yet more often with the complaining note : but, without the bird singing 
 at one's side, it is impossible to remember, much less to do justice to, this 
 brilliant musician ; once heard, it can never be mistaken for anything else ; 
 the Blackcap sometimes strives to copy the melody, and does it fairly well ; 
 but he sings too loud, without the softness of sweet Philomel. On one 
 occasion when out with Mr. Frohawk at twilight, on the skirt of a Kentish 
 wood we heard a Song- Thrush and a Blackbird trying to outdo a Nightin- 
 gale: it was all in vain, all three birds were perfect masters of their art; 
 the Thrush, by introducing part of the song of the Nightingale, much im- 
 proved his own natural performance ; but the Blackbird scorned to copy, he 
 swung out his full flowing phrases in grand style, and when he knew him- 
 self beaten, in a royal rage he charged the tree in which the little russet 
 songster sat, and drove it from its retreat ; but the Nightingale, nothing 
 daunted, perched on a branch of another tree some fifty feet away, and then 
 the concert recommenced : never before or since have I heard any of these 
 three species sing so superbl3\ 
 
 The nest of the Nightingale is usually placed in a hole in the ground, 
 less frequently in the forking base of a pollard partly overhung b}' rank 
 grass and fern-fronds, rarely in bramble or hawthorn, a foot or more above 
 the earth, but in such unusual positions I have only twice found it, its usual 
 site is in a depression at the foot of a tree, pollard, or bramble-bush well 
 concealed by ferns, grasses or other short undergrowth. On several occasions, 
 however, I have found it fully exposed to the sky, among the drifted oak- 
 leaves in a small clearing close to some blind keeper's path : when thus 
 situated, it appears to the casual pedestrian to be merely a round hole among 
 the dead leaves ; but, to the experienced birdsnester, it is fully revealed at 
 a glance. Curiously enough the rustics who, in a desultory fashion, have 
 plundered and destro3'ed nests from their babyhood upwards, invariably over- 
 look all nests which are merely protected by their environment in this fashion, 
 and express the greatest wonder that a townsman should instantl}' recognize 
 
^ British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 as a nest that which they would have passed as a hole in the ground, or 
 a bunch of leaves. 
 
 The structure itself is loosely put together, the cup very deep ; the outer 
 walls composed of coarse dry flattened bents, rushes, or even fine flags, lined 
 with finer bents, root-fibre, and sometimes a little horsehair ; the whole of the 
 outer wall is covered and concealed by dead oak-leaves. The eggs, which 
 number from four to six, are brownish olive ; rarely, with a red-brown zone 
 round the broader extremity. Still more rarely, they are bluish green, mottled 
 with reddish brown, and somewhat resemble eggs of the Bluethroat : but eggs 
 of this type "I have never found, and those with the red-brown zone only 
 twice ; the colouring is doubtless protective, for the typical eggs look at 
 first glance much like oval pebbles at the bottom of a small hole in the 
 earth. 
 
 The call-note is said to be wate, wate, cur-cur; but this always appeared 
 to me to be a note of caution or anger ; the call to the female is either a 
 piercing thin key-whistle like that of the Blackbird and Robin, to which she 
 replies in the same manner, or a soothing tooey to which she does not reply, 
 at least I never heard her ; but perhaps the fact that a human being was in 
 dangerous proximity to her nest, may have made her cautious : the alarm 
 note is a low guttural sort of croak. The song of the Nightingale com- 
 mences soon after his arrival on our coasts and continues until the young 
 are hatched, which is usually in June, after this it is only heard in the 
 evening after the arduous duty of providing for its family is completed for 
 the day. 
 
 As the young birds hear but little of the song which is their greatest 
 gift, during the rearing season, it has been suggested that they may learn it 
 while still in the ^<g^ ; but this idea seems to me far fetched, and most 
 improbable ; at best the unborn chick could barely be capable of appreciating 
 sound for a day or two before hatching : but, what seems to me to clinch 
 the matter, is the fact that, if taken from the nest when eight days old 
 and hand-reared. Nightingales in confinement do not sing a note ; or such 
 is my experience. I think it far more likely that the song is partly 
 learnt when the father is at evensong and most other voices are hushed, for 
 then the Nightingale's melody sounds most impressive ; probably the finishing 
 lessons are given in Africa, during our winter months. 
 
 It has been said that Nightingales do not bear confinement well, yet I have 
 seen individuals which have lived for years in quite small cages ; I remember one 
 which hung against the wall of a house exactly opposite our hotel bedroom 
 
The Nightingale. 6t 
 
 window at Baden-Baden, about the j^ear 1867; we were told that it had been 
 caged for several years, and it sang grandly when we heard it. Many years later 
 I saw one at an inn, at Selling in Kent, which had been caged for about eight 
 years and still sang well. Every year many are exhibited at bird-shows, the 
 same specimens being shown in successive years. I have also known an instance 
 of this species breeding and rearing young in an aviary. 
 
 The spring-caught Nightingales are those which are sold for songsters, those 
 obtained on their autumn migration are said rarely to live ; I have, unhappily, 
 never had a captured Nightingale. In June, 1887, I secured a nest of five birds 
 nine days old, and (following the usual most misleading instructions) I fed them, 
 amongst other things, on finely chopped raw-meat ; consequently they all suffered 
 from violent purging, which carried off" the two strongest. Guessing that the 
 meat was the cause of this disaster, I at once changed their diet, and successfully 
 brought up the three others upon a mixture of four parts pounded dog-biscuit, four 
 parts oat flour, two parts pea-meal, two parts yolk of egg, and one part ants' 
 cocoons, the whole well mingled with water into a moist paste. When about six 
 weeks old, they began to quarrel about trifles, and pull out one another's feathers ; 
 therefore early in August, I placed them in three separate sections of a large 
 aviary-cage with sliding wire divisions, and here they soon recovered their plumage. 
 They were very tame, but, like most birds, objected to being handled ; althoiigh 
 this was frequently necessary, as they used to get their feet clogged with dirt, 
 which they never attempted to remove for themselves. I now changed their diet 
 again ; that upon which I had reared them proving too fattening, now that they 
 were full-grown ; I knocked off" three parts of the oat-flour and one of the pea- 
 meal, substituting finely crumbled dry bread. Curiously enough these Nightingales 
 would persist in sitting in the direct rays of the sun, the result of which was 
 that two of them got heat-apoplexy and lost all interest in everything, appearing 
 as if stuffed, neither moving nor eating. I gave them both a warm bath, after 
 which one of them recovered, but the other died miserably about the end of 
 August. It was said to have warbled a little before its attack, but I doubt it 
 myself. 
 
 My two remaining Nightingales became wonderfully confiding, and would 
 come and pick caterpillars or mealworms out of the palm of my hand, but 
 neither ever sang a note ; one died from a recurrence of sunstroke in Aiigust, 
 1888, and the other (a fine male bird) went off in a decline at the end of the 
 same year. As pets, hand-reared Nightingales are neither so pretty, nor so 
 charming, as Robins; their outline is pleasing, and their full intelligent eyes give 
 them an alert appearance not belied by their sprightly movements; but one wants 
 
 Vol. I. M 
 
6a British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 something more than a russet brown bird which onl}^ croaks or tooeys; a Nightin- 
 gale which sings is a joy for ever, but a silent Nightingale is a fraud. 
 
 There are very few birds which sing their natural song when hand-reared, 
 and the Nightingale is not one of them : whether the Robin is, I do not know ; 
 I tried to rear a nest of these once, but foolishl}' gave them some chopped raw 
 meat, which killed the entire half dozen in one day. The best mixture for 
 successfull}' rearing all soft-food birds is as follows : — Four parts ants' cocoons, 
 three parts yolk of ^^^, one part dry bread-crumbs ; the whole mixed veiy^ moist 
 at first, but given dryer as the birds get older : the j'oung of Butcher-birds, 
 Crows, &c., should have raw meat also, because flesh is to them a natural article 
 of food. 
 
 This species concludes the Thrush-like birds. {Turdina;). 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— S YL VIINAi. 
 
 The Whitethroat. 
 
 Sylvia cinerea, Bechst. 
 
 BREEDS abundantly in Scandinavia and Western Russia as far north as lat. 
 65°, and in the Ural Mountains up to lat. 60°, southwards throughout 
 Europe to the Mediterranean. It winters in the Canaries and Northern Africa, 
 passing through N.E. Africa on migration and extending its wanderings down 
 the west coast to Damaraland. Eastwards it occurs in Asia Minor, where it is 
 abimdant in the nesting-season, in Palestine where it is partly resident, in Persia, 
 Turkestan, and south-west Siberia. 
 
 In Great Britain it is very common and generally distributed, being most 
 rare in the extreme north of Scotland, and unrecorded from the Outer Hebrides. 
 
 The adult male in breeding plumage has the head, neck and upper tail- 
 
< 
 
 O 
 
 cc 
 
 X 
 H 
 UJ 
 H 
 
 ^ 
 
I 
 
 The Whitethroat. 63 
 
 coverts smoky grey, the remainder of the upper parts greyish brown, deepest on 
 wings and tail, the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries broadly margined with 
 rufous ; the outer tail-feathers paler than the remainder, broadly bordered and 
 tipped with white. Under surface white, shaded on the breast with vinous-buff 
 and on the flanks with buff; under wing-coverts and axillaries smoky grey: bill 
 dark brown, the lower mandible paler, feet pale brown, iris hazel. The female 
 differs in the absence of the grey head and upper tail-coverts, and vinous breast. 
 After its autumn moult the male resembles the female. Young birds are more 
 rufous brown. 
 
 The Whitethroat reaches us about the second week in April, though in mild 
 seasons I have met with it earlier ; it takes its departure early in September. It 
 is essentially a bird of the thicket, hedgerow, shrubbery or garden : in open spots 
 overrun with blackberry, honeysuckle, stunted hawthorn, long rank grass and 
 nettles you are almost certain to hear its cheerful little song or its harsh alarm 
 note. Though rarely met with in dense woods, it abounds in those narrow strips 
 of wood known in Kent by the names of shaws and shaves; yet in lanes, and 
 little frequented country roads where the hedges are untrimmed, and fringed at 
 the bottoms with nettle and goose-grass, the Whitethroat is most in evidence ; 
 here, among the nettle heads, the flimsy nest is often suspended ; not that the 
 nest is always flimsy, for I have taken examples almost as stoutly built as that 
 of a Sedge Warbler ; nor is the nest always situated in so apparently perilous a 
 position as a bunch of nettles, for I have often taken it from the top of a clipped 
 hawthorn hedge partly overgrown with ivy ; but it is most frequently found low 
 down in bramble or dense but loose vegetation and more often than not near the 
 foot of a thick hawthorn hedge. 
 
 The nest is usually lightly constructed of dried stalks of plants and grasses 
 with here and there knot's of spider's silk or sheep's wool ; the lining is composed 
 of fine bents and horsehair : it is generally very deep. Of ten nests in my 
 collection, obtained during two consecutive years, two are interesting ; one on 
 account of its unusual size, the diameter of the interior of the cavity measuring 
 nearly three inches, and thickly lined with black hair ; the other has the walls 
 rather thickly edged with sheep's wool intertwined with the grasses. 
 
 The eggs, which usually number from four to five, rarely six, vary a good 
 deal in ground-tint and in marking ; the best known type is greenish, indistinctly 
 mottled with greyish olive, the larger end zoned with spots and specks of slate- 
 grey and brown ; another not uncommon variety resembles the &gg of the Garden 
 Warbler excepting for a belt of scattered slate-grey spots towards the larger end, 
 a third variety is stone grey with slightly darker mottling and looks almost like 
 
64 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 a diminutive egg of the Pied Wagtail : a fourth, somewhat larger, is similarlj' 
 coloured, but spotted and splashed as if with ink ; then there is a dark mottled 
 greyish form, almost like a small egg of the Titlark ; a pale ruddy variety with 
 greyish mottling, reminding one of the Spotted Fl3^catcher's egg, and a greenish 
 white egg with scattered brown mottling speckled with blackish, and vaguelj^ 
 resembling some eggs of Passer; rarely its eggs are almost like enlarged editions 
 of those of the Lesser Whitethroat, but with the surface between the blackish 
 markings splashed and speckled with olive brown. The abo^•e are a few of the 
 forms taken by myself, and it would not be difficult to add to the list, indeed an 
 assiduous collector never seems to come to the end of variation in this egg, 
 either in size, form, ground-tint, or pattern : I have one almost like that of the 
 Dartford Warbler, but nearly spherical ; others which, had I not taken them my- 
 self, I should have declared to be large eggs of the Sedge Warbler laid by an 
 old bird, 3^et I took them from a most t3^pical flimsy Whitethroat's nest, built in 
 nettles : they are almost large enough for eggs of the Garden Warbler. Many 
 even of the best collections give a very poor idea of the modifications to which 
 this bird's eggs are liable, and the published descriptions seem, so far as I have 
 been able to judge, to have been copied from one ornithological work into another, 
 most authors speaking of specimens being pale buff", or huffish white, spotted with 
 yellowish brown and with violet- grey shell-markings : it would be rash to assert 
 that such eggs never existed, but I must confess that I never saw anything 
 approaching this variety among the hundreds which I have examined. 
 
 This species is very largely insectivorous and its young are reared solely 
 upon this diet, caterpillars, spiders, and crane-flies being its favourite articles of 
 food ; in the early fruit season it also robs the raspberry' canes and currant-bushes, 
 and is not averse to elder- and blackberries ; early in August it is said also to eat 
 the unripe milky com. 
 
 The "Nettle-creeper," or "Jolly Whitethroat" as the rustics call this bird, 
 has a short but clear and melodious song, and may frequently be heard in the 
 country lanes singing from the top of a hedge or one of the lower branches of a 
 tree ; sometimes you may see him from simple exuberance of joy soaring upwards 
 after the manner of a Pipit and presently flinging himself downwards to the 
 hedgerow ; if you approach to watch him more closely he slips over to the other 
 side of the hedge, rising and falling just ahead of you until convinced of 
 your pursuit, when he wheels round and returns perhaps to the point from which 
 he started ; near to which, perchance, his nest ma}^ be concealed. The call-note is 
 a clear phwcet-plnvcct-plnveet , but its alarm-note is a harsh hissing sound. 
 
 The Whitethroat is well-known as a cage-bird and is not especially delicate, 
 
Lesser Whitethroat. 
 
The Lesser Whitethroat. 65 
 
 if supplied with plenty of insect food ; but, if this cannot be provided, he is un- 
 able to stand an English winter in an unheated aviary, and without question an 
 aviarj% not a cage, is the only confinement to which any Warbler ought to be 
 subjected : doubtless, like all these birds, the Whitethroat does in time become 
 reconciled to the close imprisonment of a cage ; but no aviculturist, unless a great 
 worshipper of bird-shows, would take much pleasure in watching its cramped 
 movements in such an enclosure. 
 
 The Whitethroat will sing freely in an aviary, but whether it ever does so in 
 a cage I cannot say ; a male captured on its arrival in this country, probably 
 would do so, in time ; bvit a hand-reared bird would be unlikely to give this 
 satisfaction to its owner. It is therefore almost certain that caged Whitethroats 
 are rarely kept excepting for the show-bench ; they would hardl}^ be selected for 
 their brilliant plumage, and their song would certainly be heard to the greatest 
 advantage, to say the least of it, in an aviar5^ To keep so restless and sprightly 
 a bird as the Whitethroat in close confinement, merely for the sake of the slight 
 profit which it may bring to its owner in the way of prizes, is not only a cruelty, 
 but a meanness, of which no real bird-lover, who took the trouble to reflect 
 upon it, could well be guilty. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Stibfamily—SYL VIINAL. 
 
 The Lesser Whitethroat. 
 
 Sylvia curritca, Linn. 
 
 THE European race of this species ranges northwards almost to the limit 
 of forest-growth ; southwards it breeds throughout nearly the whole of 
 temperate Europe, to Southern Europe it is chiefly a summer visitor, but 
 Howard Saunders states that "a few pass the winter to the east of Malaga." 
 
66 
 
 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Its usual winter quarters are Northern and Central Africa, Arabia, Palestine, 
 where it is also said to breed, and Persia. 
 
 In Great Britain its distribution is decidedly local, being especially so on 
 the east and west coasts and in Scotland, whilst in Ireland it is not known 
 to occur. 
 
 The adult male has the crown smoky grey, the nape, back and upper 
 tail-coverts brownish slate-grey, the wings greyish brown with paler margins 
 to the innermost secondaries, the tail-feathers dark brown excepting the outer 
 ones, which are greyer and have white outer webs ; lores and ear- coverts 
 dark brown. Under surface white, slightly tinged with yellowish brown on 
 the breast and flanks ; bill dark slate- grey inclining to black, the under 
 mandible with pale base : feet slate-grey ; iris pale brown. The female is 
 slightly smaller and duller- coloured than the male. Young birds are browner, 
 with better defined pale margins to the wing-feathers ; bill and feet paler ; 
 iris hazel. 
 
 The Lesser Whitethroat reaches us late in April or early in May and 
 usually leaves us again late in September, but stragglers remain nearly a 
 month later, and Mr. Swaysland even obtained an example at Brighton in 
 November. 
 
 This species is more skulking in its habits than its larger relative, it 
 frequents the margins of dense woods, copses, plantations, shrubberies, rural 
 uncultivated hedges, especially those which border little frequented lanes and 
 thickly planted gardens. When disturbed it either slips away into the dense 
 scrub or flies up into the branches of some lofty tree where it hops restlessly 
 from twig to twig uttering an excitable defiant note tsee, tsee, tsee, repeated 
 rapidly nine or ten times : if disturbed from its nest, however, its note is 
 more like kek, kek, kek : the song is a rapid repetition of one whistled note ; 
 it has been called a trill, biit is too staccato to answer that description ; a 
 few lower notes are sometimes added, but even these have a monotonous 
 character. 
 
 The nest is constructed at any time between April and June, but I have 
 found more in May than in either of the other months ; it varies considerably 
 in its height from the ground, being sometimes placed among the upper twigs 
 of a tall hawthorn hedge, sometimes in brambles only a foot or two above 
 the earth ; it is also occasionally found in furze-bvishes ; but I took most of 
 my nests either from hedges on the outskirts of woods, or in country lanes, 
 the height from the ground being about four feet. Mr. Frohawk tells me 
 that the Lesser Whitethroat, when building in shrubberies, very frequently 
 
The Lesser Whitethroat. 67 
 
 selects the snow-berty as a site for its nest : he also reminds me of the 
 frequency with which those found by us at various times contained imperfect 
 clutches ; a full clutch being the exception, and two to three eggs the rule. 
 Although the bird itself is very shy, I have not observed that it makes any 
 special effort to conceal its nest, and many a time when I have found it to 
 contain only one egg, and have left it in the hope of subsequently securing 
 it with a full clutch, I have found it torn out by some village clown. 
 
 To take one egg from the nest of the Lesser Whitethroat is sufiEcient to 
 ensure its desertion : even if a similarly coloured small marble is substituted, 
 the only result is that the bird ejects the marble and then lets the empty 
 nest alone : I never knew her to lay a second egg after the first had been 
 abstracted. Like the Wren, this little bird will run no risks ; if you interfere 
 with her domestic arrangements, she will, for the time, give up hoixsekeeping. 
 
 The structure of the nest is much firmer, and, to my mind, neater than 
 that of the Common Whitethroat ; a pretty little cup formed of stout bents 
 and rootlets firmly interlaced with the twigs among which it is fixed and 
 interwoven here and there with a little fine wool and spiders' cocoons ; it is 
 lined with fine bents, root fibre and a little horsehair. The eggs vary in 
 number from four to five : when less than four are incubated, the nest is 
 probably a second one and hurriedly constructed, the first having been tampered 
 with. In colouring, the eggs varj^ much less than those of its larger relative ; 
 indeed the difference in ground-colour, is slight, varying from white to cream- 
 colour, the markings diffused olive-brown, with underlying silver-grey or pale slate 
 spots and overlying dots and lines of blackish brown : some specimens have the 
 spots large and boldly defined, especially towards the rounded extremity where 
 they frequently form an irregular zone ; sometimes the end of the egg enclosed 
 by this zone is suffused with dirty buff; at other times the spots, though 
 similarly disposed are small and scattered ; and, lastly, in some clutches the 
 spots are rather small and sprinkled over the entire surface. 
 
 Although I have found few birds so easily put off the nest before the 
 completion of the clutch, no sooner has the hen commenced incubation than 
 she becomes a very close sitter, only leaving her eggs at the last moment, 
 when satisfied that her death-like inaction has failed to protect them from the 
 intruder ; even then she does not move far away, but fidgets about in the 
 scrub, scolding ; in this pastime she is frequently accompanied by the male 
 bird which is usually within earshot, and promptly appears on the scene to 
 investigate the cause of his consort's ill temper. 
 
 The food of the Lesser Whitethroat consists of small insects and their 
 
68 British Birds, with their Nestsand Eggs. 
 
 larvae, spiders, soft berries and small fruits, more particularly currants and 
 cherries. Its flight is undulating. Mr. Blyth (Field Naturalist, Vol. I. p. 306) 
 says of the " babillard or Lesser White throat " : — "He seems — to be always in 
 such high spirits as not to know how to contain himself, taking frequently 
 a long circuitous flight from tree to tree, and back again a dozen times, 
 seemingly for no other purpose than mere exercise ; but he never mounts 
 singing into the air like the Whitethroat." 
 
 Gatke speaking of it in Heligoland, says that " Only solitary examples 
 of this pretty little songster are met with on this island; it is the earliest 
 arrival among its nearer relatives during the spring migration, almost always 
 making its appearance as early as the first days of April, even if the weather 
 is still raw, and completes its migration by the middle of May. In the 
 autumn, when it occurs still more sparingly, it may be seen from the latter 
 half of September till towards the end of October, and at times also some- 
 what later." 
 
 As a cage-bird the Lesser Whitethroat is not especially interesting; 
 nevertheless, if its song is not particularly attractive, I agree with Herr 
 Mathias Rausch that it has the merit of zeal (Vide ' Gefiederte Welt' 1891, 
 p. 342) "inasmuch as, even in confinement, it sings the whole day long." 
 However, I have not personally had the pleasure of keeping a fully adult 
 male of this little warbler. 
 
 In June, 1887, I came across a nest of Lesser Whitethroats, evidently 
 only about three days old ; and, so anxious was I to discover what they 
 would be like in captivity, that I took the nest and attempted the difficult 
 task of rearing them. With such young birds it was not only necessary to 
 cover them up carefully with warm flannel every evening, after giving them 
 their last meal ; but I had to turn out of bed at sunrise to give them their 
 first breakfast ; no pleasant task at midsummer ! I persevered, however, feeding 
 them regularly on moistened ' Abrahams' Food ' every hour, until they were 
 old enough to require nourishment less frequently. Unhappily (as is often the 
 case, even with the greatest care) they got very dirty : a flattened and pointed 
 stick is a poor substitute for the parents' bill. In consequence of the matting 
 of their feathers, the two weakest died, probably from chill ; the two remaining 
 birds were reared ; but, though unnaturally fat, from lack of proper exercise, 
 they were incessantly clamouring for food ; yet they seemed healthy enough. 
 About the third week of July, in the act of stretching forward to snatch 
 some food which I ofiered, they fell dead from apoplexy : the moral of which 
 is — do not overfeed youngsters because they cry. 
 
Blackcap. 
 
The Orphean Warbler. The Blackcap. 69 
 
 Family— TUKDIDAi. Subfamily— SYLVIIN.-Jl. 
 
 The Orphean Warbler. 
 
 Sylvia orphca, Temm. 
 
 THE existence of this species in Great Britain rests upon the authority 
 of a female said by a bird-stuffer, Graham, of York, to have been shot 
 near Wetherby, and upon a young bird caught in Middlesex, kept in captivity 
 for nearly six months and then identified by the late Mr. B. Blyth. Nests 
 and eggs supposed to belong to this species have also been taken. 
 
 In spite of these facts, it seems to me that there is, at present, not 
 sufficient evidence to justify the admission of the Orphean Warbler into the 
 British list. As Mr. Seebohm remarks : — " Under the most favourable circum- 
 stances, even supposing no error to have crept into the history or identification 
 of any of these occurrences, the Orphean Warbler can only be looked upon 
 as a very rare and accidental straggler to ovir islands. 
 
 Family— TURDID.F.. Subfamily— S YL VIlNyK. 
 
 The Blackcap. 
 
 Sylvia atricapilla, L,INN. 
 
 ■¥ 
 
 THIS delightful songster is generally distributed throughout Europe, 
 breeding in every country from Scandinavia below 66° N. lat., and 
 extending its range southwards to North Africa, south-eastwards to Asia Minor 
 and Palestine, and also through the Caucasus to Western Persia. In the 
 
 Vol. 1. N 
 
 I 
 
7° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Mediterranean basin it has been obtained at all seasons. Its winter range is 
 supposed to extend westward to Senegal and Gambia, and eastward to Nubia 
 and Abyssinia; in the Cape Verd Islands, Madeira, the Canaries and Azores 
 it is apparently resident. 
 
 In Great Britain this species is somewhat local, but pretty generally 
 distributed. 
 
 The general colouring of the upper parts of the Blackcap in breeding 
 plumage is smoky grey, the upper part of the head jet-black ; the edges of 
 the wing and tail feathers brownish ; under parts ash-grey, paler on the chin, 
 the centre of abdomen, axillaries and under wing-coverts white ; bill dark horn 
 brown, feet leaden grey, iris hazel. The female chiefly differs from the male 
 in its rufous brown cap and generall}^ somewhat browner colouring. The 
 3'Oung male in its first plumage resembles the female, but acquires the black 
 cap in the autumn without a moult. Both sexes of the adult birds are said 
 to become somewhat browner after their autumn moult, but I have proved 
 that the male retains its black cap throughout the year, a fact also attested 
 by Mr. John Young (Vide Howard Saunders' Manual p. 48.) 
 
 Although partially resident in this country, most of the pairs which breed 
 with us arrive from Africa about the middle of April, and leave us again in 
 September. 
 
 The Blackcap is a bird which delights in wild dense uncultivated land, 
 almost impenetrable thickets, tangled hedges, plantations where hawthorn 
 bushes alternate with straggling brambles, nettles, and honeysuckle vines ; even 
 in badl}^ kept gardens, where roses have run riot among the shrubs : in such 
 spots it builds its neat and strongly constructed nest. In the clearings of the 
 Kentish woods, where the removal of the trees has permitted the wild black- 
 berry, brion}', convolvulus and many other things to sprawl over one another 
 in profusion, rendering progression ruinous to clothing, I have often come 
 across the nest of this bird : such clearings may either be on the outskirts 
 or some distance within a wood. In the former case they are only separated 
 from the main road by a hedge, or terminate in a steep bank running 
 downwards to the thoroughfare ; in the latter case, the}- adjoin a rough cart 
 road cut through the wood. Little accidental clearings, entered by ' blind '* 
 keeper's paths, are also very favourite sites for the nest of this bird. The 
 structure is very strongly built (though sometimes the walls are not very 
 thick) and it is firmly attached to the stems of hawthorn, bramble, or other 
 low-growing vegetation in which it is located. In fonn it is a neatly rounded 
 
 * That is to say, long disused and o\ergrown with moss and weeds. 
 
The Blackcap 71 
 
 cup, with walls externall}- composed of fine dry tough grass, more rarely with 
 an admixture of straw, internally of fine grass, root-fibre and horsehair; the 
 outside is sometimes interwoven with a little moss and always strengthened 
 and bound to the supporting twigs by woollen thread or silk from the cocoons 
 of some spider or caterpillar: in some nests, however, this thread is very 
 scanty and can only be detected by carefully examining them with a lens, 
 whereas in others it gives the outer walls a fluffy appearance to the naked eye. 
 
 The eggs vary in number from four to five ; in size they are tolerably 
 uniform, those of young birds being slightly smaller than those deposited by 
 older individuals : in colouring they exhibit considerable variability ; so much 
 so that the tyro, unacquainted with the bird itself, its habits, or its nest, 
 might take specimens which, by comparison with imperfect illustrations, he 
 would perchance identify as those of the Garden Warbler, Greater Whitethroat, 
 Spotted Flycatcher and Titlark : even the experienced birdsnester unless aware 
 of the different character of the structures formed by the two species might 
 hesitate in deciding between some eggs of the Blackcap and those of the 
 Garden Warbler. The ground-tint of the eggs is either chalkj^ white, greenish 
 white, pale buff, brownish buff, or flesh pink ; the surface is more or less 
 densely spotted, blotched and streaked with soft greyish olive, earth-brown, 
 smoky brown, or (in the pink eggs) dull mahogany red, giving the egg the 
 appearance of having been smeared with blood ; above these again are sprinkled 
 little spots and thread-like lines of black, or black-brown, often placed in the 
 centre of a patch of the paler colouring which they serve to intensify. 
 
 The flesh-coloured variety, which somewhat vaguely resembles the egg of the 
 Spotted Flycatcher, is rare ; the only two nests purely of this type which I ever 
 obtained, were probably the produce of the same pair of birds in succeeding 
 years ; the two nests being situated near the top of the same rough hedge outside 
 a small wood at Tunstall in Kent; the first I took on the 24th May, 1877, the 
 second on the 29th May, 1878 : those of the later clutch are slightly larger and 
 less pyriform than those of the previous year. Another variety, almost equally 
 rare, has the ground-tint brownish buff, so densely mottled and blotched with 
 broAvnish russet that, but for its minute black markings, it might almost be 
 mistaken for some eggs of the Tree- Pipit. 
 
 Both sexes incubate, but the male bird is more frequently seen on the nest 
 than the female ; it is therefore probable that, as in the case of Doves, the hen 
 sleeps on the nest and gives up her place to the cock, for day-duty, after he has 
 finished his breakfast, only returning from time to time to enable him to feed. 
 
 The nest of the Blackcap is not only built about a fortnight earlier than that 
 
72 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 of the Garden Warbler ; but, even when not tenanted, may be recognized as 
 distinct from it, by its smaller, neater, and far more compact character; the eggs 
 also are frequently slightly smaller, and, even when somewhat like those of 
 C. Iioiitiisis, differ in the greater prominence of the small black markings on their 
 surface. 
 
 The food of this species consists of insects and their larvae, spiders, centipedes, 
 small fruits and berries, more especially elder and service berries, though those of 
 the ivy are also eaten by it ; the young are, however, principally fed upon small 
 caterpillars. Although, on the Continent, it is said to feed upon ripe figs, my 
 experience of it in confinement is, that it will not touch dried figs when cut open 
 and placed with the soft food, but red or white currants it devours with avidity. 
 
 Next to the Nightingale, the Blackcap is certainly our finest songster, and 
 its powers of mimicry as well as its ventriloquial gifts are superior to those of 
 that most charming of all feathered vocalists ; its song is at one time full, rich 
 and clear as that of a Blackbird, then soft and mellow, again brilliant and 
 plaintive as a Robin's notes, or rapid and almost shrill as those of a Wren ; it 
 can copy deceptively the notes of many birds, even some portions of the Nightin- 
 gale's song, but it is almost too loud in its utterances to produce the latter in 
 its purity. Among foreign songsters the only bird which reminds one somewhat 
 of our Blackcap is the so-called " Pekin Nightingale" fLiothrix luteusj, a bird 
 evidently far more nearly related to our Hedge Accentor. 
 
 The song of the Blackcap may be heard from the highest branches of a lofty 
 tree, from a low shrub, or even from the nest as it sits ; but after the young are 
 hatched it ceases, the duty of finding food for its babes occupying the bird's 
 whole attention. When frightened this species scolds somewhat after the fashion 
 of a Whitethroat, and, if flushed from its nest, it remains close by hissing angrily; 
 its call-note is said to be a repetition of the word tac or tec harshly uttered ; but 
 it may be questioned whether this is really the call to its mate ; it seems 
 more probable that it is merely a querulous observation, such as many of 
 these Warblers indulge in at the approach of man : I am satisfied that its call 
 is a soft whistle. 
 
 In the autumn of 1894, I purchased a male Blackcap, which was procured 
 for me by Mr. E. P. Staines, who kindly took the trouble to "meat it off"* for 
 me. I turned it out into the same aviary with my Redstart and Wagtails, where 
 it soon made itself at home; it used generally to roost upon a nail which had 
 been driven into the wall, in the first instance, to support a log-nest. This bird 
 
 • A term applied to the process by which a wild-caught bird is induced to feed upon a soft mixture. 
 Many aviculturists make the mistake of using finely chopped raw meat mixed with bread-crumbs for this 
 purpose, hence the term has arisen. 
 
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The Garden Warbler. 73 
 
 in due course became fairly tame ; it was tolerably quick at seizing spiders or 
 mealworms and even earwigs, when these were thrown into the aviary. In the 
 spring it began to record its song on one or two occasions, but I never heard it 
 sing out. Eventually a Rosa's Parrakeet bit one of its wings through, and a 
 week later it died. 
 
 Family— TURDIDyE. Subfamily— S YL VIINAi. 
 
 The Garden Warbler. 
 
 Sylvia hortensis, BechsT. 
 
 MORE delicate than the Blackcap, the Garden Warbler does not arrive in 
 .this country until early in May, and towards the end of September it 
 departs on its autumn migration. This species breeds locally throughout Europe, 
 from about 70° N. in Norway, and 65° N. in Finland and Russia, to the shores of the 
 Mediterranean, but it does not appear to winter in Europe ; it is not known to 
 breed in Sicily or Greece, but Canon Tristram states that it does so in Palestine ; 
 eastwards its range extends to lat. 59° in the Ural Mountains : its migration 
 extends through Asia Minor and Egypt to the Sahara, Damaraland, the Transvaal 
 and to the east of Cape Colony. 
 
 Generally but very locally distributed over the greater part of England, but 
 not recorded as breeding beyond Pembrokeshire and Breconshire in Wales, or in 
 the western part of Cornwall ; probably pretty generally distributed in Scotland, 
 although this has been questioned ; it has nevertheless been seen in most of the 
 midland and southern counties from Banffshire downwards. In Ireland the Garden 
 Warbler is both local and rare, but it has been recorded from Antrim, Fermanagh, 
 Dublin, Wicklow, Tipperary and Cork. 
 
 Gatke states that the Garden Warbler though quite common at Heligoland 
 during both spring and autumn migrations, is less numerously represented than 
 the Whitethroat. 
 
 Vol. I. O 
 
74 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The Garden Warbler in breeding plumage is olive-brown above, the wings 
 and tail slightly darker, the flight feathers with narrow pale margins ; a slightly- 
 paler streak over the eyes ; under parts dull huffish white, purer on the belly, 
 browner on the breast, flanks and centre of tinder tail-coverts. Bill deep brown, 
 base of lower mandible paler, feet leaden grey, iris hazel, eyelid white. The 
 female is very like the male but is slightly paler and probably has a somewhat 
 broader head, but of this I am not certain. After the autumn moult the adult 
 birds become more olive above and more buff-coloured below. Young birds 
 resemble their parents in winter plumage, but their secondaries have well-marked 
 pale margins. The breeding season extends from the end of May to about the 
 end of July. 
 
 I have found this species breeding in considerable numbers in North Kent, 
 occupying the same localities as the Blackcap, which was also fairly abundant ; I 
 am therefore not prepared to endorse Seebohm's statement that " where the Garden 
 Warbler is abundant the Blackcap seems always to be rare, and vice versa.'' In 
 one sense, indeed, they do not breed together ; the Garden Warbler begins to 
 build about a fortnight or three weeks later than the Blackcap, and by the time 
 her first ^^g is deposited the earlier bird is hatching out or rearing her family. 
 Although often heard in the woods, this species is less frequently seen there than 
 either the Nightingale or Blackcap ; it is a shy skulking little bird frequenting the 
 densest cover, the outskirts of woods where the undergrowth is thick and .tangled, 
 also the so-called " shaws and shaves " of Kent, almost impenetrable copses and 
 plantations, well-timbered gardens, nurseries, and shrubberies ; the fact that the 
 Garden Warbler can be better recognised in the generally wider open spaces of the 
 last mentioned haunts, having doubtless earned it the name of hortensis. 
 
 The nest of this bird is usually situated in tangled blackberry, or low bushes, in 
 copses or shrubberies ; but in kitchen gardens it may sometimes be seen in goose- 
 berry bushes, or among well-covered pea-sticks : amongst the undergrowth in 
 small woods and thickets it is b}^ no means a rare object at the end of May or 
 early in June ; though, of course, less common than that of the Whitethroat : I 
 have never found it at any great altitude, usually about two or three feet above 
 the ground. The structure of the nest is externally somewhat looser and more 
 slovenly than that of the Blackcap, but the cup is beautifully formed within ; the 
 outer walls are formed of dry bents, or goose-grass and other fibrous plants; 
 sometimes mixed with a little moss and wool and lined with fine roots and horse- 
 hair. The eggs vary in number from four to five and are tolerably constant in 
 their colouring ; they are generally creamy, but sometimes pale greenish white, 
 blotched and spotted with pale greyish olive or rufous brownish, with sometimes a 
 
The Garden Warbler. 75 
 
 few underlying spots of pearl grey, and a few blackish-brown surface spots or hair- 
 lines ; some examples are very faintly marked, with all the markings sinuous but 
 arranged longitudinally and covering the whole surface, others have somewhat 
 bolder nebulous patches of spots chiefly confined to the larger end, in others most 
 of the markings run together into a vague smoky cap at the larger end, leaving 
 the remainder of the egg almost white ; but the general effect of a crowd of Garden 
 Warbler's eggs impresses one with the conviction that they are extremely uniform 
 in tone : some clutches contain small eggs, others large, according to the age of 
 the parents ; their average size is about the same as those of the Blackcap ; but 
 the latter bird sometimes lays a much shorter and rounder egg than I have ever 
 found in a Garden Warbler's nest. 
 
 The Garden Warbler sits somewhat closer than the Blackcap, only slipping 
 off her eggs at the last moment and then diving down over the edge of the nest, 
 so close to your hand that her wing will sometimes brush your fingers ; there is 
 therefore no difficulty, apart from the different character of the nest, in making 
 certain of the identity of any eggs which you take yourself, and there is only one 
 variety of the Blackcap's eggs which could by any chance be mistaken for the 
 product of Sylvia Jiortensis. 
 
 The song of the Garden Warbler is exceedingly pleasing, less rich and full 
 than that of the Blackcap ; somewhat more plaintive, though rapidly enunciated ; 
 in tone reminding one a little of an extra good Canary, yet without the shrieking 
 notes which frequently mar the song of that bird. Excepting when rearing its 
 young, this species sings frequently throughout the day, but whether it sings 
 again after the rearing of its single brood (I do not believe in the double- 
 broodedness of this bird) I cannot say ; probably not : all I can positively state is 
 that I have never heard it even as late as July, a month in which, occasionally, a 
 late nest may be taken. 
 
 The food of 5. hortensis in the spring and summer consists very largely of 
 spiders, insects and their larvae, the caterpillars of the two smaller Cabbage 
 butterflies (Ganoris rapce and G. napij being favourite articles of diet and largely 
 used for feeding the nestlings*. In the summer, however, currants and strawberries 
 are not despised by the Garden Warbler, while in the autumn fruits and berries 
 seem to become its favourite food. 
 
 The alarm note of the Garden Warbler is a kind of check, check, sometimes 
 followed by a guttural sound. Speaking of the Garden Warbler, Stevenson 
 
 * These larvae are eaten with avidity by all insectivorous birds ; whereas the caterpillars of the larj^e 
 Cabbage butterfly (G. BrasskaJ seem to be offensive to nearly all. Why this should be the case, when one 
 sees that all three caterpillars eat the same leaves, and produce very similiar butterflies (which are eaten indi.s- 
 criminately) is a poser. 
 
76 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 observes : — " I have rarel}- detected the song of this warbler in summer in dose 
 vicinit}^ to the city, but in autumn, towards the end of August or beginning of 
 September, a pair or two, with their little families (and the same ma}- be said of 
 the Blackcap and Whitethroat) invariably appear amongst the shrubs in mj- garden, 
 betraying their presence by the same anxious cries so aptl}' described by Mr. 
 Blyth, as ' resembling the sound produced by tapping two small pebbles together.' 
 This is evidently intended as a note of warning to the young brood, alwaj's care- 
 fully concealed amongst the thick foliage, their whereabouts being indicated only 
 by a rapid movement of the leaves, as they search the branches for berries and 
 insects." 
 
 The call of the Garden Warbler to its mate is certain to be a soft sound ; 
 but I have not speciallj' noted it ; and, in all works on British Birds which I have 
 studied the cry of alarm or warning is incorrectly stated to be the call -note : the 
 same error is made with regard to many other species, not onlj- of European but 
 of foreign birds ; the harsh scolding chatter of the Pekin Nightingale having been 
 stated to be its call note, probabl}- because both sexes scold in unison ; whereas 
 the actual call of that species consists, in the hen — of a single whistled note 
 repeated five times, and in the cock — of a short measured song consisting of seven 
 or nine notes. 
 
 The Garden Warbler in confinement is certainly more sensitive to cold than 
 the Blackcap : a friend of mine who is very fond of fishing, sometimes takes a 
 fine net with him which he fixes up across the trout-stream ; by this means he 
 has, from time to time, secured many interesting birds for stuffing (a proceeding with 
 which I have no sympath}-, for to ni}' mind a live bird in the bush is far prefer- 
 able to fifty dead birds in the hand). However, in September, 1888, he brought 
 me two living birds, one of which was a male Garden Warbler. I turned these 
 birds into a large cool aviar}^ among Waxbills, Mannikins and British Finches. 
 The Garden Warbler seemed perfectly content, ate the usual soft food, as well as 
 a few mealworms, caterpillars and spiders ; the frost did not appear to affect it 
 unpleasantly, and, in the early spring, it sang heartily every da}^ : in May its song 
 became less frequent, it grew somewhat listless in its movements, yet continued 
 to eat as freely as ever. One morning, in July, 1889, I found it dead, and 
 dissection showed that its lungs were seriously affected. I should therefore recom- 
 mend Aviculturists to keep this Warbler in a mild temperature during the winter 
 months, and give it as much insect food as possible : it ought, moreover, to be 
 kept in an aviary, so that it nia}^ be able to take plenty of healthful exercise.* 
 
 * Mr. Staines, of Penj^e, j;ave me a second male in July, 1896, which is in perfect health at the time of 
 penning this article. 
 
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The Barred Warbler. 77 
 
 As an aviary bird, the Garden Warbler is well worth keeping ; it is active 
 and at the same time capable of being tamed, although somewhat more shy than 
 the Blackcap ; its song, though inferior to that of the latter species, is infinitely 
 superior to that of any of the British Finches, yet that is not saying much for 
 it, inasmuch as even the Robin's plaintive little melody is purer in tone and more 
 grateful to the ear than that of any of our Finches. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— SYLVIIN^. 
 
 The Barred Warbler. 
 
 Sylvia nisoria, BechsT. 
 
 RESPECTING the distribution of this rare species Seebohm writes: — "Besides 
 South Sweden, it breeds in Germany east of the Rhine, Transylvania, South 
 Russia, Persia, and Turkestan, as far east as Kashgar. It passes through South- 
 eastern France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, and North-east Africa, as it is 
 said to pass through Nubia in spring and autumn, but has not been recorded 
 from the Transvaal. Its alleged occurrence in China is probably an instance of 
 mistaken identification." 
 
 The same author, writing in 1883, observes that "The only claim of the Barred 
 Warbler to be considered a British bird rests upon a single example, shot more 
 than forty years ago near Cambridge — but apparently not brought under the 
 notice of Ornithologists until March, 1879, when Prof. Newton exhibited it at a 
 meeting of the Zoological Society of London, a record of which may be found in 
 the Proceedings for that year, page 219." 
 
 The record referred to by Mr. Seebohm runs as follows : — " This specimen 
 was formerly the propert}^ of Mr. Germany, for many years the highly-respected 
 porter of Queen's College, who in the course of a long life formed a considerable 
 collection of birds, nearly all obtained by himself in and near Cambridge, and also 
 stuffed by himself. At his death, more than twenty years ago, it passed, with 
 
78 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 many others of his specimens, into the possession of an old friend of his, Mr. 
 Elijah Tarrant, of whom Mr. John Robinson, an undergraduate of Trinity Hall, 
 bought it about a twelvemonth since. Up to this time no one seems to have 
 known what the bird was, though some ingenious person had hazarded the sug- 
 gestion that it was a variety of the Nightingale. Soon after it was seen by Mr. 
 Frederick Bond, F.Z.S., who at once recognised it as Sylvia nisoria, and was good 
 enough to advise its being shown to me." 
 
 Prof. Newton then proceeds to point out good and sufl&cient reasons for 
 believing that this specimen actually was obtained in England. Apparently it was 
 shot either in spring or early summer : it was skulking in dense foliage and was 
 only shot with the greatest difficulty and then at so short a range that a good 
 many of its feathers were knocked out. *The taxidermist who stuffed it inserted 
 a glass eye with a pale yellow iris, a clear proof that he must have seen the bird 
 very soon after it was shot ; otherwise it is not probable that he would have 
 selected a colour which is rare in the family. 
 
 Had the occurrence of this single example been the sole argument in favour 
 of regarding the Barred Warbler as British, I should have treated the species as 
 a mere chance visitor to our islands, and practically ignored it ; but singularly 
 enough, on the very year after the publication of Mr. Seebohm's observation, 
 three specimens were brought to the notice of Zoologists : the first of these, a 
 young bird, was shot on August i6th, 1884, near Broadford in the Isle of Skye, 
 by Mr. G. D. Lees ; the second, an immature female, on the 28th of the same 
 month, by the Rev. H. H. Slater, who observed it skulking in an elder-hedge by 
 a potato-garden in some sand hills on the Yorkshire coast, he stated that the bird 
 was very shy and difficult to see ; the third, another immature female, was shot 
 by Mr. F. D. Power, of Brixton, on the 4th of September, from scrub at the base 
 of Blakeney sandhills, Norfolk. The occurrence of three young examples in one 
 year, almost seems to justify the conclusion that this Warbler, when on migration, 
 may frequently visit us ; but, owing to its disinclination to show itself in the open, 
 may have evaded observation. 
 
 In the last edition of Stevenson's " Birds of Norfolk," edited by Thos. South- 
 well, a member of the British Ornithologists' Union, the latter gentleman speaks 
 of an example of the Barred Warbler as having been shot at Blakeney after easterly 
 winds on the loth September, 1888, and he says that this bird on dissection 
 proved to be a male. The contents of the stomach consisted largely of earwigs. 
 
 This would appear to be distinctly a fifth occurrence of the Barred Warbler 
 upon the British coasts : scrub in the vicinity of sandhills seems to be the most 
 
 • This specimen is still in the possession of Mr. Robinson, who resides at Elterwater, Westmoreland. 
 
The Barred Warbler, 79 
 
 likely haunt in wliicli to seek the species, whilst August and September are the 
 months most favourable for the search ; but it seems a thousand pities that these 
 rare birds should not be captured alive, and their habits in captivity studied in 
 detail. All that can be learnt from the stuifed skin of a Barred Warbler has 
 either long been known, or can be equally well studied from skins already in our 
 cabinets ; but really to know something of the nature and peculiarities of a bird, 
 it must be studied, not onty flying freely in its native home, but in a good sized 
 aviary. Lord Lilford has set an example which might, with advantage to Ornith- 
 ological science, be well followed by many other Naturalists, and especially those 
 with means and leisure. 
 
 When on migration the Barred Warbler reaches Heligoland in May and June, 
 but Gatke speaks of it as by far the rarest of those belonging to Germany which 
 are met with on that island; he says: — "The bird is never seen before the middle 
 of May, and then only on warm, calm days, and in solitary instances ; nor can it 
 be by any means reckoned as a regular annual summer visitant." 
 
 The adult male in breeding plumage is smoky gre}^ above, the head, rump, 
 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers greyer ; the wings browner ; the wing-coverts, 
 innermost secondaries, the feathers on the rump, the upper tail-coverts and the 
 outer tail-feathers are margined and tipped with white, and have blackish subter- 
 minal bar ; this is also sometimes the case with the forehead, lower back, and 
 scapulars ; the two central tail feathers are indistinctly barred ; under surface 
 greyish white, barred with grey, the breast, flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts 
 browner, the flanks somewhat heavily barred ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 
 mottled with grey and white, bill dark brown, the lower mandible paler at the 
 base, feet greyish brown, iris pale yellow. The female is very like the male, but 
 slightly browner and with fewer transverse bars. In the autumn the colouring 
 becomes browner and the bars on the feathers more pronounced. Young 
 birds are browner than adults and are hardly barred at all excepting on the 
 under tail- coverts. 
 
 Although not unlike the Whitethroat in its habits and even in its song, the 
 Barred Warbler is far more shy and skulking, rarely leaving the dense cover of 
 briar and brushwood ; though not frequently met with in forests, it haunts planta- 
 tions, copses, and tangled masses of thorn and blackberry, and from such retreats 
 its song may be heard : this, though harsh in some of its notes, is said to be 
 almost equal to that of the Garden Warbler and to include tones rich as those of 
 the Blackcap. 
 
 The call-note is described as resembling the syllable chek ; and the alarm note 
 r-r-r-r-r, a harsh, warning cry. 
 
8o British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The food of the Barred Warbler does not materially differ from that of most 
 other species of Sylvia; it consists largely of insects, with the addition of fruit 
 and berries as soon as these are ripe ; it sometimes captures winged insects in the 
 air after the manner of its congeners. 
 
 The nest is usually placed in a thorn-bush in thick cover, and as a rule very 
 low down ; but one instance is recorded of its being built among the topmost twigs 
 of a birch-tree at a height of twenty-five feet above the ground. It is a firmly 
 built and somewhat bulky structure, roughly formed externally of bents and roots 
 intermingled with plant stalks and compacted with spiders' cocoons or vegetable 
 down ; the inside is neatly formed, deep and beautifully rounded, the lining con- 
 sisting of fine rootlets, horsehairs, and sometimes cobwebs. 
 
 The eggs vary from four to six in number, but five is the usual clutch : they 
 are dull huffish white marbled with grey, and are not unlike those of the Grey 
 Wagtail, excepting that they are larger ; sometimes, however, they are marbled 
 with brown with underlying grey spots ; the colouring being massed especially on 
 the larger end. 
 
 Speaking of the song of this species, Herr Mathias Rausch, in the " Gefiederte 
 Welt" for July 30th, 1891, observes that "it is just as beautiful and rich in 
 charming melodies as that of the Garden Warbler, for the most part flute-like and 
 full-toned, frequently indeed intermixed with somewhat rough guttural sounds, yet 
 withal distinctly powerful and also more or less intermingled with snatches from 
 the song of other birds. Also the song of this bird has a swing peculiar to it, 
 which characterizes the species as an original songster." 
 
 " Moreover if reared by hand or trapped when young. Barred Warblers, taught 
 by good cage-birds, certainly often become admirable imitators of the song of other 
 birds ; but, in the case of old wild-caught examples, this faculty is much less 
 perceptible, and for this reason it is hardly fair to reckon them plagiarists." 
 
 Lord Ivilford (Coloured figures of Birds of the British Islands) evidently has 
 not so high an opinion of the Barred Warbler's vocal attainments ; he says : — " I 
 have three of this species caged at this time of writing ; in attitude, song, and 
 general demeanour they very much resemble our Lesser Whitethroat, but are the 
 least restless of any Warblers that' I have ever kept in captivity." An adult which 
 lived for some months in the possession of Rev. H. A. Macpherson was a very 
 shy but active bird. 
 
 Dresser, in his " Birds of Europe," says :■ — " It is never seen sitting still, but 
 appears always moving about. If disturbed, or it sees anything strange, it raises 
 the feathers of its head, jerks its tail, and utters a harsh note. It creeps about 
 amongst the bushes, hopping about from twig to twig without using its wings. 
 
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The Dartford Warbler. 8i 
 
 It is quarrelsome, and drives intruders from the vicinity of its nest." 
 
 " It sings from early in the morning, except during the heat of the day, 
 until late in the evening, and frequently sings when at some height in the air or 
 fluttering from tree to tree." 
 
 Family— TURDID^. ' Subfamily— SYLVIIN^R. 
 
 The Dartford Warbler. 
 
 Sylvia undaia, BoDD. 
 
 ALTHOUGH this Warbler has been known to breed in Kent, I have never 
 been able to be certain of having seen it, though I have sometimes suspected 
 that nests which I have discovered built in furze-bushes, might have been the work 
 of this species : whoever the architect was, she slipped away so quietly into the 
 dense, prickly cover on my approach, that I could not even get a glimpse of her, 
 and only knew of her whereabouts by the movement in the furze. 
 
 Howard Saunders gives the following as the geographical distribution of this 
 species : — " Although as a rule a non-migratory species, the Dartford Warbler has 
 been observed in Heligoland ; but it is unknown in Northern Germany, Holland, 
 or Belgium. Rather rare in the Channel Islands, it is found throughout France 
 in suitable localities, especially from the foot of the Western Pyrenees to Provence. 
 In many parts of Portugal and Spain it is common, and I have watched it singing 
 among the orange- gardens of Murcia ; while it nests in the sierras of the almost 
 tropical south coast at elevations of from 4,000 to 3,000 feet. In Morocco and 
 Algeria it is also resident, and it has been recorded from Lower Egypt, and 
 Palestine ; but in Europe its Eastern range is not known to extend beyond Italy 
 and Sicily, the bird seldom reaching Malta." 
 
 With regard to its distribution in Great Britain, this author says : — " It is 
 now known to breed in nearly all the southern counties, from Cornwall to Kent, 
 
8a British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 especialljf in Hampsliire (including the Isle of Wight), Surrey and Sussex ; spar- 
 ingly in the valley of the Thames ; perhaps in some of the Midland Counties ; 
 and, on the sole authorit}- of Mr. C. Dixon, in the Rivelin valle}-, in the extreme 
 south of Yorkshire. It has been observed in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk ; while 
 in Suffolk a few probablj- breed." 
 
 Respecting its occurrence in Heligoland, Gatke saj-s that onl}- two 
 instances are recorded, " it having on one occasion been obtained by Re3aiers, and 
 on the other observed by mj^self, on May 31st, 1851, hopping about in the thorn- 
 hedge of a neighbouring garden at only a few paces distance. Unfortunately there 
 being other gardens behind the hedge in question in which people were occupied 
 at the time, I was unable to shoot the bird." 
 
 The adult male above is dark smoky brown, deeper and more slate-coloured 
 on the head, wings dark brown, the coverts, inner secondaries, and primaries with 
 pale brown outer margins ; tail dark grey, the two outside feathers with white 
 outer margins and tips ; under surface chestnut reddish, shading into white at the 
 centre of lower breast and abdomen ; under tail-coverts greyish ; bill deep horn 
 brown, base of lower mandible 3'ellowish ; feet pale brown, iris and eyelid saffron 
 yellow. The female is smaller than the male and the underparts are paler. After 
 the autumn moult the chin, throat, breast and flanks are spotted and streaked 
 with white : birds of the year are paler above and whiter below than the female. 
 The Dartford Warbler is an extremel}^ restless, but at the same time a 
 skulking bird ; Seebohm's description of its habits can, I think, hardl}- be improved 
 on ; he says : — " In summer the Dartford Warbler lives almost entireh' in the furze 
 bushes ; hence its local name of Furze- Wren. In winter, though it may often be 
 seen in its summer haunts, the necessity of procuring food prompts it to visit 
 the turnip-fields, or to range along the coast. Its long tail and short rounded 
 wings do not seem adapted to extensive flights ; but it has nevertheless been twice 
 seen on Heligoland. It is seldom seen on the wing. At Biarritz I found them 
 frequenting the reeds on the banks of a small lake. The first sight I had of one 
 was that of a little dark bird with a fan-like tail suddenly appearing amongst the 
 reeds on the opposite side. Occasionally, as we walked on the bank of the lake, 
 we heard a loud, clear, melodious pitch' -00 repeated once or twice amongst the 
 reeds. The note was so musical that for a moment one might imagine that a 
 Nightingale was beginning to strike up a tune. Now and then we saw the bird 
 appear for a moment above the reeds, as if thrown up by a battledore ; but it 
 dropped down again and disappeared as suddenly. I have ver}- rarel}- seen so 
 skulking a bird ; once only it flew up from the reeds, and perched in a willow 
 near a large patch of furze-bushes. Like most other Warblers this bird is very 
 
The Dartford Warbler. 83 
 
 active, scarce!}' resting for a moment, except when warbling its hurried little song 
 from the top of a furze-branch. In many of its habits it reminds one of Cetti's 
 Warbler. It flits tip a furze-bush, dodging in and out amongst the side branches 
 in search of insects, perches for a moment on the topmost spraj- ; but before you 
 have had time to get your binocular on to it, it has caught sight of your move- 
 ment and drops down into the furze-bush as if shot." 
 
 The nest in Great Britain has always been found concealed amongst dense 
 furze, but on the Continent and more especially in the south it is said to be 
 placed in broom or heather ; the dead lower branches of the furze are selected as 
 a building site. In character the nest is small, deep and flimsy ; it is formed 
 principally of thin bents, interwoven with stems of goosegrass and moss, a little 
 green furze, and wool. 
 
 The eggs var}' from four to five and are greenish or huffish white, mottled 
 with olive and spotted with reddish brown ; the marking is more denseh- distri- 
 buted over the surface than in eggs of the Greater Whitethroat, to which in other 
 respects they bear a slight resemblance ; they however tend to be longer, and to 
 my mind would be more aptly likened to very diminutive eggs of the Rock Pipit, 
 or to some eggs of the Tree Sparrow. I do not think anyone well acquainted 
 with British Birds' eggs would ever confound those of the Dartford Warbler and 
 Whitethroat. 
 
 The breeding-season of this species is from April to July, and two broods are 
 reared in the year ; the second nest is said to be usually less compact than the 
 earlier one ; this is constructed in June, when there is less necessity for a warm 
 receptacle for the eggs. 
 
 The food of the Dartford Warbler consists principally of insects, and Mr. 
 Booth, in the "Zoologist" for 1887, states that it "generally feeds its young on 
 the body of a large yellow moth" which he says the parent birds hunted for 
 among the lower part of the stems of the foliage. I have little doubt the moth 
 intended is one of the common Yellow- underwings fTriphcena ianthiua, orhona, or 
 pfonubaj which I have frequently disturbed from furze-bushes in the day-time. In 
 the autumn wild berries are also eaten. 
 
 As this species is a fairly meritorious songster there is no doubt that it would 
 be an interesting aviary pet ; its scolding note is somewhat harsh cha-cha, but its 
 call-note is probably soft and pleasing like that of other Warblers. Its actions 
 are sprightly, the tail being expanded as it alights ; its flight is rapid and undu- 
 lating, but not powerful. 
 
 There is not the least doubt that this species could be fed in confinement 
 upon the mixture which I have recommended for other Insectivorous birds, supple- 
 
84 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 mented by mealworms, caterpillars, moths, flies, cockroaches, earwigs, and spiders ; 
 these last, which are rarely mentioned in works on British Ornithology, form a 
 considerable portion of the diet of all Insectivorous birds ; they are not only easy 
 to capture, easy of digestion (even seeming to have a beneficial effect upon birds 
 when out of health) but they are relished much more than any form of insect or 
 its larvae, not excluding mealworms : centipedes also are eaten with avidit}^ but 
 not millipedes, and many birds refuse to touch woodlice or only kill and 
 leave them. 
 
 The Dartford Warblers which Montagu, kept in confinement were taken from 
 the nest and reared by hand. These birds "began to sing with the appearance of 
 their first mature feathers, and continued in song all the month of October." 
 
 Family— TURDID a;. Stcb/aviily—S YL VI/NyE. 
 
 The Golden-Crested Wren, 
 
 Regu/its crisiatus, K. L. KoCH. 
 
 PERHAPS to the case of few species are the observations of Herr Gatke more 
 applicable than to that of the Gold-crest when he says, speaking of the countless 
 myriads of birds which pass over Heligoland on migration, and furthermore of this 
 very species : — " The east- to- west migration of the Golden-crested Wren in October 
 1882, extended in one continuous column, not only across the east coast of England 
 and Scotland, but even up to the Faeroe Islands. When one thinks of numbers 
 of individuals such as these, which cannot be grasped by human intelligence, it 
 seems absurd to talk of a conceivable diminution in the number of birds being 
 
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The Golden-Crested Wren. 85 
 
 effected through the agency of man. In one particular respect man no doubt does 
 exert a noticeable influence on the numbers of bird-life, not however by means of 
 net and gun, but rather by the increasing cultivation of the soil, which roots out 
 every bush and shrub, great or small, as a useless obstacle, and thus robs the bird 
 of even the last natural protection of its nest. Having thus driven the poor 
 creatures, into distant and less densely populated districts, we complain that we no 
 longer hear their merry song, unconscious of the fact that we are ourselves 
 responsible for the cause." 
 
 This is a point which I have always insisted upon : no Act for the protection 
 of wild birds, which does not forbid the wholesale grubbing of woods, and so-called 
 " waste land," will ever prevent the diminution of bird-life in our Islands. 
 
 The Gold-crest is generally distributed over Europe in Scandinavia northward 
 to the Arctic Circle, and in Russia from Archangel and the Ural Mountains ; in 
 the east, southwards to the Himalayas and China, and in the west down to the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 Dixon (Jottings about Birds, p. 70) observes : — " It is said that the Gold-crest, 
 R. cristatiis (Koch) visits Algeria in winter, but I cannot find any conclusive 
 evidence of the fact. It is said regularly to pass Malta on migration in spring 
 and autumn." 
 
 In Great Britain it is generally distributed wherever coniferous trees occur, 
 and breeds with us. 
 
 Although the Gold-crest is the smallest British bird, its migratory powers are 
 inferior to none, and its capacity for resisting cold so great, that it remains with 
 us even in our severest winters : it is a common error to suppose that size neces- 
 sarily accompanies vigour, inasmuch as many of the tiniest birds are undoubtedly 
 far more hardy than larger species : as an instance, I would call attention to the 
 little Indian Avadavat, which I have proved to be indifferent to 21 degrees of 
 frost ; whereas many of the larger parrots, at anyrate if recently imported, as some 
 of ni}^ Waxbills had been, would have succumbed to a considerably higher 
 temperature. 
 
 The male Gold-crest is olive-green above more or less suffused with yellowish ; 
 the crown of the head bright yellow in front shading into orange behind and 
 bounded b}' a blackish streak, below which is a greyish white superciliary streak ; 
 the wing and tail-feathers are greyish brown, the median and greater wing-coverts 
 edged with white, the primary-coverts being blackish ; secondaries tipped with 
 white ; under parts pale greyish-brown or greenish-buff, whiter on the abdomen ; 
 bill blackish-brown, feet brown, iris hazel. 
 
 The female is less brightly coloured than the male, the crown brown-yellow 
 
86 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 with narrower blackish streak. In the young the crown is slightly darker than 
 the back, but shows no trace of yellow or black. 
 
 In many illustrations this bird is represented with a well-defined crest ; but, 
 so far as I have seen, the feathers of the crown seem to be erected very slightly, 
 if at all ; though, when the little creature looks downwards, the feathers at the 
 back of the crown project slightly above those of the nape. Possibly under great 
 excitement the feathers of the crown would be partially raised as they are in 
 many birds ; but whether, even then, they would stick up like the quills of the 
 " prickly porcupine," as artists delight in representing them as doing, is, I think 
 questionable. 
 
 Mr. Frohawk, who has had considerable experience of the Gold-crest, tells me 
 that in the autumn this species may frequently be met with singly, or in pairs ; 
 but in the winter it is generally seen in flocks, and often in company of Long- 
 tailed Tits. In the latter season it haunts pine-forests, as well as hedges ; but in 
 the breeding season plantations of spruce and larch are its favourite resorts. The 
 male sings continuously in the vicinity of its nest, and if disturbed the old birds 
 creep about incessantly near to their home with quivering wings. 
 
 Furthermore, Mr. Frohawk says that he has never known a Gold-crest to 
 erect a crest; the feathers of the head are, however, somewhat expanded laterally 
 so as to expose the golden stripe in its full beauty, this stripe being very narrow 
 when the bird is in repose. Mr. Staines, of Penge, who has on several occasions 
 attempted to keep the Gold-crest as a cage bird, confirms Mr. Frohawk's opinion 
 in all particulars : he has never seen the bird erect, though he has seen it expand 
 its crest. 
 
 Lord Lilford (Birds of Northamptonshire) says : — " The call-note of the Gold- 
 crest is peculiar and constantly repeated whilst the birds are on their excursions. 
 In very cold weather I have found a family of perhaps a dozen of these little 
 birds clustered together for warmth beneath the snow-laden bough of an old yew- 
 tree, to the under surface of which the uppermost birds were clinging by their 
 feet, whilst, as far as I could see, the others clung to them and to one another, 
 so as to form a closely packed feathery ball. I happened to notice this by chance, 
 and, in the gloom of the overhanging boughs, thought it was an old nest, but on 
 touching it with the end of a walking-stick, the supposed nest dissolved itself into 
 a number of these minute creatures, who did not appear much alarmed, but dis- 
 persed themselves on the adjoining boughs, and, no doubt, soon resumed their 
 previous formation, which I was sorry to have disturbed. Although the nests of 
 the Gold-crest are generally placed under the branches of a yew or a fir tree, we have 
 twice found them in a thin fence at about five feet from the ground ; the materials 
 
The Golden-Crested Wren. 87 
 
 are soft moss and lichens, wool, a little grass, and a mass of small feathers by 
 way of lining.* The eggs are of a yellowish-white, very closely spotted or clouded 
 with pale rust-colour, and vary in number from six or seven to ten or more ; I 
 once found twelve in a nest." 
 
 A nest in my collection, taken from the undersurface of a yew-branch and 
 interlaced in the terminal feathery leaves, is formed almost entirely of moss, com- 
 pacted with spiders' silk and one or two small feathers ; the lining appears to 
 consist wholly of small soft feathers. Some eggs which I have seen, were creamy 
 white ; others, densely and minutely dusted all over with rusty-reddish ; others 
 again, with a deeper rust red zone, or terminal nebula, at the larger extremity. 
 
 The song of the Gold-crest is short, low, but pleasing ; though its call-notes 
 are thin and almost as shrill as the notes of a bat. Dixon in describing the song 
 calls it eulogistically " a few notes of matchless melody." 
 
 This tiny bird haunts woods, shrubberies, plantations of fir, larch and other 
 conifers, yew-trees in churchyards and cemeteries, copses, orchards and gardens. 
 In its habits it greatly resembles the Tits, dropping from spray to twig, turning, 
 twisting, closely examining every inch of its swaying perch for insect prey, and 
 incessantly uttering its high piercing whistle ; then, gliding rapidly from the end 
 of some feathery spray, it passes on to another tree and recommences its acrobatic 
 performances. Like the Tits also, this little bird is wonderfully confiding: one 
 autumn whilst standing on a balcony leading by steps into the garden of the house 
 which I then inhabited, I heard the shrill note of this species just above my head 
 and looking upwards saw a pair of Gold-crests clambering about over a jasmine 
 which I had trained to cover a wire arch above the doorway ; they appeared to be 
 quite indifferent to my presence not a foot below them. 
 
 Stevenson, in his "Birds of Norfolk" after speaking of the well ascertained 
 fact that thousands of these tiny birds in the autumn come to swell the numbers 
 of our residents, observes : — " Perhaps the most striking instance, however, of the 
 migration of the Gold- crest, in large numbers, to our eastern coast, was witnessed 
 by Captain Longe, of Great Yarmouth, on the morning of the 2nd of November, 1862. 
 In a letter to myself at the time, he says ' As I was walking to Hemsby, about 
 7-30 when it was just daylight, about half a mile out of Yarmouth, on the Caister 
 road, my attention was attracted to a small bush overhanging the marsh dyke, 
 
 * Mr. A. T. Mitchell, has drawn attention to the fact that, in some parts of Ireland, the Gold-crest "builds 
 commonly against the sides of ivy-covered trees. The nest is not suspended under a branch of fir, as I have 
 found it in England, and the nests here are badly and loosely put together." Mr. J. Trumbull states that of 
 seventeen nests of the Gold-crest found in Co. Dublin, only four were placed beneath the surface of a branch. 
 Mr. H. S. Davenport, has found half a dozen nests of the Gold-crest "placed against the sides of ivy-clad trees." 
 The Rev. H. A. Macpherson has also pointed out that the Gold-crest occasionally builds its nest in the middle 
 of a furze-bush (Cf. Zool. 1895. pp. 385, 431, 448.) 
 
8S British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 which borders the pathway, b}- the continuous twittering of a small bird. On 
 looking closel}', I found the bush, small as it was, literally covered with Golden- 
 crested Wrens. There was hardly an inch of twig that had not a bird on it, and 
 even from m}' rough attempt at calculation at the time, I feel sure there were at 
 least between two and three hundred. Most of them were either females or young 
 birds, having a lemon-coloured crest ; they were perfectly tame, and although I sat 
 down on the other side of the ditch, within six feet, and watched them for some 
 time, they did not attempt to fly away ; but one or more would occasionalh' rise 
 off its perch, hover like a butterfl}^ and settle again in some other position. I 
 went the next morning to look for them, but they were all gone. The wind had 
 been easterly, with much fog.' " 
 
 The food of the Gold-crest consists principally of insects, small spiders, &c. ; 
 but it eats a few seeds and small berries : in captivity Abrahams' food and bread- 
 crumbs moistened, also boiled potato, cooked the previous day, and finely chopped 
 up with yolk of egg, would form a good staple diet ; small mealworms, ant's larvae, 
 small caterpillars, flies, and spiders being given when procurable. 
 
 Although sometimes kept in quite small cages, this bird, to be properlj' 
 studied, should be turned loose in a moderately large aviary, planted with firs 
 and yews ; or at any rate with a few pot specimens of these trees standing about ; 
 but whether it be kept in cage or aviar}-, a snugly lined box should be hung up 
 in one corner to which it may retire for warmth at night ; for, although the Gold- 
 crest is undoubtedly a hardy bird like the Tits, captivity at best deprives it of 
 much of the free exercise which it takes throughout the day when at liberty ; this, 
 in conjunction with somewhat unnatural diet, less pure air, and the lack of 
 companionship of any of its own species, doubtless tend to weaken and undermine 
 the constitution of this feathered mite. 
 
 In my opinion a bird which is never seen singlj-, but, at the very least in 
 pairs, should not be caged bj- itself; solitary confinement may not be objectionable 
 to a parrot ; but to a species which, when not breeding, is seen in famil}^ parties, 
 small companies, or even in countless mj^riads, solitar}- confinement must be in the 
 highest degree irksome : an aviary about eight feet square, devoted to a score or 
 so of these fairy-like little birds, would be " a thing of beaut}' and a joj^ for ever." 
 
The Fire-Crested Wren. 89 
 
 rawily— TURDIDA^. Subfamjly—S YL VIINA'.. 
 
 The Fire-Crested Wren. 
 
 Regulus igiiicapi/Iits, C. L. Brehm. 
 
 A NOT infrequent straggler to the British Isles, the Fire-crest may fully claim 
 its title to a place in these pages. Of its geographical distribution Howard 
 Saunders writes : — " The Fire-crested Wren has a much less extended range north- 
 ward than its congener, and although it appears to have straggled to the Faeroes, 
 it is unknown in Scandinavia ; barely reaches Denmark ; and does not occur to the 
 north-east of the Baltic Provinces of Germany. To some parts of the Rhine 
 district it is rather partial in summer ; and, although local in its distribution, it 
 breeds in France, Spain, Ital}-, Switzerland, Central and Southern Germany, Greece, 
 Turkey, and Southern Russia. In the Taurus Range of Asia Minor, it is more 
 abundant than the Gold-crest. In the mountain- forests of Algeria, and in some 
 parts of Southern Europe, the Fire-crest is resident throughout the year ; its 
 numbers being augmented in winter by migrants from the north." 
 
 Herr Gatke says : — " This species is a little smaller, and by reason of its 
 black eye-streak, still somewhat more prettily marked bird than the preceding. It 
 visits Heligoland almost as regiilarly as the latter, but invariably in verj- small 
 numbers. In the spring it arrives somewhat sooner, and in the autumn somewhat 
 later than R. flavicapilius—7i\\6. thus may be said in a sense to open and close the 
 migration of the crested Wrens." 
 
 In England specimens of the Fire-crest have been obtained since 1832, when 
 a cat slaughtered the first recognised specimen ; the following counties having at 
 various times witnessed its destruction : — Cumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lanca- 
 shire, N. Wales, Norfolk, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Devonshire, 
 Oxon, Cornwall, and the Scilly Islands. One specimen is said to have occurred in 
 Scotland in 1848, and one was supposed to have been seen at Tralee in Ireland ; 
 but both of these occurrences are considered to be open to doubt. 
 
 In general appearance the Fire-crest greatly resembles the Gold-crest, but 
 differs in its yellowish frontal band, whiter superciliary streak, frequently more 
 orange crown, a second black streak passing from the gape through the e^^e, and 
 
90 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 a third moustachial streak; the sides of neck and the shoulders washed with 
 sulphur yellow ; feathers of wings and tail brown, with yellowish- green edges ; the 
 greater and median wing-coverts tipped with white and the primary coverts dark 
 brown ; under parts dull huffish white ; bill blackish brown, feet dark brown, iris 
 hazel. 
 
 The female is duller in colouring than the male and has a paler crest ; young 
 birds have the crown of the same colour as the rest of the upper surface, only 
 acquiring the yellow colouring after the first moult. 
 
 The habits, haunts and even the nest and eggs of this species are extremely 
 like those of its near relative the Gold-crest ; the nest is similarly suspended and 
 is usually formed of moss felted with spiders' cocoons and thickly lined with 
 feathers. If the branch in which it is placed chances to be covered with lichens, 
 the Fire-crest utilizes these also in the outer walls ; in all probability this is done 
 simply because the material is at hand ; not, as has been suggested, with any idea 
 of imitating the surroundings of the nest, with a view to its concealment. That 
 the use of that which is most easily obtainable, because nearest, does often greatly 
 add to the difficulty of discovering a nest by the inexperienced collector, nobody 
 will deny ; but to credit the little architect with deliberate design in the use of 
 such material is, in my opinion, utter nonsense : indeed I have seen the nest of a 
 Chaffinch in a hedge rendered most conspicuous by a covering of lichen from the 
 trunk of a tree a yard or two behind it, and a Wren's nest built of coarse dead 
 grass and standing out prominently from the mossy trunk of a tree : both of these 
 nests are in my collection. 
 
 Speaking of the habits of the Fire-crest, Seebohm says : — " Their presence is 
 at once betrayed by their soft notes, a monotonous zit-zit, which is continually 
 uttered as they are busily employed feeding on insects under the leaves of the 
 overhanging trees, and becomes a rapid z-z-z-zit as they chase each other from tree 
 to tree, or fly off in alarm at your movements. If you remain perfectly still they 
 will sometimes come and feed close to you, occasionally two or three of them 
 within a few feet of your head. It is very curious then to watch their movements. 
 They twist in and out among the slender twigs, sometimes with head down and 
 sometimes with feet up ; but by far the most curious part of the performance is 
 when they come to the end of the twig and examine the under surface of the 
 leaves at its extremity. They have nothing to stand upon ; so they flutter more 
 like bees than birds from leaf to leaf, their little wings beating so fast that they 
 look transparent, their bodies all the time being nearly perpendicular. Of course 
 it is only on large-leafed oaks, and the shrubs that form the underwood in the 
 garden, that you can examine them closely. In the pine-forest, when all 
 
The Fire-Crested Wren. 91 
 
 the branches for twenty feet are broken off for fuel, 5rou require a glass to see 
 them well." (British Birds, vol. i, p. 459). 
 
 Seebohm quotes the following from Dixon's Algerian notes on this species : — ■ 
 " The trees are full of life. Here in close company with the rare Algerian Coal 
 Tit, the Fire-crest is very common. It is seen in the tall cedar trees, and is 
 restless and busy amongst the branches fifty feet above, exploring all the twigs in 
 search of its favourite food. The Fire-crest is also almost as common in the 
 evergreen-oak forests, searching the lower branches all amongst the lichens and 
 tree-moss for insects ; and every now and then its brilliant crest glistens conspic- 
 uously in the sunlight. Its note sounds shriller to me than a Gold-crest's ; but I 
 think it was quite as familiar and trustful as that other little favourite bird of 
 mine. In its motions it puts you in mind of the Willow Wrens ; and when, as I 
 have sometimes seen it, hanging with one leg from a drooping bough, picking 
 out the insects from a bud, it looks precisely like a Tit. Although we were in 
 these forests in May, the birds did not seem to have begun to breed." 
 
 Other writers, however, state that the note of the Fire-crest is " not so shrill " 
 as that of the commoner species. 
 
 The eggs, although averaging about the same number as those of the Gold- 
 crest, are, I believe invariably, redder than even the most rusty eggs of that 
 species, the markings usually covering their entire surface. 
 
 Speaking of the nesting of this species Howard Saunders remarks : — " In 
 Germany the branches of a fir-tree are almost invariably selected ; the nest being 
 seldom found in pines or larches ; and the same trees are frequented year after 
 year. In the above country nesting does not begin before May ; but in the south 
 of Spain the young are able to fly by the middle of that month. Insects and 
 spiders constitute its food." He continues thus : — " In the Pyrenees, with excellent 
 opportunities for observing the habits of both species, I noticed that the Fire-crest 
 was much more restless and erratic in its movements, darting away suddenly after 
 a! very short stay upon the gorse-bush or tree where it was feeding, and being 
 often alone or in parties of two or three at most ; whereas the Gold-crests, five or 
 six together, would work steadily round the same bush, and, if I remained quiet, 
 would stop there for many minutes." 
 
 Hewitson in the third edition of his "Eggs of British Birds" states that the 
 " Rev. E. H. Browne has watched this species during the summer, near his 
 residence, at Bio' Norton, in Norfolk, and has no doubt it breeds there." The 
 probability is that he was merely misled by brightly coloured examples of the 
 Gold-crest, not being aware of the true distinctive characters of the two species : 
 at any rate his supposition has not been confirmed. 
 
92 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 In an aviary the Fire-crest might be associated with the Gold-crest and would 
 require precisely the same treatment ; but it is not probable that many Avicul- 
 turists will have an opportunity of obtaining it in this country, Dr. Russ says 
 that until recently it was supposed to be impossible to keep the European species 
 of Regu/us for any length of time, but recently they have been found in the care 
 of a considerable number of aviarists ; he however considers their habituation to 
 confinement difficult. In disposition they are particularly gentle, sociable and 
 peaceable. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— SYLVIIN^. 
 
 The Yellow-Browed Warbler. 
 
 Phylloscopns stiperciliosits, GiMEL. 
 
 MR. Howard Saunders only mentions three examples of this pretty little species 
 as having been obtained in Great Britain : but, in " the Zoologist " for 
 December, 1894, Mr. J. E. Harting says: — "On October 8th, Mr. Swailes, an 
 observant nurseryman, at Beverley, hearing the note of a small warbler which was 
 unfamiliar to him, shot the bird, and sent it for identification to Mr. F. Boyes, who 
 pronounced it to be Phylloscopns supcrciliosus, and on communicating this information, 
 Mr. Swailes found and shot two others in the same locality. Mr. Boyes having 
 reported this interesting occurrence in 'The Field' of October 27th, Mr. J. H. 
 Gumey, in the succeeding issue (Nov. 3rd) announced that on Oct. ist one of these 
 little birds was shot on the coast of Norfolk by a labouring man, who fired at it 
 merely for the purpose of unloading his gun! As ten instances of the occurrence 
 of this species in the British Islands have now been made known, its claim to be 
 
Yellow-Browed Warbler. 
 
The Yellow-Browed Warbler. 93 
 
 regarded as a British bird, which for a quarter of a century remained doubtfiil, 
 may now be said to be established." * 
 
 To Aviculturists Mr. Swailes is well-known as a successful breeder of British 
 Birds in out-door aviaries. 
 
 Touching the distribution of Phylloscopus supcrci/iosus, Seebohm writes: — "The 
 breeding-range of the Yellow-browed Warbler is supposed to be confined to the 
 pine- forests of North-eastern Siberia, from the valley of the Yenesay eastwards to 
 the Pacific, and from the mountains of Lake Baikal northwards to the Arctic circle. 
 It passes through Mongolia and North China on migration and winters in South 
 China, Assam, Burma, and North-east India. Like some other Siberian birds which 
 winter in South-east Asia, a few examples appear more or less regularly to take 
 the wrong turning at Yeniseisk, and, instead of accompanying the main body of 
 the migratory species, which follow the course of the Angora through Lake Baikal 
 into the valley of the Amoor, join the smaller stream of migration, which flows 
 westwards into Persia and Europe." 
 
 In the spring the adult bird above is olive-green, the rump and upper tail- 
 coverts yellower ; wing- coverts, flights and tail-feathers brown, edged with olive- 
 green, the median and greater wing-coverts broadly tipped with greenish-yellow, 
 forming two distinct bands, the secondaries and several of the primaries tipped 
 with yellowish-white ; a greenish-yellow superciliary stripe which becomes whitish 
 behind the ear-coverts ; under-surface white, tinged with greenish-yellow, the axil- 
 laries, under wing-coverts, and thighs yellowish ; bill dark brown, feet brown, iris 
 hazel. After the autumn moult the colouring is brighter and yellower. Young 
 birds are greener and have a less defined eye-stripe than adults. 
 
 The home of this little bird is made in the pine-forests of N.E. Siberia, where 
 Mr. Seebohm found it very common, he describes its call-note as a plaintive wecst, 
 whereas Gatke says " This call has the sound of a somewhat long-drawn, softly 
 intoned ' hjiiph,' and somewhat approaches in character the call-note of Antlius 
 pratensis." \ However, it was reserved for Mr. Seebohm to be the first discoverer 
 of the nest of this interesting species on the 26th June, 1877 : — " As we were 
 walking along a little bird started up near us, and began most persistently to 
 utter the well-known cry of the Yellow-browed Warbler. As it kept flying around 
 us from tree to tree, we naturally came to the conclusion that it had a nest near. 
 We searched for some time unsuccessfully, and then retired to a short distance, 
 
 * One of the specimens recorded by Mr. Swailes has, since, been presented l)y him to the Natural 
 History Museum. 
 
 t I should judge that Gatke's rendering of bird-notes was more likely to be accurate than Seebohm's, and 
 ''e (or more probably hiveeph) is likely to be a call-note, whereas wecst is certainly not. — A.G.B. 
 
 Vol. I. R 
 
94 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 and sat down iipon a tree-trnnk to watch. The bird was very uneasy, but 
 continiialh- came back to a birch tree, from which it frequently made short flights 
 towards the ground, as if it were anxious to return to its nest but dare not whilst 
 we were in sight. This went on for about half an hour, when we came to the 
 conclusion that the nest must be at the foot of the birch tree, and commenced a 
 second search. In less than five minutes I found the nest, with six eggs. It was 
 built in a slight tuft of grass, moss and bilberries, semidomed, exactly like the 
 nest of our Willow Warblers. It was composed of dry grass and moss, and lined 
 with reindeer-hair. The eggs are pure white in ground colour, spotted very thickly 
 at the large end, in the form of an irregular zone, with reddish brown, and more 
 sparingly on the remainder of the surface ; some of the spots are underlying and 
 paler, but not grey, and on one or two of the eggs they are confluent. They 
 measure •6-inch in length and ■45-inch in breadth. The markings are well-defined, 
 like those on the eggs of the Chiffchaff"; but the colour is decidedl}' more like 
 that of the Willow Warblers." 
 
 Gatke says : — " The conditions which favour the passage of this bird to 
 Heligoland are an east wind, particularlj- a light south-east, and warm sunny 
 weather. After its arrival it frequents principally the few tree-like willow shrubs 
 in the gardens between the houses of the upper plateau (Oberland). It appears to 
 have a special preference for Salix sinithiania, for which reason I always cultivate 
 this species in my garden. It is hardly ever seen on S. caprca or on elders, but 
 likes high thorns and the greater maples (Acer pscudo-platanusj. In its manner of 
 hopping through the branches of these tree-like bushes and garden-shrubs it exactly 
 resembles the Chiifchaff and Willow Wren. In doing so, it does not, however, 
 make use of its wings for propelling itself, as the two last-named species do 
 incessantly, even when they do not require their wings for the purpose of fluttering 
 from one branch to another ; nor does this bird hop about in the unsteady, and to 
 all appearance, aimless manner of the latter birds, but progresses calmly and 
 gradually from the lower branches to the top of the tree or bush." 
 
 Mr. F. W. Frohawk writes: — "On the ist or 2nd of October, 1895, at 10 
 a.m., on one of those beautiful summer-like days we had during the last week of 
 September and first week of October, during our stay at West Buckland, S. Devon, 
 my wife (who is well acquainted with most of our native birds) told me she had 
 just seen, in the hedge surrounding the garden at the back of the cottage, some 
 little birds which were singing and were new to her, and was sure they were 
 something rare. I at once went to the spot and immediatel}^ heard the song of a 
 bird which was unlike anj'thing I knew, and directly afterwards saw a small 
 Warbler hopping from one twig to another in the hedge and taking short flights 
 
The Yellow-Browed Warbler. 9S 
 
 of a few feet from one part of the hedge to another, generall}' alighting about 
 half way up, and then hopping to the top, and singing its little song repeatedly. 
 A short distance (only a few yards) away another was singing, and behaving in 
 the same way, and two others with precisely the same actions, but not singing, 
 were with them. All four were of the same species : they appeared to be as nearly 
 as possible, intermediate between a Gold-crest and Willow Warbler, so far as I 
 could make out the colouring : this was rather difficult to do, on account of viewing 
 the birds against the sky, as the hedge was on rather a high bank and they kept 
 on the outer side of the hedge. They were olive-greyish-green, or rather olive- 
 greenish-grey, with underparts lighter and a distinct pale stripe running from the 
 beak over the eye and beyond it ; the wings (basal half) appeared covered by the 
 side and flank feathers. They reminded me of the Gold-crest, but were not so 
 small or so fluffy, they appeared rather more trim in shape, but more plump in 
 proportion than the Willow Warbler. The song was well in keeping with the little 
 birds and I found no difficulty in noting it, as I repeated it time after time with 
 the birds (which appeared very tame) and by many repetitions I was satisfied I 
 hit it off accurately : this enabled my wife to set it to music, which will convey 
 the character of the birds simple, but merry and pleasing little song. 
 
 Scherzando. emp. 
 
 
 ■6-4- 
 
 SOPHAKO. 
 
 ■tf 
 
 Apparently these little strangers were on migration, as I saw nothing more of 
 them, although I searched the locality daily afterwards. 
 
 I have little doubt that these birds were Yellow-browed Warblers fPhylloscopus 
 superciliosusj ; if not, what were they ? I do not know if the song of this rare 
 little bird has been described, or if any Ornithologist is acquainted with it ; if so 
 the species might be identified with certainty. As well as I remember these birds 
 agreed in size and character with a drawing the late John Hancock showed me, 
 made by him from a specimen of the Yellow-browed Warbler which he shot many 
 years ago and which was the first British specimen : his drawing represented the 
 bird clinging to the flower-head or seeds of a plant, picking the insects from it, 
 and he said it looked so like a Gold-crest that he mistook it for that species ; but, 
 upon shooting it, found he had gained a prize. 
 
 I regret that I had no means with me at the time of securing a specimen 
 out of the four I met with, so as to remove all doubt of the species : I should 
 have had no difficulty in obtaining one or more, had I had my catapult at the 
 
9^ British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 time ; this I find the best thing for collecting sixch birds as Gold-crests, as it 
 damages them so little, and these little birds were so tame that I could easily 
 have got one or two of them." 
 
 Since writing the above, Mr. Frohawk obtained skins of the Yellow-browed 
 Warbler for illustration on our plate of that species, and at once recognized them 
 as the species which he and his wife had seen ; thinking, however, that it would 
 be as well to make assurance doubly sure, he showed her the drawing for the 
 plate as well as the skins without making any remark ; and, directly she saw them 
 she said — "Why those are the same as the little birds which we saw hopping 
 about in the hedge in Devonshire." It is therefore clear that Mr. Frohawk was 
 not mistaken in his original opinion, and that these four specimens may be 
 confidently added to the list of Yellow-browed Warblers met with in Great Britain. 
 
 Faviily—TURDID^. Subfamily— SYLVIIN^. 
 
 The ChiffCiiAff 
 
 Phylloscopiis rti/us, BechST. 
 
 A PARTIALLY resident bird in mild winters in the warmer parts of Cornwall, 
 but by far the greater number migrates annually from our shores in October : 
 this species is, however, the first to return in the spring, its monotonous double 
 note being often heard by the middle of March. 
 
 The northward range of the Chiffchafif in Europe extends almost to the Arctic 
 circle and eastward to the valley of the Volga, southward to the shores of the 
 Mediterranean ; it is a regular winter visitor to Northern and North-eastern Africa 
 as far as Abyssinia, as well as to Arabia, Persia, Asia Minor, Palestine and Greece : 
 it is resident in the Canary Islands. 
 
Chiffchaff 
 
The Chiffchaff. 97 
 
 In Great Britain this species is probably most abundant in the south and 
 south-west of England, but it is fairly common in suitable localities throughout 
 England and Wales : in Scotland and Ireland it is less frequently met with and 
 much more local. 
 
 The adult Chiffchaff in spring plumage is olive-green above, the rump being 
 slightly yellower; the wing and tail-feathers are brown, externally edged with 
 green ; the flights narrowly tipped with white ; a pale yellow superciliary streak 
 which becomes white behind the ear-coverts ; the lores and feathers behind the eye 
 olive ; under surface of body white, slightly greyish on the breast and flanks, and 
 faintly washed throughout with greenish-yellow ; the axillaries, under wing-coverts, 
 and thighs yellow ; bill dark-brown, feet blackish-brown, iris hazel. After the 
 autumn moult the entire plumage becomes suffused with bufiish yellow. Young 
 birds are somewhat greener than adults and have the superciliary streak less 
 defined. 
 
 The song of the Chiffchaff, if such it can be called, must be familiar to 
 everyone who has been in the country, or certainly to all inhabitants of our 
 southern counties. In the spring it is well-nigh impossible to ramble anywhere 
 near to a wood without hearing its incessant chiff-chiff, chiff-chiff, chiff-chiff (never 
 chiff-chaff, as its name would lead one to expect) : yet, common as it is, the nest 
 of this bird is not by any means so easy to discover as one would suppose.* 
 
 But for its very inferior song, slightly smaller size, duller colouring, weaker 
 and more undulating flight, the Chiffchaff might readily be mistaken for the 
 Willow- Wren ; it is however far more a bird of the woods than the latter species, 
 often making its home in small clearings far away from the outskirts. Sometimes 
 however, the nest is built in small shaws or plantations where the undergrowth 
 is dense, and one nest in my collection was taken by my friend Mr. O. Janson 
 from a cavity in a steep bank just outside one of the Kentish shaws ; he was 
 searching for nests just ahead of me at the time and showed it to me in situ. 
 
 A very beautiful nest, which I illustrated as a frontispiece to my " Handbook 
 of British Oology," I found in course of construction on the top of a short mossy 
 stump almost buried in a large patch of dead coarse grass in a small clearing, at 
 the side of a woodland path some 500 yards from its entrance. The nest itself 
 was situated about twenty feet from the path (towards which its back was turned) 
 and was so interwoven with the surrounding dead grass that unless I had seen 
 the birds carrying materials to it, I should certainly never have noticed anything 
 
 * The nonsense that has been written about this bird saying chiff, cheff, chaff is only an evidence of the 
 fact that the English are even now an imaginative people (I believe this has been denied); take away the chaff 
 and I will admit that the second syllable is sometimes uttered, though I believe it is only a slip on the part of 
 the bird, thus :—" Chiff-chiff, chiff-chiff, chiff-cheff, chiff-chiff." 
 
 Vol.. I. S 
 
98 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 to make me suspect its existence ; I marked the spot by treading a flint into the 
 edge of the path, and a week later again visited the spot, when finding that it 
 contained four eggs, I took it at once rather than risk the chance of its discovery 
 by someone else. 
 
 Lord Lilford's experience of the Chiffchaff's nest in Northamptonshire differs 
 somewhat from my Kentish experience of it ; he says that it "is hardl}^ to be 
 distinguished from that of the Willow- Wren, but is, I think, more often placed 
 at some height from the ground than is the case with that bird." 
 
 Judging from the nests which I have robbed, as well as those which I have 
 preserved, I should say that the majority of those of the Chiffchaflf were slightly 
 higher in proportion to their width and more contracted round the opening than 
 those of the Willow- Wren ; the outside also is perhaps more generally decked with 
 dead leaves in nests of the former than of the latter species ; but to be sure of 
 one's facts, one ought to be able to compare a large number of nests from different 
 counties. 
 
 The nest of the Chiffchaff is cave-like, or semi-domed, with a tolerably wide 
 opening ; the thickest portion of the structure is at the top, probably with a view 
 to protection against rain ; the walls are formed of coarse dead grass-stems inter- 
 twined with dead blades of grass, plant-fibre, rootlets, dead as well as skeleton- 
 leaves and spiders' cocoons ; the inside is lined with fine rootlets, horsehair and a 
 number of feathers carefully smoothed down. The number of eggs varies from 
 five to seven, the former being the usvial number ; in colour they are pure white, 
 though when not blown the yolk gives them a pink tinge ; * they are more or 
 less dotted or spotted, as a rule, with deep chocolate or pitchy markings ; but some- 
 times these spots are mixed with other larger ones of a sienna red colour, with 
 here and there a pale lavender shell spot. Sometimes the spots are chiefly 
 confined to the larger end, sometimes they form an unequal, oblique, and somewhat 
 vague belt across the surface, often they are evenly scattered over the entire egg ; 
 but in spite of all these little modifications there is never the slightest difiiculty 
 in recognizing, at a glance, the egg of the Chiffchaff, it is as characteristic as 
 that of the Lesser Whitethroat. 
 
 The food of this species consists of many kinds of small insects, their larvae, 
 and of spiders : it also feeds on elderberries and currants as soon as these are 
 ripe : it seeks its insect food chiefly in the trees, but does not scorn to snatch a 
 small beetle or spider from the ground, or to chase a gnat or fly in the air. Its 
 flight is verj^ undulating and not specially rapid. 
 
 * Eggs which have been partlj- incubated lose their purit}- of colouring, becoming somewhat creamy ; but 
 this is not a peculiarity of the Chiffchaff alone ; therefore to describe the egg as cream-coloured is not strictly 
 correct. 
 
Willow-Warbler 
 
The Willow-Warbler. 99 
 
 The alarm-note is said to be a i^'Iiit somewhat resembling that of the Willow- 
 Wren ; but is not this its call-note * and the other note tr-r-r (to which no title 
 has been applied) its alarm or scolding note ? 
 
 In his "Birds of Norfolk" Mr. Stevenson states, on the authority of Messrs. 
 Gurney and Fisher, that a low bush, frequently of furze, appears to be a favourite 
 locality for the nest of this species and that as many as four have been found in 
 such places within a few yards. I never knew the nest to occupy such a site in 
 Kent, but birds appear to vary their habits greatly to suit their surroundings. 
 
 I have not tried the Chiffchaif as an aviary bird ; but, unless it be intended 
 to breed it, when the furze-bush arrangement might be tried, I should hardly 
 think this species would pay for its keep : a few Willow- Warblers would be far 
 more pleasing in every way. On the other hand, there is no doubt that when 
 once accustomed to the usual soft food, the Chiifchaff would prove hardy enough 
 and its graceful actions would be pleasing, but I doubt if any human being could 
 long retain his senses, if compelled daily, for months together, to listen to the 
 everlasting chiff-cJiiff, chiff-chiff, chiff-chiff oi this little bird. Now and again as one 
 passes through a wood it is a pleasing change, as the triangle is in a concert ; 
 but imagine a concert going on for months consisting of no other instrument than 
 a triangle ; believe me, even that would be more pleasant than an everlasting 
 Chiffchaff 's song ! 
 
 Family— TURDIDyE. Subfamily— SYL VII NyE. 
 
 The Willow- Warbler. 
 
 Phylloscopus trochilus, LiNN. 
 
 GENERALLY distributed during the summer and breeding throughout Western 
 and Central Europe, southwards as far as the Straits of Gibraltar, eastward 
 in Transylvania. It visits South Russia, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, and 
 
 * The little White-eyes (Zoslerops spp.J, which always remind me of the Willow-Wren on a small scale, 
 have a clear call-note — wheel. 
 
loo British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Palestine in winter and on migration ; but it passes the winter chiefl}' in Africa 
 from the Nile south-westwards as far as the Cape, and south-eastwards to the 
 Transvaal and Natal. A few, however, winter in the South of France and Spain, 
 and a few pass the summer in N.W. Africa. 
 
 In Great Britain the Willow- Warbler is pretty generally distributed and 
 abundant, though in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland only locally common ; to the 
 Orkneys, Shetlands and Faeroes it is apparently a mere straggler. 
 
 This species is a much brighter and prettier bird than the ChiffchafiF: in 
 spring it is olive-green above with the rump yellower; the wing-coverts are olive- 
 brownish, with greener margins, the flights brown with narrow whitish tips ; and 
 yellowish outer webs ; tail feathers brown, with whitish inner and yellowish outer 
 edges ; a superciliary yellowish streak from the bill over the eye and ear-coverts : 
 under parts yellowish, the chin, centre of throat, abdomen and under tail-coverts 
 white ; the breast and flanks olivaceous yellow or olivaceous buff" ; the axillaries, 
 under wing-coverts and thighs yellow ; flights and tail below ashy-grey : bill brown, 
 darkest on the culmen, palest below ; feet greyish horn-brown, iris hazel. The 
 female nearly resembles the male. After the autumn moult the colouring, especially 
 in birds of the year, is so much more yellow, that a neighbour sent round to me 
 in 1894, to inform me that one of my Canaries had got loose and was flying about 
 my garden. I was much tickled when I caught sight of it, flitting about a privet 
 hedge at the back of my covered aviary, catching flies. The popular notion is 
 that every yellow bird is a Canary. 
 
 The Willow- Wren (so-called) reaches the south of England about the end of 
 March, or the first week of April, leaving this country again about the middle of 
 September. Soon after its arrival and for about a month prior to its departure it 
 may be daily seen in most suburban gardens : I generally see it regularly for a 
 week in April and during the latter part of July and beginning of August ; but 
 rarely, if ever, during the remainder of the year unless I go farther afield, to furze- 
 clad commons, copses, woods, plantations, or the more secluded parts of large 
 gardens. 
 
 I know of no bird more graceful and active than the Willow- Wren ; acrobatic 
 and confiding as a Coal-tit, yet with a more easy lighter flight and greater control 
 over itself when on the wing ; restless exceedingly, but most beautiful in all its 
 agile movements, whether it be seen clinging to the upright bars of an iron garden 
 archway, to the feathery spray of some conifer, or flitting with rapid undulating 
 flight in pursuit of some small winged insect : even when, on rare occasions, it 
 drops to the earth in pursuit of some coveted morsel, its Robin-like hop is in 
 keeping with its neat trim figure. 
 
The Willow-Warbler. ioi 
 
 The song of the WilloAv- Warbler is somewhat shrill, but decidedly pleasing ; 
 it vaguel)^ reminds one of that of the Chaffinch, but the scale is irregular, being 
 more staccato ; though far less melodious it also bears a slight resemblance to the 
 song of the common Amaduvade Waxbill ; but differs, as a descending zigzag does 
 from a descending spiral, the notes sounding as if flung right and left. 
 
 The nest is frequently placed amongst grass on the ground, or in branches 
 close to the ground, and almost hidden by grass and nettles ; sometimes, however 
 it is foTind some feet above the ground, one which I took on the i6th June, 1881, 
 was built over two feet above the earth in a wild rose-bush in a large garden at 
 Tunstall in Kent; also in the "Zoologist" for 1878, Mr. E. P. P. Butterfield 
 states that in 1876 he observed a nest built between two rocks at a distance of three 
 feet, and another in 1878 in a clump of whins two feet from the ground ; but 
 probabl}' the greatest recorded altitude is that mentioned by Mr. iVlston, when the 
 nest was built in a hole in a wall nearly seven feet from the ground. 
 
 The nest in form is usually cave-shaped or semi-domed, the thickest portion 
 being at the top as in the nest of the Chiffchaff"; but in 1883, I obtained a very 
 abnormal cup-shaped nest which was built under a gooseberry bush in an orchard ; 
 the usual arched covering was rendered unnecessary from the fact that a large 
 clod of hard earth completely overhung the cup : in all probability this clod had 
 been accidentally flung over the nest when it was in course of construction and 
 the little architect instead of being scared away by the seeming misfortune, had 
 utilized it as a time-saver: this nest with its four beautifully spotted eggs is still 
 in my collection. 
 
 The nesting materials consist of dry grass, either coarse or fine, mixed with 
 fern, dead leaves or moss, and spiders' cocoons ; externally somewhat untidy in 
 appearance though firmly compacted : the lining consists of wool, hair, and plenty 
 of soft feathers, and has a neat and comfortable appearance. 
 
 The eggs vary in number from four to eight ; but five to six are more 
 usually found : they are pure white, rarely unspotted, sometimes finely speckled and 
 distinctly zoned round the larger extremity with rust-red, sometimes prominently 
 spotted irregularly with the same colour. Apart from their usually superior size, 
 the totally dissimilar colour of the spots would preclude the possibility of these 
 eggs being confounded with those of the Chiffchaff. 
 
 Towards the end of July, 1887, a young example of the Willow- Warbler was 
 brought to me by two lads of my acquaintance, it had flown into their parents' 
 house, probably in pursuit of flies. At first it was very wild, so I turned it into 
 a cage, about eighteen inches cubic measure, with a hand-reared Sedge- Warbler. 
 The following morning, as I was offering a fly to the latter bird, the Willow- 
 
I02 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Warbler sprang over his back and snatched it from my fingers ; it had become 
 perfectly tame in thirty-six hours. I mentioned this fact to Dr. Glinther who 
 assured me that, such being the case, he was certain (from his own experience) 
 the bird would die in a day or two : he could not explain why it was so, but it 
 was an invariable rule that, if Warblers became suddenly tame soon after capture, 
 they never lived long. The following morning my Willow- Wren was sitting ruffled 
 up with its head under its wing ; but, after swallowing two caterpillars and two 
 house-flies, it appeared to recover its spirits and became as lively as at first. In 
 the afternoon my son offered it a fly, putting his hand into the cage and holding 
 the insect between his finger and thumb : the little bird flew down upon his hand 
 and took it, then hopped round pecking at his fingers. Half an hour later it 
 was found lying dead on the draw-tray of the cage. 
 
 In July, 1889, I trapped two Willow- Wrens in my garden and turned them 
 loose in an aviary sixteen feet long ; there they seemed happy enough catching 
 flies and spiders ; but they did not seem to understand the soft food, although they 
 must have seen other birds eating it : consequently they soon sickened and died : 
 since then I have not attempted to catch any others. 
 
 There is no doubt that, in order to get these little birds to eat the soft food, 
 the best plan would be to cage them up at first, giving them two food pans, one 
 half filled with small mealworms and filled up with the food, so that it would be 
 impossible for them to eat the living food without tasting the other ; the second 
 pan with soft food only, which they would be certain to peck over in search 
 for more insect larvae. The only alternative, and a risky and trying one at 
 best, would be to rear your Warblers from the nest ; but then, in all probability, 
 they would never sing. 
 
Wood-Warbler 
 
The Wood-Warbler. 103 
 
 Family— TURD ID ^. Sub/am ily—S YL VI IN^. 
 
 The Wood-Warbler. 
 
 Phylloscopus sibilatrix, Bechst. 
 
 AS regards the geographical distribution of this species on the Continent, I 
 cannot do better than quote Howard Saunders : — " The Wood-Wren has 
 not yet been proved to visit Norway, but it is found in Sweden as far North 
 as Upsala ; while it is very common in the Baltic Provinces, rarer in South 
 Finland, and a straggler to Archangel. Eastward it can be traced to Kazan, 
 the lower valley of the Volga, the Caucasus, and the western shore of the 
 Caspian. In Palestine, Asia Minor and Greece, it occurs on migration ; but it 
 breeds in Turkey, Transylvania, and Europe generally, although rarely in the 
 extreme south ; while in Portugal the bird seems to be almost unknown. It 
 appears probable that a few remain during the summer in the mountain forests 
 of the Atlas ; the winter migrations extending to the Gold Coast on the west 
 side of Africa, and to Abyssinia on the east." 
 
 In England it is generally distributed, breeding in many suitable localities ; it 
 is very local in Scotland, but in Ireland it is absolutely rare. 
 
 The Wood- Warbler is the largest British species of its genus, and has the 
 longest wings. The adult bird, which varies very slightly in colouring throughout 
 the year, has the upper surface yellowish-green, the rump and upper tail-coverts 
 being most yellow in tint ; the wing-coverts olive-green with the margins of the 
 feathers paler; the flights greyish-brown, externally edged with green and tipped 
 with whitish, the innermost secondaries with broader pale margins ; tail greyish- 
 brown, the outer webs greenish, and the inner webs pale greyish on the edges. 
 From the bill over the eye and beyond it is a broad sulphur-yellow superciliary 
 stripe. The under surface is pure white ; the chin, throat and breast suffused with 
 sulphur-yellow ; the axillaries, under wing-coverts and thighs are also yellow. Bill 
 dark brown, the lower mandible paler at the base ; feet brown ; iris hazel. 
 
I04 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The young bird is slightly more yellow than adults ; but the sexes are much 
 alike. 
 
 The Wood- Wren is rarely with us until towards the end of April, and in 
 September it commences its winter emigration : in its habits it is not unlike its 
 congeners, but is more exclusively a bird of the forests and the larger woods, than 
 of copses and plantations. Lord Lilford, in his "Birds of Northamptonshire" 
 says : — " So far as my experience goes of the Wood- Wren, or Wood- Warbler (as 
 this bird is, I think, more generally called) it is fond of woods of high trees, 
 especially of beech, beneath which there is little or no undergrowth with the 
 exception of occasional tufts of coarse grass in the scattered spots not actually 
 overshadowed by the spreading branches of the trees. In these and similar 
 localities we occasionally hear, about the beginning of May, a very peculiar note, 
 which is described by White, of Selborne, as ' a sibilous grasshopper-like noise :' 
 sibilovis it certainly is, but I can perceive' no resemblance in it to the cry of the 
 grasshopper. A good description will be found in the fourth edition of Yarrell ; 
 but even this fails to convey exactly the sound produced, though I certainly am 
 unable to improve upon it, and can only say that to my ear it has a certain 
 resemblance to the sound of the wings of wild ducks when flying overhead, 
 though, as stated by Yarrell, it begins slowly, and is more musical than any 
 sound produced by mere muscular action can well be. This song is accompanied 
 by a quivering of the wings, which are drooped during the performance." 
 
 Mr. Blyth described the song as " Twit, hvit, twit, tit, tit, tit, ti-ti-ti-i-i-i, begin- 
 ning slow, but gradually becoming quicker and quicker, until it dies away in a 
 kind of thrill ; " and Seebohm says : — " It might be expressed on paper thus — - 
 chit, chit, chit, chit, chitr, tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tre. The final trill somewhat resembles the note 
 of the Grasshopper Warbler or the lesser Redpole, or the prolonged ' shivering ' 
 part of the song of the Common Wren ; and during its utterance the wings and 
 tail, if not the whole body of the bird, vibrate with the exertion." Unfortunately 
 when I have heard the bird, I have been too eagerly engaged in search of its nest 
 to make notes respecting its song, or I would give my own rendering : memory is 
 a treacherous staff to lean upon, but so far as it serves me in this particular 
 instance, I should be inclined to accept Seebohm's rather than Blyth's version, as 
 not only appealing to my conviction of its greater accuracy as a reminiscence, but 
 as sounding less like a particularly irritating street song. 
 
 I have, several times, found the nest of this species in coarse grass-tussocks, 
 or amongst the dead leaves of a small branch, torn off" by the wind and half 
 hidden by grass and nettle ; always, however, in openings in beech or oak-woods, 
 and not far from the outskirts. Unfortunately I never secured any eggs of the 
 
The Wood-Warbler. " 105 
 
 Wood-Warbler ; the nests which I found having either been only just completed, 
 or perchance plundered of their contents ; not, however, by country lads, or they 
 would have been torn out and destroyed. 
 
 The nest, like that of its congeners is semi-domed, and constructed of dead 
 grass mixed with leaves and occasionally a little moss ; it is lined with horsehair, 
 but never with feathers. The eggs number from five to seven and are pure white 
 more or less densely speckled, spotted or blotched with purplish brown and inter- 
 mixed with numerous shell-spots ; the markings are either scattered broadcast, 
 partly confluent so as to form irregular patches, or are partly collected into a 
 zone towards the larger end. 
 
 The food of the Wood- Wren consists principally of insects, their larvae, and 
 spiders ; but there is no doubt that it also eats elderberries when procurable. 
 
 The call-note has been described as dee-ur, dce-ur, but more probably the 
 sound is tcc-ur, though the call of the Starling certainly sounds like Joey dce-ur, 
 hee-ur: it is not easy to distinguish the d from the / sound in a whistled note. 
 Touching another sound uttered by this bird Howard Saunders writes : — " Sloping 
 wooded banks are favourite situations for the nest, which often is not merely on 
 the ground, but is actually set in some natural hollow, well concealed by herbage. 
 The hen at times sits very close : when fairly beaten out, she will feed in an 
 unconcerned manner, uttering a low pi-o for a quarter of an hour or more ; after 
 which she works round to a branch above her nest, drops down abruptly and 
 enters it in an instant." 
 
 Gatke says that the Wood- Warbler " visits Heligoland only in very isolated 
 instances, such few individuals as are met with being seen for the most part in 
 warm May days. During its autumn migration — from the middle of July to the 
 middle of August — the bird is much rarer." 
 
 As an aviary bird the Wood- Wren would doubtless be interesting, though 
 neither specially remarkable for bright colouring or vocal merit ; I should however 
 expect to find it just as difficult to accustom to a change of diet as the Willow- 
 Warbler. I am of opinion that the few examples of Phylloscopus which, from time 
 to time, appear at our bird-shows are invariably hand-reared, although Swaysland 
 speaks of them as being easily tamed ; and of the present species he observes 
 (Cassell's Cage-Birds) " If allowed to fly about the room, its first thought is the 
 selection of a perch ; when it has satisfied itself on this point, it will show great 
 expertness in catching the flies from off the walls and ceiling, always returning to 
 its favourite perch to eat them." Possibly my own want of success in keeping 
 the Willow- Warbler maj' have been due to the fact that my birds were captured 
 in July ; for it has been asserted that, for some unexplained reason, Warblers 
 
io6 • British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 become more readily accustomed to captivit}' if caught ou their arrival in this 
 countr\- than just before or at the season of their departure. Not having captured 
 any Warblers in the spring months, I am quite unable to decide the point. 
 
 The two following birds should not, I think, be admitted as British ; each of 
 them having only appeared as an accidental straggler on three occasions : — 
 
 Family— TURD ID.^. Subfamily— SYL VIINAL. 
 
 The Rufous Warbler. 
 
 A'edoii galadodes, Temm. 
 
 A SOUTH European species, of which the first example was shot near Brighton 
 by Mr. Swaysland on September i6th, 1854; the second was an imperfect 
 specimen obtained in Devonshire, on September 25th, 1859 ; the third was also 
 obtained in Devonshire, on October, 12th 1876. 
 
The Icterine Warbler. 107 
 
 Family— TURDID/E. Subfamily— S YL VIIN/E. 
 
 The Icterine Warbler. 
 
 Hypolais icterina, ViEILL. 
 
 A NORTHERN and central European species, of which the first example was 
 killed near Dover, on June 15th, 1848 ; the second in co. Dublin, on June 
 8th, 1856; the third in Norfolk, on September nth, 1884. 
 
 It is in the highest degree improbable that either of these species will fall 
 into the hands of any of the readers of the present work : should they have the 
 good fortune to meet with them I hope that, in the interests both of humanity, 
 and science they will not shoot them ; but, if possible, capture and study them 
 living. It is a melancholy fact that almost every rare bird which accidentally 
 wanders to our shores is doomed to be shot, for the mere satisfaction of labelling 
 it as British : the same individual, if shot in the land of its birth, would probably 
 be valued at a shilling or less. 
 
 We now come to the Reed- Warblers, whose suspended nests are often 
 taken and preserved as ornaments by mere admirers of the beautiful ; without one 
 thought of the little architects, or the faintest desire to know anything respecting 
 them. 
 
^** British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Stibfamily—S YL VIIN^E. 
 
 The Reed- Warbler. 
 
 Acrocephahis strcpcrus, ViElLL. 
 
 SEEBOHM states that, on the Continent, the Reed- Warbler "is found in 
 suitable localities in summer throughout Europe, south of latitude 58°, and 
 in Asia Minor, Palestine, South-west Siberia, Turkestan, Persia, Bahichistan, and 
 probably in Afghanistan. It is said to be a resident in Greece and the surround- 
 ing islands ; but it passes through North Africa on migration, and winters in 
 Central Africa." 
 
 In Great Britain this species is local, being very common in the Southern 
 counties, with the exception of Cornwall and the Scilly Islands ; it is also common 
 in suitable localities in Wales, Cheshire, and Yorkshire ; but local in Lancashire 
 and rare in Cumberland. In Scotland it is said to have occurred, and one example 
 has been recorded from Ireland ; but these statements reqiiire confirmation. 
 
 The Reed- Warbler above is olive-brown suffused with chestnut, more especially 
 on the rump and upper tail- coverts ; the innermost secondaries with pale margins ; 
 an ill-defined pale-buff superciliary stripe ; imder surface creamy- white, the breast, 
 flanks, and under tail-coverts rufous-buff ; bill dark horn-brown above, paler below, 
 feet slaty-brown, iris brown. The female nearly resembles the male ; both sexes 
 are slightly more rufescent after the autumn moult. The young are very tawny 
 on the under surface. 
 
 This species reaches Great Britain towards the end of April, and leaves again 
 in September. 
 
 Although, as its name implies, the Reed- Warbler mostly frequents reed-grown 
 dykes, ponds, or the edges of broads and rivers where reed and sedge abound ; I 
 have seen it also fairly abundant in marshy copses in Kent, and in gooseberry- 
 gardens in Norfolk ; but always in the vicinity of water : on the other hand Mr. 
 R. H. Mitford speaks of its nesting in lilac-trees in his garden at Hampstead. I 
 have three nests built in forks of hazel, the first of which is of the normal type, 
 and was given to me by the Hon. Walter de Rothschild, who obtained it at Tring ; 
 the two others were sent to me by Mr. Salter, from Salisbury, and decidedly 
 
Reed-Warbler 
 
The Reed-Warbler. 109 
 
 approach the nest of the Marsh-Warbler in character, as also do the eggs in one 
 of them ; in both the latter instances, the hazels were growing close to water. The 
 nest of this bird is most frequently suspended in reeds ; sometimes the attachment 
 is firm, sometimes loose ; the latter arrangement is adopted and the nest fastened 
 above a leaf when the level of the water shows great variation during the day ; 
 thus, when the water rises it raises the nest, which is built with an unusually 
 thick base, above the projecting leaves : this I have proved to be the case on 
 more than one occasion, and hence Swaysland's belief that the nests in the Brighton 
 dykes were constructed with this object has some justification, although in the 
 particular specimens which Mr. Seebohm examined most had a leaf projecting 
 close to the nest, both immediately above and below it on one or other of the 
 reeds, which would make any movement of the kind impossible. From two to 
 four reeds are employed for the suspension of the nest, the most frequent number 
 being three. 
 
 I shall not easily forget my first experience in taking the nest of the Reed- 
 Warbler : I had heard that the species was numerously represented among the 
 reeds which grow in abundance at Tong Mill in the village of Tong, near Sitting- 
 bourne. The mill and the adjoining plantation were at that time the property of 
 a Mr. Arthur Bennett, a large-hearted man who took an interest in Natural 
 History, so that I had no difficulty in obtaining permission to search for birds' 
 nests wherever I pleased. 
 
 When I approached the stream I could hear the Reed- Warblers in every 
 direction, but could only catch a glimpse of them from time to time as they 
 emerged for a moment from the densely clustered leaves. The reeds grew most 
 thickly near to the house ; but at this point the stream was very wide, and the 
 birds appeared to be chiefly in mid-stream ; so that I was at a loss to know how 
 I should reach their nests which I knew must be built at the time, although none 
 were visible from the bank. 
 
 Mr. Bennett now came to the rescue with a long ladder, which he dropped 
 across the reed-bed, the foot remaining upon the bank, and the top floating upon 
 the water, and partly supported by the broken-down plants. Upon this, grasping 
 bundles of reeds on either side, I was able to walk out for some distance, looking 
 right and left for nests as I went ; and, at the first essay I caught sight of a nest 
 about six feet away to the left. 
 
 Walking out on the rungs of a ladder, and depending for one's balance upon 
 flexible stems, whilst with every step the water rises an inch or two higher over 
 one's boots, is not the most enviable pastime ; although the slight discomfort is 
 more than atoned for, by the sight of the first nest of a species not hitherto met 
 
 Vol. I. U 
 
no British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 with : the difficulty of this mode of progression is, however, by no means so great 
 as one would imagine ; but, when the nest is discovered, and it is necessary to 
 turn round and retrace one's steps, the task is by no means so easy. 
 
 Having noted the exact spot where my nest was situated, a second throw of 
 the ladder soon brought me within reach of it ; to my delight the clutch included 
 a Cuckoo's egg, but unhappily so much incubated that I made but a poor job of 
 preparing that nest for my collection ; however, I still have it. I obtained several 
 other nests with fresh eggs in the course of the morning ; but I have never since 
 adopted the same method for securing nests of the Reed- Warbler. 
 
 In Kent the birds are extremely common in the dykes, but the nests most 
 difficult to find ; indeed it is no uncommon thing to work carefully along half a 
 mile of dyke, hearing the weak and monotonous song the whole time and turning 
 aside the reeds with a long stick continuously, yet not finding a single nest ; 
 shortly afterwards, on reaching a reedy duck pond, with an old wooden box for a 
 boat, and a pole to scull it withal, one finds the nests easily enough. In the 
 reeds bordering the Norfolk broads there is no difficulty in obtaining nests, if one 
 rows close along the outer edge of the reed-belt ; also in the narrow dykes running 
 into some of the broads they may be found. 
 
 The nest is a strongly constructed, deep cup, formed of dry grasses and bents, 
 or the flowering tops of the reed, with sometimes a little moss and plenty of 
 cobweb ; the cup being lined internally with fine grassy fibre or horsehair. 
 
 The nests obtained by Mr. Salter were unusually large and compact, formed 
 of carefully selected stout grasses interwoven with some woolly substance (appar- 
 ently vegetable), and externally swathed tightly with stronger grasses : the first 
 sent to me contained four eggs, somewhat larger and more boldly marked than 
 most eggs of this species. I wrote to Mr. Salter asking him to try and discover 
 something further respecting it. On the 27th June, he wrote to me from Downton, 
 as follows : — " I will forward, per parcels post, to you, another nest like the one 
 you have. I found it last Saturday with three young birds and one egg. I went 
 again to-day and found the young ones just ready to fly. I managed to shoot 
 one of the old ones with a catapult, but could not manage to get the other, 
 although I waited about three hours. The nest was overhanging the water about 
 fifty yards from where I got the other." 
 
 The egg and birds forwarded with this second nest were quite normal, and I 
 regretted that specimens had been destroyed in order to prove the fact : however, 
 the birds have not died in vain, for one at least will be immortalised on the plate 
 accompanying this article. 
 
 The number of eggs in a clutch varies from five to six; they are dull 
 
The Reed-Warbler, m 
 
 greenish-white, mottled, or streakily spotted with olive, and with slightly greyer 
 shell-markings ; the spots frequently collect in a dark zone round the larger end, 
 and are rendered richer by the addition of one or two black dots ; but, excepting 
 in the paucity or density of the markings, the eggs of this species vary very little ; 
 they always have a dull, blvirred appearance. 
 
 The music of the Reed- Warbler is very poor and weak, with very little 
 variation ; it sounds more like the clamouring of nestlings for food, than the love- 
 song of an adult bird ; it has the same querulous peevishness in its tones at times, 
 but especially when one is approaching the nest. 
 
 This bird nevertheless is by no means destitute of the power of mimicry. 
 My friend, Charles A. Witchell, in his fascinating book " The evolution of bird- 
 song," pp. 221-2, observes: — "A Reed-Warbler heard by me at Brimscombe, near 
 Stroud, imitated many times the cries of the Starling, including the common cry 
 of alarm (the cah employed as an alarm to the young) and the song of the Starling. 
 A pair of the latter species had a nest within ten yards of the singer ; hence I 
 was able to compare the imitations (which were excellent) with their originals. 
 The Swallow, Wagtail, and House-Sparrow were also abundantly imitated. The 
 Swallow's song was capitally rendered seven times successfully. Mr. H. C. Playe 
 informs me that he has heard numbers of these birds near Oxford, and that they 
 are good mimics." 
 
 The food of the Reed- Warbler consists chiefly of the numerous insects and 
 their larvae which abound upon the reeds and sedges, of spiders, small worms, 
 slugs, and, when they are ripe, of small fruits and berries. In captivity it would 
 probably eat the usual soft food ; but I should hardly think it would make a 
 specially interesting aviary pet. 
 
112 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— SYLVHNAL. 
 
 The Marsh-Warbler. 
 
 Acrocephalus palustris, BechsT. 
 
 IN the summer this species occurs over nearly the whole of Europe south of 
 the Baltic ; and eastwards through Russia and Siberia to Turkestan and 
 Persia ; according to Seebohm its occurrence in Asia Minor and Palestine is 
 doubtful. It winters in Africa from the Nile probably to Natal. 
 
 In Great Britain the Marsh- Warbler is apparently ver}^ local ; the nest has 
 been recorded as taken near Bath, in Gloucestershire, in Cambridgeshire and Oxon. 
 I am satisfied that a nest which I found with only one &^% built in the reeds near 
 the margin of one of the Ormesby broads was a nest of this species, although 
 Ornithologists seem to be agreed that the Marsh- Warbler never frequents reeds, 
 but only swampy ground. The fact that this bird is a regular breeding species 
 near Taunton, in Somersetshire, was discovered through the acumen of Mr. Howard 
 Saunders ; the facts being as follows : — 
 
 An Ornithologist, a Dr. Woodforde, had a collection of birds, and Mr. Howard 
 Saunders, who was visiting Mr. Cecil Smith, was taken by him to see this 
 collection : amongst the specimens shown to him were a bird with nest and one 
 ^%Zi which no one previously had been able to recognize, and which Mr. Saunders 
 identified as the Marsh- Warbler. No sooner was this fact made known than Mr. 
 Murray Matthew, then Vicar of Bishop's Lydeard, asked Mr. John Marshall, of 
 Taunton, if he could get old Coates, the birdcatcher (the discoverer of Dr. Wood- 
 forde' s bird, nest, and ^%%, twenty years previously) to look about for a nest and 
 specimens of this species. Coates being then in Mr. Marshall's employ, went with 
 him in search of the nest : in this they were perfectly successful, so that Mr. 
 Marshall was able to distribute both nests and eggs among his friends : two of 
 these nests came into the possession of Mr. Seebohm ; who, curiously enough seems 
 to credit Mr. Cecil Smith with the discovery of the breeding of the species in 
 Taunton, not even mentioning Mr. Marshall's name : the illustrations of eggs of 
 this species in the present work are reproductions of careful coloured drawings 
 of some of Mr. Marshall's specimens. 
 
Marsh-Warbler 
 
The Marsh-Warbler. 113 
 
 The Marsh- Warbler is barely to be distinguished from the Reed-Warbler ; but 
 differs in its less rufous, more greenish- olivaceous colouring above; the feathers 
 of the wing with more defined pale borders, the under surface more yellowish in 
 tint, the feet brownish flesh-coloured ; iris hazel. As Seebohm observes : — " Some 
 English Ornithologists, who have never made the personal acquaintance of both 
 species, have almost refused to admit their distinctness. No doubt they are very 
 closely allied ; but in their song, habits, eggs, and geographical distribution, they 
 differ as much as a Blackbird differs from a Thrush." 
 
 Although it has been assumed, rather than proved, that the nest of this 
 species is never built in reeds ; it is admitted that it is suspended in the same 
 manner amongst nettles, figwort, the greater willow-herb, meadow-sweet, or low 
 bushes, usually close to the water : probably the Marsh- Warbler does prefer to 
 build in such situations, but either it is not botanist enough to know that it is 
 erring when it builds in a reed-bed, or the nest and egg which I found, but 
 foolishly trusted a youth to send me when the clutch was completed, was a verj^ 
 aberrant one and a superb copy of a Marsh- Warbler's production. 
 
 Naumann (quoted by Seebohm) says : — " the nest is never placed over water — 
 not even over marshy ground. It is always btiilt over firm ground, though this is 
 generally somewhat moist, as it cannot help being on the bank of a stream, a 
 situation often chosen. But you can always reach the nest dryshod.* In the 
 lowlands I always found it near the large country houses, especially in the gardens 
 on the banks of the moats, which sometimes were filled with reeds, and frequently 
 contained very little vegetation. The nest was sometimes close to the water, but 
 often many steps away from it, in low bushes overgrown with reeds, or in a small 
 bush overgrown with reeds, nettles, and other plants. It is also said to be found 
 in the rape fields, generally in the ditches, seldom deep in the rape itself. The 
 Reed- Warbler often breeds near the Marsh- Warbler, sometimes in the same ditch ; 
 but the latter bird always builds in the herbage on the bank near the water, whilst 
 the former as constantly breeds in the reeds over the water. To this rule there 
 seems to be no exception. f The nest is generally from one to three feet from 
 the ground, very seldom nearer, and, I am told on the best authority, never on 
 the ground itself." "It is no use to look for the nest in the middle of dense 
 thickets, but only on their edges, especially in isolated little bushes close to the 
 borders of ditches and moats." 
 
 * The same statement has been made respecting the Sedge- Warbler, man}- nests of which I was only able 
 to obtain from a boat. — A. G. B. 
 
 t This is certainly not correct, for I have myself taken the nest of the Reed-Warbler built on moist 
 ground near the water. — A. G. B. 
 
114 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 The nest of the Marsh- Warbler has been compared with that of the Grass- 
 hopper-Warbler which it is said greatly to resemble ; it is formed of dry rounded 
 grass-stalks, sometimes intermixed with dead grass-leaves, vegetable fibre and 
 cobweb, and lined with finer grass, black horsehair and sometimes a little moss. 
 The eggs vary in number from five to seven; in colouring they are pale blue- 
 greenish, or greenish-white, spotted, blotched and streaked with olive-brown, often 
 with darker central spots and with violet-grey shell-spots. 
 
 The song of this species is said to be far superior to that of the Reed- 
 Warbler; Gatke hints at its resemblance to that of the Icterine- Warbler, but 
 Seebohm says that it recalls that of the Swallow, the Lark, the Tree- Warbler, the 
 Nightingale, and the Bluethroat : " not so loud as that of the Nightingale, but 
 almost as rich and decidedly more varied." * If this is a correct description, the 
 Marsh- Warbler should be greatly sought after as a pet. 
 
 Mr. Warde Fowler, in his " Summer Studies of Birds and Books," pp. 78-79, 
 thus describes the discovery of the Marsh- Warbler's nest in Switzerland: — "At 
 the end of the long street which leads towards the Lake of Brienz, we passed out 
 into a spongy-looking and reedy tract, lying between the river Aar and some 
 cultivated ground — ^just in the same position as the haunt of the Marsh- Warbler 
 at Meiringen. Here I proposed that we should follow a footpath which ran along 
 the river-side, and seemed likely to lead us to some bits of scrub and wild ground 
 which we could see about a quarter of a mile ahead. This scrub turned out to 
 consist of some kind of low-growing willow, with ditches and hollows overgrown 
 with long grass and meadow-sweet. My friend plunged into it, while I went on a 
 little further. Almost directly he called me back, and by the waving of his 
 umbrella I saw that he had made some discovery. It was indeed a discovery, it 
 was the nest of a Marsh- Warbler. There was the nest, and there too was the 
 bird, which continued to creep about the neighbourhood of the nest for some 
 minutes after we had disturbed her. There were four eggs in the nest, the beauty 
 of which will always dwell in my memory. They were of the same type as the 
 Reed- Warblers, but instead of being densely covered with greenish spots, their 
 ground colour was greenish-white, with many largish dull purple blotches, gathered 
 chiefly at the thicker end. The nest too was specially distinct from that of our 
 familiar Oxford bird ; it was of a slighter make, and not so deep, bixt the stalks 
 of the meadow-sweet had been drawn into its structure, much as the reeds or the 
 shoots of privet or lilac are used in the nest of the Reed- Warbler. It is worth 
 
 * Mr. W. W. Fowler speaks of its imitating the Tree-Pipit, Lark, Swallow, Sedge- Warbler, Nightingale, 
 Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Great-Tit, White-Wagtail, &c., and he says that it sings best from six till ten in the 
 morning. A charming paper on the Marsh-Warbler's nesting habits appeared in the Zoologist, 1896, p.p., 286-288. 
 
The Marsh-Warbler. 115 
 
 noting that the few nests of this species which have been so far found in England, 
 have been usually suspended in meadow-sweet ; and also that they have never, so 
 far as I know, been found immediately over water, but at a little distance from 
 it, and not very far from cultivated ground. We took one egg only, and after 
 some further search returned to the village, and went on our way to Meiringen, 
 where we were to sleep that night." 
 
 I do not doubt that the usual habit of the Marsh- Warbler is, to build its 
 nest above moist ground and not over water ; but to anyone who has nested year 
 after year for any considerable period, the fact that there is no rule without 
 exceptions is found to be especialty true in relation to nesting sites. It is most 
 unusual for a Spotted Flycatcher to build in a hole in a wall, and for a Wren to 
 form its domed nest in a box, yet I have obtained the former and my friend Frohawk 
 the latter. That the Marsh -Warbler therefore should occasionally follow the habit 
 of its very close relation the Reed- Warbler, is no more than might be expected. 
 
 The food of the Marsh- Warbler consists largely of insects and spiders, but it 
 also eats elderberries and small fruits in their season. 
 
 The Marsh-Warbler is said to reach its breeding-grounds about the middle 
 of May, and to leave them late in August. Herr Gatke, speaking of it in Heligo- 
 land, says : — " This species * * * was in former years met with far more frequently 
 in Heligoland than is the case now. As regards numbers, too, it was far better 
 represented than the preceding species (the Reed- Warbler) — a relation which 
 obtains even at the present day in regard to the few individuals still visiting the 
 island." 
 
 " Further, before the period under consideration, the spring and summer 
 months were almost invariably fine and warm, with a prevalence of south-easterly 
 winds, so that in April and May of almost every year the island used to teem 
 with Sylviee and other small birds ; indeed there were many days on which one 
 might have been able to secure more than a hundred Bluethroats (^Sylvia suecicaj, 
 and some twenty or more examples of S. hypolais and 5. palustris. Since then, on 
 the other hand, our spring and summer is almost always cold, with raw and dry 
 winds from the north, and the number of these Sylviee, and of other both smaller 
 and larger species which put in an appearance at these seasons, has dwindled to 
 the slenderest proportions, so that now the two last named species are seen perhaps 
 not more than twice or three times in the course of a spring migration." 
 
 Although I have not heard of this species having been exhibited as a cage- 
 bird in England, it is recorded among the species sent to the sixth exhibition of 
 the "Omis" Society in Berlin. Mathias Rausch, in the " Gefiederte Welt" for 
 1 89 1, in an exhaustive article on the European Song-birds, states that this bird 
 
ii6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 is very prolific in imitations of the songs of other species, frequently even more 
 versatile than the Icterine Warbler, though in strength of voice, in purity and 
 flute-like character of tone, it stands a good distance behind it. Probably Herr 
 Rausch bases his remarks chiefly on wild specimens ; but it is quite possible that 
 he may also have heard them in captivity. 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— S YL 1 7/N^. 
 
 The Great Reed-Warbler. 
 
 Acrocephalus turdoides, Meyer. 
 
 According to Seebohm, the only satisfactorily authenticated instance of the 
 occurrence of this species in our islands is one shot near Newcastle on the 
 28th May, 1847, by Mr. Thomas Robson. Howard Saunders, however, evidently 
 believes in three other British killed specimens, one shot near Wingham in Kent, 
 on September 14th, 1881, one near Ringwood, Hampshire, on June 3rd, 1884, and 
 one shot near Sittingbourne in Kent, at some unknown date : he also believes in 
 the existence of a specimen which frequented the Norfolk broads. 
 
 As the species breeds annually at Calais, and is common both in Holland and 
 Belgium, Mr. Saunders considers it a marvel that its visits to our shores are so 
 rare. At best this can only be regarded as a casual wanderer to Great Britain. 
 
Sedge-Warbler 
 
The Sedge-Warbler. 
 
 "7 
 
 Family— TURDIDAL. 
 
 Subfamily— SYL VIIN^E. 
 
 The Sedge-Warbler. 
 
 Acrocephalus phragniitis, Bechst. 
 
 OCCURS in Norway up to lat. 70°, in Sweden and North Russia to lat. 68°, 
 and in the valleys of the Obb and Yenessay to lat. 67°. Southward it 
 breeds in North-west Turkestan, Palestine, Greece, and Central Italy, but in the 
 South of Europe generally it is only known as a migrant, though it is believed 
 that it sometimes breeds in Spain and the South of France : throughout the rest 
 of Europe it is pretty generally distributed, and abundant in suitable localities. 
 It visits Algeria and Egypt in the winter, passing thence to Damara-Land and 
 the Transvaal : it also seems probable, from the fact that Dixon shot the species 
 in May in Algeria, that a few examples remain to breed there. 
 
 In Great Britain the Sedge- Warbler is more or less abundant everywhere, 
 excepting perhaps on the Shetlands ; it is however somewhat local in the extreme 
 north. 
 
 Far more strikingly coloured than the Reed- Warbler, this well-known species 
 has a general resemblance to hens of the Orange Weaver-bird fPyromelana francis- 
 canaj : the general coloiiring of the upper parts is golden-brown, with black centres 
 to the feathers ; but on the head the feathers would be more accurately described 
 as black, with lateral brown borders ; on the rump and upper tail-coverts they are 
 cinnamon reddish, without black centres ; the secondaries are blackish with broad 
 clear golden-brown borders ; the primaries smoky-grey, narrowly and more or less 
 distinctly edged at the tips with whitish ; tail feathers blackish, with whitish 
 margins ; a distinct broad pale buff superciliary streak ; lores and ear-coverts smoky 
 brown ; chin and throat white ; centre of abdomen whitish ; remainder of body below 
 buff; upper mandible blackish-brown, lower mandible yellowish horn-brown, darker 
 towards the tip ; feet pale brown ; iris bright hazel. The female is slightly duller 
 than the male, and the reddish colouring of the rump and upper tail-coverts is 
 less pronounced. Young birds have the breast transversely spotted with smoky 
 brown. 
 
 The Sedge- Warbler appears at its breeding haunts towards the end of April, 
 or the beginning of May, and leaves us again in September or October. Although 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 X 
 
ii8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 not always strictly confined to sedges and reeds, it is almost invariably to be 
 found in the neighbourhood of water ; * thus in Kent I met with it in numbers 
 in a plantation which was frequently converted into a marsh by the overflow of a 
 mill-stream, and in Norfolk, in lanes within a stone's-throw of the broads. With- 
 out question the best and most likely situations in which to look for the nest are 
 in reeds and sedges, or in willows or hawthorns overhanging the water : and here 
 I feel constrained to contradict a statement which has been made, respecting the 
 situation of the nest, by several excellent observers and well-known Ornithologists. 
 Seebohm and others assert that the nest of this bird " is never suspended between 
 the reeds like the Reed- Warbler's, but is supported by the branches " ; yet of the 
 many nests which I took on the Ormesby broads in 1885 and 1886, nearly all 
 were suspended precisely like those of the Reed- Warbler, several reeds being 
 interwoven loosely into the walls of the nest, which was placed above the junction 
 of a leaf in at least one of the said reeds. As seen from our boat, it would have 
 puzzled the keenest observer to say to which species the suspended nest belonged, 
 though a glance at the eggs at once settled the question. 
 
 Sometimes the nest is built in a hawthorn hedge, sometimes in nettles 
 at the foot of a hedge ; and all those which I have discovered in the marshy 
 plantation (part of which, when under water, was converted into a thousand 
 tiny islets formed by the roots, and was most awkward to cross) were built 
 amongst brambles, precisely in such a situation as would be chosen by the 
 Garden-Warbler. 
 
 For many years I collected eggs, without troubling to take the nests, but 
 eventually the importance of studying the variation of nests as well as eggs became 
 impressed upon me, and during the few years in which I acted upon this convic- 
 tion, I obtained amongst others some thirty or forty nests of the present species, 
 from which I was able to select eleven fairly well-defined distinct types for my 
 permanent collection, and an extremely pretty series they make, varying from a 
 stoutly built structure of twigs, grass-stalks, feathers, wool, horsehair, and fibre, 
 fully an inch and a half thick, to the flimsiest little fabric of goose-grass, fibre, 
 wool, and the flowering heads of reeds : some nests seem to be made entirely of 
 fine grass-stems, and much resemble those of the Greater Whitethroat, others are 
 more like those of the Blackcap, and others again are almost sparrow-like in their 
 untidiness and in the careless use of white feathers in the walls, though scarcely 
 so in form, f 
 
 * I have taken the nest as far as a hundred yards or more distant from water. 
 
 t I have a nest of the Honse-Sparrow taken from a Sand-Martin's burrow which is not much unlike this 
 type, even in form. 
 
The Sedge-Warbler. "9 
 
 As a rule the nest is deep and compact, constructed of dry grass, with a stalk 
 or leaf of reed intertwined, also rootlets and very rarely a little moss ; lined with 
 black horsehair, soft feathers, and sometimes a little wool. 
 
 Although, as a rule, the ground-colour of the eggs of this species does not 
 vary much more than in those of the common Partridge, some eggs are very heavily 
 mottled with olive-brown ; their number is from four to six, five being the 
 almost invariable number for a complete clutch : the ground tint is either greyish, 
 buflfish, or brownish stone- colour, and when mottled or zoned at the larger end, it 
 is with a much deeper shade of nearly the same hue, amongst which, in the 
 heavily mottled variety, are spots of a more slaty colour : but, whatever character 
 the eggs assume, they almost always show one or more fine scribbled black lines 
 at the larger end, in character somewhat similiar to those which characterize 
 Bunting's eggs. 
 
 The Sedge-Warbler, like its allies, feeds largely upon insects, their larvae, 
 small worms and slugs ; in the autumn it is said also to eat elderberries. 
 
 The song of this species, as a rule, is somewhat similar to that of the White- 
 throat ; it occasionally far excels the performance of that bird, as I shall presently 
 show : it is most industriously persevered in, and although the Sedge- Warbler is 
 somewhat shy and skulking in its habits, I have often seen it, when startled, rise 
 singing above the sedges, and even alight and sing for a minute or so in full 
 view ; but generally it follows the rule that little birds must be heard and not 
 seen : the alarm-note is probably a modification of the cry of the young for food, 
 churr, chiich-uch-tuh-uch-churr ; a very common call among the smaller birds : the 
 actual call-note I have not heard or have forgotten it ; probably it is a soft 
 pleasing whistle. 
 
 In July, 1887, I went down to see a brother Naturalist, Mr. Edward A. Fitch, 
 of Maldon, in Essex, and we discovered upon an island on his property a nest of 
 the Sedge- Warbler, containing four young birds, in a blackthorn bush. The 
 mother bird slipped off the nest into the neighbouring bushes at our approach, but 
 the cock bird which was singing in one of the bushes continued his performance, 
 the finest I ever heard from this species : Mr. Fitch was certain that no Sedge- 
 Warbler could produce such a song, and expressed his firm conviction that the 
 nest was that of the Blackcap, but I knew the nests of both species far too 
 intimately to be deceived. 
 
 Seeing that the nestlings were ready to take, I determined to try my luck 
 at rearing them ; but, before I could put my hand over the nest, all the young 
 scuttled out into the bushes, and both parents made their appearance in great 
 wrath and scolded lustily ; ultimately we secured two of the young. At first these 
 
I20 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 little birds proved extremely difficult to feed ; as, for two days their mouths had 
 to be forcibly opened for every mouthful, and had not my host's kind-hearted wife 
 voluntarily assisted in feeding them, I should have been kept a close prisoner 
 during the two or three days of my stay. After the second day the young birds 
 became reconciled to their foster parent and opened their mouths readily enough. 
 
 At first they had hard-boiled egg and moistened breadcrumbs, but after I 
 reached home I gave them the same mixture upon which I had, that year, 
 successfully reared Nightingales, and this they seemed greatly to relish : they 
 were always hungry, yet grew very slowly. At the end of three weeks one of 
 them died, but the other was completely reared ; he was wonderfully tame, and 
 whenever I entered the little greenhouse in which his large cage stood, he would 
 fly down to the door and begin jumping up and down like an excited child, 
 sometimes springing at the wires and bumping his breast against them in his 
 eagerness to get some fly or mealwonn which he spied in my hand. 
 
 I used to open the door, put my hand in and he would hop on to it and 
 snatch the insect or larva from between my finger and thiimb : he was a pretty 
 little fellow and I grew very fond of him ; but I am afraid, as is often the case 
 with pets, that he was too well fed for his health, for on September 2nd, after 
 completing his autumn moult, he had an apoplectic fit and died. In all probability, 
 had this bird lived for years in captivity, he would never have siing a note ; for 
 I do not at all believe the parent's song heard only for the first eight or nine 
 days of his life, would have been remembered, and I do not think the songs of 
 the Warblers are inherited : they are heard and learnt by imitation either here or 
 during the winter, after migration. 
 
Aquatic Warbler 
 
The Aquatic Warbler. wr 
 
 Fam ily— TURDID^. Subfamily— S YL VIlNAi. 
 
 The Aquatic Warbler. 
 
 Acrocephalus aquaticiis, GmEL. 
 
 ALTHOUGH this appears to be only a chance straggler to our shores, it is 
 by no means an uncommon bird in France, and it is quite likely that, but 
 for its close resemblance to the Sedge- Warbler, many more instances of its occur- 
 rence in Great Britain would have been recorded. It is therefore important that 
 the present species should be admitted into the British list, so that all observers 
 may be on the look-out for it. Its geographical distribution, according to Seebohm, 
 is as follows : — " It has never been found north of the Baltic, and is only known 
 to pass through Spain on migration. It is a regular, though local, summer 
 migrant to France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Denmark. South 
 of the Danube it is only known to pass through on migration, a few remaining 
 during the winter in Greece and Asia Minor. In South Russia Goebel found it 
 rare in the valley of the Dnieper ; and Nordmann once obtained it at Odessa in 
 spring. Bogdanow did not meet with it either on the Volga or in the Caucasus ; 
 but Meves found it abundant in the marshes of the Southern Ural, which, so far 
 as is known, is its eastern limit. It is said to winter in the Canary Islands, and 
 in various parts of North Africa ; but our information respecting its winter quarters 
 is very meagre. There is no doubt that a considerable number remain to breed 
 in Algeria and Tunis." 
 
 In Great Britain the Aquatic Warbler has been shot at Dover ; at Hove, near 
 Brighton; and at Loughborough, in Leicestershire: it was also represented in 
 "Hunt's British Ornithology" in 1822. 
 
 The upper surface of the Aquatic Warbler is tawny-brown, the forehead 
 reddish-buff; a huffish- white superciliary stripe from the base of the bill almost 
 to the nape ; the crown above this stripe blackish-brown, divided down the centre 
 by a stripe of buff; feathers of nape and back black-striped, and all the remaining 
 feathers excepting the quills black-centred ; lores and ear-coverts pale-brown ; under 
 surface of body buff, paler in summer ; the flanks (which are more distinctly buff) 
 the neck and lower throat more or less striated. Bill dark-brown above, paler 
 
 Vol.. I. Y 
 
122 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 below ; feet yellowish horn-brown ; iris hazel. After the autumn moult the plumage 
 becomes more fulvous. 
 
 The Aquatic Warbler is a bird of the swamps, haunting the sedges and 
 smaller patches of reeds in dykes, ponds, the margins of lakes or rivers : like the 
 Sedge-Warbler it is a timid skulking bird, always ready to drop out of sight into 
 the sedges at the least alarm ; like that bird also it does not confine itself strictly 
 to aquatic vegetation, but is also found amongst wild and tangled scrub and thorn. 
 
 It is said that this bird never hops, but runs almost like a mouse ; it is 
 extremely active like all the other Reed- Warblers ; its song though somewhat like 
 that of the Sedge- Warbler is inferior in tone, length, and execution. 
 
 The nest, according to Naumann is never situated amongst reeds over the 
 water, but is usually placed in a bunch of sedge, or some other aquatic plants 
 about a foot or less above the ground, or in dwarf thorn or willow overgrown 
 with rank herbage ; it is suspended from the stalks or twigs of the growth in 
 which it is situated, and these, as with the Sedge and Reed- Warbler's nests, are 
 interwoven with the walls. In appearance the nest- much resembles that of A. 
 phragmitis, but is said to be slightly smaller ; * in its materials it doubtless varies 
 quite as much ; but the basis of the nest, as with that species usually consists of 
 dry grass and rootlets, and the inner lining is said to be invariably finished ofi" 
 with horsehair. 
 
 The eggs number from four to five, and are indistinguishable from those of the 
 commoner species. 
 
 The breeding season begins about the middle of May, and fresh eggs are 
 obtainable before the end of that month. 
 
 Herr Gatke makes the following interesting remarks respecting the Aquatic 
 Warbler in his " Birds of Heligoland " : — " The distribution of this species 
 as a breeding bird is scarcely as yet ascertained to its full extent ; at any rate, the 
 conditions under which it makes its appearance here are not in harmony with the 
 statements made in regard to its breeding area. The nesting stations cited for this 
 species are Algiers, Italy, France, Germany — especially the west — Holland, and in 
 solitary instances in Sleswick-Holstein, and Denmark. 
 
 From the frequent, and in one case at least, very numerous appearances of 
 young birds during the autumn migration, and their complete absence in the 
 spring — I have only once obtained a bird in April — we may with safety conclude 
 that, so far as Heligoland is concerned, the species is a far Eastern one. This 
 conclusion received considerable support from the fact that, on the 13th of August 
 
 * But, as the nest of the Sedge-Warbler varies in diameter from 3J to nearly 5 inches, the comparison is 
 not of much value. 
 
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The Grasshopper Warbler. 123 
 
 1856, when these birds appeared here in unprecedented numbers, another species 
 from Eastern Asia was taken — viz. Sylvia certhiola. Again, diiring September 1876, 
 when several individuals of 5. aquatua were seen and shot here, a very strong 
 migration of eastern species took place. Thus, on the 4th, 6th, and 15th, and 
 daily from the last date to the end of the month, Anthus richardi occurred in 
 numbers from five to twenty; on the 22nd two examples of Anthus cervinus and 
 one of Motacilla citreola ; on the 25 th two examples of 5. aquatica were shot, and one 
 example each day of S. superciliosa on the 26th, 29th, and 30th. Similar occur- 
 rences were repeated in the course of October." 
 
 Herr Mathias Rausch, in his article on European Song-birds, mentions this 
 species with others, as " not prominent as singers, and for that reason not particu- 
 larly beloved and in demand as cage-birds." At the same time, it must be 
 remembered that numbers of little tropical birds, in no respect remarkable for 
 song, and certainly no more beautiful in colouring than the Aquatic Warbler, are 
 to be found in almost all bird- rooms : moreover somewhat high prices are paid 
 for the species of White-eyes fZosteropsJ and their only recommendations are their 
 pretty quiet colouring and graceful activity. 
 
 Family— TURDIDyE. Subfamily— SYLVIIN/E. 
 
 The Grasshopper Warbler. 
 
 Locustella ncevia, BoDD. 
 
 NOWHERE common, though in suitable localities not so rare as its shy 
 disposition would lead one to imagine, this species appears to be generally 
 distributed over Western Europe, and eastward as far as Transylvania, and South- 
 western Russia ; northwards its range extends to St. Petersburg. In Italy it is 
 
124 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 rare ; but in Spain, onl}' in the summer ; it is believed to winter in Morocco and 
 Algeria. 
 
 In Great Britain it is prett}' generally distributed throughout England and 
 Wales ; in Ireland it is somewhat local, breeding chiefl}' in the eastern and 
 southern counties ; in Scotland south of the Firth of Forth it breeds in varying 
 numbers. 
 
 The colouring of this species above is olivaceous-brown, each feather with a 
 dark centre, least conspicuous on the sides of the neck and the longest upper 
 tail-coverts ; quills and tail feathers brown, with their outer webs olivaceous towards 
 the edge ; the tail faintly barred ; under surface pale buffish-brown ; the chin, centre 
 of abdomen and imder tail-coverts almost white ; the neck and breast- feathers with 
 darker centres, and the under tail-coverts with brown shaft-streaks : bill dark brown 
 above, paler below ; feet pale brown ; iris hazel. The female closely resembles the 
 male ; but young birds are more tinged with buff on the under surface than 
 adults. 
 
 Every writer on British Birds informs us that this bird owes its name to the 
 resemblance which its song bears to the chirrup of the grasshopper ; but Macgil- 
 livray correctly says: — "The note, if once heard, can never be afterwards mistaken 
 for the sound of a grasshopper or cricket, however striking the resemblance ; 
 besides, the length of time for which it is continued, provided the bird be not 
 disturbed, is much greater. Thus, on one occasion, while watching some pike 
 lines by the margin of a deep pool, I heard the trill of the grasshopper chirper 
 emitted from a neighbouring hedge for at least twenty minutes, during which time 
 the bird appeared to have been sitting on the same spot." 
 
 As Seebohm observes, the song " is a rapid trill, absolutely monotonous, and 
 is continued from a quarter of a minute sometimes to a couple of minvites without 
 cessation " : this is not characteristic of the tizzik, tizzik, tizzik of a grasshopper ; 
 indeed the note of the bird merely suggests that of the insect, it does not 
 greatly resemble it. 
 
 The Grasshopper Warbler haunts copses and plantations where there is dense 
 and rank undergrowth, untrimmed hedgerows, and ditches overgrown with coarse 
 grass, nettles, &c. ; also gorse-clad commons, heathery moors, and bushes in marshj'^ 
 land, but rarely reeds. The nest is usually concealed in a thick tuft of rank grass, 
 and so deep down that, on the only occasion when I flushed the bird (which was 
 early in my birdsnesting daj's) I failed to discover it : consequently I am indebted 
 to the Rev. W. Bree, of Coventr^y, for the ^%^ of this species. Sometimes the 
 nest is placed in the bottom of a grass}' ditch, on railway banks, or under whin- 
 bushes. 
 
The Grasshopper Warbler. 125 
 
 When disturbed, either from the nest or from cover, this shy bird is only 
 seen for a moment, it disappears like a mouse ; or, in some cases, like a stone ; 
 dropping from its perch into the undergrowth, through which it rapidly glides 
 away. In Mr. A. W. Johnson's notes, quoted by Seebohm, we read : — " The sitting 
 bird usually flies off the nest very quietly when flushed, and drops into the under- 
 wood at once. One instance, however, came under my notice, where the bird flew 
 up and over some tall trees ; and if the eggs are hard sat, or the nest contains 
 young, the bird comes stealing back in and out amongst the grass like a mouse, 
 and will approach within a few yards." 
 
 Mr. Howard Saunders says that neither Mr. A. H. Evans nor he have noticed 
 the mouse-like action of this bird when flushed from the nest ; but I was specially 
 struck with it on the one occasion when I ought to have found the nest, and once 
 again in a wood in the Stockbury Valley, in Kent, when I burst suddenly into a 
 clearing, almost stepping on the male bird, which was uttering its creaky song in 
 a bush just ahead of me : I wasted much time then searching all around for a 
 nest, which I never found. 
 
 The nest is a deep compact cup formed of moss, dry grass, and a few dead 
 leaves, with an inner lining of finer grass : the eggs which number from four to 
 seven are pinky-white, speckled with blood-reddish brown, and with greyer shell 
 spots ; sometimes the spots are enlarged, so as to form a zone towards the larger 
 end, occasionally they are interspersed with short Bunting-like hair lines of dark- 
 brown ; and, very rarely, they are diffused and merged, so as to form a xmifonn 
 pale brownish tint over the whole egg. 
 
 The alarm-note of the Grasshopper Warbler is said to be tic, tic, or tic, tic, tac ; 
 more probably tzic, tzic : but — Is it the alarm-note ? Surely, when a bird is flushed 
 from its nest, it must feel frightened ; but I believe most, if not all, observers 
 who have disturbed the Grasshopper Warbler when sitting, coxild echo Seebohm's 
 words — " We never heard her utter a note." I am certain that the greatest 
 confusion exists respecting the call and alarm-notes of wild birds in the accounts 
 given by even the best observers, and when a good man mistakes the intention 
 and meaning of a note, every subsequent writer follows his lead.* 
 
 The food consists chiefly of insects, their larvae, and spiders, but it is possible 
 that in the autumn it may also eat soft berries and small fruits. 
 
 Sometimes the Gi'asshopper Warbler is double-brooded, the first nest being 
 
 * I remember bein;; amused one day, when looking tliroujjh a work b}- an eminent Ornitholoj^ist, and 
 reading his account of I.iothrix lutetis, to come across the statement that "its call-note is a harsh chattering;" 
 the fact being that the chattering indulged in by both sexes is simply scolding; the call-note of the male being 
 a short and very musical song, of from .seven to nine notes, and that of the female a single clear resonant 
 whistle repeated four times. 
 
126 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 usually completed about the second week of May, and if a second is built it is 
 generally ready for eggs towards the end of July. Nests have frequently been 
 found with fresh eggs about the middle of June, but it would seem probable, in 
 such cases, that some mischance had befallen the first nest. 
 
 Lord Lilford gives an amusing account of his search after this bird and its 
 nest ; he says : — " The only close observations of this bird which I have hitherto 
 been able to carry out, were made in the early summer of 1856, on a rough piece 
 of furze and thorn-grown grazing-land adjoining Dartmoor in North Devon : there 
 I found the bird very common. I should say that there must have been at least 
 six or more pairs frequenting an area of perhaps twenty acres, but in spite of their 
 abundance and constant song, it was only by close watching in the early morning 
 that I was able to procure specimens for my collection ; the male bird at that time 
 will now and then creep out to the top of a furze-bush " reeling " or singing, and 
 if undisturbed perhaps remain for a minute or more, but on the slightest alarm 
 will disappear into the thickest covert he can find, and run like a mouse through 
 the most tangled herbage from one thicket to the next, never taking wing unless 
 absolutely forced to do so. In vain did we search for a nest, though, armed with 
 a bill-hook, and protected by garden- gloves, we plunged into masses of thorns, 
 furze, nettles, thistles, and other defensive vegetation into which we had after 
 patient watching traced one of these birds, tearing up the grass by handfuls, 
 lopping away live and dead furze, on hands and knees, morning, noon, and evening; 
 day after day we went home with perforated skins, perspiring and unsuccessful." 
 Birds of Northamptonshire, vol. i, p. 123. 
 
 I could not resist quoting this ; it is so true an account of the discomforts to 
 which the zealous birdsnester cheerfully submits ; and, after all, I am not sure 
 that part of the joy of this branch of collecting does not consist in the successful 
 battling through thorns and briars, even though, after the fray, you return home 
 with both clothes and skin in rags. 
 
 As a cage bird I should not recommend this species. 
 
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Savts Warbler • 127 
 
 Family— TURDID^. Subfamily— SYL VIINAL. 
 
 Savi's Warbler. 
 
 Locustella luscinioides, Savi. 
 
 SAVI'S WARBLER is a witness to the unquestionable fact— that no Wild 
 Birds Protection Act which does not forbid the reclaiming of so-called waste 
 land, will avail to hinder the rapid decrease of our British Avifauna ; interference 
 with the liberty of Britons will not affect it one iota : most of our interesting birds 
 are doomed, sooner or later, to banishment ; for they will only breed in their 
 accustomed haunts ; and where the proper conditions, to which they are used, cease 
 to exist, they will not remain. So long as gardens remain we shall probably 
 retain some of the commoner species, such as the Thrushes, the Robin, Hedge- 
 Accentor, and Tits, the Garden Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, and a few others ; 
 but the birds of the fens, marshes, moors, and forests, must eventually recede 
 before the steady increase of bricks and mortar. 
 
 This marsh-loving bird is found in the larger reed-beds of South Russia, 
 Austria, Ital}^ Holland, the south of France, Spain, North Africa, and Palestine : 
 in the delta of the Rhone, and in North Africa it is probably a resident species, 
 but in its more northern haunts it is a migrant. 
 
 In Great Britain Savi's Warbler has probably become extinct ; between the 
 years 1843 and 1856 a good many specimens, together with nests and eggs of this 
 species, were obtained ; but the last British example was shot on Surlingham 
 broad, on June 7th, 1856, and passed into the collection of Henry Stevenson, the 
 well-known author of the " Birds of Norfolk." The fens of Norfolk, Cambridge, 
 and adjoining counties were previously resorted to by this rare little bird. 
 
 The upper surface of Savi's Warbler is russet-brown ; flight- feathers slightly 
 darker; tail-feathers with slight indications of transverse bars ; under parts brownish- 
 buff; the throat and centre of abdomen white; under tail-coverts redder, with 
 slightly paler tips ; bill dark-brown above, paler below ; feet pale brown ; iris 
 hazel. The young are described as less rufous above and paler below than adults. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson states that the marsh-men of Norfolk know this bird under the 
 title of the "red craking reed-wren"; he took down the account of his specimen 
 as given by the man who shot it as follows : — " Being engaged on the broad all 
 
138 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 night, he first heard the bird " noising " about nine o'clock in the evening, on the 
 6th of June, and observed it from his boat running up and down the dead reed 
 stems, from the tops of which it kept calling at intervals until two in the morning. 
 He then returned home, but at six o'clock he again found it in the clump of 
 reeds, though more restless and calling incessantly. Soon after this the wind 
 began to stir the reeds, and it then dropped down and remained silent among the 
 thick sedges. Up to this time he had imagined it to be a Grasshopper Warbler, 
 although the note seemed unusually loud and clear, and like them it kept moving 
 its head from side to side whilst singing. On the following evening, at eight 
 o'clock, the bird was still in the same place calling as before, and as one or two 
 of the Grasshopper Warblers were singing at the same time, he distinguished at 
 once a difference in their notes. As soon as he had shot the bird, he saw that 
 it was different to any he had handled before, and observing that it remained so 
 long in one spot, made every search for a nest, but could find no trace of one. 
 About ten years ago, he assures me there were several couple of birds on the 
 broad with similar notes, and he then found a nest with eggs, which, from his 
 description, might be either that of Savi's or of the Grasshopper Warbler. About 
 the first week in May of the following year, a bird, agreeing exactly in note and 
 appearance with the above, was also seen by this marsh-man in a small sallow 
 bush ; not having his gun with him, he watched it for some time, and had no 
 doubt of its identity." 
 
 The above account describes the habits of this species very accurately, as may 
 be seen when it is compared with the accounts of other observers. The song is 
 a monotonous trill, higher in pitch than that of the Grasshopper Warbler ; it is 
 usually sung from the top of a reed : the call-note is said to be krr. 
 
 The nest is placed upon a heap of tangled sedge leaves, and is carefully 
 concealed in sedges, reeds, or rush ; it is composed of interwoven leaves of broad 
 grass or sedge, with narrower leaves for a lining ; it is very neatly made, unusu- 
 ally deep, and is said to resemble a miniature nest of the Little Crake. The eggs, 
 four to six in number, are white or pale-buff, speckled with ashy brown surface 
 spots, and violet-grey shell spots ; the markings are most numerous at the larger 
 end, where they frequently form a zone ; dark hair-like Bunting lines are also 
 sometimes present. 
 
 Although this species is naturally of a skulking disposition, and, when alarmed, 
 drops down into the sedges for concealment. Count Wodzicki states that "both male 
 and female sit on the nest, and allow themselves to be watched withoiit leaving 
 it. If frightened off, they soon return." The nest appears to be built by the male 
 bird, although both sexes collect the materials. 
 
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The H edge-Sparrow. 129 
 
 The food of Savi's Warbler is believed to consist entirely of insects and their 
 larvae ; doubtless spiders are also eaten by it as by all other Warblers. 
 
 The flight of this bird is said to have the same character as that of a Wren. 
 
 As a cage-bird I should imagine that, excepting for its rarity, Savi's Warbler 
 would be more irritating than interesting ; on clear days its monotonous trill is 
 said to be almost incessant. I once had a Canary which had been hand-reared, 
 and had therefore not learned its proper song : this bird never got beyond a high- 
 pitched key-whistle, or monotonous trill ; when it died I cannot say that I very 
 deeply regretted my loss : at the same time even this apology for a song was 
 heavenly music compared with the incessant wheel-screeching of a pair of Rosy- 
 faced Love-birds, and an3'one who had passed through a week of torment such as 
 I once experienced from these discord-producers, might perhaps sit down and 
 listen to Savi's Warbler with a beaming countenance. 
 
 Fawily— TURDID^. Subfamily— A CCENTORINAL. 
 
 The Hedge-Sparrow. 
 
 Accentor inodularis, Linn. 
 
 EXCEPTING in the extreme north of Europe, this species breeds pretty 
 generally ; in Norway to the forest boundary and to the east up to 60° N. 
 lat., but in the north it is rarely found during the winter, migrating thence in 
 autumn to Southern Europe, and occasionally to North Africa. South of the 
 Baltic and westwards to Northern Spain and Portugal it is generally distributed 
 during the simimer ; a few breeding in the mountains of Italy, as well as Asia 
 Minor, Palestine and the Caucasus : in the Lebanon and in Arabia Petrsea it also 
 occurs in winter. 
 
 Vol. I. ' ■ Z 
 
I30 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 In Great Britain, excepting in the more exposed northern islands, it is 
 generall}^ distributed and abundant. 
 
 The popular name of this common bird being objected to by many writers, as 
 being likely to mislead the ignorant, the names of " Hedge- Accentor," " Shuffle- 
 wing," " Dunnock," " D3'kie," " Molly," and " Smokie" have been used in preference 
 (the majority being local appellations) ; but, when one considers that the term 
 Sparrow has been applied to numerous other members of the Order Passeres, such 
 as Serins of the genus Sycalis, Grass-finches of the genus Steganopleura and Manni- 
 kins of the genus Munia, it becomes an act of pedantry to reject a name which 
 is generally understood. 
 
 The Hedge-Sparrow is one of those familiar birds which will never desert 
 us, for it is just as happy in gardens, orchards, groves, shrubberies, plantations, 
 and hedges, as in the dense undergrowth of copses and woods. In the winter, 
 like the Robin, it seeks the habitations of man, and takes advantage of the refuse 
 food flung out for its sooty and more vulgar namesake : it is one of the first 
 songsters heard in suburban gardens, and helps to enliven the wet dreariness of 
 February. The song itself is not very remarkable for execution, but is bright 
 and clear, somewhat jiggy, if one may use such an expression, less plaintive and 
 varied than that of the Robin, and not so musical as that of the Wren : it consists 
 of very few notes ; but these are made the most of, so that the effect is decidedly 
 pleasing : also in mild winters it may be heard at times when most other birds 
 are silent. 
 
 Like the Chaffinch, the Hedge-Sparrow both runs and hops ; on the ground 
 it almost invariably runs with its head depressed as if constantly on the look out 
 for food, and when it catches sight of a spider or a seed it hops forwards, shuffling 
 its wings with a curious rapid action characteristic of its Subfamily. When passing 
 down a garden path this bird generally keeps close to the border, dodging now and 
 again under a shrub with a business-like action which almost reminds one of a 
 mouse : it is rarely seen in lofty trees, but seems rather to prefer shrubs and 
 hedges, amongst which it drops from branch to branch, peering about like a Tit 
 for insect food. 
 
 The nest of the Hedge-Sparrow has more frequently been represented by artists 
 than that of any other species, and yet the form selected for illustration is one 
 which many a zealous birdsnester has never met with — a perfect cup of very fine 
 bents, root-fibre, and moss, thickly lined with black horse-hair, a little fibre, and 
 one or two soft fluffy feathers : one nest of this character I found on May ist, 
 1884, and it is the only one of its kind I have ever seen. The nest is always 
 warm and cosy in appearance, rather deep, the outer walls being generally enclosed 
 
 I 
 
The Hedge-Sparrow. 131 
 
 in a framework of coarse twigs, rough roots of couch-grass or thick grass-stalks, 
 and occasionally fragments of dead furze ; the walls themselves are thick, and 
 somewhat loosely formed of green moss, frequently intermixed with bents, and 
 sometimes a little sheep's wool ; the lining consists of hair, fine fibre, and often a 
 little wool and a small soft feather or two. Very rarely nests may be found in 
 which there is no moss, but in most nests this material is very freely used. 
 
 The position of the nest varies a good deal, but is rarely found at more than 
 four or five feet from the ground ; it is very frequently built in a hawthorn hedge, 
 but I have taken it from the branches of sapling trees in thickets, from furze- 
 bushes, evergreens, brambles, faggot-stacks, ivy growing on a wall, and from a 
 tuft of grass on the ground, where it exhibited a curious appearance, as the dead 
 grass-stalks forming the upper part of the framework were so arranged as to form 
 an irregular pentagon ; although this nest only contained one egg I could not 
 resist securing it as a curiosity. In 1887, Mr. A. E. Shaw recorded the discovery 
 of a nest of this bird built in a cabbage, and Mr. Gray, in his " Birds of the 
 West of Scotland," mentions a nest placed at the base of a hart's-tongue fern on 
 a ledge in a cave at Ailsa Craig. 
 
 The eggs of the Hedge-Sparrow are so conspicuous that every rustic and 
 schoolboy is perfectly familiar with them ; they vary in number from four to six, 
 but five is a number rarely exceeded; in colour they are of a beautiful turquoise 
 blue and unspotted ; in form usually a very perfect oval ; they do, however, vary 
 very considerably in form, although the extreme variations of a very long pear- 
 shape and an almost perfect sphere are not often met with ; nevertheless, by diligent 
 search, I have taken both types, which are figured on pi. VIII of my " Handbook 
 of British Oology," and again in the present work. 
 
 It is well-known that the nest of the Hedge-Sparrow is one of the Cuckoo's 
 favourites ; this is curious, because the egg of this parasitical bird is, as a rule, 
 utterly unlike that of the Accentor ; Mr. Seebohm's fine series of Cuckoo's eggs 
 nevertheless contains a variety resembling those of the Hedge-Sparrow, excepting 
 in its superior size. 
 
 Seeing that Accentor viodularis did not object to incubating an egg so utterly 
 unlike its own, I once tried the experiment of putting two Whitethroat's eggs 
 into a nest in a hawthorn hedge which closed the end of my last garden. It was 
 no good, the alien eggs were simply thrown over the side and the nest deserted, 
 proving clearly that the Hedge-Sparrow is not colour-blind : it will submit to the 
 deposit system of the Cuckoo, but will not have anything to do with loans from 
 other species. 
 
 Frequently commencing to breed in March, it is not to be wondered at that 
 
132 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 this bird should frequently produce three broods in the year; the abundance of 
 the species is therefore easy to understand, although its absolute hardiness and 
 the ease with which it accommodates itself to change of diet may have something 
 to do with it. Its natural food consists largely of insects, spiders, worms, and 
 seeds of weeds ; but, in confinement, like its cousin the Pekin Nightingale, it maj'- 
 gradually be accustomed to live upon a seed diet alone. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson in his " Birds of Norfolk," says : — " With myself the Hedge- 
 Sparrow has been always an especial favourite, from its gentle unobtrusive nature, 
 assimilating so well with the neat russet and grey of its finely marked though 
 quiet plumage ; retiring, yet not shy, and, if never quarrelsome, still always 
 " holding his own," even with the pert Sparrow and still more saucy Redbreast." 
 This reminds me that I have given no detailed account of the plumage of this 
 well-known bird. 
 
 The upper surface of the head is smoke-grey (slightly washed with buif in 
 the female) and streaked with dull blackish-brown ; on the neck and shoulders the 
 grey becomes a pure bluish-ash ; the back is rufous-brown, broadly streaked with 
 black ; but the rump and vipper tail-coverts are golden-olivaceous and not streaked ; 
 the wings are dark-brown, all the feathers more or less broadly edged externally 
 with rufous-brown ; the tail feathers are similar, but tinted externally with rufous 
 or olivaceous-brown ; lores and ear-coverts brown ; chin, throat, sides of neck, and 
 breast bluish-ash ; lower breast and abdomen in the centre whitish-ash ; under tail- 
 coverts buffish-white, with brown streaks ; flanks olivaceous-brown, with dark-brown 
 streaks ; bill pitchy-brown, the lower mandible slightly paler ; feet horn-brown ; iris 
 hazel. The female has the bill slightly broader than in the male, the crown and 
 flanks with more defined streaks. The young have no grey on the head or throat, 
 but are altogether browner and more spotted than adult birds. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson is mistaken in thinking that the Hedge- Sparrow is not 
 quarrelsome ; I have seen it disputing vigorously with a Skylark, in the open, for 
 the possession of an insect, and a hen bird which I kept for several years in an 
 aviary killed several Titlarks and finally robbed a pair of Yellow- Hammers of their 
 nest, in which she deposited a full clutch of infertile eggs, and sat steadily upon 
 them until, at the end of a fortnight, I removed them. 
 
 Another point in which I differ from this author is, that he speaks of the 
 Accentor as singing as sweetly in an aviary as out of doors. Of the many birds 
 which, from time to time, I have kept, not one ever made the slightest attempt 
 at singing. When first caught few birds are more wild, and the}^ show their 
 wildness in an idiotic manner which is simply exasperating, spending the whole 
 day, excepting when feeding, in flying perpendicularly from the earth to the roof, 
 
o 
 H 
 z 
 
 UJ 
 
 o 
 o 
 
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 _1 
 
 < 
 
The Alpine Accentor. 133 
 
 in one comer of the aviary, and dropping back headlong : sometimes it takes three 
 or four weeks before they abandon this senseless acrobatic performance. 
 
 In a cage the Hedge-Sparrow becomes comparatively tame in a few days ; but 
 then it is far more liable to the distressing ophthalmic disease referred to by 
 Stevenson, than it is in an aviary ; moreover, being extremely restless, it hops 
 incessantly from perch to perch — click-clack, click-clack, "doing the pendulum trick" 
 as I used to say ; a performance most irritating to ones nerves. 
 
 The only sound I ever heard from my Hedge- Sparrows was a sharp and rather 
 short high whistle, which I took to be the call-note ; and, what with their stupidity, 
 pugnacity,* and sulky silence in captivity, this species is, in my opinion, the very 
 worst subject for aviary life. In the garden and the country it is charming ; but, 
 as a pet, contemptible. 
 
 I once tried rearing this species from the nest, but made the mistake of 
 feeding upon hard-boiled ^%% and sweet biscuit : the young should certainly have 
 been fed principally upon moistened ants' cocoons and cut up mealworms, or small 
 caterpillars. 
 
 Family— TURD I D^.. Subfamily— ACCENTORIN^. 
 
 The Alpine Accentor. 
 
 Accentor collaris, Scop. 
 
 CURIOUSLY enough, although this bird is only an occasional straggler to Great 
 Britain, I caught a specimen in my garden at Penge about the year 1883. 
 At the time I did not know what to make of it ; and, not being aware of its 
 rarity, I never recorded the capture : indeed I supposed then that it might, be only 
 an unusually large, brownish, and somewhat aberrant variety of the Hedge-Sparrow : 
 it was evidently a young bird, as the white throat-patch was barely indicated. So 
 
 * One of my males fought a Robin, until he became a perfect scarecrow, and had to be liberated. 
 
 ^ 
 
134 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 far as I can remember, I caught this bird in September; I know that it was just 
 when the bird-catchers were bringing Linnets and Goldfinches for sale. The bird 
 was abominably wild, knocked itself about in a cage, finally got a growth over 
 one eye, and died in such poor condition that I never thought of preserving the 
 skin : had I then known its value, I should have saved it in proof of my statement, 
 and certainly kept it when alive in a large cage by itself; whereas it had two 
 Hedge-Accentors as companions ; the latter, by the side of their rare relative, 
 looked insignificant, much as a Song- Thrush by the side of a Missel-Thrush.* 
 
 This species has its home in the mountains of South-western Europe, Asia 
 Minor, the Caucasus, and Northern Persia. In Great Britain it has been chiefly 
 met with in the southern counties ; having been known to occur in Cambridge- 
 shire, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Devonshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, 
 Wales, and Yorkshire. 
 
 The adult bird has the crown and nape smoky-grey, with darker stripes ; the 
 remainder of the upper surface brown, with darker shaft-streaks ; rump slightly 
 paler than the back ; median and greater wing-coverts brown, varied with black, 
 and tipped with white ; quills and tail-feathers dark-brown, tipped with buff ; ear- 
 coverts grey, with darker stripes ; chin and throat white, with black spots ; breast, 
 centre of abdomen, and under tail-coverts smoky-grey ; flanks chestnut, with huffish 
 edges to the feathers ; bill with the upper mandible mostly black, base yellowish ; 
 lower mandible yellowish, black at the tip ; feet flesh-brownish ; iris hazel. Young 
 birds have the plumage spotted with rufous, and the white on the throat is 
 wanting. 
 
 Gatke says : — " This interesting native of the mountains has not considered it 
 beneath his dignity to leave his Alpine home in order to find a place in the group 
 of distinguished visitors to little Heligoland. I have obtained the bird on three 
 occasions: two individuals in spring plumage in May 1852 and 1870, and one in 
 autumn plumage in October 1862. Apart from these instances, there is certain 
 proof of its having been seen on two other occasions, but the birds in question 
 could not be shot on account of their extraordinary shyness." 
 
 Seebohm, on the authority of various observers, states that the " Alpine 
 Accentor is a summer visitor to the grassy slopes where a brilliant arctic flora, 
 watered by the ever-melting ice, covers the ledges of the rocks and the little 
 plateaux amongst the boulders, between the highest limit of forest-growth and the 
 lowest boundary of perpetual snow. Its migrations, however, are very limited. 
 
 * In recording these facts now, I am perfectlj- well aware that many scientific Ornithologists will only 
 curl their noses in scorn, believing that I am either drawing upon a vivid imagination, or talking of some 
 common species which I imagined to be an Accentor; but those who know me intimately, will give me credit 
 for an excellent memory for form and colouring. 
 
The Alpine Accentor. 135 
 
 When its breeding- grounds are covered with snow it descends into the valleys, 
 and in severe winters will sometimes wander further from home and be seen in 
 unwonted localities. Except, perhaps, when actually engaged in the duties of 
 nidification, it is a more or less gregarious bird." 
 
 On the earth this bird both runs and hops, like the Hedge- Accentor ; it 
 certainly does not " drop its head and the fore part of its body suddenly, at 
 the same time jerking its tail and drooping its wings." It is an exceedingly 
 nervous bird, more so than the Hedge-Accentor. The call-note is described 
 variously as a plaintive tree, tree, tree, and tri, tri, tri : so far as I can trust my 
 memory it is tsmee, tswee, tswee ; I am sure it is neither of the others, because no 
 bird but a talking species could utter such sounds. 
 
 Seebohm describes the song as a rich liquid chick, ich, ich, ich ; but it is also 
 said to sing like a lark. 
 
 Towards the end of May the nest is formed under a rock or bush upon the 
 earth ; it is a neatly constructed cup, consisting of dry round grass-stalks, inter- 
 woven with rootlets and lichens, and lined with line moss, wool, hair, or feathers. 
 The eggs vary in number from four to five, and are pale turquoise blue in 
 colour. 
 
 It has been stated that this species is double-brooded, the second nest being 
 constructed about the middle of July ; and, although there is no absolute proof of 
 this, it is exceedingly probable.* According to Count Wodzicki, it breeds in 
 colonies of from twenty to forty pairs, in which respect it differs very greatly from 
 the Hedge-Accentor. 
 
 The food of this species in spring consists of insects, their larvae, and doubt- 
 less of spiders and centipedes, as is the case with all other insect-eating birds ; in 
 autumn it eats various small fruits, and in winter seeds of grasses and other 
 weeds. 
 
 In Germany this species has been kept as a cage-bird, four examples having 
 been exhibited at the sixth show of the " Ornis" Society in Berlin. Herr Mathias 
 Rausch also remarks that " its song indeed is not specially full of variations, and 
 in its imitations is chiefly limited to the Crested-, Sky-, and Wood-I^arks ; at the 
 same time it is of importance for aviculture, and therefore is gladly kept and 
 cherished by fanciers." 
 
 This is all very well for those who only keep a bird in order to hear its song; 
 but it is infinitely more interesting to watch its habits, and to do this properly 
 the bird must be turned loose into an aviary. 
 
 Knowing what I do of the sneaking spitefulness of the common Hedge- 
 
 * It is well-known that the Hedge-Sparrow nests twice and sometimes three times a year. 
 
136 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Accentor, when associated in an aviary with other birds, I should be very chary 
 of turning in the larger and more powerful Alpine species. 
 
 In a cage this bird runs like a Chaffinch, or like the Hedge-Accentor, and 
 although I did not see it before it entered my box-trap, I do not hesitate to affirm 
 that I am certain it ran (as well as hopped) in my garden. * 
 
 FAMILY CINCLID^. 
 
 WE now come to the second family of the Passeres, represented in Great 
 Britain by one resident species only, belonging to the typical genus 
 Cinclus. 
 
 All Ornithologists do not, however, agree with Mr. Howard Saunders as to 
 the validity of the family Cinclida ; for Mr. Seebohm placed the Dippers among 
 the Thrush-like birds Turdince, stating that they " may be distinguished from the 
 true Thrushes by their short concave wings fitting tightly to the body, and their 
 dense plumage adapted to their aquatic habits." 
 
 On the other hand Dr. Sharpe refers Cinclus to the end of the Subfamily 
 Troglodytina. or Wren-like birds, a group which they certainly resemble in their 
 domed mossy nests and white eggs, and to which also they have a slight likeness. 
 
 Perhaps, until the Doctors of this science have definitely established the 
 natural position of the Dippers beyond all dispute, by careful dissection of their 
 clothing, body, bones, and (having completed the dry bones) of the life-history, 
 including song, call-note, alarm-note, and note of indignation ; until, I say, all this 
 has been done, perhaps it will be most convenient to regard the Dippers as con- 
 stituting a distinct family. 
 
 As in the Wrens, the wings and tail are short, the first quill being very 
 short, the outer toe of the tarsus is also connected at the base with the middle 
 toe ; but the bill is somewhat different, the tip of the upper mandible being 
 slightly curved over, whereas that of a Wren is pointed ; altogether the Troglo- 
 dytine characters are very strong, and Dr. Sharpe gives us yet another, as follows : — 
 
 • When one is at a distance from the birds it is the slinking run, as well as the wing motion, which at 
 once distinguishes the Hedge-Sparrow from a true Sparrow. 
 
cc 
 
The Dipper 137 
 
 " The principal characteristic, however, of a Wren, and one that separates it from 
 the true Timeliine birds, is the almost entire absence of rictal bristles," — " for 
 Ornithologists who doubt that Cinclus is a Wren, an examination of the bill alone 
 will be sufficient to show that its place is with the Trog/odytitia." 
 
 Family— CINCLIDAl. 
 
 The Dipper. 
 
 Cinclus aquaticus, BecHvST. 
 
 COMMON and widely distributed though this conspicuous bird is, I have never 
 met with it in a wild state since I first began to study the class Aves : it 
 is likely enough that prior to that period I may have seen it in some of the 
 wilder parts of Devon without taking special note of the fact. 
 
 Dr. Sharpe (Catalogue of Birds, Vol. VI) says : — " The common White-throated 
 Dipper is widely spread over Central and Western Europe. It has been said to 
 occur in the Faeroes, and is found throughout Ireland in suitable localities, as 
 well as Scotland with the Hebrides, and breeds in the northern and central 
 counties of England, as well as in Wales and the south-western counties. In 
 other counties it is an accidental visitor. 
 
 The upper surface of the Dipper is slaty- grey, each feather with a dark- 
 brownish margin, but the head and nape are wholly brown, wings dark-brown, the 
 quills with greyish edges ; tail greyish-brown ; chin, throat, and front of breast 
 white ; remainder of under parts chestnut-brown, passing into dark smoky-brown 
 on the flanks, thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts ; bill black ; feet brown ; iris 
 hazel. 
 
 The female is very like the male, but is said to be darker on the flanks and 
 under tail-coverts. The young are greyer above, and show no chestnut-brown on 
 the under surface. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 -A.- 
 
 I 
 
ijs British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Seebohm says: — "The havmts of the Dipper are exclusively confined to the 
 swift-flowing rocky mountain-streams. On these he is found all the year round, 
 in places where the waters now curl over hidden rocks, or dash round the exposed 
 and mossy ones, and toss and fall in never-ceasing strife. The banks must be 
 rugged also to suit the Dipper, all the better if in the rock-clefts a few mountain- 
 ashes and birches have gained a good hold. But a Dipper is not a bird of the 
 branches. You will make your first acquaintance with him most probably as he 
 dashes rapidly from some water-encircled rock, or as he shoots past you uttering 
 his sharp but monotonous call-note, to alight on some distant stone, or mayhap 
 seek the boiling current itself, to astonish and amuse you by his aquatic gambols. 
 The Dipper is also found on the barest of mountain-torrents, places where not 
 a tree or shrub is found, where the waters roll and tumble in wildest mood across 
 the heathery moors and down the bare mountain-sides." 
 
 The Dipper seeks much of its food under water, in which it dives and swims 
 with ease. Lord Lilford, after confirming the statement of other observers — that 
 this species, unlike the Kingfisher and other diving birds, does not take a header, 
 observes : — " The Dipper sinks, if I may say so, horizontal!}-, and, as may be 
 supposed, seems to have a good deal of trouble to keep below. These birds will 
 go down in the most rapid streams and boiling pools below a waterfall, and, 
 emerging with a jerk, fly off" to a big stone, set up a short but very sweet song, 
 and resume their subaqueous explorations. All their movements are sudden and 
 rapid ; they seem to be always in a hurry, and are eminently in keeping with the 
 character of the streams which they frequent, and to which they add a great 
 attraction." 
 
 " The song of the Dipper, though not very powerful, is very pleasing, and is 
 associated in my mind with many delightful reminiscences of wild mountain and 
 river scenery in our island and abroad. The male bird sits jerking his tail, and 
 warbling often amidst a whirl and roar of rushing waters, and, in manner, reminds 
 one a great deal of the Common Wren ; the song is continued throughout the 
 winter months." 
 
 The nest of the Dipper, or " Water Ouzel," as it is sometimes called, is 
 a domed structure ; a hollow ball of moss, sometimes interwoven with grass and 
 with an entrance-hole in front and low down ; the inner lining is firml}- compacted 
 of twigs, dry grass, rootlets, and dead leaves. The site chosen for the nest is in 
 a mossy bank, a hole in a rock, wall or bridge, or among the moss}' roots of trees 
 overhanging water, not infrequently on a rocky ledge behind a waterfall. The 
 building commences earlj' in April, and at least two broods are reared in the year. 
 The same nest is sometimes used twice in a season. The eggs, four to five in 
 
The Dipper. 139 
 
 number, are pure white, beautifully oval, slightly less glossy than Thrush eggs, 
 but too smooth to be chalky in appearance (like unspotted eggs of the Wren) ; in 
 size they agree pretty nearly with eggs laid by the Song-Thrush in its first season ; 
 but they are more perfect ovals, the smaller end being decidedly more pointed. 
 
 The food of the Dipper consists largely of insects and their larvse ; many of 
 which, such as caddis-worms, the voracious larvse of dragon-flies and water-beetles, 
 it seeks at the bottom of the water ; thus proving itself the greatest friend of the 
 pisciculturist, by devouring the insects which prey upon fish-spawn and young 
 fry ; it also eats spiders, small molhisca, worms, and seeds of grasses. In pursuit 
 of its subaqueous pre}^ it is said both to paddle and use its wings. 
 
 Of course the ignorant fish-preserver, seeing the Dippers diving under water 
 among his young fry, immediately comes to the conclusion that his watch-dog is a 
 wolf, and shoots it : in like manner, I heard of a Kentish farmer shooting a Red- 
 backed Shrike, because he saw it in one of his cherry-trees ; and, when the bird 
 was opened, and the contents of its crop were shown to him, his only remark 
 was — " Ai doant know nothen abeut that ; ur wuz in my churries." 
 
 As regards the Dipper as an aviary bird, I have a vague idea that at one 
 time a pair occupied a very pretty rock-and-water aviary at the end of the fish- 
 house in our Zoological Gardens. I distinctly remember Wagtails in that aviary, 
 and I think Dippers also ; but it is many years ago, so I may be mistaken. Lord 
 Lilford says : — " I have often attempted to rear young Dippers, but never succeeded ; 
 about three months is the longest period I have ever managed to keep them alive." 
 
 Mr. Frohawk writes : — "It was not until I visited North Devon, in October, 
 1895, that I had the pleasure of meeting with this bird in a wild state: during 
 my first ramble along the picturesque banks of the Bast Lyn ; a wildly rushing 
 stream, whose bed is studded with boulders and fragments of rock, over and around 
 which its water pours and rushes in mad haste, I felt sure that I had come upon 
 the home of the Dipper, so kept a sharp look-out for the birds. After walking 
 for about a mile, I caught sight of a bird darting obliquely across the stream, this 
 I instantly recognised as a Dipper. The following day I again visited the spot, 
 and had a capital chance of carefully observing the attitude and actions of the 
 species, by concealing myself upon the bank, close to a small waterfall, which 
 appeared to be a favourite haunt for a pair of these birds. 
 
 I had not waited long before a Dipper appeared, upon a projecting rock at 
 the side of the fall, only a few yards from my hiding place : this enabled me to 
 make a sketch of the bird, as it stood upon the rock intently watching the flow 
 of water (I presume for some aquatic insects, or other food) and it struck me how 
 different its appearance was, as it stood on that rock, with the spray splashing 
 
I40 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 over it, from the illustrations and stuffed specimens which I had long been 
 acquainted with. Instead of a dumpy and somewhat clumsy looking bird, remind- 
 ing one of a huge fat awkward looking Wren, the Dipper is an extremely alert, 
 active bird ; the usual attitude assumed by the ten or twelve birds which I saw, 
 was as follows : — the head generally held fairly high, on a well-proportioned neck, 
 and plenty of it ; the tail slightly elevated, not at right angles with the body as 
 generally represented, in wren-like fashion, but carried as with most other birds ; 
 the wings generally with the tips held slightly below the tail : dltogether the bird 
 had a very trim and brisk appearance. 
 
 One of these birds rose and hovered in front of the waterfall, remaining 
 stationary in the air for fifteen or twenty seconds (reminding one of the hovering 
 power of the Humming-bird hawk-moth poised in front of a flower) : suddenly it 
 dashed through the rushing and foaming water, and landed on the opposite rock, 
 without a draggled feather ; a good example of the power of this bird ! 
 
 The flight of the Dipper is swift and straight like that of the Kingfisher. 
 Although I believe it sings during the autumn, I was not fortunate enough to hear 
 its song ; nor did I see it pursuing its prey under the water, running freely about 
 upon the bottom and using its wings as oars." 
 
 It is extremely fortunate that Mr. Frohawk should have been able to sketch 
 this bird from life in one of its wild haunts, before the commencement of the 
 present work ; it being one of the few British species which he had previously not 
 had an opportunity of studying when at liberty. 
 
 FAMILY PANURID^. 
 
 REPRESENTED in Great Britain by one species only, which has, I think 
 quite incorrectly^ been called a Titmouse : in all its actions it resembles 
 the group of Ploceine Finches known to bird-keepers as Waxbills : it is also very 
 largely a seed-eating species. As Mr. Howard Saunders says : — " In its digestive 
 organs and other points of internal structure, this bird shows no real affinity to 
 the Tits; and some writers have advocated its relationship to the Finches." 
 
» 
 
Bearded Reedling. 
 
The Bearded Reedling. hi 
 
 Seebohm, whilst he speaks somewhat disparagingly of those who do not believe 
 in the Parine relationship of Panurits, quotes the fact of two hens in confinement 
 laying forty-nine eggs between the 30th of May and the and of August, a feat 
 such as one might expect from a bird having Ploceine affinities : he also notes the 
 Bunting-like character of its eggS. 
 
 Lord Lilford says, of examples of this genus : — " Their actions much resemble 
 those of the true Titmice, from which in many other respects, such as internal 
 structure, nesting habits, colouration of eggs, and voice, they differ very widely." 
 In this he is quite right, with one exception : — I never yet saw adult Titmice go 
 to sleep in a row all huddled together, as the Bearded Reedlings do, and as the 
 Astrilds are in the habit of doing ; it must also be remembered that many Ploceine 
 birds are extremely Tit-like in their habits, that the majority of them are reed 
 birds, feeding (precisely in the same way as the Reed- Pheasant) on seeds of reeds 
 and grasses, and small insects. 
 
 Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk," says : — " I cannot help feeling, — that 
 Macgillivray, guided by an examination of its digestive organs, was right in con- 
 sidering it more allied to the Fringilline than the Parine group." 
 
 Even the fact that this species eats small fresh-water mollusca does not, in 
 any way, militate against its relationship to the Finches, many of which (and 
 especially Ploceine Finches) eat worms with avidity, and would, in a wild state, 
 probably devour small mollusca if they chanced to meet with them : indeed it is 
 probable that the lime required by these little birds when laying is chiefly obtained 
 from the shells of small land-, or fresh- water mollusca. 
 
 Family— PANURIDy^. 
 
 The Bearded Reedling. 
 
 Panurus biarmicus, lyiNN. 
 
 ALTHOUGH in the main I have judged that I could not do better than 
 follow the classification adopted by Mr. Howard Saunders, in his most 
 excellent " Illustrated Manual of British Birds," my conscience is not sufficiently 
 
 Vol. I. 2 B 
 
142 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 elastic to allow of my calling the present species a Titmouse. I have therefore 
 adopted the alternative name, in preference to the misleading one of " Reed- 
 Pheasant," which is, to my mind, somewhat too suggestive of Hydrophasiantis : — a 
 bird not strikingly like Panurus. 
 
 Dr. Gadow states that this bird is distributed " all over Europe (except in 
 Sweden, Norwa5% and Northern Russia), extending into Turkestan." Seebohm says 
 that " it has not been recorded south of the Mediterranean or north of Pomerania." 
 " Finsch obtained it in the swamps of the Kara Irtish, south of Lake Zaisan, 
 on the borders of Chinese Tartary ; and Prjevalsky found it in North-eastern 
 Thibet." 
 
 In Great Britain, the Bearded Reedling has of late years become very rare, 
 owing chiefly to the draining of fens and marshes ; but also to the greed of dealers, 
 who have stimulated the marsh-men to incessant search after its nest and eggs. 
 Though formerly its range doubtless extended further northward, it is now chiefly 
 confined to the south-eastern and southern counties of England. 
 
 The male Bearded Reedling differs from its hen much as some of the Grass- 
 finches do, in the different colouring of the head and absence of distinct markings 
 on the face : the description given b}' Mr. Saunders is so clear and concise that I 
 cannot do better than quote it : — 
 
 " The adult male has the crown bluish-grey ; a black loral patch descends 
 diagonally from below the eye and terminates in a pointed moustache ; nape, back 
 and rump orange-tawny ; wings longitudinally striped with buffish-white, black, and 
 rufous ; quills brown with white outer margins ; tail mostly rufous ; chin and throat 
 greyish-white, turning into greyish-pink on the breast ; flanks orange-tawny ; under 
 tail- coverts jet-black ; beak yellow ; legs and feet black. Length 6.5 in.; wing 2.25 
 in. The female has the head brownish-fawn, and no black on the moustache or 
 under tail-coverts ; in other respects she is merely duller than the male. The 
 young are like the female, but the crown of the head and the middle of the back 
 are streaked with black." 
 
 This species is a bird of the broads, fens, and marshes ; and, to my mind, is 
 a representative in Europe of the large family Ploceida or Weaving- Finches ; at 
 the same time it does not, as might be expected, belong to that family ; 
 but should perhaps be regarded as a link between the latter and the Buntings ; its 
 habits resembling the former, and its nidification the latter group of birds. 
 
 The nest, which I have fovmd once in Kent, and twice on the Ormesby 
 broads, is placed close to the M'ater, upon a mass of half decayed leaf and broken 
 reed-stalk, amongst the growing reed-stems ; it is an open cup-shaped structure, 
 and has a coarse appearance for the nest of so small a bird, the outside walls 
 
The Bearded Reedling. ' 143 
 
 being formed of loosely interlaced dead leaves of sedges, reeds, and broad-grasses : 
 the lining consisting entirely of the feathery top of the reed. 
 
 The Kentish nest, placed upon a small floating island of reeds, in a large 
 pond at Kemsley (where "Reed- Pheasants" were formerly common) was perfect; but 
 probably abandoned, for it contained no eggs : doubtless the young had flown, 
 inasmuch as it was late in May ; and, according to Mr. Stevenson, the full clutch 
 of eggs is frequently deposited by the 7th or 8th April. The Norfolk nests had 
 an unfinished appearance, and also contained no eggs, possibly they may have 
 been plundered by the " lookers," or by marshmen. I could hardly have been 
 too early (as I formerly supposed) to find eggs of this species, for again it was 
 in Ma}'. 
 
 The Bearded Reedling lays from four to seven eggs of a sordid or brownish- 
 white colour, with a few dots, dashes, and thread-like lines of dark-brown : they 
 are distinctly Bunting-like in character : as is the deep nest in which they are 
 deposited. 
 
 This species is extremely hardy ; and, like the tiny Waxbills of India, is 
 capable of withstanding the severest cold of our winters ; as Stevenson observes : — 
 " Delicate as these little creatures appear, I have found them during the sharpest 
 frosts, when the snipe had left the half-frozen waters for upland springs and 
 drains, still busy amongst the reed-stems as lively and musical as ever." It is 
 therefore not surprising that it is a resident species. 
 
 According to Seebohm the song " is said to be only a few simple notes, 
 something like those of the Blue Tit. The call-note appeared to be a musical 
 ping, ping, something like the twang of a banjo. The alarm-note is said to be a 
 chir-r-rr, something like the scold of a Whitethroat. The cry of distress is described 
 as a plaintive ce-ar, c£-ar." 
 
 As cage-birds Bearded Reedlings are altogether charming ; and, of late years, 
 the admirers of the so-called " Reed- Pheasant " or "Bearded Tit," have greatly 
 increased in numbers. Lord Lilford says : — " The chief food of this species appears 
 to be the seed of reed, but in captivity I have found them most omnivorous, and 
 ants' eggs were very favourite morsels with them, as they are with almost every 
 cage-bird with which I have any acquaintance. My living specimens of this species 
 were purchased in London, and were said to have been sent thither from the 
 Netherlands ; they became very tame, and are very engaging pets, in motion the 
 whole day long, often hanging head downwards from the top of their cage, and 
 crowding together closely at dusk on the same perch." 
 
 Formerly this species was rarely if ever exhibited, but now it is present at 
 most of our bird-shows, examples probably imported from Holland being even 
 
144 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 admitted to the British classes : this, I think, is as it should be, for, to the 
 aviculturist who studies the birds of Great Britain, it matters not at all whether 
 his specimens were caught on this side of the water or the other, provided that 
 they are identical in plumage. 
 
 FAMILY PARID^. 
 
 THE Titmice constitute one of the most charming groups among our familiar 
 wild birds ; they are incessantly in motion, throwing themselves into every 
 conceivable position ; as easily hanging upside down by one foot as many other 
 active birds by both : on a branch they move in a jerky irregular fashion ; and, on 
 the wing, their flight is very undulating and not long sustained. 
 
 The strength both of bill and claw in these birds is surprising, as anyone 
 who has reared them from the nest can testify : they cling to ones fingers like 
 stiff springs, and if they hammer one's nails with their short stout bills, one blow 
 is enough : no wonder that, when one of a community is taken ill, his companions 
 find it an easy matter to break open his skull and devour his brains ; for it is 
 not only the Great Tit which does this. 
 
 The songs of the Titmice are scarcely musical, though somewhat varied ; for 
 they do not consist, as has been stated, of mere repetitions of the call-notes ; indeed 
 the songs of the Great Tit, for he has at least two, do not include his call-note 
 at all, though one of them does introduce an approach to his alarm-note. 
 
 The nests of the Tits, excepting when built in holes (as they frequently are) 
 are domed or cave-like structures, with a small entrance in front. The eggs are 
 stated to vary in number from five to twelve, but I know of no Tit which lays a 
 complete clutch of less than six, or more than ten ; although as manj' as twenty 
 may be found in the same nest, if two hens are concerned in the laying. Never- 
 theless I would not dogmatically assert, in opposition to the direct statements of 
 good observers, that twelve eggs might not occasionally be deposited by one bird ; 
 but I should be inclined to believe rather that a first hen, after commencing to 
 lay, had either died or been killed, and her place supplied by a second at once : 
 there would be nothing at all improbable in this. 
 
Long-Tailed Tit 
 
The Long-Tailed Tit. 145 
 
 Family— PARID^. 
 
 The Long-Tailed Tit. 
 
 Acredula caudata, LiNN. 
 
 THE British representative of this species, to which the name of Acredula rosea 
 has been given, can hardly be maintained as a distinct species ; inasmuch 
 as, in Western Germany and France, if not also in Italy and Turkey, it freely 
 interbreeds with the typical form ; as, in Lombardy it appears to do with another 
 variety — A. irbii, between which and A. rosea all kinds of intergrades exist. 
 Moreover the differences between these forms are slight and not invariably constant ; 
 and the fact that three or four examples of the typical form have been obtained 
 at various times, or seen in company with the British variety would tend to show 
 that the modifications are not even strictly climatic. The different types are as 
 follows : — 
 
 A. caudata: — Head, nape and sides of neck, throat, breast, edge of wing and 
 under wing coverts snow-white. 
 
 Distributed through Northern and Central Europe, across Southern Siberia to 
 Japan : has occurred in Great Britain. 
 
 A. macrura : — Differing in having a larger tail by about half an inch in the 
 majority of specimens. 
 
 Northern Europe, eastwards from St. Petersburg and in the island of Askold. 
 
 A. trivir^ata : — Slightly smaller than A. rosea, most examples having the black 
 eyebrow-streak continued across the lores to the base of the bill. 
 Yokohama. 
 
 A. irbii: — Also slightly smaller than A. rosea, with the mantle, back, and 
 rump greyer, and the scapulars grey. 
 
 Sicily, South and Central Italy and Spain. 
 
 A. rosea : — The white on the head restricted to the crown and forehead. 
 Holland, Western Germany, France, Northern Italy and Turkey. Pretty 
 generally distributed, though somewhat local, throughout Great Britain. 
 
146 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Although, in body, this is the smallest of the British Titmice, it certainly is 
 by far the most charming ; and its nest, in beauty, excels that of any other 
 feathered inhabitant of our islands, not even excepting that of the Chaffinch. 
 
 The favourite haunts of this bird are groves, especially where box and 
 hawthorn abound, the outskirts of woods and plantations, orchards and shrubberies : 
 it is always on the move ; and, not being especially nervous, can be easily 
 watched whilst actively seeking its food among the branches, or capturing winged 
 prey in the air; the only requisite is that the observer remain still. 
 
 The nest, which varies much in form, is frequently placed in a tall hawthorn 
 hedge, sometimes on the outside in full view of every wayfarer, sometimes in a 
 clipped hedge in the very centre of the forked and thorny outgrowth of one of the 
 middle branches ; in an evergreen shrub, such as a laurustinus ; in a holly- or 
 furze-bush, in brambles overgrown with honeysuckle or other vines, in ivy, or in 
 the branches of a lichen- covered tree. In form it is either oval, which has given 
 the popular name of " Bottle-Tit " to its architect ; irregularly oblong, from which 
 the birds' local name of "Barrel-Tit" is probably derived, or almost perfectly 
 spherical : in size it varies to an extraordinary degree, one of my nests measuring 
 6^ inches in depth, by 4^^ inches in diameter at the widest part ; another is 4f 
 inches in depth, and 3f inches in diameter ; and a third is 4! inches in depth, and 
 3^ inches in diameter : the entrance to the nest is always in front, though not 
 always accurately centred ; it is always above the middle, and frequently near the 
 top of the structure. The materials hardly vary at all, consisting of green moss 
 felted with wool and cobweb and studded with white lichen ; one of my nests also 
 shows fragments of reddish bark ; the lining consists of a mass of feathers and hair.* 
 
 The eggs are pure white, usually finely but somewhat sparely speckled with 
 rusty or pale blood-red ; but occasionally only faintly suffiised with this colour : in 
 form they vary from a very obtusely pointed long oval, to a short oval almost 
 approaching a sphere. 
 
 My experience of the eggs of this species is, that ten represent a full clutch ; 
 but Lord Lilford says that he has found as many as eleven, and that seven is the 
 usual number : as many as twenty have been foiind in a nest, but there can hardly 
 be a question that, in this case, they are the product of two hens. In North- 
 amptonshire the country people call this Tit " Pudding-bag " and " Pudding-poke," 
 as well as " Bottle Tit." 
 
 Unlike the nests of most of our birds, the home of the Long-tailed Tit takes 
 both parents fully a fortnight to complete ; but, when finished, it certainly is "a 
 thing of beauty " ! When I have seen one of these lovely works of art torn to 
 
 * The local name of "Feather-poke" may be due to this. 
 
< 
 
 O 
 
The Great Tit. 147 
 
 fragments and lying on the footpath, I have felt that no punishment could be too 
 great, to inflict upon the besotted clodhopper who had committed that piece of 
 vandalism.* 
 
 The Long-tailed Tit has no regular song, but it constantly repeats its shrill 
 call-note — tsee-tsee-tsee ; and Seebohm speaks of another note (which I have not 
 heard) and renders it — •" a sort of ptge, impossible to express on paper." 
 
 As a cage-bird the beautiful Tit is extremely difi&cult to keep ; a friend of 
 mine who has, on several occasions, attempted to domesticate it, tells me that, 
 although he did not find it shy or specially wild, he could never manage to keep 
 it alive for more than two or three days.t Probably, if hand-reared, this charming 
 little bird might be made a pet of : had I ever been able to find a nest containing 
 young, I should certainly have attempted to bring them up. Perhaps I should 
 have failed, and thus unnecessarily deprived the parents of their very attractive 
 family : in the case of many birds, this would be a matter of little moment ; but 
 a family of Bottle-Tits is more than usually united, living in unison throughout the 
 autumn and winter ; and only separating, for breeding purposes, in the following 
 spring. 
 
 Family— P ARID AL. 
 
 The Great Tit. 
 
 Partis major, LiNN. 
 
 SBEBOHM observes that " The Great Tit appears to be found throughout the 
 Palaearctic region, from the British Islands to the Pacific. In Norway, under 
 the influence of the gulf-stream, it ranges as far north as the arctic circle (lat. 
 
 • I found all my nests between Rainham and Newington, in Kent, but I have seen the bird in the autumn 
 on Boxhill, near Dorking. 
 
 t Dr. Girtanner succeeded in keeping I^ong-tailed Tits in confinement as long as two years. They thrive 
 best when caught in winter, and should at first be fed on leaf-lice and other insects. 
 
148 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 66|^°). In West Russia it has not been recorded north of lat. 64°. In the valley 
 of the Obb, Finsch and Brehm did not observe it north of lat. 58°. On the Pacific 
 coast, MiddendorfiF did not obtain it further north than lat. 55°. It extends in the 
 west as far south as the Canary Islands, Algeria, Palestine, and Persia, and in the 
 east as far as North Turkestan and the Amoor." 
 
 This beautiful bird has the crown of the head to below the eye and backwards 
 to the nape glossy black with a bluish sheen ; the mantle and upper back are 
 olivaceous-green, which shades into deep ash-grey on the lower back and upper 
 tail-coverts ; tail with the inner webs greyish-black, the outer webs deep ash-grey, 
 excepting the outermost feather which has the web and tip white, the next feather 
 also white-tipped ; wing-coverts bluish pearl-grey, the outer ones broadly tipped 
 with white ; the primaries smoky-brown, the basal half of the outer webs edged 
 with pearl-grey and the terminal half with white ; secondaries greyish-brown, darker 
 towards the shaft and paler towards the margins, the outer webs with broad pale 
 edges, the anterior feathers being edged with pearl-grey, and the posterior ones 
 with white ; the cheeks, ear-coverts, and sometimes a small spot on the nape snow- 
 white ; a belt encircling the neck, the chin, throat, fore-chest, and an irregular 
 streak down the centre of the breast to the vent blue-black, remainder of body 
 below dull sulphur-yellow ; under tail-coverts white, varied with black, the tail 
 feathers below ash-grey, the outer feathers varied as above with white ; bill shining 
 black, feet dark leaden-grey ; iris deep brown. 
 
 The female is slightly duller than the male, and the stripe below is a little 
 narrower. Young birds are also duller, with the cheeks more yellow in tint. 
 
 In general colouring our Great Tit curiously resembles the smaller (N. W. 
 Indian) form of the Persian Bulbul fPycnonotus leiicotisj . 
 
 The " Ox-eye " Tit, as this bird is often called, is abundantly met with in woods, 
 plantations, shrubberies, orchards and gardens ; it may be seen at almost all times 
 of the year in search of food, and I do not doubt that many caterpillars of the 
 common Puss-moth which, from their bizarre aspect, deter most birds from touching 
 them, fall victims to this and the other species of Parus : I know that, in confine- 
 ment, the Great Tit does not hesitate for a moment to seize and tear them to pieces. 
 In the winter all these birds are easily attracted by a suspended beef-bone or lump 
 of suet, and the actions of the birds can then be well studied ; for in winter more 
 than at other times, the Tits are confiding and reckless of consequences : on this 
 account they are more easily caught in cage-traps than any other birds. 
 
 The call-note of the Great Tit much resembles that of the Chaffinch — chick, 
 chicli, cliich, with a slight metallic n sound before the last cJi ; its alarm-note is 
 like the bleating of a kid^ — a sort of werry, erre, erre, sometimes running together 
 
The Great Tit. 149 
 
 into a long vibration (I have heard the note when a cat has been climbing the 
 tree in which the bird was, and invariably after this Tit has been caught and 
 caged). The song varies a good deal, but the best-known song of this species is 
 its ungreased wheel-barrow note, which may be heard at all seasons — chec-chi, chec- 
 chi, chee-chi, chee-chi. The true love song is only heard in the spring — tsoo-tsoo tverry, 
 tsoo-tsoo i(<erry, tsce tsee. 
 
 The nest is always placed in some kind of cavity, even if it be but a gap 
 among the sticks below a Rook's nest ; but the favourite site is certainly a hole 
 in a fruit-tree sometimes a foot or more below the opening ; it may also be foiind 
 in a mere decayed cavity, in which case the nest is bixilt like that of a Wren ; in 
 a flower-pot, letter-box, an old disused pump, a hole in a wall, or even in the 
 ground, and often behind detached planking and lattice-work. 
 
 In form the nest represents two types, those built in open situations are 
 domed, formed of moss ; and, in one which I took, without any lining (although 
 it contained its full complement of eggs) ; the commoner type of nest is merely a 
 slightly concave disc at the bottom of the hole selected by the birds for their 
 nursery, and consists of a thick foundation of dried grass or moss, with an upper 
 layer of hair, wool, or feathers : occasionally (but chiefly when moss is used) 
 the moss is carried a little distance iip the inner walls of the hollow trunk or 
 branch. It is no easy matter for the birdsnester to secure a perfect specimen of 
 the latter type of nest, inasmuch as one has to raise it to the entrance hole by 
 means of a long twisted wire, without losing any of the eggs, and then draw it 
 slowly through what is often a very small aperture. 
 
 According to Seebohm the number of eggs varies from five to eleven ; but, 
 from my experience, I should say that a full clutch consisted of six eggs, and that 
 any number above six was the product of a second hen : that two hens do lay in 
 the same nest, was conclusively proved by Mr. J. C. Pool in a letter to the 
 " Feathered World" for May nth, 1894, where he noted the addition of two eggs 
 on the same day, to a nest built in a letter-box. Curiously enough Mr. Pool 
 insisted that the same hen must have laid both eggs, which is (of course) quite 
 out of the question ; moreover the nest contained ten eggs, two of which subse- 
 quently disappeared, doubtless broken during a quarrel between the two hens and 
 carried out by the victor. Mr. Pool's conviction that — as he never saw more than 
 one hen, there could hardly have been two, proves nothing : the same bird could 
 not have deposited two eggs on one day.* In colour the eggs are white, spotted 
 with blood-red. 
 
 * In the case of double-yoked eggs, I believe a day is missed before la3iiig: a Canary of mine after la3ing 
 three eggs, missed a day ; then laid a double-yoked one, which took seventeen days to hatch, and produced two 
 perfect young ones. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 C 
 
150 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 That Great Tits may be bigamists is possible, that they are Bluebeards and 
 cannibals we know ; for if two Ox-eyes are kept together in the same cage, one 
 will sooner or later kill the other, and eat (at least) its brains. Some years since 
 I caught twenty-three Great Tits, nine of which I turned into two large flight 
 cages, but they gradually devoured one another until two were left ; subsequently, 
 as I needed one of the cages, I turned the two savages in together, and, next 
 morning, one of them was reduced to the condition of Jezebel after the wild dogs 
 had left her : the uncanu}^ consumer of its brethren lived through two moults 
 afterwards, but lost all its beauty, becoming extremely pale in plumage, the 
 under-parts a dirty cream-colour. 
 
 A Great Tit turned into an aviary with other birds, is about as safe a com- 
 panion for the latter as a good healthy brown rat would be : charming and useful 
 when free, he is repulsive in captivity on account of his murderous disposition. 
 
 The food of this bird when wild consists largely of insects and their larvae, 
 spiders, seeds and buds, also flesh and fat when procurable.* The absurd state- 
 ments made by many writers, as to this and the other Tits only destroying buds 
 for the sake of the maggots contained therein, can be disproved by anyone who 
 has turned them into an aviary in which shrubs and creepers are planted : in so 
 limited an area two or three days will suffice to dismantle every shrub and creeper 
 of both buds and leaves, which are wantonly torn off" and dropped. Of course, in 
 the open, buds are so many and birds are so few, that comparatively little real 
 mischief is done ; and probably no more fruit buds are destroyed than a gardener 
 would purposely prune away in the form of unripe fruit. Birds nevertheless 
 destroy, not buds only, but leaves and green bark, in which no suspicion of a 
 maggot exists, out of simple wanton destructiveness ; just as they will snatch 
 feathers from one another and fling them away. 
 
 In captivity, this, and all the Titmice, are very fond of nuts, especially 
 Barcelonas and walnuts ; next to which, mutton suet is their favourite food ; these 
 dainties they will eat almost immediately after their capture ; although, for the first 
 day or so. Great Tits spend most of their time in hammering at the wire and 
 woodwork of their prison : pretty as they are, it is wrong to shut them up ; their 
 nature is far too wild. 
 
 In May, 1886, I tried hand-rearing Ox-eyes: there were four of them, which 
 had formed part of a family hatched in a hollow plum-tree : I found them quarrel- 
 some above all nestlings, clamorous, and voracious ; their call for food was chiir- 
 
 * The young are fed largely on green caterpillars, and I have watched a pair for a considerable time 
 incessantly travelling backw ards and forwards from their nest to a plantation of currant and gooseberry l)ushes, 
 each time bringing a mouthful of the caterpillars of the destructive little looping caterpillar of the V-moth 
 (Halia wavariaj. 
 
Coal-Tit $ 
 
The Coal-Tit. 151 
 
 chur-chur-chur, chitr : they lived long enough to fly, and were becoming quite inter- 
 esting, when suddenly they all died off within two days ; having probably 
 swallowed some wadding from their bed, in their greediness after food dropped 
 upon it. 
 
 Family— PA RW^. 
 
 The Coal-Tit. 
 
 Parus ater, L-INN. 
 
 DR. SHARPE has separated the British race of this species under the name 
 of P. britannicus on account of the olive-brown tint of its upper back ; but 
 it would appear that the Continental form also occurs in Great Britain, as well as 
 intermediate grades between the grey and brown-backed forms. As a matter of 
 fact these differences, if they were constant, would be trifling as compared with the 
 far more defined local variations of our Yellow-Ammer, the male Kentish bird in 
 breeding plumage differing from that of some parts of Surrey, almost as much as 
 a Saffron-finch does from a Greenfinch. 
 
 On the Continent the Coal-Tit is generally distributed and resident throughout 
 central and southern Europe, extending northward in summer up to lat. 65°. In 
 Great Britain it is generally distributed, though local in Scotland, and not recorded 
 from the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys, or Shetlands. 
 
 The adult male has the head and throat blue-black, with the exception of a 
 white patch on the nape, and a much larger one extending from a little behind 
 the base of the bill below the eye to the neck ; back slaty-grey, more or less 
 suffused with olive-brown ; rump browner ; wings and tail greyish -brown ; median 
 and greater wing-coverts with white tips, forming two bars ; breast white, somewhat 
 sordid and gradually shading into buff-brownish on the belly and flanks ; bill black ; 
 
152 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 feet leaden grey ; iris hazel. The female is duller in colour, the white patches 
 yellower. The young are more olivaceous above, and the white patches are suffused 
 with sulphur-yellow. 
 
 Fortunately this extremely charming species is becoming much more common 
 than it formerly was, in our islands ; so that it is no unusual occurrence, in the 
 autumn, to see a family sporting about among the trees of our suburban gardens ; 
 young Coal-Tits are wonderfully confiding ; so much so that, in the autumn 
 of 1895, I was able to stand under an Acacia in my garden, and watch these 
 pretty little birds going through their acrobatic performances, within two or three 
 feet of my head ; indeed, one or two of them, growing bolder as I remained quietly 
 observing them, descended to a slender branch within a foot, and peered down 
 and chattered at me in a most knowing manner — "' ick-heec, ick-Iiccc" is what thej'' 
 seemed to say; but, to me, this appeared to mean " Who are you?" Probably 
 the same words, differently accented, represent a language intelligible to birds ; for 
 even we can sometimes comprehend its meaning ; as, for instance, when a Canary 
 asks for fresh seed, or for some dainty, the pleading tone is distinctly apparent. 
 
 The favourite haunts of this species are plantations, copses, thickets, and shrub- 
 beries, especially near open common or moorland ; no tree or evergreen escapes its 
 minute examination when in search of insect food ; though perhaps the conifers 
 form its favourite hunting-grounds. Its principal breeding-grounds are said to be 
 birch, pine, and fir- plantations, and alder-swamps ; but all the nests which I have 
 met with have been either in hollow orchard-trees or behind ivy-grown trellis-work 
 on summer-houses, or garden walls. The site for the nest is usually in a hole in 
 the trunk of a tree, or in a stump in a hedge, but it has been found in a hole 
 in the earth among the roots of a felled tree-trunk, and Lord Lilford states that 
 most of the nests which he has examined were placed underground in the burrows 
 of rabbits, moles, or mice. 
 
 The nest consists chiefly of a thick but loose lining to the selected cavity, 
 sometimes covering only the bottom of the hole, sometimes the sides also ; and, 
 when more or less exposed behind trellis-work, over-arched, with the entrance in 
 front : I have not taken enough nests of this species to be sure of the number of 
 a full clutch of eggs; but, as different authorities mention the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 
 and 9, I strongly suspect that the full number is either eight or ten, though rarely 
 the latter : many nests are undoubtedly taken by egg-collectors before the comple- 
 tion of the clutch, and I have taken nine young birds and an addled &gg from 
 the same nest. 
 
 The materials of the nest consist of moss, wool, or hair, with a thick inner 
 lining of feathers. 
 
The Coal-Tit. 153 
 
 The eggs are somewhat elongated ovals, sometimes with the two ends alike, 
 chalky-white when blown, though semi-transparent and appearing delicate rose-pink 
 when fresh from the nest ; the surface is more or less sprinkled with pale-red dots, 
 which occasionally are collected into a mass at the larger end ; but, as a rule the 
 eggs of the Coal-Tit are not heavily marked. 
 
 The young, as with the other Tits, are principally fed upon small caterpillars 
 and spiders ; of which vast quantities are destroyed during the rearing of a family. 
 Little does the fruit-grower imagine, when he slaughters this amiable little bird, 
 what a vast debt of gratitude he owes it, for the countless destructive caterpillars 
 which it has cleared off his trees and bushes. When adult, insects, their larvae, 
 spiders, beech nuts,* seeds and buds : they are also very fond of mutton suet, or 
 the scraps of meat adhering to a well-cleaned beef-bone. 
 
 What is the love-song of the Coal-Tit ? According to some writers it is a 
 repetition of the call-note ; but, whilst lying awake in the early morning, I have 
 heard a Tit sing in the oak-tree in front of my house, which certainly was neither 
 a Great- Tit, nor a Blue-Tit ; and its song was — tee, tsoo-tsoo, terry, as nearly 
 as I could make out at the time : I believe this to be the Coal-Tit's love-song, but 
 am not sure. The songs of birds, which are now being studied critically by Mr. 
 Charles A. Witchell, have, until recently', not received half the attention which 
 they deserve. 
 
 The call of the young for food certainly bears no relation whatever to the 
 ordinary call-note or to the above song; in June, 1888, I heard of a nest of young 
 Tits in a cemetery in Kent, and visited it with Mr. Frohawk ; we caught the 
 mother bird on the nest and then took out nine young birds and a clear ^^%. I 
 enclosed the entire family in a cage with the mother and gave her some wasp-larvse 
 to feed them with ; but, although Tits are very industrious and painstaking in 
 feeding their young when they have their liberty, I soon saw that it was hopeless 
 to expect anything of the kind in a cage ; the mother-bird simply devoured all the 
 maggots herself and trampled her babies underfoot in her frantic efforts to escape : 
 I therefore opened the cage-door at an open window and away she flew without 
 another thought as to the fate of her family. 
 
 For a week, during which time I was able to attend to my Coal-Tits person- 
 ally, they throve splendidly ; but unhappily I had to return to work and leave 
 them in the care of a 3'oung girl who, in those days, used to come in daily and 
 attend to my birds ; the consequence was that these charming little things were 
 neglected, being allowed to get dirty ; so that gradually they dropped off, one or 
 
 • I saw the Coal-Tit busy upon these at vSt. Mary Cray, some five or six years ago, when I was out for a 
 country ramble in that direction. 
 
154 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 two in a day, until all were gone. I was a good deal grieved to lose these 
 charming little birds ; they were so lively and amusing. The moment that the lid 
 of the basket in which I kept them was lifted, all nine sprang on to the edge, 
 and standing in a row, shouted at their loudest — " Chukha, chiitchurr ; Chutcha, 
 chiik/iiirr,'" incessantly, until the feeding was over ; then in a moment they scattered, 
 hopping in every direction ; some were on my arm, some on my shoulder, others 
 on my head — and a nice little job it was to collect and restore them all to their 
 flannel nest in the basket. Sometimes my wife fed them, and if they did not keep 
 in a row, she used to push the rowdy ones back gently before feeding ; so that in 
 a day or so they quite understood and stood up exactly like a class of charity 
 children in uniform saying a lesson : it was a very pretty sight and I quite missed 
 the little things when they died. Poor little mites ! it would have been far better 
 to have left them in their parents' care; but, I didn't know that at the time. 
 
 Family— PARIDAi. 
 
 The Marsh-Tit. 
 
 Parus palustris, Linn. 
 
 LOCAL as this resident Titmouse is in the British Isles, it is not uncommonly 
 ^ captured in the autumn by the Bird-catchers ; but, unfortunately these men 
 rarely take the trouble to bring them to Aviculturists ; but either kill them, or let 
 them go, according to their nature ; some of the men who adopt this method of 
 adding to their earnings being really fond of birds and quite intelligent, whilst 
 others are mere savages. 
 
 This species is distribiited throughout central, and the greater part of western 
 Europe, down to the Pyrenees ; it is local in Spain, and rare in southern Italy and 
 Greece. British specimens, on account of the somewhat browner colouring of the 
 

 (^rc^o..^^ 
 
 Marsh-Tit i 2 
 
4 
 
The Marsh-Tit. 155 
 
 upper surface, as compared with those of the Continent, have received the varietal 
 name of dresseri. Our Marsh-Tit is less frequently seen than most of our species, 
 though not uncommon in suitable localities, both in England and Wales ; but in 
 Scotland and Ireland it is extremely local. 
 
 The adult Marsh-Tit has the forehead, crown and nape glossy-black, to a line 
 below the eye from base of upper mandible ; back greyish-brown, slightly cupreous 
 in a bright light, paler on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings and tail smoky- 
 brown, slightly browner along the outer webs of the feathers ; chin and throat 
 black ; cheeks ashy-white ; remainder of under parts ashy, suffused with bufifish- 
 brown on the sides, flanks, thighs, and vent ; flights and tail below ash-grey ; bill 
 black; feet leaden-grey; iris dark-brown. The sexes are very similar; but the 
 young are duller and somewhat browner. 
 
 Although often found in the neighbourhood of marshes, this Tit is by no 
 means strictly conflned to moist situations ; for I have not unfrequently seen it in 
 my own garden at Beckenham, though more frequently in the autumn than at 
 other seasons, and often in company with Blue-Tits : its song is not of much 
 account — tsiz-tsiz-tsiz, chee, and the call-note a rapidly repeated chay, chay, cliay, chay ;* 
 ill spring it is also said to utter a loud double note somewhat resembling the 
 ordinary wheelbarrow note of the Great Tit ; but this I have never been able to 
 confirm ; though I may have heard the note without recognising its author : but 
 from what I have seen of this species, both wild and in confinement, I should 
 judge it *to be less noisy than other Tits. 
 
 In disposition the Marsh-Tit is gentle, confiding and lively : in its actions, 
 flight, method of feeding and the nature of its food, it corresponds closely with 
 its congeners ; but I found it a more inveterate bather, which may perhaps account 
 for its preferring the vicinity of water. According to Lord Lilford this bird is 
 less often to be found amongst high trees than our other species. 
 
 Although a resident bird, the numbers of our British bred Marsh-Tits are 
 largely increased by autumn immigration, the arrivals again taking their departure 
 early in the succeeding spring. 
 
 Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk" gives the following interesting account: 
 " Though commonly met with by rivers and streams and in other low and damp 
 situations, it is also found in our fir plantations and in gardens and orchards far 
 from any water, where, in autumn, they feed on the seeds of various berries, being 
 particularly partial to those of the snowberry shrub fSympkoria racemosaj. Before I 
 discovered the actual depredators I had often observed that the berries on these shrubs 
 in my garden disappeared very rapidl}', and, moreover, that the berries themselves 
 
 * In Yarrell, it is reudered peh, peh ; but it is chay or isay in ni}- opinion. 
 
156 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 were strewed about under the neighbouring trees. I was quite at a loss to account 
 for this, until one morning I observed a Marsh Titmouse flying across the grass- 
 plot with a white ball, almost as big as his head, on the point of his bill. He 
 looked so oddl}- at the moment I could scarcely at first sight determine either the 
 bird or its burthen, but as soon as he alighted on an opposite tree he gave a little 
 wrench with his beak, and dropping the husk at the time, flew off direct to the 
 snowberry bush. The whole thing was now explained, and as I watched, another 
 Titmouse joined the first, and these continued as long as I had time to wait, 
 carrying off" the berries on the ends of their bills to the same tree opposite, where 
 they opened and dropped the husks, then back again for more. On picking up 
 these husks afterwards, I found each of them split open down the side, and minus 
 the two little kidney-shaped seeds that grow in either half of the white fruit." 
 
 The Marsh-Tit visually nests in holes in trees and near to the ground, after 
 the manner of the Coal-Tit, and, like some of our other species, it has been known 
 to make a hole for itself in a decayed tree ; it has also been known to build like 
 a Tree-Creeper behind loosened bark, and nests have been found in mouse or rat- 
 burrows in banks. 
 
 Lord Lilford observes that " Both nest and eggs may easil}^ be mistaken for 
 those of the more common Coal-Tit, but the present species sometimes makes iise 
 of willow-down as a lining, and, so far as I know, never employs feathers for that 
 purpose. The eggs are from five to seven or eight in number." 
 
 Seebohm says : — " Occasionally it breeds in a pollard willow, and has even 
 been known to build in a rabbit-burrow or an old rat's hole. The inside of the 
 hole, if too deep, is filled up with bits of wood or small twigs, and upon this 
 foundation a moderately neat nest is composed of moss, wool, hair, and any other 
 soft material that may be within reach. Fresh eggs may be found in May ; and 
 it is said that a second brood is often reared. The number varies from five to 
 eight, and some writers say even twelve ; but no such case has ever come under 
 my notice. They are white with a scarcely perceptible yellowish tinge in ground- 
 colour, spotted and speckled with light red. The markings are usually most 
 numerous on the large end of the egg." 
 
 I have not personally taken this nest ; but, if it were more abundant, I should 
 expect to find that the number of eggs in a full clutch would vary from eight to 
 ten, the former being the usual number. 
 
 About August, 1890, a bird-catcher brought me a pair of Marsh-Tits which he 
 had caught at Beckenham in his nets. I turned these birds out with a number 
 of Finches which occupied one of my aviaries ; and, after a day or two, they were 
 quite at home. Unfortunately that particular aviary was then arranged for pictur- 
 
Blue Tit i <? 
 
The Blue-Tit. 157 
 
 esque effect, with rockery, a shelving shingly bank and a rather deep stream some 
 fourteen feet in length. Such attempts to imitate nature are a mistake, unless the 
 rockery can be made of smooth slabs of solid stone easily cleaned, and even then 
 they are liable to harbo'ar mice. The result as regards my Marsh-Tits was, that 
 the hen bird when washing, one cold day in January, 1891, either got oitt of her 
 depth or was seized with cramp, and I found her floating dead on the surface of 
 the water: she was not the first victim, but her death decided me to abandon 
 artistic effect in aviaries. 
 
 The male bird lived some months longer, and made a perfectly innocent and 
 very pretty addition to my feathered family ; he fed principally upon seeds, nuts, 
 and suet ; but was always ready for spiders, as well as insects and their larvae 
 when they were procurable, and he ate a certain quantity, though not a great deal 
 of the usual soft food : he was never spiteful ; but, if a beef-bone was suspended in 
 the aviar}^ he would join a party of Siskins upon it in perfect amity : indeed, 
 unlike the Blue-Tit, he seemed unwilling to dispute over trifles, and if a Siskin 
 took a fancy to the position which he occupied on the bone, the Marsh-Tit 
 immediately yielded it up. 
 
 As regards longevity in captivity I cannot recommend this, or any of the Tits 
 to aviculturists ; possibly they require more insect-food than I was able to give 
 them ; but, at any rate, I never succeeded in keeping any of these birds for much 
 over a year ; and most of them, when opened after death, were clearly proved to 
 have died from phthisis. 
 
 Family— PA RID AL. 
 
 The Blue-Tit. 
 
 Parus ccenileus, LiNN. • 
 
 DISTRIBUTED over the whole of temperate and southern Europe, as far 
 east as the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus. In Norway, owing to the 
 comparative mildness of the climate, it is found as far north as lat. 64°; but in 
 
 Vol. I. 2D 
 
158 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Russia it lias not yet been obtained further north than lat. 6i°." — Seebo/im. 
 
 Pretty generally distributed in Great Britain, but rare and local in the north- 
 west of Scotland, not recorded from the Hebrides, and in the Orkneys and Shetlands 
 only a chance visitor. 
 
 The Blue-Tit is one of the most beautiful of our small birds ; it has the crown 
 of the head smalt-blue, completely encircled by a white stripe, commencing on the 
 forehead, passing over each eye, and into a bracket-shaped line across the back of 
 the head ; behind the latter, at back of head, is a belt of indigo which widens at 
 the sides of the neck and divides, its upper ramus passing through the eye to the 
 base of the bill and the lower forming a belt round the sides of the neck, and 
 uniting with a triangular black patch which occupies the throat and chin ; cheeks 
 and ear coverts white ; nape bluish-ash, whitish in the centre, remainder of body 
 above yellowish-green ; wings and tail blue, the greater wing coverts tipped with 
 white ; breast and abdomen sulphur-yellow, with a more or less defined central 
 longitudinal black stripe ; flights and tail-feathers below ash-grey ; bill smoky, paler 
 at junction of mandibular edges ; feet deep bluish-leaden, inclining to black ; iris 
 dark brown. The female is altogether somewhat duller than the male, the cheeks 
 slightly ashy and the under parts suffused with olive-greenish. The young are 
 still duller, the blue being less pronounced, and the plumage generally more 
 yellow. 
 
 Most observant people are familiar with the Blue-Tit, or Tom-Tit as it is 
 frequently called ; yet I have had it described to me as "a foreign bird, evidently 
 escaped from some aviary," which shows that even in this enlightened age, there 
 are individuals whose eyes are closed to the beauties which abound on every side 
 of them. In its habits this species does not greatly differ from its congeners : 
 wherever trees are it may be seen in more or less abundance, whether in forest, 
 plantation, orchard, shrubbery, garden, or hedgerow, and everywhere its various 
 calls may be heard as it searches the twigs and branches for food or amuses itself 
 in stripping off buds and leaves. Suddenly one of these mites leaves a tree and 
 with imdulating flight crosses the open to some new field of operations, and 
 immediately all the Tits in that tree are after him in a wavering stream anxious 
 to see what he is about. 
 
 The love-song of the Blue-Tit is not at all like its call-notes : I carefully took 
 it down, and went over it note by note, as a bird in the next garden repeated it : 
 this song was — Tee-tit-tit-twee, tee-te-twee, tee-te-twee ; I have also heard it sing — IVee, 
 wee, wee, tit-tit-titta:* the call-note however is tsee, tsee, tsee, and the call of the young 
 
 * One of the commonest songs of the Blue-Tit consists of two or three shrill notes, followed by a descend- 
 ing trill. 
 
The Blue-Tit. 159 
 
 chee-zek, or sometimes te-uzza, ckee-zek ; the scolding-note is a sort of diminutive 
 chatter, Seebohm calls it "a harsh chattering note" which I think describes it 
 very aptly. 
 
 In its food this bird is almost omnivorous ; insects of all kinds (no matter how 
 large) and caterpillars, spiders, centipedes, fat, the brains of its sickly relatives, 
 fruit, nuts, seeds, bread, potato : all are eaten with relish. In winter, if a bone, 
 with a few fragments of meat adhering, is hung up, the Blue-Tit is not the most 
 backward of its family in taking advantage of it : it feeds its young on caterpillars, 
 chiefly of the V-moth.* 
 
 The nest is placed in all kinds of situations : in holes in trees, walls, banks, 
 gravel-pits or gate-posts, in lamp-posts, old pumps, in niches in out-houses, on tops 
 of walls under overhanging thatches, and behind lattice-work of summer-houses : 
 but, whatever the cavity selected, it is thickly lined at the bottom, often at the 
 sides, and (when exposed behind lattice-work) over-arched, with moss, dead leaves, 
 dried grass, feathers, and cobweb : the nest thus formed is entered either from the 
 top or front according to its method of construction ; a thick bed of feathers forms 
 the inner lining. The eggs, according to my experience, vary in number from 
 eight to ten for a full clutch, eight being the usual complement ; but some writers 
 have asserted positively that they have found twelve and even as many as eighteen 
 in a nest ; in all such cases I should strongly suspect that two hen birds had 
 deposited in the same nest : ten is not a common number for I have only once 
 found a Blue-Tit on so many eggs ; on one other occasion I took ten young ones 
 out of a nest out of curiosit3% and then replaced them. I should therefore regard 
 a Blue-Tit which laid twelve eggs as a phenomenon of fecundity, and one reported 
 as laying eighteen as a myth. 
 
 In colouring the eggs are snow-white, with the usual pink transparent glow 
 when freshly deposited : in spotting they differ not a little ; some eggs at first 
 sight appearing to be immaculate, but when closely examined revealing numerous 
 dust-like specks of light red and dark grey, principally confined to the larger end ; 
 a second variety is pretty evenly sprinkled all over with rust-red dots ; a third 
 form shows larger spots scattered amongst the smaller markings ; a fourth differs 
 from the latter in the presence of splashes of red at the larger end ; finall}^ I have 
 taken specimens in which grey and red-brown spots are massed into a dark zonal 
 patch at the larger end. Some of the eggs which I have found, excepting that 
 they are perhaps a trifle longer, could not be distinguished from those of the 
 Willow-Warbler; and others, excepting that they are a size smaller, might easil}^ 
 
 * This being a Gooseberr3-nioth, the blunder has been made of crediting the Blue-Tit with eating cater- 
 pillars of "the Gooseberr>--moth " : I know of no British bird which will touch this caterpillar. 
 
 ^ 
 
ifo British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 be mistaken for those of the Wren. It is not therefore safe to identify eggs of 
 this species, unless yon have taken them yourself; and, on no account should the 
 statements of peasants be credited for a moment ; since they almost invariably 
 confound the Blue-Tit and the Wren. 
 
 There is never any difficulty in identifying the eggs of Tits which one takes, 
 because the mother bird is usually in the nest and never far away : many a time 
 in spite of her hissing and pecking I have lifted her off her eggs and held her in 
 one hand whilst I examined the collection to see whether it was in condition for 
 preservation or too far incubated : if the latter, I had only to open my hand to 
 see her at once return to her duty. 
 
 I know of no other bird which sits so closely as the Blue-Tit : in my " Hand- 
 book of British Oology" I have recorded the fact that on the 27th June, 1881, I 
 found the nest of this species in a cavity left by the removal of a brick in an 
 outhouse, where the gardener of the place kept his tools. The nest, when I 
 discovered it, contained four eggs only ; perhaps it was the last effort for the 
 season, for no more were laid. Each day I took one egg, but substituted a marble 
 for the last one, on which the Tit was contented to sit ; after three or four days 
 I removed the marble, and, a day or two later, the nest : what then was my 
 astonishment, about two days afterwards, to find the stupid bird still squatting in 
 the hole in the wall ; she had the sitting fever on her and meant to sit it out ! 
 
 In June, 1889, a nest of ten young Blue-Tits was sent to me, one of which 
 unhappily came to hand with a broken leg : instead of nipping off the swinging 
 tarsus with a sharp pair of scissors (as I ought to have done) I bound up the 
 limb with worsted, the poor little mite looking up in my face all the time, and 
 repeatedly saying in a most piteous voice, or so it seemed to me at the time — 
 " Ye mustn't forget." The leg united and formed a stiff joint, but unfortunately 
 the claws got in the bird's way when it attempted to fly, so that at last its chief 
 pleasures consisted of eating and bathing, and one morning I found it sitting up 
 dead in its bath ; possibly a cramp may have attacked its one useful leg and kept 
 it in the cold water until the chill had killed it. Of the remainder two died the 
 day after I received them, one a month later, and a fifth was still delicate at the 
 end of July ; the five others by this time were quite independent, were as tame as 
 white mice and infinitely more amusing (indeed for several months they formed 
 the principal attraction to my visitors) they used all to come down upon me the 
 moment I entered the aviary, evidently regarding me as a museum of curiosities 
 especially designed for their delectation. They would all sit together feeding out 
 of the palm of my hand ; only, every now and then, they would hop on to one of 
 my fingers and begin to hammer at the quick of the nail, which compelled me 
 
■^ -^/Z- 
 
 Crested Tit. s 2 
 
The Crested Tit. i6i 
 
 to interfere ; then all five would fly up to the rim of my wideawake and hop 
 round, trying to pull the ribbon to pieces ; next I should feel one drop to my 
 shoulder, when it would hop to the collar of my coat and pull my ear, or my 
 hair. Another favourite occupation was, to start from the bottom of my waistcoat 
 and carefully examine and test every button, pull at my watchchain, peck at 
 the outer rim of each pocket, then back to my hand, whence they would travel 
 by little zigzag hops along my arm to my shoulder. 
 
 Seeing how tame these hand-reared Tits were, I caught twenty others, which 
 I turned in with them ; and, although these also became tame enough to feed 
 from my hand, they never acquired the confidence of my nestlings. Alas ! charming 
 as these birds were, they were short-lived : I had provided numerous warmly 
 furnished boxes for them to retire to at night, but they would not behave in 
 an aviar^' as they do out of doors, each claimed its own box and fought all 
 would-be intruders ; so that, as the nights grew colder, they were quite unable 
 to keep warm, and dropped off one at a time : moreover, no sooner did one 
 of them become ill and lie in bed in the morning, than callers began to drop 
 in to breakfast (not with the invalid, but) upon its brains : this I proved 
 repeatedl}'. Out of doors the whole family would have crept into one hole, or 
 into the warmer side of a haystack, and all would probably have survived ; but 
 good living made them selfish and high-minded, and disaster followed. On the 
 15th December only one remained alive, and a severe frost, lasting for twenty- 
 two days, in the early part of 1890, killed him: I have given up keeping Blue- 
 Tits since that time. 
 
 Family— PARWyS. 
 
 The Crested Tit. 
 
 Parus cri status, L,INN. 
 
 NEVER having personally met with this extremely local species, I am com- 
 pelled to base my account of it entirel}'^ upon the writings of others ; a 
 course which, when possible, it is always best to avoid. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 E " 
 
i63 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 As regards its distribution on the Continent, Howard Saunders writes: — " The 
 Crested Titmouse inhabits the pine-forests of Scandinavia and Russia to about 
 64° N. lat. ; and eastward it can be traced as far as the valleys of the Don and 
 the Volga. In Germany, wherever conifers are plentiful, and in the higher districts 
 of France, the bird is to be found in tolerable abundance ; it also breeds in Dutch 
 Brabant, principally in oak-trees, for it is by no means restricted to firs ; and in the 
 Alps, Carpathians, and other ranges of Central Europe it is generally distributed. 
 In some parts of the Higher Pyrenees I found it the most abundant of the genus ; 
 while in the south of France and in Spain it may often be observed among trees 
 close by the sea. In the latter country it breeds in the cork-woods in the vicinity 
 of Gibraltar, as well as on higher ground ; and it is also common in Portugal." 
 
 Respecting its distribution in Great Britain, Seebohm says : — " Its only known 
 breeding- grounds in the British Islands are in Scotland, in the valley of the Spey 
 and in the adjoining counties of Ross and Inverness on the west, and Aberdeen 
 on the east. In winter its distribution is a little more extended, and Mr. Gray 
 remarks that it has been obtained as far south as Perthshire. In the western 
 counties of Scotland but two specimens have been obtained — one in 1838, near 
 Barcaldine House in Argyleshire, and another, of which the exact date is not 
 known, taken near Dumbarton." 
 
 " In England, Mr. Harting, in his ' Handbook,' records eight instances of its 
 occurrence; Mr. Simpson records another in the 'Zoologist' for 1872, p. 3021, and 
 Baron Von Hiigel one more specimen in the same periodical for 1874, p. 4065." 
 
 As to the reputed occurrence of two specimens of the Crested Tit in Ireland, 
 authorities are not agreed ; therefore it is safest to doubt. 
 
 The male Crested Tit, when adult, has the feathers of the head black, margined 
 with ashy- white ; those from the crow^n backwards elongated so as to form a well- 
 defined crest ; from the nape backwards the upper parts are olivaceous-brown, the 
 flights and tail being smoky-brown ; face white, mottled with black ; a black stripe 
 from the base of the bill, throiigh the eye to the back of the head and thence 
 descending, so as to bound the ear-coverts and cheeks ; behind this is a white band 
 again bounded by a black stripe which crosses over the back of the head, round 
 the neck and unites with a black gorget which occupies the centre of the chin, 
 throat, and breast ; remainder of under parts sordid- white, siiffused at the sides 
 with brownish-buff; bill black; feet leaden- grey ; iris brown. 
 
 The female differs from the male in its shorter crest and more restricted 
 throat-patch : the young are similar, but with still shorter crest. 
 
 The Crested Tit breeds throughout the pine-forests of Europe ; but it is also 
 said to frequent birch-plantations. Seebohm informs us that " in autumn it partially 
 
The Crested Tit. 163 
 
 forsakes the pine- forests, where it breeds, and is seen in winter in many of the 
 small woods and plantations, and even the gardens, in the neighbouring districts ; 
 but even in these localities it prefers the pine to any other tree." 
 
 It is curious that the Crested Tit should hitherto not have been met with in 
 Morocco ; but Dixon, in his " Birds of Algeria," observes : — " The Crested Titmouse, 
 Parus cristatus, may yet be found to inhabit the Algerian or Moroccan forests." 
 
 The call-note of this bird is said to be a rather weak si, si, si, followed by a 
 sort of trill which has been rendered pttir, re, re, re, ree : the call-note of many of 
 the Tits has been similarly rendered si, si, si; but when carefully analyzed it 
 resolves itself into isay, or chee, or (see: in any case it is probable that the combi- 
 nation of si, si, si, with a terminal trill represents the song, and a single sharp si 
 or tsee the call-note (of course this opinion is only based upon observation of other 
 species, and may be incorrect). 
 
 In the south-west of France the nest is stated to be usually placed behind 
 the loosened bark of pine-trees ; in Germany in deserted nests of Crows, Magpies, 
 or Squirrels ; and in Scotland, in holes bored into rotten fir-stumps, at altitudes 
 of from two to eight feet above the ground ; sometimes it is said to lay its eggs 
 in deserted Wren's nests, but as it has also been stated that it sometimes builds 
 a nest of this character itself (which a study of the other species of Parus would 
 lead one to believe highly probable) the observation respecting its occupation of 
 Wren's nests may be erroneous, and should only be accepted after full confirmation. 
 At the same time, it is likely enough, if its own nest were destroyed just when 
 it was laying, that it would utilize such a structure ; inasmuch as, I have even 
 found eggs of the Blue-Tit, upon which the mother bird was sitting, in a Sand- 
 Martin's nest.* 
 
 The nest itself is formed of the usual materials — moss, dry grass, wool, feathers, 
 and fur ; constructed generally about the end of April, or beginning of May. The 
 eggs are said to number from four to eight, the full clutch probably would be 
 from six to eight, if one may judge from its congeners. In colouring they seem 
 to vary much as in the other species ; they are white, spotted and speckled with 
 brownish or sienna-red, sometimes all over, sometimes in blotches, or with a zone 
 towards the larger end, occasionally with an irregular patch at that end. 
 
 It is very probable that, in Germany, this species may be kept as a cage-bird, 
 but in England I have never seen it in confinement ; Swaysland, however, speaks 
 of it as " a very desirable addition to an aviary of Tits," therefore he may possibly 
 have been more fortunate. 
 
 * I took this nest for my collection; and, as it contained only three slightly incubated eggs, it is certain 
 that the first part of the clutch had been previously deposited elsewhere. 
 
i64 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 FAMILY SITTID^. 
 
 THIS group is represented in Great Britain by onl}^ one species, which Seebohm 
 regarded nierel}- as an aberrant genus of Tits ; but he stated rightl}^ that 
 " In their habits they resemble the Woodpeckers and the Creepers more than the 
 true Tits." Nevertheless in their activity and many of their actions Nuthatches are 
 very Tit-like : so also, in the strength of their bills and feet, the position and 
 covering of the nostrils, their short first primary, scutellated tarsi and hooked 
 hind-claw, they show Parine aflSnities, whilst their eggs are extremely Tit-like iu 
 character. 
 
 Our Nuthatch, though it approaches the Titmice, could never be confounded 
 with them ; it has more nearly the aspect of a dull washed-out Liothrix, yet with 
 a little longer bill : it seems therefore far better to follow Howard Saunders, and 
 regard it as the representation of a distinct, though allied, family. In one respect 
 it differs very widely from the Tits in habits, and that is in its use of clay to 
 lessen the size of a hole containing its nest, and the very meagre character of the 
 nest itself. 
 
 In Vol. VIII of the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Dr. Gadow 
 regards the Nuthatches as a Subfamily of the Creepers fCerthiidaJ , practically 
 ignoring the affinity of the former to the Titmice ; but, apart from the total 
 dissimilarity in the bills of the Creepers and Nuthatches, the latter are decidedly 
 less insectivorous, and their manner of sitting across a branch to crack a nut, is 
 infinitely more suggestive of a Tit than a Creeper ; whilst their softer shorter tails, 
 stouter legs, and the character of their nostrils, serve at once to distinguish them 
 from the Certhiida. 
 
 As a student of Bird-life, rather than of Bird-mummies, the convenience of a 
 distinct family for the Niithatch commends itself to the writer. 
 
( - - . ■■ — 
 
 Nuthatch i 
 
The Nuthatch 165 
 
 Family— SITTID^. 
 
 The Nuthatch. 
 
 Sitta casta, WOLF. 
 
 THE British race is found on the Continent northward as far as Jutland ; it 
 is generally distributed from the Baltic southwards to the Mediterranean 
 and Black Seas, and is said to occur in Algeria and Morocco ; eastwards its range 
 is uncertain. 
 
 In England it is pretty generally distributed, being common in well-wooded 
 districts of the southern and central counties, but in the northern counties it is 
 much rarer and more local ; in Scotland it has occurred three or four times, but 
 in Ireland it appears to be unknown. 
 
 The male Nuthatch, when adult, has the upper parts slate-grey, the flights 
 smoky-brown, with greyer margins ; two central tail feathers slate-grey, remaining 
 feathers with the basal three-fourths black, then crossed by a white bar, beyond 
 which they are grey : a black stripe from base of upper mandible, through the 
 eye, to the side of the neck separating the grey of the crown and nape from the 
 buffish-white cheeks, ear-coverts, chin, and front of throat ; remainder of under 
 surface buff, streaked and shaded with deep chestnut on the flanks and sides of 
 under tail-coverts, the centre of the latter being whitish ; bill leaden-grey, the 
 lower mandible paler, but especially at the base ; feet brown ; iris hazel. 
 
 The female is a little duller than the male, the chestnut on the flanks being 
 less pronounced ; the young are still duller, and paler on the flanks. 
 
 Restless, indefatigable, quick in its actions, the Nuthatch may be seen running 
 upwards or downwards like a mouse over the rugged trunks of lofty trees, frequently 
 travelling in jerky zigzag fashion, searching in every crack and cranny for insect 
 food ; yet, unlike orthodox good children, the Nuthatch is much more frequently 
 heard than seen, for it is of a very modest and retiring disposition. 
 
 Stevenson observes respecting this species : — " much amusement has been 
 afforded me, after discovering their haunts, by placing nuts, or their kernels only, 
 in such situations as would enable me to watch the actions of these birds. In 
 confinement the young become very tame, and from their activity and quaintness 
 in every movement are most engaging pets, but sadly destructive to any woodwork 
 
i66 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 within tlieir reach. If constantly supplied with fresh bark, they never tire of 
 searching each corner and crevice for insect food, clinging to it in every imagin- 
 able attitude with their strong claws whilst beating all the while with their beaks 
 a very ' devil's tattoo,' unpleasantly suggestive, in its persistent monotony, of the 
 busiest moments of a coflEn-maker." 
 
 The Nuthatch is one of our early breeders, iisually commencing to build 
 about the middle of April; the site chosen is most frequently a hole in a tree, 
 generally in a branch, but sometimes close to the ground ; a hole in a wall is not 
 infrequently chosen, and rarely in the side of a haystack ; the single recorded nest 
 of this type in the British Museum having been mentioned by almost every writer 
 on British Birds, on account apparently of its weight : the entrance to the hole, 
 in which the apology for a nest is placed, being always filled up with clay until 
 only a small aperture is left for the passage of the birds in and out. Lord Lilford 
 speaks of their using also old mortar or cement, which they must somehow have 
 managed to moisten and render serviceable ; possibly they mixed it with wet clay. 
 
 The nest itself consists merely of a few leaves, often of oak ; a few scales of 
 fir-bark ; or a little dry grass ; at some distance from the entrance to the hole. 
 The eggs, which vary in number from five to eight, very closely resemble those 
 of the Great Tit, but are larger and frequently with deeper red-brown spots, bolder 
 in character and intermixed with lavender or greyish shell-spots : the different 
 forms of the egg are just what one finds among the Tits, the spots larger or 
 smaller, evenly distributed, massed in a zone near the larger end, or forming an 
 irregular patch at that end. 
 
 The song of the Nuthatch consists of a prolonged soft whistle, followed by a 
 bubbling twitter ; but its call-note is a shrill whit-whit. The food in summer 
 principally consists of insects, in search of which it sometimes comes in contact 
 with various Tits or even the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, towards which it ex- 
 hibits its very pugnacious disposition. In the autumn, when insects are becoming 
 scarce, it turns to nuts, beech-mast, seeds of conifers, and berries ; and in the 
 winter it will approach houses to feed on refuse scraps. 
 
 As a cage-bird the Nuthatch is constantly increasing in popularity ; as the 
 numbers now exhibited at our shows testify. When reared from the nest it 
 becomes just as tame and confiding as the species of Tits, running over and 
 examining its owner in the same manner ; but even adult birds caught wild, 
 although at first they show impatience of captivity after the manner of all the 
 Tit-like birds, do not (as Seebohm asserts) necessarily die on that account : perhaps 
 if kept in a small cage the violent blows which they deal in their frantic rage at close 
 confinement after liberty, may injure the front of the skull and thus produce death; 
 
The Wren. 167 
 
 but this is also the case with the Great Tit when similarly treated. The best 
 plan with all these birds when first captured is to give them plenty of room in a 
 box-cage, the back of which should be covered with virgin-cork, behind which 
 (when alarmed) they may retire. For a day or two it is well to cover the front 
 of the cage with muslin, which renders all newly caught birds less liable to attempt 
 escape in that direction ; gradually accustom them to your presence, always offering 
 them delicacies until they learn to trust you : for as Lord Lilford says : — " The 
 kernel of a hazel or ground-nut is an irresistible morsel, and will tempt an old 
 wild-caught Nuthatch to snatch it from the fingers very soon after capture." 
 
 FAMILY TROGLODYTID^. 
 
 THE Wrens are represented in Great Britain by one species only ; the St. Kilda 
 Wren, to which Mr. Seebohm gave the name of T. hirtensis, being now 
 considered a mere local variation, and inseparable from some of those found on 
 the Continent. 
 
 Dr. Sharpe regards the Wrens as a mere Subfamily of the Timcliida (Babbling 
 Thrushes) remarking,* " In their habits and in their form the Wrens are essentially 
 Timeliine. They possess the strong, even clumsy, legs and concave rounded wings 
 which distinguish this group of birds, and they do not migrate, as a rule. The 
 nests are generally domed, and hence one of the reasons for retaining the Dippers 
 in the family. The principal characteristic, however, of a Wren, and one that 
 separates them from the true Timeliine birds, is the almost entire absence of rictal 
 bristles." 
 
 Seebohm, on the other hand regards the Wrens as aberrant Tits ; so far as I 
 can make out, solely on the ground that their eggs are almost identical : he admits 
 that they are " Timeliine in their habits, skulking in underwood, and without 
 undulation in their flight." 
 
 Doubtless the affinities of the Wren are rather Timeliine than Parine ; but 
 most students of British Birds are not familiar with Bulbuls, Shamas, and the 
 
 * "Catalogue of Birds," vol. VI., p. 180. 
 
i6s British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 like ; moreover, if they were, they would probably fail to see any resemblance 
 between the long-tailed, stout-billed, conical-crested Persian, or Red-vented Bulbuls,* 
 and our stumpy little cock-tailed Wren, whilst the cave-like nest of the latter, if 
 it be an argument in favour of the affinity of the Dipper to the Wrens, must also 
 argue against the close relationship of the Bulbuls to the latter birds. 
 
 The most convenient plan, therefore, seems to be that adopted by Mr. Howard 
 Saunders — to regard the Wrens as a Family rather than a Subfamily. 
 
 Family— TROGL OD YTIDyE. 
 
 The Wren. 
 
 Troglodytes pai"vulus, KocH. 
 
 OCCURS throughout Europe up to 65° N. lat. in Scandinavia and North 
 Russia, occurring in Morocco and Algeria, also in the Caucasus, Northern 
 Persia, Asia Minor, and Northern Palestine. 
 
 In Great Britain it is generally distributed and resident ; but, as with many 
 more resident species, its numbers are greatly added to in the autumn by immi- 
 gration. 
 
 The adult male has the upper surface rich rufous-brown, the crown and nape 
 appearing slightly darker ; thence barred throughout with deeper brown ; the 
 primaries brighter, their outer webs barred with pale-buif; a huffish- white streak 
 over the eye ; imder surface pale-brownish, more rufous and darker on the flanks, 
 belly, and under tail-coverts, which are also barred with smoky-brown ; bill dark- 
 brown above, paler below ; feet pale-brown ; iris dark-brown. The female is slightly 
 smaller, duller in colouring, with paler legs. Young birds are slightly more rufous 
 and less strongly barred. 
 
 From its remarkably confiding habits the Wren has become as well known as 
 
 * The crests of these birds are not ragged, as usuall)' shown in illustrations, but form a regular unbroken 
 line at the back. 
 
r 
 
 Wren, i ? 
 
i 
 
The Wren. 169 
 
 the Robin ; and, incredible as it may seem, there are still many persons living who 
 believe it to be the female of that familiar bird ; their study of Natural History 
 has apparently ceased from the period when they let go of their nurse's apron- 
 string, and the old rhyme — " Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, are God A'mighty's 
 cock and hen," is regarded by them as inspired truth. Ciiriously enough, whereas 
 the Robin seems to be everywhere held in superstitious reverence, the poor little 
 Wren is remorselessly hunted to death in Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the south 
 of France, for no better reason. 
 
 Althoiigh bold and fearless in the winter, the Wren is more frequently heard 
 than seen in the summer months ; although, in the spring, I have seen it sitting 
 in a low tree singing merrily enough : the song bears some resemblance to that 
 of the Hedge- Sparrow, but is much more varied, more rapid, and usually terminates 
 in a trill : the call is tsit-sit-sit, often repeated over and over again, as the little 
 bird drops from twig to twig in the cover. Excepting when feeding the young, 
 and when moulting, the Wren's song may always be heard ; it is loud and brilliant, 
 rather than melodious. • 
 
 When breeding, and it is an early breeder, there is no British bird more 
 jealous of its nest : to be seen watching a Wren at work is often suiScient to 
 condemn the half-completed building, a fact which I have proved by actual 
 experiment : this excessive nervousness is probably the sole cause for the many 
 imperfect or deserted nests which occur, and which are supposed by rustics to be 
 purposely constructed as roosting-places for the male birds. But, after all, the 
 same notion has been countenanced, even by scientific men, respecting the incom- 
 plete nests formed by unpaired males of the Baya Weaver ; whereas, in the latter 
 case, the nest is always completed by the combined labours of both sexes, and 
 apparently cannot be managed by one sex unaided. 
 
 Only once was I ever successful in removing eggs from a Wren's nest, 
 without causing desertion ; and then I chanced to discover some small oval white 
 pebbles close to the gorse-bush in which the nest was suspended, and substituted 
 them for the eggs ; but I was very careful not to tovich the nest with my fingers, 
 using a metal spoon to remove the eggs. The hen bird was evidently far away 
 at the time ; for, had she seen me, I do not believe she would have continued to 
 lay ; as she certainly did. 
 
 I have found nests of the Wren built in the following sites : — in hedges ; 
 hawthorn-bushes ; furze ; laurels ; in ivy on walls, or clambering round the entrances 
 to caves or grottoes ; against trunks of trees, either openly near the ground or 
 higher iip in the trailing ivy ; in brambles and straggling scrub in woods, where 
 masses of the previous year's leaves have collected in the vines ; under overhanging 
 
 Vol. I. 2 F 
 
17° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 edges of steep banks ; in faggot-, clover-, or hay-stacks ; under projecting thatches 
 of sheds and outhouses ; upon a beam in a barn : but never in holes. 
 
 In the materials used for the nest, the Wren appears to select usually such 
 as will tend to conceal it ; the fact being that it builds very largely with those 
 which are most handy ; thus nests bedded in heaps of dead leaves are externally 
 largely constructed of leaves, those in evergreen shrubs are also usually formed of 
 dead leaves, those in trailing creepers in which dead leaves have lain until moss 
 has grown on them, are largely formed of the same rank moss ; but a nest against 
 the bare trunk of a tree is largely made up out of straws and stiff bents, the ends 
 of which can be forced behind the loosened bark to support the structure. In 
 form the nest is cave-like ; domed, spherical, or oblong, with entrance in front, the 
 lower edge of which is always strengthened with transverse twigs or stiff bents, 
 so as to form a sort of perch or door-step : the walls are thick and fairl}^ firm, 
 often formed of dry stalks and dead leaves, commingled with fibre ; but, in a barn 
 wholly of straw ; sometimes almost entirely of moss, whilst instances have been 
 recorded of nests formed entirely of clover. The inner lining consists, I believe 
 invariably, of a little moss and three or four soft feathers. 
 
 As regards the number of eggs in a nest, opinions differ ; chiefly, I imagine, 
 owing to the fact that collectors have trusted to rustics to obtain clutches for them, 
 instead of taking them invariably (as they should do) with their own hands : con- 
 sequently the average peasant who does not, as I have repeatedly proved, know 
 the difference between a Wren and a Blue-Tit, brings clutches of eggs from nests 
 of the latter, asserting that he took them from Wrens' nests. 
 
 In my experience the W^ren never lays more than six for a full clutch, and 
 I dare say that I have either taken, or examined without touching, something like 
 fifty nests ; therefore, if more than six are ever deposited, the number must be 
 very abnormal ; Seebohm's statement as to the number is probably based largely 
 upon the assertions of others, which have been copied from work to work : his first 
 observation "The eggs of the Wren vary from four to six" representing his 
 personal experience, but the continuation — "and even eight or nine in number" 
 with what follows, are probably not original, but must be traced to the fact that, 
 excepting in their slightly superior size, the eggs of the Wren (in all their 
 varieties) are extremely similar to those of the Blue-Tit. Mr. Frohawk has taken 
 many nests, but he tells me that he has never found more than six eggs.* 
 
 On the 31st September, 1887, a specimen of this species caught in my 
 large Thrush-trap, was placed in a Linnet-cage and immediately escaped through 
 
 * In 1896, at least two men who should be able to recognize a Wren's nest, wrote to the " Feathered 
 World" asserting that they had taken several clutches of seven eggs, during the past season, in the North; but, 
 even if this were proved, it would not alter the fact that the full clutch is usually six. 
 
The Tree-Creeper. 171 
 
 the wires into my greenhouse, where it was so nimble in dodging iis, that a full 
 hour elapsed before it could be caught and placed in a large cage. In the evening 
 I found it asleep clinging to the wire netting, and in the morning it was dead. 
 Two or three years later I caught another, and turned it loose in an aviary sixteen 
 feet long, where it seemed perfectly at home at once, behaving quite naturally, 
 showing no alarm whatever, but examining the rockwork (then in the aviary) most 
 diligently, and extracting spiders from the various holes and crevices. Unhappily 
 I could not persuade this bird to eat anything but living insects, woodlice, and 
 spiders ; it would not look at soft food (of which there was plenty in the aviary) 
 but having devoured every spider, insect and woodlouse which it could find, it simply 
 starved itself to death : why a bird which, in winter, will join the Robins and 
 Sparrows round our houses to feed on bread-crumbs, and which is also said to eat 
 seeds and small fruits, should have refused to touch these articles of food, preferring 
 rather to die of inanition, is a mystery. Perhaps, though outwardly calm and 
 natural, this bird inwardly chafed at its captivity, and only living food had the 
 power to tempt it to eat. Anyway the conclusion to which my experience has led 
 me is — -If you would keep Wrens as pets, it is safest to rear them from the nest. 
 
 FAMILY CERTHIID^. 
 
 THIS group of birds is again referred to the Parina by Seebohm, who remarks 
 that " In their rounded wings, small bastard primary, scutellated tarsus, and 
 large feet with well developed hind toe, the species of this genus fCerthiaJ are 
 
 typical Parince:" yet, on the same page, he admits that "The Creepers are 
 
 somewhat aberrant members of the subfamily Parina,'" which seems a little 
 contradictory. 
 
 It appears to me that, in his classification of birds, Seebohm allowed himself 
 to be too much influenced by the character of the eggs ; although the admission of 
 Accentor among the Tits was a distinct deviation from this tendency. Much as 
 one respects and admires a man who upholds his own views in opposition to the 
 opinion of a majority, one does not feel bound to follow his lead, unless he can 
 bring forward convincing evidence in support of those views. 
 
 The Creepers differ from the Tits in their much longer bills with elongated 
 
172 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 nostrils, tlie crown of the head never crested, the tail-feathers stiif and pointed 
 like those of the Woodpeckers, which they also much resemble in their habits : 
 they are distinctly more insectivorous than Tits ; and, in their search for food, are 
 more strictly arboreal in their habits, confining their attentions chiefly to the trunks 
 and larger branches of trees, round which they run in a spiral curve. 
 
 Our Tree-Creeper, even in its nidification cannot strictly be said to resemble 
 the Tits : certainly I never discovered true Titmice building their nests behind 
 loosened bark : indeed Seebohm himself admits that " their nests are all either 
 loosely made in holes of trees and walls, or suspended from the branches." Dr. 
 Gadow, however, says that the Cciihiida. nest in holes ; but, even admitting this, the 
 nidification of the Creepers does not prove their affinity to the Tits, any more than 
 that of the Woodpeckers evidences their relationship to the Parrots. 
 
 Family— CER THIIDAL. 
 
 The Tree-Creeper. 
 
 Certhia familiaris, LiNN. 
 
 RESPECTING the geographical distribution of this species Dr. Gadow says 
 that " it inhabits nearly all the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions. It is 
 found from Ireland and Spain to Norway, Palestine, Persia, Eastern Turkestan, 
 and Western China, being likewise found throughout Russia and the greater part 
 of Siberia. Still more to the eastwards it gradually loses much of the dark 
 colours, so that the white becomes predominant, and all the underparts, including 
 the under tail-coverts, become pure white. We may therefore look upon the birds 
 of Amoor-land, Eastern Siberia, and Japan as a pale race. I have, however, seen 
 specimens from Piedmont and South France fC. CostccJ in Mr. Dresser's collection 
 which are nearly as pale as the eastern birds. The Tree-Creepers in Canada, and 
 
h-f-r- 
 
 Tree-Creeper. i 
 
tf' 
 
The Tree-Creeper. 173 
 
 in the United States, eastward of the Rocky Mountains, are like our European 
 form." * 
 
 In Great Britain it is pretty generally distributed, especially affecting well- 
 timbered districts ; it has not, however, been recorded from the Outer Hebrides. 
 
 When adult this species has the upper surface dark brown, with pale bufhsh 
 centres to the feathers, the lower back and rump more rufous ; wing-coverts tipped 
 with pale buff; flights dark brown with paler bars, the secondaries with huffish 
 white tips ; tail-feathers rufous brown with paler shafts ; a whitish superciliary 
 streak ; under surface silky white, the flanks and under tail-coverts suffused with 
 buff"; bill dark brown above, yellowish below; feet brown; iris hazel. Sexes 
 similar. The young have a much shorter and straight bill. 
 
 This interesting little resident bird, owing to its mouse-like manner of creep- 
 ing over the bark of trees, is often overlooked, for excepting when its conspicuous 
 white underparts come into view, as it passes rapidly round the side of a trunk, it 
 is not easily seen : moreover, I have noticed that, when it becomes aware of an 
 onlooker, it immediately slips round to the opposite side of the tree upon which 
 it is seeking its insect food, and then only its weak note cheet-ched reveals its 
 presence. In the outskirts of the Kentish woods,t I have once or twice caught a 
 glimpse of it rapidly traversing the trunk of some large tree in an ascending 
 spiral until it reached the branches, passing round one of these for a short distance 
 then fluttering with undulating downward flight, almost to the roots of another 
 tree, which it ascended in like manner; but I never could get very close to this 
 little bird until one autumn, when from my bedroom window, I saw two specimens 
 ascending the trunk of an oak-tree in my front garden and was able to note how 
 they stopped at every two or three feet to probe some crevice in the bark. 
 
 W. Warde Fowler, in his " Summer Studies of Birds and Books," has an 
 interesting note on the song of this bird as heard by him in Switzerland ; he 
 says : — " When I was last at Bern we did not stay there long, but went on in 
 the afternoon to the Hotel Bellevue at Thun, where there is an extensive garden. 
 Next morning I was out before breakfast in this garden, and soon heard a voice 
 that was new to me. If this happens after May, when all the foliage is out, I 
 know I may be teased for a while, and so it happened that morning. Wherever 
 I went, there was the mysterious voice — clearly that of a very small bird, feeble 
 and shrill, though contented and unobtrusive. Five little syllables of different 
 length were constantly repeated, getting a little higher in pitch towards the end : 
 
 • Catalogue of Birds, Vol. VIII., p. 325. 
 
 t In the Blean woods, near the village of Heme, formerly one of my favourite Entomological hunting 
 grounds. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 G 
 
174 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 ' twee-twee-hv-hvee-t.'' It was late in the morning when I found that it was nothing 
 in the world but our common little Tree-creeper. Now, I can count on my fingers 
 the number of times that I have heard the Creeper sing, and on those rare occa- 
 sions in England I have never heard the notes I have just described. But there 
 is no doubt that birds speak with a different accent in different localities." 
 
 There is not the least doubt that this is the case, for it is a fact well known 
 to bird-catchers, and it only shows the importance of a careful study of bird-song. 
 Without question Mr. Witchell, though some of his theories as to the origin of 
 bird-music seem somewhat strained and improbable, has done good work by his 
 researches in this direction. 
 
 The Tree-Creeper commences nidification towards the end of April ; usually 
 selecting as a site an opening behind the partly detached bark on the trunk of a 
 tree, less frequently, a crevice left by the breaking away of plaster in an out- 
 building, in a woodstack or heap of bricks, occasionally behind the eaves of a shed, 
 or even (so it is said) " in the foundation of the nest of a large bird of prey." 
 The nest itself is usually placed on a foundation of twigs, the outer walls being 
 formed of finer twigs intermixed with roots, and lined with fine root-fibre, moss, 
 grass, fine strips of bark, and sometimes a few feathers. The eggs which are 
 stated to number from six to nine in the first nest, and from three to five in the 
 second, are pure white, spotted and sometimes blotched with reddish-brown, and 
 with greyish -lavender underlying markings ; the spots frequently form a well- 
 defined zone round the larger end, sometimes they are few and dark, sometimes 
 scattered and paler. 
 
 A nest in my collection pronounced by Mr. Seebohm to be unquestionably 
 that of a Tree-Creeper, is a somewhat flimsy little open cup which was built in a. 
 cluster of twigs projecting from the trunk on an oak-tree at a height of about 
 eight feet from the ground ; it contains six well marked zoned eggs : another dis- 
 tinguished Ornithologist to whom I showed this nest, was of opinion that it was 
 that of a subspecies or phase of the Wood- Warbler (or a bird so exactly like that 
 species, that its singular type of nest alone ser^'ed to distinguish it). He told me 
 that he had seen others of the same character and from similar sites. This nest 
 has a good deal of spiders' silk in the lining. 
 
 In addition to insects, the Tree-Creeper (like all insectivorous birds) is very 
 fond of spiders ; it is said also to eat the seeds of the Scotch fir. 
 
 Although hardly a suitable subject for cage-life, I have seen several examples, 
 probably hand-reared, at bird-shows : in a large aviarj^ they would be more inter- 
 esting, though perhaps difficult to feed. 
 
The Wall-Creeper. 175 
 
 Family— CER THIIDyE. 
 
 The Wall-Creeper. 
 
 Tichodroma inuraria, L,INN. 
 
 THE claim of this species to be called British is very slight : one example 
 having been shot in Norfolk and recorded in a letter to White, of Selborne, 
 in 1792; and a second in Lancashire, in 1872, mentioned by Mr. F. S. Mitchell. 
 A third specimen, obtained in Sussex, has recently been brought to light by Mr. 
 W. Ruskin Butterfield. 
 
 FAMILY MOTACILLID^. 
 
 THE Wagtails, or "Dish-washers" and "Whip-jacks" as the peasants call 
 them, are the most graceful of all our British birds ; they are characterized 
 by their long slender bills, legs, and tails ; by the absence of a bastard primary 
 in the wing ; the tarsus scaled in front, but not behind. The Pipits are nearly 
 allied to the above, but have somewhat shorter tails in proportion to their wings, 
 the feathers of the tail also forming a slight fork at the extremity. 
 
 The Motacillida pass through a complete moult in the autumn, like other 
 Passeres ; but if, as has been stated, they moult again in the spring, I can only 
 say that the species which I have kept in cage and aviary, must have swallowed 
 the feathers which they shed (which is improbable to say the least of it) : the 
 change into the breeding plumage is very gradual, the colour growing in the 
 feathers themselves. The supposed moulting of many birds in spring, seems to 
 be mysteriously dispensed with in favour of a change of colour, as soon as they 
 are brought under close observation. In some birds, however, a few feathers, 
 which represent a sort of winter coat, drop out during the change of plumage : 
 this is certainly the case with some, if not all of the African Weavers,* (whether 
 
 • I employ the term only for those birds called Weavers by aviculturists, not for all the members of the 
 family Ploceido'. 
 
176 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 I'idui-ne or Ploceine) ; although most of the marvellous transformation in these 
 birds is produced by change of colour, and the growth of new overlapping flank 
 and tail plumes. 
 
 As aviary birds the Wagtails are among those most easy to keep and tame ; 
 and, provided that a little insect food can be given occasionally, no birds are less 
 trouble to their owners. 
 
 Family— MOTACILLID^. 
 
 The Pied Wagtail. 
 
 Motacilla lugubris, Temm. 
 
 CHlEFIyY confined to the western countries of Europe, this Wagtail occurs 
 also in N.W. Africa : in the autumn stragglers have been killed from Nice 
 to Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta. In Great Britain it is common and generally dis- 
 tributed, and excepting in the extreme north, whence it migrates southwards at 
 the approach of \vinter, it is a partial resident. 
 
 The colouring of this bird in breeding plumage is very pleasing ; the upper 
 parts intense silky black, but the forehead, sides of head and a more or less 
 prominent streak or patch (confluent with the latter) on the sides of the neck 
 snow-white ; wing-coverts and innermost secondaries margined with white ; two 
 outermost tail-feathers on each side mostly white ; quill feathers of wings blackish 
 brown ; chin, throat, and breast black, the latter confluent with the black on the 
 shoulder ; belly white ; the sides and flanks blackish ; bill and feet black ; iris 
 dark brown. The female is similar, but somewhat greyer above. Young birds 
 have the white areas tinted with yellow ; the upper parts grey, shading into 
 blackish on the upper tail-coverts ; under parts slightly paler, fading into whitish 
 on the under tail-coverts. 
 
 After the autumn moult the entire colouring is less pure, and the black of 
 the chin and throat are replaced by white. 
 

 
 < 
 
 H 
 O 
 < 
 
 Q 
 
 ¥ 
 
The Pied Wagtail. 177 
 
 Although usually seen in the neighbourhood of streams, dykes, pools, ponds, 
 and puddles, it is not uncommonly met with far from water in grazing-ground, 
 ploughed fields, especially when the furrows are newly formed ; whilst in the winter 
 it often enters gardens, and approaches close to the houses of the owners, if 
 rendered hungry by stress of weather. Old brickfields are a common resort of 
 this species, more especially where the emptied clay-deposits have filled up with 
 water, and their margins have become fringed with coarse vegetation : indeed all 
 Wagtails seem to delight in such a scene of desolation, for on one morning about 
 the end of May, 1883, I saw the Pied-, Blue-headed-, and Yellow Wagtails in a 
 large field of this description at Murston, near Sittingboume, Kent. 
 
 The springy see-sawing of the tail, common to all the Motacillidce, has probably 
 earned for them in Kent the title of " Whipjack," whilst the fondness of Wagtails 
 for bathing in shallow water explains their more wide-spread nickname of " Dish- 
 washer;" the latter name and that by which they are known in Sussex — Chizzic 
 (the origin of which is evident) apply more particularly to the Pied Wagtail than 
 to the others. 
 
 The song of this species is very pleasing ; not unlike that of a Swallow : 
 personally I prefer it to that of the Linnet, inasmuch as it is purer and less 
 chuckling in character and better sustained, though not so loud and much more 
 rarely heard. In flight, as on the ground, the actions of this and all Wagtails 
 are graceful ; for on the wing they move in a series of wide undulations or dips, 
 but on their slender nimble legs they walk with head erect but slightly bobbing 
 forward at each step ; or they run, with head lowered and craned forward : their 
 power of turning in the air is astounding ; few insects, however eccentric their 
 flight, can hope to escape them. If a Wagtail is on the ground and it sees an 
 insect flying towards it, instead of at once starting madly forward to meet its 
 prey, it excitedly watches all the insect's movements, and suddenly (when the 
 latter is almost overhead) the agile bird rises with a rapid spiral movement which 
 looks almost like a somersault, the snap of its mandibles is heard and all is over. 
 In sunny weather one may frequently see the Pied Wagtail running along the 
 ridge of a roof, a stone coping, or an old wall, catching the flies as they start up 
 at its approach, and frequently uttering its cheerful little cry " chizzic,''' as each 
 new victim is perceived : whether this is its call-note or the shrill monosyllabic 
 short whistle (into which the bird can throw so much expression that it almost 
 seems to speak) I do not know for certain, but I am inclined, from long study of 
 this species in captivity, to believe that "chizzic" is merely a cry of excitement. 
 
 The Pied Wagtail usually builds its nest in hollows in banks, sides of deserted 
 chalk-pits, Sand-Martins' holes, gaps in brickwork under rustic bridges, in a hole 
 
178 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 in a wall just above water, or a crevice in a rock ; but it sometimes places it in 
 gnarled roots of trees, in faggot-stacks, in ivy on the top of a low wall, and I 
 once took one formed in a deserted Blackbird's nest built in ivy on the top of the 
 trunk of a branchless oak. Nidification lasts from April to June, but most nests 
 may be found towards the end of May : indeed my experience would incline me 
 to regard none of the Wagtails as early breeders, though forward individuals may 
 be ready to nest in April. 
 
 The nest is constructed of dry bents, rootlets, and a little moss, and is thickly 
 lined with wool, or feathers and hair : it is somewhat large and shallow in character, 
 frequently with one side higher than the other, if it be possible for a circular 
 rim to have sides. The eggs vary in number from four to six, the latter being 
 a frequent clutch ; in colouring they are tolerably uniform, differing chiefly in the 
 paler or darker ground tint (though it is always light) and more or less heavy 
 speckling at the larger end ; the ground colour is either a greenish-white or pale 
 greenish-grey, the speckling is grey or smoky brown (a few of the dots often 
 approaching black) some of the markings being more prominent than others. The 
 House-Sparrow sometimes lays a similar egg, only generally of a more elongated 
 shape. 
 
 The Pied Wagtail is largely insectivorous ; but, in addition to insects, their 
 larvae, spiders, centipedes, and (according to the late Mr. Booth) the ova of a small 
 crab, I believe that in the winter seeds are swallowed by it. At any rate this is 
 certainly the case in an aviary, though not often. 
 
 In September, 1888, I purchased my iirst captive Pied Wagtail from a bird- 
 catcher. It was decidedly a domineering bird, and was long before it became 
 tame, knocking out all its tail-feathers in the first few months of its confinement 
 in a large aviary, nor did it recover them until the following July : it lived 
 about eighteen months, after it had starved my hen Grey Wagtail to death by 
 incessantly driving it from the soft food. 
 
 In June or July, 1892, a nest of six of these birds was shown to me in a field 
 a short distance from my house ; the site for the nest was rather curious : a 
 number of boards had been piled up near a fence by the builder who owned the 
 ground, and when he wished to utilise them he discovered the nest built below 
 one which had been tilted up. I examined the nest and found that the young 
 were just ready to take, but hesitated to secure them, as my holiday was almost at 
 an end, and the duty of feeding would devolve upon my wife. I therefore crossed 
 the field and with a field-glass watched the parents arriving incessantly with food 
 for about an hour : they appeared to have an unusual amount of white on the neck, 
 and I took them at first for White Wagtails, but the young were certainly Pied. 
 
The Pied Wagtail. 179 
 
 My wife having undertaken the duty of feeding during the day, I sent my 
 man for the nest in the evening, but it was empty, and a cat was seen slinking 
 away. Next morning, however, one young one shivering with cold and wheezing 
 badly, was discovered behind a board: under careful treatment it soon recovered, 
 and was reared without trouble upon crushed tea-biscuit, preserved yolk of egg, 
 ants' cocoons, and Abrahams' food for Insectivorous birds, mixed together and 
 moistened. We have found this little Wagtail a very interesting pet : in the 
 summer we let him fly about the dining-room, where he delights in playing the 
 game of hide-and-seek, keeping quite still until discovered, when he excitedly 
 shouts chizzic, chizzic, and runs out from his retreat : he is absolutely tame, lighting 
 with us after the manner of a Canary. When tired of flying about he always 
 returns to his cage of his own accord and jumps up to his perch. 
 
 As a rule, and especially during the winter months, when we are afraid to let 
 " Chizzic " out, on account of fires, his cage is kept in my conservatory ; and, if 
 my wife goes out there without stopping to have a fight, he shouts to her in a 
 most reproving tone : his excitement when she pokes her finger through the bars 
 is ludicrous, he screams with excitement and (although it is difficult to imagine 
 how a bird-face can be made to express glee) he undoubtedly appears to laugh 
 much as one sees a dog do when playing. He is always ready to fight me, but 
 never shows the same madcap hilarity as with my wife. On several occasions 
 when my servant has played with him, he has half spread his wings, arched his 
 back, depressed his tail, and sung the true wild song to her : sometimes in the 
 spring he sings from his perch, but not often.* 
 
 All insectivorous birds make more or less interesting pets when hand-reared ; 
 but none are so satisfactory as the Wagtails (doubtless the other species would be 
 quite as pleasing as the Pied) ; even when caught wild, most examples of Motacilla 
 soon become tame if kindly treated : they are easy to feed, living for years upon 
 crumbled household bread, yolk of egg and ants' cocoons, moistened (either by the 
 addition of a little water or mashed potato) and a few insects, their larvae, or 
 spiders from time to time. But, unless hand-reared neither the Pied-, nor any 
 other Wagtail, should be kept in a cage ; and certainly, when possible, the liberty 
 of a room should be allowed for a short time each day to a caged specimen ; even 
 then, at its autumn moult the pet cage-bird fails to cast the scales on the tarsi, 
 which yearly pile up on the front of its feet and much disfigure it. 
 
 * Since I penned the above account, little "Chizzic" has passed awa}-: even to the last he tried to bear 
 lip, making an effort to play at fighting when so weak that he staggered wildly in his walk. 
 
i8o British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Family— MOTACILLID^. 
 
 The White Wagtail. 
 
 Motacilla alba, LiNN. 
 
 DISTRIBUTED over the whole of Europe and breeding as far north as land 
 extends : it is also believed to breed in Egypt, and it certainly does so in 
 the Highlands of Palestine, Asia Minor and Persia, to which countries it is also 
 a winter visitor. In the autumn the European birds travel southwards, wintering 
 in Southern Evirope, North Africa, southward to Senegal and eastward to Zanzibar. 
 It is also said sometimes to visit the Canaries. 
 
 Mr. Bond first recognised this as a British bird in 1841, since when it has 
 occurred more or less commonly in Cornwall, Devonshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, 
 Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 
 Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, and Northumberland. In 
 Scotland it has been seen as far north as Inverness and even in Shetland ; it has 
 also occurred on the island of Lewis after rough weather. From Ireland only one 
 authenticated specimen is recorded. 
 
 The White Wagtail in general appearance, habits, and nidification, nearly 
 resembles the Pied species, but differs in the grey colouring of its back and lesser 
 wing-coverts ; the white on the cheeks and sides of neck extended, so as completely 
 to disunite the black of the crown and nape from that of the throat and breast ; 
 the tail also is said to be longer, but this is certainly a variable character. The 
 female shows no black on the nape and back, as in the Pied Wagtail. 
 
 It is evident that the White Wagtail is not aware of the importance of the 
 above distinctions, inasmuch as there are certainly two instances known of its 
 pairing with the Pied species in a wild state, one of these being represented by 
 the nest exhibited with old birds and young at the Natural History Museum, 
 obtained in Norfolk by Lord Walsingham. 
 
 Mr. Frohawk and I saw a fine example of this species in Kent, but we failed 
 to secure the specimen : it would have been very useful for the present work. 
 
 Several instances are on record of the " Water Wagtail " (which might mean 
 either the Pied or the White Wagtail) making its nest under a railway truck, 
 
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The Grey Wagtail. iSi 
 
 between the axle-box and axle-guard. In one such instance (described in the 
 "Zoologist" for January, 1893, p. 30) the nest was discovered in November with 
 " two eggs, one quite warm, having been recently laid." It does not however 
 follow that, because a bird continues to roost on a nest containing unhatched eggs, 
 the latter are necessarily recently deposited. I have known many birds in captivity 
 to retire to their old nests when they have felt unwell, or in cold weather, and it 
 is quite likely that they also do the same when at liberty. 
 
 Family— MO TA CILLID^. 
 
 The Grey Wagtail. 
 
 Motacilla melanope, Pall. 
 
 HOWARD SAUNDERS gives the following as the distribution of this species 
 outside Britain : — " On the Continent the Grey Wagtail barely reaches the 
 extreme south of Sweden, and is very rare in Northern Germany, while in Russia 
 it is hardly found beyond the latitude of Moscow ; but in the mountainous and 
 even rolling ground of the central and southern parts of Europe it is fairly 
 common ; breeding as far south as the basin of the Mediterranean, where it is a 
 resident, as it is also in the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores. Eastward, it is 
 found in summer across Asia, south of about 67° N. lat., to Persia, Turkestan, the 
 Himalayas, Northern China, and Japan ; wintering in India, Burma, the Indo- 
 Malayan Islands, Palestine, and Northern Africa." 
 
 In Great Britain the Grey Wagtail is resident, breeding chiefly in the 
 mountainous districts, though occasionally in the plains : it is somewhat local in 
 England, Wales, and Ireland, being more frequently seen in the south of England 
 during the winter than the summer months. 
 
 In breeding plumage the male of this exceedingly graceful bird is chiefly 
 slaty-grey above, the head slightly darker ; but the rump and upper tail-coverts 
 
 Vol. I. 2 H . 
 
i82 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 are greenish-yellow ; the wing coverts brownish-black with pale margins ; flights 
 blackish-brown ; the secondaries margined with bufhsh- white ; the three outermost 
 tail feathers white ; the second and third pairs with a great part of the outer web 
 brownish-black ; the six central feathers brownish-black edged with greenish-yellow ; 
 a narrow arched white superciliary stripe ; a second white stripe from the base of 
 the lower mandible to the neck, bordering a black gorget which covers the throat 
 and breast ; remainder of under surface bright sulphur-yellow ; bill black ; feet 
 brown ; iris dark brown. The female is slightly smaller than the male, has a 
 shorter tail, duller colouring, and little or no black on the throat. After the 
 autumn moult the black disappears entirely, the throat becoming white and the 
 breast tinted with sandy-buif. Birds of the year are like adults in winter plumage, 
 excepting that they are browner above, with the superciliary stripe and under 
 surface washed with buff". 
 
 The Grey Wagtail is especially fond of the vicinity of water, haunting 
 mountain streams, rushing rivers, and tumbling torrents : such localities as the 
 Dipper delights in, form the chosen home of this most elegant of all the Motacillida. 
 But it is not only seen in the wilder regions, even during the breeding season ; 
 for a few pairs remain to bring up a family even in the most level and prosaic 
 p^rts of the southern counties ; and, in the autumn and winter months, it not 
 uncommonly becomes a prize of the birdcatchers of Kent and Surrey, who by no 
 means regard it as any great capture, but willingly part with it at prices varying 
 from ninepence to eighteen pence according to the purchaser. 
 
 Barly in the present year (1896) our postman informed me that a foreign 
 bird had flown into his house, and asked if I had lost one. I replied in the 
 negative and asked for information as to its form, colouring, etc. Finally he 
 fetched it to show me, and I at once recognised it as a male Grey Wagtail just 
 commencing its change of plumage : the man had been trying to feed it on 
 Canary-seed, and when he discovered that it would need special soft food and 
 insects, he willingly gave it to me. 
 
 The Grey Wagtail, in its actions, flight, song, and expressive notes, much 
 resembles the other forms ; but it is more solitary than either the Pied or Yellow 
 Wagtails ; each pair appearing to occupy an area apart from others of its own 
 species ; whereas one may see three or four pairs of either the Pied or Yellow 
 Wagtails within the limits of a comparatively small area during the breeding- 
 season. In the autumn only does the Grey Wagtail appear to be more sociable, 
 because the young usually accompany their parents until winter is well advanced. 
 
 The Grey Wagtail is double-brooded, usually commencing its first nest in 
 April, Seebohm says " towards the end of April or early in May," Howard Saunders 
 
The Grey Wagtail. 183 
 
 says " in the latter half of April in England, but earlier in the south of Europe," 
 whilst an observant Scot, John Craig, in a letter to the "Feathered World" (May 
 8th, 1896), insists upon it that in North Ayrshire it " begins to lay in the first 
 week of April " ! Speaking of it in the Parnassus, Seebohm observes " I obtained 
 several nests of fresh-laid eggs in the middle and end of May ; but these appeared 
 to be second broods, as I shot several young birds of the year." 
 
 As a rule this bird selects a rocky bank, a hole in the wall of an old water- 
 mill, or a crevice in a bank, under an overhanging ledge and well concealed by 
 rank herbage ; but there is no rule without exceptions, for Seebohm says he once 
 " saw one built in the fork of three stems of an alder, close to the ground, almost 
 overlapping the river " ; whilst I took a nest in Kent (from which we flushed the 
 female bird) built in a furrow of a ploughed field near the creek at Kemsley, close 
 to Sheppey.* This nest is constructed of root fibre, interwoven with coarse dry 
 grass, cow-, and horse-hair ; the lining being very thick, and formed of black 
 horse-hair, white cow-hair, and wool. The usual materials, according to Seebohm, 
 are fine roots, with a few stalks of dry grass in the outer and coarser portions, 
 and a lining of cow-hair, the preference being given to white ; Howard Saunders 
 adds moss to the outer walls, and does not specify the nature or colour of the 
 hair-lining ; Lord Lilford says that it " much resembles that of the Pied Wagtail, 
 but is considerably smaller": other authorities mention feathers as forming part 
 of the lining, but Wagtails are not much addicted to the use of such material. 
 
 The eggs, according to several authorities, are smaller than those of the 
 Yellow Wagtail ; although the Grey Wagtail is by far the larger bird : in my nest, 
 however, the eggs were fully as large as the largest eggs of the Pied Wagtail, 
 and in my opinion Lord Lilford's description is most likely to be accurate ; at any 
 rate it exactly accords with my solitary experience : — " The eggs are usually five 
 in niimber, of a creamy white, closely blotched or clouded with pale yellowish 
 brown, and may be distinguished from those of the commoner Yellow Wagtail 
 (Motacilla raiij by their larger size and the absence of the hair-like dark streaks 
 which in most cases are found on the eggs of the latter bird." Unless a man 
 not only takes the nest himself, but actually sees the parent bird leave it, the 
 nest alone is not sufficient evidence on which to identify the eggs of one of these 
 yellow species of Wagtail ; yet there is no doubt that, in many cases, their iden- 
 tification rests upon no better basis than the assertions of rustics, who almost 
 invariably confound the Grey Wagtail with the Yellow. 
 
 The food of the Grey Wagtail consists largely of insects, their larvae, centi- 
 
 * This nest was first observed by the plough-boy whilst guiding his horses, and knowing that I was 
 collecting nests and eggs he carefully avoided it, so that it lay on the side of the furrow, a clod of earth 
 partly protecting it. 
 
i84 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 pedes, spiders, and small niolliisca ; but in winter the last-mentioned, small worms, 
 and a few seeds of weeds are eaten. 
 
 My first experience of this charming bird in captivity, was in September, 
 1888, when a friend netted two females and gave them to me; I turned them, at 
 first, into a large cage, but one of them refused to eat, and died the following 
 day : the other bird I transferred to a large aviary, where, in three days, it became 
 so tame that it not only took mealworms from my fingers, but ran between my 
 feet as I stood in the aviary ; moreover within a year it followed me about ; and 
 whenever I passed by the aviary, it flew up to the wire and called me. Unhappily 
 I turned in a cock Pied Wagtail with it, and the latter bird so persecuted the 
 poor thing (invariably chasing it away from the food pan when it attempted to 
 eat) that, early in December, 1889, it died of starvation. 
 
 Several years ago (1892) Mr. Staines, of Penge, formerly a rather successful 
 exhibitor of Wagtails, gave me a male of this species which had been for some 
 time in his possession ; I turned it out into a cool aviary, where it came into 
 superb plumage, and soon became very tame ; though less so than my first (female) 
 example : this and a second male, previously referred to, were still flourishing when 
 I wrote this article, but Mr. Staines' bird has since died (August 1896). 
 
 Family— MOTA CILLID^. 
 
 The Blue-Headed Wagtail. 
 
 Motacilla flava, LiNN. 
 
 SEEBOHM gives the following as the geographical distribution of this species : 
 " extending from the British Islands across Europe and Asia at least as far 
 as the Rocky Mountains of America. It is common across the Channel, and is 
 found in Scandinavia south of lat. 60°, which appears also to be the northern limit 
 of its range in Russia. In Western Europe it is found down to Gibraltar, and 
 crosses the Straits into Tangiers ; but in Eastern Europe it does not breed so far 
 
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The Blue-Headed Wagtail. 185 
 
 south. It passes through South Russia, Greece, and North-east Africa on migra- 
 tion, and winters in South Africa, whence it has been received from Damara Land, 
 Natal, and the Transvaal. In Asia it is said to have about the same range to the 
 north, but in Alaska it breeds up to lat. 64°. It breeds throughout South Siberia, 
 Mongolia, and North China, wintering in India and Burma. In Turkestan it is 
 only known on migration. It is doubtful whether it has occurred in Persia, but it 
 breeds in the Caucasus." 
 
 In the British Islands the Blue-headed Wagtail has chiefly occurred in the 
 southern, south-western, and eastern counties during the breeding-season, nests 
 having been recorded from Kent and Durham ; it has occurred a few times in 
 Scotland and Ireland, and has been seen in Shetland in the autumn. 
 
 The adult male in breeding plumage has the forehead, crown, and nape bluish- 
 grey ; back yellowish-olive, browner on the upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts dark 
 brown, tipped with yellowish-white ; flights dark brown ; secondaries with yellowish- 
 white margins ; tail feathers, excepting the two outer pairs, blackish-brown ; the 
 outer ones white, their inner webs edged with black ; lores and ear-coverts deep 
 slate-grey ; a white superciliary streak, and a second white streak below the lores ; 
 chin white ; remainder of under surface bright canary yellow ; bill and feet black ; 
 iris hazel. The female is duller in colouring, and the head is more olivaceous. 
 Young birds have the breast spotted with brown, and otherwise closely resemble 
 the female. The white eye-stripe is always present at all ages in both sexes. 
 
 I met with this species in life about the end of May, or beginning of June, 
 1883, when I saw it in company with the Yellow Wagtail in an old deserted 
 brickfield at Murston, near Sittingbourne ; it was running along the margins of 
 the reedy pools (produced by the removal of the brick- earth and the subsequent 
 winter rains), flying up from time to time with a shrill cry which resembled that 
 of its Yellow congener, a sort of scizzur to my ear, though it has usually been 
 rendered chit-up by writers on British birds. 
 
 Two years later Mr. William Drake of Kemsley, near Sheppey, sent me a 
 nest found by one of his boys among the long wiry grass on the saltings near 
 the creek, informing me that it was the nest of a Yellow Wagtail, as the boy had 
 seen the birds, which he described as having a " black head with white ring," 
 evidently referring to the superciliary and subloral white streaks, the head probably 
 appearing, at a short distance, to be blackish in contrast with the yellowish colouring 
 of the back : the eggs (six in number) are for the most part almost indistinguish- 
 able from those of the common Yellow Wagtail, but one or two are distinctly 
 mottled, and correspond exactly with authentic eggs of the Blue-headed species in 
 my possession. 
 
i86 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 In his " Birds of Norfolk " Stevenson mentions the occurrence of this species 
 at Sherringham, Yarmouth, and the Heigham river : he also records the fact of its 
 having been shot on more than one occasion at Lowestoft (Suffolk) and at Stoke 
 Nayland. Although only a visitor to our islands on migration, this species is 
 probably a tolerably regular one ; moreover, the fact that it undoubtedly breeds 
 with us, fully entitles it to be regarded as a British species. Herr Gatke observes : 
 " As one might expect, it also visits Heligoland in very large numbers during 
 both migration periods — though naturally its numbers are incomparably larger in 
 autumn than in spring ; but even during the latter season, if the weather is toler- 
 ably favourable, flocks of hundreds may be seen covering the sheep pastures." 
 
 W. Warde Fowler, in his "Summer Studies of Birds and Books" says: — "A 
 few of these seem to come to us every year ; and just as it is worth while always 
 to look at Pied Wagtails to make sure that they are not White Wagtails, so it is 
 as well to glance at all yellow birds we see, in case we should some day meet 
 with one that has a distinctly bluish head, and a white stripe over the eye instead 
 of a yellow one. A beginner, indeed, may easily confuse the female of the common 
 species for the rarity he is looking out for ; and he should never be satisfied until 
 he has watched his bird at a very short distance, and if possible with a good field- 
 glass.* Though Oxford is a favourite haunt of Yellow Wagtails, I have in the 
 course of many years detected but two or three of the rarer species." 
 
 Charles Dixon says that he met with the Blue-headed Wagtail in Algeria " in 
 flocks in the oases, apparently on migration, in May." (Birds of Algeria, p. 65). 
 Occurring there so late in the year, one would almost expect that a few pairs 
 would breed there, as they are known to do in North-eastern Africa (cf. Seebohm, 
 Hist. British Birds, Vol. II., p. 209.) 
 
 Nidification takes place with this species between the middle of May and the 
 first week of June ; the nest being placed on the ground amongst coarse herbage, 
 frequently under a tuft of grass in meadows or cornfields, sometimes in the bank 
 of a dry ditch : it is somewhat loosely constructed of fine rootlets, grass, straws, 
 and bents, sometimes with an admixture of moss ; and is lined with horse-hair, 
 wool, or fine bents ; occasionally with wool and a few downy feathers. The eggs 
 number from four to six, and are either pale yellowish brown, with a fine black 
 streak on the larger end, or yellowish white, mottled and clouded with pale brown, 
 both types with intermediate grades sometimes occurring in the same clutch. 
 
 The food of this Wagtail consists of insects and their larvae, spiders, centipedes, 
 
 * Excepting when collecting nests and eggs in dense woods, where it was often necessary- to force my waj- 
 through bramble and hawthorn, I usually carried a powerful little glass in my pocket : this enabled me, not 
 only to recognise species, but to watch the birds to their nests. — A. G. B. 
 

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The Yellow Wagtail. 187 
 
 and small freshwater mollusca : but in confinement it would doubtless feed on the 
 usual soft food, like all its congeners, and would make a most desirable and 
 interesting addition to an aviary. 
 
 Family— MO TA CILLID^. 
 
 The Yellow Wagtail. 
 
 Motacilla rait, BONAP. 
 
 ACCORDING to Seebohm, this species " breeds in the north of France, passes 
 through the south of France, Spain, and Portugal on migration, and occa- 
 sionally strays into North-west Italy, in all of which districts it is possible that a 
 few remain to breed. In Africa it has been found in winter as far south as the 
 Transvaal on the east coast, and has occurred in Gambia, the Gold Coast, and the 
 Gaboon on the west. An isolated colony appears to exist in South-east Russia 
 and West Turkestan." 
 
 To Great Britain the Yellow Wagtail is a summer migrant, being generally 
 distributed in England, excepting in Cornwall and Devon, where it is, however, 
 seen on migration. In Scotland it is far more local, being most common in the 
 southern counties, nevertheless it has perhaps been met with in Sutherlandshire, 
 and is believed to breed in Inverness and Aberdeen ; its occurrence in Orkney 
 and the Shetlands has been reported, but the statements need verification. In 
 Ireland it is not only very local but rare, though it is known to breed near Dublin 
 and at Lough Neagh. 
 
 The male in breeding plumage has the upper parts for the most part of a 
 bright yellowish- green colour, forehead more yellow, and upper tail-coverts slightly 
 more olive : wing-coverts and flights smoky-brown, tipped and edged with pale 
 bufi"; tail blackish, the two outer feathers on each side white with black edging 
 to the inner webs ; a sulphur-yellow streak over the eye and ear-coverts ; the latter 
 
i88 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 and the lores yellowish-olive ; under parts bright canary yellow ; bill and feet 
 black ; iris hazel. The female is browner above and paler below, and the super- 
 ciliary stripe is yellowish-white. After the autnmn moult both sexes become duller 
 and less yellow. Birds of the year are slightly browner than the female on the 
 upper parts ; the throat pale yellowish-buff, becoming browner on the breast ; 
 abdomen pale yellow ; the sides of the neck and breast more or less streaked or 
 spotted with brown. 
 
 This species reaches our shores early in March, arriving in Scotland about 
 the beginning of April : the return migration taking place in September and 
 October. 
 
 The fondness of this Wagtail and its Blue-headed relative for the pastures in 
 which cattle are grazing is well-known, the attraction being the flies which collect 
 round and torment these animals. They also follow the plough and feed upon 
 the wireworms and other beetle-larvae which are turned up in the furrows ; also in 
 the fields, in which spring sowing is being carried on, they doubtless find many 
 small worms and spiders. Like all the Wagtails they are fond of bathing, and 
 consequently are frequently met with near streams and dykes ; or in deserted 
 brickfields, where the winter rains have formed pools, surrounded by coarse grass 
 and nettles. 
 
 W. Warde Fowler, in his " Summer Studies," p.p. 109-10 has the following 
 interesting account of a large assemblage of this pretty species : — " These most 
 charming birds come to Oxford about the middle of April. They come up the 
 river, and gather in great numbers on that vast meadow above the city known as 
 Port Meadow ; which almost deserves a chapter to itself, so interesting is its 
 history, so rich its treasures of birds and plants, and so various its aspect in flood 
 and frost, under sunshine and shower. Here, on the 26th of April, 1887, I saw 
 a more wonderful gathering of Yellow Wagtails than I have ever seen since, or 
 am ever likely to see again. Mr. Arthur Macpherson had come into my rooms 
 the evening before, to tell me that he had seen some Dunlins on the bank of the 
 Isis, where, it boiinds this great meadow to the west. As these birds of the sea- 
 shore had never before been reported to me, I started the next afternoon, hindered 
 and baffled by a strong and bitter wind which soon turned to pelting rain, and by 
 a toothache which raged in sympathy with the elements ; but I was rewarded for 
 my pains. I found the Dunlins ; but I found also what was far more wonderful 
 and beautiful — the whole length of the river's bank, on the meadow side of it, 
 occupied by countless Yellow Wagtails. As I walked along they got up literally 
 from under m}' feet ; for they were sheltering just beneath the meadow's lip, and 
 I came upon them quite unawares. When a turn in the bank gave me a view 
 
The Yellow Wagtail. 189 
 
 ahead, I could see the turf spotted all over with the brilliant yellow of their 
 breasts ; for I was walking with the wind, and they, of course, were facing it, to 
 avoid having their plumage uncomfortably handled by the gusts. 
 
 They were not afraid of me, and settled down again directly I had passed on, 
 so that my progress was like that of a haymaking machine, which just lifts the 
 hay as it passes, and then lets it settle down again after dallying a moment with 
 the breeze. These birds had clearly only just arrived after their long journey from 
 Africa, and I think they must have come together and unpaired ; the greater 
 number of them were males. Their numbers diminished regularly day by day, 
 and at the same time I began to see pairs in their usual places in the neighbour- 
 hood evidently preparing to nest. In a few days they were nearly all distributed 
 over the country-side." 
 
 The site chosen for the nest is frequently a furrow or depression in the earth 
 in a pasture or cornfield, partly concealed by coarse herbage or a dislodged grassy 
 clod, sometimes in the side of a deep pit partly filled with water and overgrown 
 with rank grass and nettles, or in a sloping bank covered with weeds and wild 
 flowers, or again among the long coarse grass at the foot of a wall. It is by no 
 means an easy nest to find, for it never seems to be exposed like that of the Pied 
 Wagtail, and therefore is more often discovered by accident than by design : that 
 is to say, when carefully searching every foot of ground with a view to securing 
 a possible nest of Skylark or Tree-Pipit, one may stumble upon that of the Yellow 
 Wagtail. The nest is constructed of coarse dry grasses and rootlets, lined with 
 finer rootlets, fine bents, black and white hair, or sometimes with green moss, 
 rabbits' down, or sheep's wool : feathers are said to be occasionally used.* The 
 eggs number from five to six, and usually closely resemble those of the Sedge- 
 Warbler, excepting that they are larger ; the paler varieties are greyish-white more 
 or less densely mottled with pale clay-colour ; but more often this mottling spreads 
 uniformly over the whole surface, rendering the shell uniformly pale stone-brown, 
 (like some eggs of the Partridge) there are usually one or two short black hair- 
 lines at the larger end. 
 
 The call-note is a soft monosyllabic whistle, and the note of excitement a 
 shrill scizzur : the song, which is rarely heard, somewhat resembles that of the 
 Swallow. 
 
 My first experience of this species in confinement was a short one. In the 
 winter of 1889-90, a birdcatcher brought me a specimen which he had carried 
 about in a cage with linnets and other birds all day ; no water being supplied and 
 only seed being available for food : the poor thing was so exhausted that it died 
 
 * I have not, however, met with this material in the lining. — A. G. B. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 1 
 
igo British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 the following morning. My second bird was given to me in 1894, by Mr. Staines, 
 of Penge, who had already had it in a room for some time. I turned it out into 
 a cool aviary with ni}^ Grey Wagtail, where it spent the winter without mishap, 
 though the temperature on one or two occasions registered twelve degrees of frost : 
 in the spring it came into grand colour, and then began to persecute its Grey 
 relative, so that eventually I had to place it in a large flight-cage : this I suppose 
 it resented, for (shortly after I had acquired what I then supposed to be a hen) 
 in the autumn of 1895 it died. My third bird I purchased from a bird-catcher, 
 and turned it out at once into the aviary with the Grey Wagtail, and insectivorous 
 bird though it is, it no sooner saw the latter eating the soft food than it followed 
 the good example and saved me all anxiety. In the spring of 1896, I was aston- 
 ished and pleased to see this bird gradually develop the brightest male plumage 
 which I have ever noticed in the Yellow Wagtail : indeed a reputed Canary-breeder 
 who came to see my birds, after looking at the brilliant tropical colouring of 
 Weavers and Cardinals with lack-lustre eye, suddenly became eloquent as he came 
 in sight of my Yellow Wagtail, exclaiming excitedly — " O ! I should like to have 
 that Canary ! " He cannot have known much about his favourites ; perhaps he 
 mistook the Wagtail for an extra fine Scotch-fancy bird. 
 
 In a wild state the Yellow Wagtail feeds upon insects and their larvae, spiders, 
 centipedes, and small worms : in confinement it requires a few insects, cockroaches 
 answering the purpose as well as anything ; but as staple diet, the same food as 
 that given to all insectivorous birds answers admirably : it usually commences on 
 the yolk of egg and ants' cocoons, onlj^ eating the bread and potato, as a last 
 resource, when other ingredients fail. 
 
 Mr. Septimus Perkins, in "The Avicultural Magazine," Vol. I., p. 126, 
 published some interesting notes on this species : — " Some few years ago, while 
 living in the Midlands, I possessed a fair-sized in-door aviary, in which I kept 
 a good many migratory British birds. Here I kept the Yellow Wagtail along 
 with the smallest and most delicate Warblers, and I never found that he 
 did them the slightest injury, although he was sometimes just a little tyrannical. 
 But two male Wagtails, whether of the same or different species, will quarrel 
 and fight. 
 
 This bird is a somewhat large eater, and takes very kindly to hard-boiled 
 egg, though he likes Abrahams' Preserved Egg even better, because that is all 
 yolk. He shoiild have as much egg as he will eat, and as man}' soaked ants' eggs 
 as he will eat. Also three or four mealworms a day, and as many flies and small 
 caterpillars as you can take the trouble to catch. 
 
 The Yellow Wagtail is a tender bird, but I do not consider him nearly so 
 
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The Tree-Pipit. 191 
 
 delicate as the Warblers, he eats more heartily of artificial food than they do, and 
 consequently does not require so many mealworms." 
 
 Mr. Perkins then goes on to recommend that soaked ants' eggs should form 
 the staple article of diet ; also that the egg should be given in a separate vessel, 
 not mixed with bread-crumbs, which he considers indigestible and not nourishing 
 for insectivorous birds. I miist confess that my experience does not support this 
 view ; for not onl}^ do many insectivorous birds live largely, during the autumn 
 and winter months, upon seed and grain ; but they become sleek and fat upon 
 this diet. Soaked ants' eggs soon become sour, especially in hot weather ; and 
 I find that when dry or only slightly damped, birds eat them just as readily. The 
 opinion of Mr. Abrahams, based upon the experience of a lifetime, is also weighty ; 
 and he recommends that his food for insectivorous birds should be mixed with 
 double the quantity of bread-crumbs. 
 
 In my opinion none of the Wagtails are delicate ; but if the birds are overfed, 
 they are far more liable to disease, than when fed moderately. It must always be 
 borne in mind, that birds in cage or aviary do not have to seek their food ; there- 
 fore their tendency is to eat more than is good for them. 
 
 Family— MOTA CILLID^. 
 
 The Tree-Pipit. 
 
 Anthus trivialis, LiNN. 
 
 THIS species breeds in Northern and Central Europe from Tromso in Norway 
 south-westwards to the British Isles, the Pyrenees, and the mountains of 
 northero Italy, and south-eastwards as far as the Crimea, to the north-east from 
 the valley of the Petchora, the Ural Mountains, and the valle}^ of the Yenesay in 
 
19* British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Siberia, also through Turkestan to the Altai Mountains. South of the Pyrenees 
 and Northern Italy the Tree-Pipit is met with on migration and in winter, as also 
 in Morocco and Algeria in N.W. Africa, eastward to Bgypt, Nubia, and Ab3'ssinia. 
 It has even been said to occur as far to the south as Caifraria. 
 
 In Great Britain this bird only occurs as a summer visitor, being pretty 
 generally distributed and common in Bngland, with the exception of western 
 Cornwall and Wales, where it is scarce ; in Scotland it is rarer and far more local, 
 with the exception of the neighbourhood of Glasgow where it is abundant. It has 
 not been met with in Ireland, according to Howard Saunders ; but Mr. C. W. 
 Benson (in the "Zoologist" for 1878, p. 348) mentions the occurrence of a pair in 
 Dublin, and Mr. H. C. Hart states that he found a nest thirteen years previousl}^ 
 in the same county.* 
 
 The upper surface of this species in breeding plumage is clear sandy brown, 
 with dark centres to the feathers, less prominent on the rump ; wings dark brown, 
 the coverts and secondaries with paler margins ; tail for the most part dark brown, 
 but the outermost feathers white, with a brown stripe on the inner web, and the 
 next feather on each side broadly tipped with white ; a buff superciliary stripe ; 
 chin and belly whitish, remainder of under surface buff; a dark streak from the 
 base of the bill to the sides of the neck, where there are other dark brown streaks 
 and spots, as also at the sides of the breast and flanks : bill brown, the base of 
 lower mandible paler ; feet flesh-colour ; iris hazel. The female is slightly smaller, 
 and has less defined breast-spots than the male. After the autumn moult the buff 
 of the under surface is more pronounced. Birds of the year are more spotted on 
 the breast and flanks, but these markings are smaller than in adult birds. 
 
 The shorter and more covered hind claw, larger size, somewhat longer tail, 
 warmer colouring, and paler legs, distinguish this bird from the Meadow-Pipit. 
 
 This species usually makes its appearance in England early in April, though 
 sometimes not before the third week, and in the south of Scotland early in May : 
 its favourite haunts are pastures on the outskirts of plantations, shrubberies inter- 
 spersed with large trees, or woods ; also large gardens, parks, tall hedgerows, but 
 more, especially uneven hedges, with here and there a tall tree : here one can best 
 observe its curious caricature of the Skylark's upward flight, rising perpendicularly 
 for a short distance and thence, with expanded wings and tail, dropping spirally, 
 singing the while. 
 
 In his " Evolution of Bird-song," p. 118, Mr. Charles A. Witchell thus renders 
 the song of the Tree- Pipit : — " Chee chee chee chee eecliaw eechaw whee whee whec whee 
 wkee whee : or eechaw eechaw chee chee chee chee judge judge judge judge whee whee whee 
 
 * cf. Seebohm's British Birds, Vol. II., p. 219. 
 
The Tree-Pipit. 193 
 
 wJiee, and so on." On p. 119 also, he mentions that the final notes of its early 
 spring song and those of the Skylark are alike, and " consist of a somewhat plain- 
 tive, prolonged, and repeated whistle, descending in pitch during its utterance." 
 Mr. Witchell has not only studied the songs of our birds very carefully for some 
 time past, but has had a musical education, which has specially fitted him for his 
 task ; therefore I consider it far better to quote his version of a song, written 
 down whilst the bird was singing, than to trust my own memory of it.* 
 
 As its name implies, this species frequently perches on trees, but it always 
 nests upon the ground, frequently in the side of a sloping bank on the margin of 
 a wood or shaw, or near the foot of a hedge by the roadside ; sometimes far away 
 in the centre of a grass meadow, or cornfield ; sometimes on a railway bank : 
 usually the nest is tolerably well concealed, but one which I took from a roadside 
 bank not far from a large wood, was so conspicuously situated that, although it 
 only contained three eggs, I did not dare to leave it until the clutch was complete ; 
 but paying a second visit to the same road a few days later I found a fourth &^^ 
 deposited in the cavity whence I had removed the nest. 
 
 The nest itself is formed of dried grass and bents mixed with moss, the 
 materials somewhat finer towards the inside ; and lined with a few black horsehairs, 
 as in some nests of the Greater Whitethroat : but occasionally a few rootlets are 
 introduced into the walls, and sometimes the entire structure is made of dry 
 grasses ; though all the nests which I have found have been fairly typical. The 
 eggs vary from four to six in number, five being the more frequent clutch : in 
 colouring they differ individually as much as any eggs that are laid, and may 
 roughly be distinguished as — i. Greenish- white, spotted and heavily blotched at 
 the larger end with blackish-brown and lavender; 2. Buff- whitish, densely mottled 
 and spotted all over with olive-brown ; 3. Pinky-buff, densely mottled and spotted 
 all over with deep terra-cotta, with one or two black hair-lines or Bunting-marks 
 at the larger end ; 4. Ruddy-brown inclining to chocolate, with scarcely perceptible 
 darker reticulations, and black Bunting-marks at the larger end : every graduation 
 may be found between these four types; but, in my experience the intergrades 
 between the olive and ruddy mottled types are the commonest. 
 
 As nests may occasionally be met with from May to August, it is very probable 
 that two broods are sometimes reared ; but it is believed that this is by no means 
 the rule ; because the young, after leaving the nest, remain for a considerable 
 time in their parents' company. 
 
 The action of this and all the Pipits is very like that of the Wagtails, as they 
 
 * The call-note is said to resemble that of the Greenfinch, and the alami-note to be a sharp tick, tick, 
 frequently repeated. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 K 
 
 / 
 
194 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 run upon the earth, their tails spring up and down in the same manner; but in 
 their food they more nearly approach the Larks inasmuch as they not only eat 
 insects and their larvse, spiders, centipedes, and small worms, but also a good deal 
 of seed, more especially of cereals : in aviaries they often husk and swallow their 
 share of canary-seed. Whether the Tree-Pipit is as combative in confinement as 
 his relative the Titlark I do not know, because I have had no personal experience 
 of the present species as an aviary pet; but, from what I know of the Meadow 
 Pipit, I should recommend that only one example be admitted into a mixed aviary, 
 otherwise I suspect that there would be war to the death. 
 
 Lord Lilford, speaking of this bird in Northamptonshire, says : — " It arrives 
 with us generally in the second or third week of April, and the male bird soon 
 makes his presence known by his loud song, which has some resemblance to both 
 that of the Canary and the Skylark; he also attracts attention by his common 
 habit of soaring from a tree to a moderate height, and descending slowly, singing 
 his best, with tail outspread and legs hanging, to the perch from which he started, 
 or another close by it, without coming to the ground : this habit has, in some 
 places, gained him the name of " Woodlark " ; but I need hardly say that the true 
 Wood-lark fAlauda arborea) is a very distinct bird, which differs from the present 
 species in many essential particulars, and whose song is in every way far superior 
 to that of the Tree-Pipit." 
 
 This note of Lord Lilford's is of considerable interest, as I am satisfied that, 
 in many parts of England, the Tree- Pipit is confounded with the Woodlark ; though 
 more particularly by people born and bred in the country ; the most difiicult of all 
 to convince of their errors. 
 
 Gatke says that the Tree-Pipit is one of the few birds which have attempted 
 to breed in Heligoland ; " unfortunately the attempt was unsuccessful, for the nest 
 with four eggs of the type with brown spots like burnt marks, was destroyed by 
 cats ; it had been placed against a large tuft of grass in the middle of a large 
 hedged-in grass-plot, about a hundred paces in diameter, which adjoins my garden, 
 and was protected against every possible disturbance by human hand." 
 
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The Meadow-Pipit. 195 
 
 Family— MOTA CILLID^. 
 
 The Meadow-Pipit. 
 
 Anthus pratensis, Linn. 
 
 ACCORDING to Howard Saunders the breeding range of this, the smallest 
 of our Pipits, " extends from the North Cape over the greater part of 
 Europe to the Pyrenees, the northern portions of Italy and the Carpathians, and 
 perhaps to some of the elevated regions still further south ; but in the basin of the 
 Mediterranean the bird is principally known as a visitor on migration and in 
 winter. Eastward, it is found in Asia Minor, Palestine, Western Turkestan, and 
 the valley of the Ob in Siberia ; while its southern wanderings reach North Africa, 
 from Morocco to Egypt." 
 
 Throughout Great Britain the Meadow-Pipit, otherwise known as Titlark, 
 Titling, Moss-cheeper, Ling-bird, etc., is resident, common, and generally distributed: 
 in the autumn the numbers of resident birds are temporarily largely added to, by 
 immense ilocks travelling southwards, and it is probable that many of the native 
 specimens join these migrating hordes which leave our coasts and are seen no 
 more until the following March : nevertheless great numbers remain with us during 
 the winter. 
 
 The adult male of this species is olive-brown above, the feathers having dark 
 centres, which however are less distinctly marked on the rump and upper tail- 
 coverts ; wings dark brown, the primaries with yellowish margins to the outer 
 webs ; the coverts and secondaries with whitish margins ; tail dark brown, the 
 outermost pair of feathers nearly half white, and the next pair with a white sub- 
 terminal spot ; a narrow dull- white superciliary stripe ; under surface almost white, 
 the sides of neck, breast, and flanks streaked with brownish-black : bill dark-brown, 
 the lower mandible paler towards the base ; feet pale brown, with long and slightly 
 curved hind-claw : iris dark brown. The female closely resembles the male, but is 
 less strongly streaked below. After the autumn moult the colouring both above 
 and below becomes yellower. Young birds are more buff" in tint, with the streaks 
 of the under surface smaller and browner. 
 
 This species is most abundant in summer on the upland moors, but is by no 
 
igs British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 means confined to the mountains, for numbers may always be met with throughout 
 the year on the open commons, farm lands, and pastures of the plains ; towards 
 winter also, the higher and more exposed regions are deserted in favour of the 
 better sheltered localities of the lowlands, and particularly those near the sea-shore. 
 In its habits the Meadow-Pipit, as its name indicates, is much less arboreal than 
 the Tree-Pipit, perching far more frequently on bushes, rocks, or low walls than 
 on trees : its flight is similar to that of the Wagtails ; but like the Meadow- Pipit 
 it often indulges in an upward song-flight. 
 
 The song is not so loud or prolonged as that of Aiithiis trivialis, and Mr. 
 Charles A. Witchell says that it "rises crying, chiiwick chihvick chuwick, repeated 
 many times, and descends singing, bee tsee tsee repeated ; or else it changes the 
 accent from the first to the second syllable in the first cries, and ascends with 
 chuwick chmvick repeated, with the same ending as before." The call-note is des- 
 cribed as a low clear ist, often rapidly repeated, and the alarm-note as a short ivhit. 
 
 The nidification of the Meadow-Pipit usually commences in April, the nest 
 being almost always well concealed and invariably on the ground, frequently' in a 
 meadow, or on swampy ground among reeds, on a bank half hidden by coarse 
 grasses, and one which I found early in May, containing almost fledged nestlings, 
 was built in the middle of a mass of coarse grass on a mound in an opening near 
 the centre of a dense tangled Kentish shaw ; it has also been found in ling ; at 
 the foot of a bush ; in a cavity under an overhanging bank, or stone. 
 
 The materials of the nest consist of dry bents, and sometimes a little moss, 
 with a lining of finer grass or rootlets and hair ; like most other nests it varies 
 considerably in bulk and compactness. The eggs are not much unlike those of 
 the Rock-Pipit, excepting that they are smaller; in number they vary from four 
 to six, their ground-tint being greyish or greenish-white, more or less densely 
 mottled with olive-brown, often forming an ill-shaped zone towards the larger end, 
 where also dark hair-lines are frequently present. The Meadow- Pipit is usually 
 double-brooded. 
 
 The food of this species in the summer consists of insects and their larvae, 
 spiders, small centipedes, small worms, and fresh-water mollusca ; but in winter 
 when insect-food is scarce, small seeds and even grain are eaten. 
 
 Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk," says : — " The Meadow-Pipit or Titlark 
 is one of the most common of our resident species, and generally distributed 
 throughout the country. On heaths and commons, by the banks of rivers, in 
 meadows and marshes, on the grassy summits of our lofty clifi^s, or the low marram 
 hills upon the sandy beach, the cheeping note of this familiar bird meets us at 
 every turn, and in more cultivated districts, it springs at our approach from the 
 
The Meadow- Pi pit. 197 
 
 arable land, and, drifting like waste paper down the wind, is gone with a yhit, 
 yJiit, yhit, almost before we fairly see it. In summer it is nowhere more abundant 
 than in the district of the broads, where it sings from the top of the small alder 
 and sallow bushes, which are scattered in many places over the drier marshes and 
 cheeping as it ascends from a projecting spray, utters its simple but pleasing song, 
 with quivering wings and outspread tail, as it slowly descends to its station 
 again." 
 
 The above is the most characteristic description of the Titlark which I have 
 met with, and therefore I have not hesitated to quote it for the benefit of those 
 not conversant with this species. 
 
 My first experience of the Meadow- Pipit as an aviary bird was in October, 
 1888, when a bird-catcher brought me a male example which I turned into my outer 
 aviary : I found it perfectly harmless and amiable towards the other inhabitants of 
 the aviary, until other specimens of its species were associated with it ; and, having 
 no mate of its own, it took a great fancy to a Hedge- Sparrow, but the latter had 
 already made up to a Garden- Warbler : I recorded this in the "Zoologist" for 
 July, 1889, as follows: — "I frequently noticed my Hedge-Sparrow following the 
 Garden-Warbler about, and trying to entice him to pair with her ; on one occasion 
 I noticed her behaving in a similar manner towards the Pied- Wagtail, but both 
 birds treated her with the utmost indifference'; the Meadow-Pipit however strutted 
 about in the greatest excitement, and tried in every way to make up to her, though 
 she constantly gave a peck whenever he advanced near to her." 
 
 In November, 1889, nine Meadow- Pipits were brought to me by a bird-catcher, 
 who sold them to me at 2d. apiece ; they were all freshly netted and very wild. 
 I turned the whole of these birds out with that received the previous 3'ear, and 
 hoped that I should have the pleasure of hearing some of them sing in 1890; but 
 first the Hedge- Sparrow attacked and killed several of them, and then they began 
 quarrelling among themselves, fighting like little Game-cocks whenever they met, 
 so that by December only two remained alive, and even one of these succumbed 
 to its injuries before the end of the year, leaving a solitary hen. 
 
 To look at these elegant little birds one would never imagine that they could 
 exhibit evil passions ; but my experience clearly demonstrates the danger of 
 attempting to keep more than one male in an enclosure. The female which re- 
 mained and was so sprightly a bird, that for some months I imagined her to be 
 a male, eventually proved her sex by laying an ^^% in a nest built by a Canar}- 
 in one of the bushes, about two feet from the ground : it was an odd place for a 
 Titlark to lay in, but perhaps not so remarkable as the fact that a Canary, turned 
 loose into an aviary, and having no model to guide her, should have reverted to 
 
198 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 the ancient nest of her species which her ancestors, probably for hnndreds of years, 
 had never seen. I am led to make these observations, because Charles Dixon in 
 his "Jottings about Birds," pp. 235-239, is so indignant with those who insist 
 that the architectural power of birds is instinctive. To my mind it is infinitely 
 more difficult to believe that besotted looking sleepy fledglings should be capable 
 of appreciating the intricacies of the nests which they are leaving, and should be 
 able so to fix them in their memories, as (a year afterwards) to be in a position 
 to reproduce them ; than that the art should be instinctive. Mr. Dixon has indeed 
 shown that some English Chaffinches taken to New Zealand built an aberrant 
 nest there ; but this proves absolutely nothing ; for abnormal nests are by no means 
 uncommon even in England : — I have a House- Sparrow's nest built like that of 
 a Duck, a large thick-walled open saucer (of the usual materials) placed in the 
 middle of a hawthorn bush ; I have a Spotted Flycatcher's nest built in a narrow 
 crevice in a brick- wall, and formed like a slipper ; with several other aberrant nests 
 to be mentioned later in the work : I have also proved that Goldfinches and Grey 
 Singing-finches in an aviary, prefer building their nests upon the floor of a Hartz- 
 Canary cage, to utilizing a bush. These facts clearly show that birds do not build 
 by imitation, but distinctly inherit and adapt their parents' handicraft, just as, in 
 a lesser degree, human beings do ; for it is a notorious fact that many artists are 
 able to trace their power to a direct ancestor, whether in painting, music, or even 
 logic. Moreover, as study is necessary to perfect our gifts, so also with young 
 birds several nests are often commenced and pulled to pieces before a satisfactory 
 result is attained. The bird in the nest sees next to nothing of its character, the 
 lining only is constantly before its eyes, and the lining is that part of the structure 
 which is formed mechanically, by the sqiiatting down and twisting round of the 
 parent bird : how then, even if it had a retentive memory, could it learn the method 
 of construction of the complete outer walls. To my mind this is infinitely more 
 inconceivable than that the power to build a certain type of nest should be inher- 
 ited ; the fact that heredity is not incapable of modification or blind, would explain 
 why a bird was still able to adapt the outline of its nest or even the materials to 
 altered conditions. 
 
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The Red-Throated Pipit. The Tawny Pipit. 199 
 
 Family— MOTACILLID^. 
 
 The Red-Throated Pipit. 
 
 Anthus cervinus, Pall. 
 
 SEEBOHM rightly says that this bird has scarcely any valid claim to be 
 regarded as a British Bird. The first example recorded was obtained at 
 Unst, in 1854; a second was shot at Rainham, in Kent, in April, 1880; a 
 third was caught at Brighton, in 1884 ; and a fourth was obtained in Sussex, 
 in 1895. The species being a mere chance straggler to our shores when on 
 migration, and very rarely met with, a description of its habits would be out of 
 place in the present work. 
 
 Family— MOTA CILLID^. 
 
 The Tawny Pipit. 
 
 Anthus campestris, lylNN. 
 
 IT is quite possible that this species has been merely overlooked ; inasmuch as, 
 since its first discovery as an accidental visitor to Great Britain by the late 
 Mr. G. Dawson Rowley, a good many specimens have been obtained. 
 
 A summer visitor to Europe, this bird is said to breed in suitable localities 
 as far north as lat. 57°. In Northern Africa it appears to be partially resident, its 
 winter migrations extending through Egypt to Nubia and Abyssinia: in Western 
 
200 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 Africa it is known to migrate as far as Damaraland. In Palestine it is resident, 
 and from Asia Minor it extends to Turkestan and North-western India. 
 
 ' In Great Britain most of the examples of the Tawny Pipit which have been 
 obtaine'd have occurred at or near Brighton, but it has been shot as far to the 
 south as the Scilly Islands, and as far north as Bridlington, in Yorkshire. 
 
 According to Gatke this species " visits Heligoland in very small numbers ; 
 only now and again may a solitary example be met with on a fine warm afternoon 
 in May or August. Hardly more than three or four of the birds are shot in the 
 course of a year, though perhaps double the number, certainly not more, may 
 occur during that time." 
 
 The adult male in spring plumage is of a lighter or darker sandy-brown 
 colour, the centres of the feathers on the upper surface being darker, excepting 
 on the rump, darkest on the crown ; a buffish-white superciliary streak ; lores 
 dark-brown; ear-coverts greyish-brown; wing-coverts dark-brown, edged with buff; 
 flights brown, with tawny edges ; tail brown, the two outside feathers white, 
 suffused with sandy-brown ; the inner web partly brown ; the second pair brown 
 almost to the shaft : under surface buffish-white, deeper on the breast, which is 
 faintly streaked with brown ; upper mandible dark-brown, lower mandible yellowish ; 
 feet yellowish-brown; iris dark-brown. Female similar to the male, but slightly 
 smaller. After the autumn moult the colouring of both sexes is warmer. Birds 
 of the year are more tawny than adults, and have the sides of the throat and 
 breast somewhat conspicuously streaked. 
 
 As regards the haunts of this species, Seebohm says that in Greece "it seems 
 to prefer the open plains, and is very common in the almost treeless valley between 
 the Parnassus and Thermopyle." "It is especially common on the undulating 
 prairie country, half rock, and half grass and heath, between Athens and Marathon." 
 
 Dixon ("Jottings") speaking of it in Algeria, says that it is "most abundant 
 in winter. It breeds on the northern slopes of the Atlas, and in winter does not 
 appear to go further south than the Hants Plateaux." Of its habits, the same 
 author says : — " To look at its plumage one might almost suspect to meet with it 
 only in the desert ; but in summer, at any rate, it does not frequent that sandy 
 waste, and we only met with it on the elevated plateaux beyond Constantine and 
 in the neighbourhood of Batna and Lambessa. The road between these two latter 
 places runs through rich meadows and barley-fields, and abounded with Tawny 
 Pipits in abundance. I saw them only in pairs ; they were very tame, and often 
 allowed themselves to be almost trodden upon before they would take wing. I 
 often saw them running about very quickly over the bare pieces of ground, stop- 
 ping now and then to look round to see if they were being pursued. When 
 
The Tawny Pipit. 201 
 
 flushed tliey would often fly for a little distance in a very straightforward manner 
 (not undulating, as their usual flight is) and perch on a little tuft of higher vege- 
 tation, or on a boulder, or even a paling. Many of the birds were on the road, 
 where 3'ou could witness their actions very closely as they ran up and down like 
 a Wagtail, often giving their tail a sharp jerk, accompanied by a flicking movement 
 of the wings. They seemed to especially prefer a large unenclosed plain of rough 
 land on which no crop was sown, what we should call summer fallow in England. 
 Here I repeatedly saw the birds soar into the air for a little way and sing their 
 loud but simple song, which put me in mind of the Sky-Lark's notes, although 
 not so rich or so sweet. It does not soar so high as the Tree-Pipit, and seems 
 anxious to get to the ground again. When alarmed by the report of a gun, the 
 birds close at hand would generally rise for some distance into the air and betake 
 themselves to safer quarters in a drooping flight, uttering a short ivhit or yliit as 
 they went." * 
 
 Col. L. H. Irby, speaking of Tawny Pipits on the Spanish side of the Straits 
 of Gibraltar, says : — " We never met with them on low ground, and there is no 
 doubt they breed high up on the sierras." 
 
 The Tawny Pipit is a late breeder, building its nest towards the end of May 
 under a shrub, amongst growing crops, beneath a tuft of rank herbage, or under 
 the shelter of a stone or clod of earth. The materials of the nest consist of dry 
 grass, bents, and roots, with a lining of horsehair : the eggs number from five to 
 six, greyish-, or creamy- white, streaked or spotted somewhat heavily with dark- 
 grey and purplish-, or ruddish-brown. 
 
 The food consists principally, if not entirely, of insects and their larvae, and 
 doubtless of spiders and small centipedes, as is the general habit of insectivorous 
 birds. 
 
 I should not anticipate that much satisfaction would be obtained from keeping 
 the Tawny Pipit either in cage or aviary, unless its natural tameness induced it 
 to sing : my Titlarks, although by no means unusually wild, never once sang in 
 confinement; yet they were in an aviary 16 feet long: their only charm therefore 
 consisted in their graceful actions, both on the ground and when flying ; but 
 neither in colouring or grace can they at all compare with Wagtails. 
 
 * O. V. Apliu (Zoologist, 1892, p. 14) says:— "Alarm-note chit, chit; song short, but with a few rather 
 good notes." 
 
 Vol. I. 2 L 
 
ao2 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 
 
 Family— MOTACILLID^. 
 
 Richard's Pipit. 
 
 Anthus richardi, ViElLL. 
 
 SINCE 1824 this species has been so frequently met with in Great Britain 
 that, although only an autumn straggler to our shores, it has fairly earned 
 its title to be considered a British bird : as regards its distribution on the Conti- 
 nent, Howard Saunders says : — " Richard's Pipit has been met with, as a rare 
 straggler, in the southern districts of Norway and Sweden ; but on Borkum, Heli- 
 goland, and along the coasts of Holland, Belgium, and France, it is not uncommon 
 on migration. In Central Europe it is rare, though in the south of France, 
 especially in Provence, it is not unfrequent ; near Malaga and throughout the south 
 of Spain it is in some years tolerably common from November to April ; while it 
 occurs irregularly in Italy, and in the basin of the Mediterranean, occasionally 
 visiting North Africa. Its usual breeding- grounds are not to be found west of 
 Turkestan ; in the valley of the Yenesei, Mr. Seebohm found both old and young 
 in August, up to 58° N. lat. ; and it nests abundantly on the elevated steppes of 
 Eastern Turkestan, the Lake Baikal district, and Mongolia. In winter it visits 
 South China, Burma, and the Indian region." 
 
 The first recognized British specimen of this species was caught near London, 
 in October, 181 2, and was recorded twelve years later; since then sixty or more 
 specimens have been noted, mostly from the south of England, and more particularly 
 from the coast of Sussex ; it has also been met with in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, 
 Oxford, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, and Northumberland : 
 in Scotland it is said to have been seen in Banffshire. 
 
 When in breeding plumage Richard's Pipit above is of a sandy-brown colour ; 
 the feathers, excepting on the rump, with dark centres ; those of the upper tail- 
 coverts ill-defined ; wing-coverts tipped with tawny ; flights margined with buffish- 
 white ; two outermost tail-feathers white with dark margins to the outer webs, the 
 second pair also with dark shaft ; remaining feathers dark brown, the central pair 
 with pale edges ; under surface white, faintly tinted with buff, excepting on the 
 breast which is distinctly buff, and streaked with dark brown; a line of spots also 
 running up the sides of the neck to the base of the bill ; the latter is dark brown. 
 
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 b 
 
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 X 
 
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i 
 
RICHARD'S Pipit. 203 
 
 the lower mandible paler ; feet pale horn-brown ; iris hazel. The female is a little 
 smaller than the male, but similarly coloured. Young birds have whiter margins 
 to the feathers, and the under-surface streaking is more defined, extending also to 
 the flanks. 
 
 Speaking of the habits of this species in Siberia, Seebohm says : — " It delights 
 in wet pastures and rich meadows left for hay in northern climates, where the . 
 harvest is late, and it can build its nest in the long grass, and rear its young 
 before the mowers come to disturb it, and where it can find abundance of food 
 in the short grass after the hay is cleared away, just when the young are most 
 voracious. These conditions it finds to perfection in the flat meadows that stretch 
 away, often for miles, on the banks of the great rivers of Central Siberia, and 
 which are overflowed for some days when summer suddenly comes, and the snow 
 melts, and the ice on the river breaks up. I found Richard's Pipit extremely 
 abundant in the meadows on the banks of the Yenesay, near Yenesaisk. The 
 country is almost a dead flat for miles, and is intersected with half dried-up river- 
 beds and chains of swampy lakes, full of tall sedges and reeds and water-plants of 
 various kinds, and half concealed by the willow-bushes and alders, whilst far away 
 in the distance the horizon is bounded on every side by the forest. These oases 
 of grass in the boundless forest are the paradise of Richard's Pipit." 
 
 Speaking of it in India, Jerdon says : — " It always affects swampy or wet 
 ground, grassy beds of rivers, edges of tanks, and especially wet rice-fields, either 
 singly or in small parties. Its flight is strong and undulating, and it flies some 
 distance in general before it alights again." 
 
 With regard to its note Brooks states that it is "a soft double chirp, reminding 
 one strongly of the note of a Bunting." Dr. Scully says that its note as it rises 
 from the ground is a sweet soft twitter: the call-note is said to be "soft but 
 loud." Herr Gatke however observes : — "According to my own experience, extending 
 over more than fifty years, during which time thousands of these birds have come 
 under my notice, this call-note consists of a loud, rapid and harshly ejaculated r- 
 r-riiiip, sounding, in the case of young birds, almost like r-r-recp ; this is confirmed 
 by the local name of this bird, which is derived from its call-note. This note the 
 bird utters only once at every rise, except in some rare cases when, after being 
 surprised, it rises suddenly, repeating r-r-rilp-riipp several times in quick succession. 
 As the bird flies almost always at a good height, and its extremely original call- 
 note is audible at a great distance, it betrays its presence to the shooter while 
 still far away; when the call-note is no longer heard, one may conclude with 
 certainty that the bird has settled on the ground. 
 
 In the manner of its flight this Pipit partly resembles the Wagtails, partly 
 
204 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 the Larks. If it is flying over a considerable distance at a not very great elevation, 
 it progresses in wide and shallow undulations, not however in so striking a manner 
 as the Wagtails. Its flight at considerable elevations is more like that of the 
 Larks. Arrived at the goal of its flight, the bird executes a fluttering or shaking 
 movement before descending, previously for a moment surveying the place on which 
 it intends to make sure that no danger is lurking for it there. In the course of 
 its elevated flight it frequently halts for a moment in a similar manner." 
 
 The nest of this species, which appears not to have been described, but which 
 doubtless resembles those of other Pipits, is built early in June in a depression in 
 the earth among grass ; the eggs, which number from four to six, are greenish- 
 white or pinkish-white, spotted and blotched with various shades of brown : they 
 somewhat resemble those of the Rock-Pipit excepting in size. 
 
 When on the earth Richard's Pipit progresses much in the same fashion as 
 its allies, by running ; its food also consists chiefly of insects, their larvae, and 
 doubtless of spiders. Captain Legge states that in Ceylon it often seizes a passing 
 butterfly on the wing. In an aviary it would doubtless eat the same soft food as 
 that already recommended for insectivorous birds. 
 
 Gatke says: — "I kept a young autumn bird of this species, slightly grazed 
 on the wing by a shot, for several days alive in a large cage, in company with 
 several Buntings and Finches, with which it agreed verj' well. The bird was not 
 at all shy or wild, but ran about nimbly and cheerfully, and also accepted readil}*, 
 and within my immediate neighbourhood,* some maimed flies which were offered 
 it. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for maintaining an insect-feeder, and, much 
 to my chagrin, was obliged to kill it, so as to avoid torturing it uselessly. I was 
 the more sorry for this, as I felt convinced that I could quite easily have kept it 
 alive with ants' eggs, for it is a hardy and by no means a delicate bird." 
 
 If Herr Gatke had only been aware of the fact that all insectivorous birds 
 are passionately fond of j^olk of egg, and that it suits them well, he need not 
 have been unhappy, or unnecessarily have taken the life of his pet ; moreover, with 
 a canvas bag at the end of a stick, he could (in a few minutes) have swept up 
 as many insects, spiders, etc., as would have provided his Pipit with a substantial 
 meal. Meanwhile, he could have written for a supply of dried ants' cocoons and 
 preserved yolk of egg ; and on this diet, with the addition of bread-crumbs and 
 potato, his bird would have lived happily through the winter. The moral of which 
 is that, before attempting to keep birds, one should know more about them than 
 can be learnt from purel}' scientific works. 
 
 * This strikes me as a'bad translation : it should (I think) be— '• when I was close to it."— A. O. R. 
 
o 
 
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The Water-Pipit. The Rock-Pipit. 305 
 
 Family— MOTA CILLID^. 
 
 The Water-Pipit. 
 
 Anthus spipoletta, Linn. 
 
 ONIvY four examples of this species, all from Sussex, have been recognized : 
 I therefore do not consider that (at present) it has much claim to be 
 regarded as British : at best it is but a chance and very rare straggler to our 
 shores. 
 
 Family— MOTACILLIDyE. 
 
 The Rock-Pipit. 
 
 Anthus obscurus, Lath. 
 
 SEEBOHM says that the " Rock- Pipit is little more than a coast-form of the 
 Water- Pipit, and appears to be confined to the rocky portions of the coasts 
 of North-western Europe, from the White Sea to the Bay of Biscay. It is found 
 on the shores of the Baltic ; but there is no satisfactory evidence of its frequenting 
 those of the Mediterranean. It is a resident throughout its range, except in the 
 extreme north." 
 
 " The Rock-Pipit is a resident on all the coasts of the British Islands, with 
 the exception of the low-lying eastern shores south of Spurn, where it only appears 
 as a straggler or on migration. It is found commonly in the Channel Islands, in 
 the Hebrides, St. Kilda, the Orkneys, and Shetland, and is also common in the 
 Faeroes, although not known to visit Iceland or Greenland." 
 
 John Cordeaux in his " Birds of the Humber District," says that this species 
 
2o6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 " Occasionally occurs during the autumn within the Humber, either on the sea 
 embankments or along the borders of the marsh drains." 
 
 This apparent discrepancy between the statements of Seebohm and Cordeaux 
 is explained by Howard Saunders, who observes : — " generally frequenting, during 
 the breeding-season, those portions of the sea-coast which are of a rocky nature- 
 conditions which are not found between the Thames and Humber ; although during 
 autumn and winter it is found on salt-marshes and in the muddy estuaries where 
 there is sea-weed." 
 
 The adult male in the spring is olive-brown above, streaked, excepting on the 
 rump, with dark-bro^vn, the outer pair of tail-feathers is characterized by an oblique 
 smoky-grey patch on the inner web ; * an ill-defined buihsh superciliary stripe ; 
 chin whitish ; remainder of under surface buff, warmer on the breast, and more 
 olivaceous on the flanks, which, together with the throat and breast, are streaked 
 with dark brown : bill deep brown, the lower mandible paler at the base ; feet 
 brown ; iris hazel. The female resembles the male. In the autumn the plumage 
 of the upper parts becomes more olivaceous and that of the under parts yellower. 
 The young are more heavily streaked on the flanks than adults. 
 
 As I never had an opportunity of studying this bird in its wild haunts — the 
 cliffs, rocks, and lowlands of our sea shores, and the desolate islands near our 
 coasts — consequently I never personally took its nest ; it was therefore with great 
 pleasure that I examined a series of clutches of the eggs obtained at Uist, in May 
 1884, by Mr. T. Copeland, and forwarded by him to Mr. Harting. A clutch of 
 five eggs was consequently presented to me by Mr. Copeland. 
 
 Gatke (The Birds of Heligoland) says that this species " is a solitary, serious 
 creature, little caring for the society either of members of its own or of other 
 species. While searching for food, it walks step by step, only rarely at an accel- 
 erated pace, over the sea-tang on the shore, or on the rocks and debris exposed at 
 low tide at the base of the cliff". It utters its call-note only when taking to flight, 
 a single call repeated after rather long pauses. The note is deeper and longer 
 drawn than that of the Meadow-Pipit, and has an agreeable sound, by no means 
 harsh like that of the Tree- Pipit ; if the bird is suddenly surprised, it often in 
 flying away utters its call two or three times in succession. It is by no means a 
 shy bird, and never flies very far ; if repeatedl}' disturbed while busy at the foot 
 of the cliff", it flits from one piece of rock to another, never more than fifteen or 
 twenty paces at a time, finally perching on a prominence half way up the face of 
 the cliff, where it will quietly wait until one has passed along underneath it, after 
 which it will resume its occupation on the shore." 
 
 * In the Water-Pipit this patch is white. 
 
The Rock-Pipit. 207 
 
 Regarding the song of this species, Seebohm says : — " Like all the other 
 Pipits, the Rock-Pipit seldom sings except on the wing. When it is in full song 
 its notes are very musical, and rival those of the Meadow-Pipit, but can scarcely 
 compare with those of the Tree- Pipit, either in variety, richness, or duration. In 
 the pairing-season the Rock-Pipit sings incessantly, mounting into the air and 
 gliding down again to his rocky perch on fully expanded wings and tail. The 
 first really fine day in early spring is the signal for commencement of the song, 
 and it is continued until the young are hatched. The call-note of this bird is a 
 shrill hist or pst, most pertinaceously kept up if it is seriously alarmed or its nest 
 is in danger. This call-note is uttered both when the bird is sitting on the rocks 
 or the ground, or when fluttering in the air ; and it often soars to the zenith of 
 its flight uttering it quickly, and then returns to its perch in full song." * 
 
 Mr. O. V. Aplin (Zoologist, 1892, p. 14) speaking of the Alpine Pipit, says: — 
 " The song reminds one of the Rock- Pipit's, to which I had been listening at 
 Dover — zig zig zig zi zi zi zi, running down and becoming quicker at the end." 
 
 The nest is generally' formed towards the end of April, on or close to the 
 sea-shore, but sometimes in a cavity several hundred feet up the side of a clifi"; it 
 is often placed in a crevice in the rocks, or in a wall, a hole in a bank, a rabbit- 
 burrow, in a clump of sea-pink, or behind a heap of sea-weed. The materials vary 
 according to its situation, the basis being dry grass, sometimes intermingled with 
 sea-weed, the stalks of various plants, or moss ; and lined, either with fine grass 
 or hair. The eggs var}^ in number from four to five, and in colouring exhibit 
 much the same variations as eggs of the Skylark, the ground colour being greenish- 
 white, speckled all over with grey, and usually mottled (most densely towards the 
 larger end) with olive-brown : some eggs are heavily blotched and some are zoned, 
 the general tint is also sometimes redder than usual, but I have not hitherto seen 
 the variety described by Howard Saunders — " reddish ones, like those of a Tree- 
 Pipit," unless he means the reddish-tinged (and not the reddish-chocolate) variety 
 of that bird's &gg. 
 
 The food of the Rock- Pipit consists of insects and their larvae, but more 
 especially the flies which are attracted to rotten sea-weed, also the innumerable 
 small mollusca and Crustacea to be found among sea-weed and occasionally seeds, 
 but particularly in winter. 
 
 Swaysland has kept the Rock- Pipit in confinement, and recommends that it 
 should be fed in the same way as a Woodlark ; but the food which he advises to 
 be given to all insectivorous birds is in the highest degree unnatural, consisting 
 
 • This statement seems to imply that the call- and alarm-notes are identical : if true, this is a somewhat 
 aberrant case. — A. G. B. 
 
2o8 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 
 
 largely of chopped raw meat, German paste, etc. I have not the least doubt that 
 any of the advertised egg-foods, mixed with bread-crumbs and moistened, would 
 be infinitely more wholesome as a staple : to this I would add for the present 
 species, cockroaches, mealworms, spiders, centipedes, and caterpillars, as well as 
 small snails. Although most birds do not care for woodlice, it is not improbable 
 that the Rock- Pipit would eat them. 
 
 Being considerably larger than the Meadow-, or Tree-Pipits, it would be 
 necessary to use judgment as to the associates of this species : moreover, as the 
 gentle looking Pipits are even more pugnacious than Wagtails, it would be very 
 unwise to place two males together in the same aviary. Even one male should 
 be watched at first, for individuals of the family Motacillida sometimes make things 
 lively for an aviary full of birds twice their own size, and infinitely more powerful 
 than themselves. 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 The Siberian Ground-Thrush, p. 28. 
 
 Dr. H. O. Forbes says that he on several occasions, during the terrible frost 
 of 1894-5, saw two of these birds in his garden at Liverpool, feeding in company 
 with Starlings, Sparrows, Thrushes, and Blackbirds : he was quite close, and able 
 to identify them with certainty ; he even made an unsuccessful attempt to catch 
 them. 
 
 The Icterine Warbler, p. 107. 
 
 Three examples have now been killed in Norfolk, the last at Cley so recently 
 as the 7th September, 1896. Mr. Frohawk received an &<g% believed to be referable 
 to this species in a miscellaneous collection made in Norfolk, but the fact of 
 its ever having nested in Great Britain cannot be accepted on such unsatis- 
 factory evidence. 
 
 END OF VOLUME ONE. 
 
 BRUMBY AND CI,ARKE, I,TD., PRINTERS, HULI, AND LONDON. 
 
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