CICELY V. SMITH, 
 
 BRAMCOTE HALL, 
 
 NOTTINGHAM.

 
 
 r] '^ 
 
 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTS.
 
 BRITISH 
 
 BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTS 
 
 POPULARLY DESCRIBED 
 
 REV. J. C. ATKINSON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "walks AND TALKS," " PLAY HOURS AND HALF HOLIDAYS, 
 " SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY." 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY W. S. COLEMAN 
 
 SEVENTEENTH EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limited 
 
 BROADWAY LUDGATE HILL 
 
 Glasgow, Manchester, and New York
 
 BOOKS FOR THE COUNTRY. 
 
 OUR WOODLANDS, HEATHS, AND 
 HEDGES. By W. S. Coleman. 
 
 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. By W. S. Cole- 
 man. 
 
 COMMON OBJECTS OF THE COUNTRY. 
 By the Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 
 COMMON BRITISH MOTHS. By the Rev. 
 J. G. Wood. 
 
 COMMON BRITISH BEETLES. By the Rev. 
 J. G. Wood. 
 
 MOORE'S BRITISH FERNS. With Coloured 
 Plates. 
 
 scU"
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 TuE object proposed in this volume is, in the first place, to present 
 our young readers with a complete and systematic list of oui 
 Britisli Birds : — the word British being taken to mean such aSj 
 being truly wild birds, either inhabit Britain throughout the year^ 
 visit Britain statedly for longer or shorter periods of each year, 
 or have been proved to reach the shores of Britain two or three 
 times or oftener, under the pressure of any incidental circumstances 
 whatever. 
 
 In the next place, the attempt has been made to distmguisli at 
 once between the rare or casual visitors, and such as are really 
 denizens of the Land, whether for a few weeks or months aimualiy, 
 or by unbroken habitation. 
 
 But the principal object and intention of the book is to present 
 
 Qoonooa
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 accurate and trustworthy accounts of the Nests and Nesting-sites 
 the Eggs, and any ascertained nesting or breeding-season pecu- 
 liarities of every undoubtedly British-breeding species. And thb 
 author's difficulty has often been out of the large mass of available 
 materials at his command, acquired by personal observation or 
 from the reading and notes of many years, to select what might 
 be instructive, interesting or amusing, without bm-dening the 
 book with unnecessary details, or encroachmg too much on the 
 allotted space. 
 
 The principle adopted in the illustrations has been to omit all 
 representations of eggs either white or nearly white in colour-, in 
 order to husband space for the admission ot a greater number of 
 those characterised by varied colours and marldngs. On the same 
 ground, although it was earnestly desired by the artist to give more 
 than one representation of some of the very marked variations 
 occurring in the eggs of several species, he has been compelled to 
 content himself with selecting and figuring the most typical or 
 normal forms in all such cases. AH the illustrations given have be^ 
 carefully drawn from unquestionable specimens, and Mr. Coleman 
 desires to acknowledge in this place the assistance, which in this 
 matter, has been afforded him by that excellent and accurate 
 practical naturalist, Mr. Y. Bond.
 
 PREFACE. VU 
 
 An Appendix is subjoined, in wluch a notice will be found of 
 the habits of nidification, the nests and eggs of several birds, 
 which though regular inhabitants of Britain or soiiie part of it, 
 for a given portion of each year, still retire to foreign and distant 
 localities for the purposes of nest-making and rearing their 
 young. 
 
 Finally, an attempt has been made to exhibit at one glance, 
 and iu a very condensed and systematic form, as much information 
 as possible touching the nest, its customary site and materials, 
 and also the eggs, their number, colour, and markings, and any 
 noteworthy breeding peculiarities of each separate British-breed- 
 ing species.. ] t is hoped this attempt, somewhat novel as it is, 
 and almost inevitably imperfect as it must be in some respects, 
 will not be regarded as altogether unacceptable by the youthful 
 nest-hunter and egg-coUector. 
 
 The author has only to obseiTc, in conclusion, that he has 
 scarcely thought it necessary in the majority of instances to notice 
 the common and well recognised fact that the particular species 
 under notice, iu common with many or most of our common 
 British Birds, rears two broods, or even more, in the course of 
 the summer. Neither has he thought it requisite to attempt to
 
 PREFACE 
 
 define the average season for the commencement of nidificatlon 
 in the case of this or that species, as they came successively 
 under review.
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 
 
 ClIAPTEE I. 
 
 TuE object with wliich this book is written is tliat it may be 
 interesting and useful to young egg-collectors. It is not easy to 
 make a book, which is to be devoted to such details as the length 
 and breadth and sliadcs and markings of some two or three 
 hundred different eggs, eitlier interesting, or even barely read- 
 able. But there is no necessity that a book of British birds' 
 eggs and nests should be devoted to merely such details as 
 those. For my own part, 1 do not find it easy altogether to 
 dissociate the eggs laid from tlie bird which lays them ; and 
 when I see a beautiful nest, I can hardly help being led to 
 think something about the builder, its means, objects, powers, 
 instincts and intelligence. And I don't see why a book about 
 eggs and nests should not follow the direction given by those 
 same objects to my thoughts, and the thoughts of hundreds 
 and thousands of other men besides me, and I am sui-e too ol 
 hundreds and thousands of boys and girls as well. I am as sui-e 
 as if I could see into the minds of many and many a young 
 nest-hunter, that when he finds one day the wonderfully neat and 
 beautiful Chaiiinch's or Goldfinch's or Crested Wren's nest, 
 and the ncAt, lights upon some littering Jackdaw's nest, or 
 
 B
 
 2 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND KES7S. 
 
 inartistic, careless-seeming Jay's or E-iiig-dove's, that the wide, 
 wonderful contrast and diiference sets him thinking — What is 
 the reason of this strange dissimilarity ? Is one of these birds 
 really less clever than the other ? Did God make one of them 
 a careless, disorderly, unthrifty bird, while the other He mado 
 such a wonderfully neat and dexterous and contriving one ? 
 
 And I am equally sure that a little measui-e of observation 
 and thought wUl be enough to show the young inquirer not 
 only that the Great Maker of Birds and Giver of their instincts 
 and imderstandings and capacities has not left some of His 
 creatures imperfect in some of their qualifications and endow- 
 ments, but that the very contrasts and unlikenesses which first 
 set liim on questioning at all, all teach one great lesson and 
 illustrate one great truth, — namely this, " Lord, how manifold 
 are Thy works ! In wisdom hast Thou made them all." 
 
 Perhaps an Egg-book might be so written as to help such 
 thought and observation as is here supposed, and now and then 
 besides to suggest explanations or lead to investigation or 
 commumcate a knowledge of facts such as to illustrate and 
 make cleai, and even entertaining or amusing, the every day 
 incidents and facts which fall commonly enough beneath the 
 notice of the moderately sharp-eyed and observant nest-hunter. 
 
 The difficulty of making such a book useful to the systematic 
 collector of eggs, however yoimg, is not nearly as great as that 
 of making it interesting to the many, who, tliough not inspired 
 with the ambition of owning a real grand cabinet, and of 
 arranging its manifold drawers with neatly ordered and ticketed 
 egg-cards, are yet sensible of a real pleasure and enjoyment in 
 noticing the nests and eggs of their numerous "feathered 
 friends," and identifying such as may chance to be less familiarly 
 known than the majority of those met with under ordinary
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 3 
 
 circumstances. Faithful description and accurate representation 
 are clearly witliin oiu' reach, and such description and representa» 
 tion are sufficient in nineteen cases out of twenty for the purposes 
 of identification in all instances of usual occurrence. 
 
 The cases in which identification is difficult are of two or 
 ibree kinds. Sometunes the difficulty arises from the near 
 resemblance of the eggs laid by different allied species, sometimes 
 rroni the wide discrepancies in the markings and especially in 
 the sliadiugs or tints of eggs laid by the same species ; but much 
 more frequently from the doubtful eggs being met with apart 
 from the containing nests, or from want of proper or sufficiently 
 accurate observation of the nests at the moment of discovery. 
 The young egg-fancier should always recollect that the fashion 
 and materials and site of the nest taken in connection with the 
 eggs will almost always, with the aid of a tolerably accurate 
 and well illustrated Book of Eggs, enable him to decide without 
 hesitation as to the real owner of the nests and eggs in question ; 
 while there are very many eggs, such as the Common Wren's, 
 those of one or more of the Tom-tits, the Lesser Willow-Wren 
 &c., of which specimens may be found so nearly resembling one 
 another in shade and size and spots, that it requires a very nice 
 and experienced eye to allot the several eggs to their certain 
 origin. In such a case as this, recoui'se must be had to some 
 kind and experienced Oologist. 
 
 A few words on another subject. The author has been gravely 
 taken to task by some of his conscientious friends, for delineat- 
 ing in one or two of his former books the pleasures and excite- 
 ments of egg-hunting, or the satisfaction of trying to form a 
 methodical collection. He has been more than once asked — Do 
 you really mean to encourage boys in robbing birds' nests ? Can 
 fou defend such a practice from the charge of cruelty P
 
 4 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND MESTS. 
 
 If I thought there was any real or necessary connection 
 between a love of egg-hunting — yes, and egg-collecting, too, — 
 and cruelt3', 1 would not say another word for it or about it. 
 But I am sure that the real lover of birds and their nests and 
 eggs is not the boy who is chargeable with those torn and ruined 
 nests — " destroyed " as they may well be styled — which grieve one 
 as he walks along tlie lanes and hedge sides. If the nest is taken, 
 or rudely and roughly handled, or tlie eggs aU plundered, there is 
 cruelty : for in the one case, the poor parent-birds are warned by 
 their instinct, if not their intelligence, to forsake their treasured 
 charge ; in the other, they suffer from pitiless robbery of what 
 they most love. But if the parent bird be not rudely and 
 repeatedly driven from her nest, — if the nest be not pidled out 
 of shape, or the containing bushes or environing shelter be not 
 wilfully or carelessly disturbed — if two or three eggs are still 
 left for her to incubate, there is, so far as human observation 
 can reach, no pain, or concern, or uneasiness, to the little owners 
 from the abstraction of one egg or more, and, therefore, of course, 
 no cruelty in the abstraction. The legitimate pursuit of sport in 
 the stubbles and turnip fields, or on the open moor, does not 
 differ more widely from the cruel proceedings of tlie cold-blooded, 
 hard-hearted slaughterer of his dozens of Rock-birds (many of which 
 are always left to die lingeringly and miserably), than the object 
 or manner of action of the true lover of birds and their ways 
 and nests tjid eggs, trom the rutliless destruction of every nest 
 and its contents which may happen to be met with by some young 
 loutish country savage. 
 
 Again, a few words more, and this time about ciassificatiora. 
 I should like, if such a course were profitable, or even practi- 
 cable, to make just such a classification as an active, sharp-eyed^ 
 observant, persevering nest-hunter would, %s it were, find ready-
 
 INTKOUUCTOia CllAl'TERS. 5 
 
 made for liiin, by the results of his rambles and investigations 
 and discoveries ; tliat is to say, to group the birds and their ep;gs 
 according to their frequent occinTence, their comparative, but 
 still not positive, iufrequency, or their downriglit rarity. By 
 this means, ana the subdivisions which would be suggested by 
 an enumeration oi the most usual sites of the several nests, an 
 interesting, and at least partially instructive as well as good, 
 system of classification would be devised. But I am afraid such 
 a system would not have much to recommend it, besides its novelty 
 and interest and practical hints " where to look for this bird's 
 nest or the other's ; and how to look so as to find." One great 
 disadvantage would be that such classification, so called, would 
 have the effect of brealdng up groups which uatui-e lias put 
 together. There is, generally speaking, what may be called a 
 great family-likeness between the eggs of the various species of 
 any given genus, or kind of birds. Take the Buntings, for 
 instance : any one who is familiar with the common YeUow-Ham- 
 mer's egg would at once guess at the eggs of either of the other 
 species as belonging to a Bunting ; and the same of the Titmice, 
 Linnets, Thrushes, Crows, and so on without end. 
 
 So that although it may seem at first sight that scientific 
 classification is hard and troublesome and half umiecessary, and 
 may often prompt the question in the boy-collector's mind. Why 
 wouldn't it do just as well to write down the English names on 
 the cards and in my catalogue, and arrange them all my own way ? 
 still it should be remembered that such classification after all is 
 far from arbitrary, and on the contrary, and as far as it is really 
 good, only follows out the teachings or guidings of nature. And 
 this quite independently of the trouble which is saved by it to 
 any one who wishes to consult books of reference, and still more 
 to examine large and well-arranged collections of eggs, whether
 
 6 BRITISH BIRDS, TUEIR EGGS A.ND NESTS. 
 
 for his own direct instruction, or merely in searcii of interesting 
 pastime. If a boy only knows that a Reed-Sparrow is called a 
 Reed-Sparrow or a Black-headed Bunting, and he wanted to find 
 the Reed-sparrow's eggs in a well-stocked collection, he might 
 be half-an-hour before he lit upon what he wanted ; but if he 
 knew that the generic name of the Bunting was Emberiza, and the 
 specific name of the Reed-Sparrow, Schoeniclus, he would be able to 
 pitch upon his quarry in half-a-minute. Besides all which, no one 
 was ever the worse for learning habits of orderly and systematic 
 arrangement, even though he had to pay the price of doing a little 
 puzzling head-achy work, and liad to bother himself with a good 
 many ugly-looking, ill-souuding, jaw-cracking words, such as 
 Coccothraustes, Troglodytes, Platyrhynca, Phalacrocorax, and 
 the like. 
 
 It is proposed in this little book to adopt a classification which 
 seems to meet with very general acceptance or acquiescence, and 
 principally for that reason ; — that, namely, which was employed 
 by the late Mr. TarreU. This classification depends on the system 
 which divides all birds whatever into five great classes, viz : — 
 
 I. Raptores Prey-catchers. 
 
 II. Insessores Perchers. 
 
 III. Rasores Scratciiers. 
 
 IV. Grallatores .... Waders, 
 V. Natatores .... Swimmers. 
 
 Kach of these classes, or "Orders," as they are technically 
 called, is again divided either into distinct Pamilies, or (at least 
 in some cases) into Sub-classes, or Groups ; these Groups being 
 then further subdivided into Famihcs. Again, these Families are 
 made up of more or fewer genera, and each genus of more or
 
 INTRODUCTORY ClIAPTJiRS. 7 
 
 Tewer species. These species, so many of tliem as compose any 
 particular genus, all differ from one another more or less, but 
 yet have a strong general resemblance, or (what may familiarly 
 be called) strong family likeness to each other. 
 
 The general scheme or, as I may almost call it, the skeleton o£ 
 our classification will therefore stand thus : — 
 
 ORDER I.— R^\rTORES. 
 Family I. Vulluridce'^ . . . Vulture-kind. 
 
 II. Falcotiida .... Ealcon-kiud. 
 III. Slrigidce .... Owl-kmd. 
 
 II.— INSESSORES. 
 
 QROUr 1. — DENTIROSTRES (tOOTII-BILLED). 
 
 Family 1. Laniadce .... Butcher-bird-kind. 
 
 II. Mitscicapidce . . . Flycatcher-kind. 
 
 III. Merulida .... Tlirusii-kmd. 
 
 IV. Syhnadce\ . . . Wood-bkd-kind. 
 
 • Vtdttirid(P, Falconidw, and the other similar names of Families ara 
 most of tlieni, Latin words, witli Greek forms or terminations. The true or 
 real meaning of any one of them would be, that the l)irds in the Family so 
 named are the children, or descendants, of the bird or birds whose name is 
 used— thus, Vulturidoe, sous of a Vulture or Vultures— which, of course, is 
 nonsense, as the words are applied. AVhat is meant by the use of the words 
 in question is that the birds grouped together in any one Family, all parti- 
 cipate in some likeness of kind — are, so to speak, " connections" of each othe • 
 or that tliere is a sort of kin-sliip among them. This I have tried to convev 
 in the annexed translation. It ouj,'ht to be observed also that the Bird 
 whose name is given to the entire Family is selected for such purpose as 
 possessing the characteristic qualities or peculiarities of the family in ques- 
 tion, or, at least, most of them, in the strongest and most marked degree. 
 
 t SylviadcB I have translated Wood-bird-kind, because Sylvia means 
 something connected with wood, if it means anything. Sylvia is taken, in 
 Bird-nomenclature, to denote a Warbler; and it may be said, that most of 
 those birds whLch come under this division are Warblers in some sense, and 
 are. in some degree or other, of sylvan habits; at least if wo give to tha 
 word sylvan some latitude of meaning.
 
 BRITISU BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 GROUP 1. — dkntirostej:s (tooth-billed), contimted. 
 Family V, Par idee .... Titmouse-kind. 
 Y\. Ampelida .... Waxwing-ldnd. 
 VTI. Motacillidts . . . Wagtail-kind. 
 Vin, AntJddce .... Anthus-kind. 
 
 GROUP 2. — CONIKOSTRES (cONE-BILLED) 
 
 Family I. Alaudidx .... Lark-kind. 
 
 11. Emberizidx . . . Bunting-kind. 
 
 III. Frinf^illiJse . . . Finch-kind. 
 
 IV. Siurnidae .... Starling-kiad. 
 V. Corvidai .... Crow-kind. 
 
 GROUP 3. — SCANSORES (CLIMBERS). 
 
 Family I. Picidm .... Woodpecker-kind. 
 
 II. Certhiadee . . . Creeper-kind. 
 III. Cuculidx . . . Cuckoo-kind. 
 
 GROUP 4. — FISSIROSTRES (CLEFT-BILLEd). 
 
 Family I. Meropidse . . . Bec-eater-kind. 
 
 II. Ilalct/onidx . . Kingfislier-kind. 
 
 III. Ilirundinidx . . Swallow-kind. 
 
 IV, Capr'mulyidae . . Goatsucker-kind. 
 
 III. RASORES. 
 
 FiMlLY I. Columbidx . . . Dove-kind. 
 
 II. Phasianidx . . Pheasant-k'jid. 
 
 III. letraonidx . . Grouse-kind. 
 
 IV. Strulhionidx . . Ostrich kind-
 
 INTKODUCTORV CHAPTEllS. 
 
 IV. GRALLATORES. 
 
 Family 1. Charadriidm . . Plover-kind. 
 II. Gruldx . . . Crane-kind. 
 
 III. Ardeidx . . . Ileron-kind. 
 
 IV. Scolopacidm . . Woodcock-kind. 
 . Rail-kind. 
 . Lobed-foot-kiud. 
 
 V. Rallidfe . 
 VI. Lobipedidx 
 
 V. NATATORES. 
 
 Famii-y I. Anatidfe . 
 II. Coltimbidx 
 
 III. Alcadfe 
 
 IV. Felecanidx 
 V. Laridx . , 
 
 Duck-kind. 
 
 Diver-kin d- 
 Auk-kiud. 
 Pelican-kind. 
 GuU-kind. 
 
 Such being the skeleton of our classifiaition, the detaihs neccs- 
 sary for the completion of the entire system or frame will be 
 most conveniently given as we proceed to notice in detail the 
 various Orders, their component Families aud subordinate mcM- 
 bers.
 
 CHAPTEll 11. 
 
 Any one who is conversant with Yarrell's admirable " British 
 Bu-ds," will most likely have noticed that that author givea 
 in almost every case very precise measurements of the eggs 
 of each particular species of Bird described. And it might, at 
 first sight, seem to be so necessary to give such measurements 
 that one would very likely feci half inclined to pronounce a Book 
 of Birds' Eggs very imperfect, whicii omitted all notice of 
 dimensions. But tlic fact is, such measurements are, in so very 
 many different instances, altogether fallacious and likely to 
 mislead. Thus I.Ir. Yai-rell's measurements of the Blackbird's 
 egg are, " the lengtli one incli, two lines ; the breadth ten lines." 
 That is no doubt a good average or approximate measurement, 
 but I have Blackbirds' eggs before me wliicli vary between half 
 a line, or -^^ of an inch, less, and a line, or ^\ of an incii, more 
 in length, and between half a line, more or less, in breadth. Again, 
 I have two Starlings' eggs on my table, both taken from the same 
 Pigeon-cote, in Essex; one of which is l-^^s iiicli long by |§ inch 
 broad; the other 1-^ inch long, and fg inch broad; while to tlie 
 eye the latter is not much more than half as large as the 
 former. Moreover, Mr. Yarrell's measurements for this bird's 
 eggs are precisely the same as for those of the Blackbird, and not 
 only not tallying with those of either of my eggs, but not even 
 presenting a near approach to the medium dimensions. 
 
 Great numbers of similar instances might be adduced, and
 
 12 BRITISH lilKDS, TIIKIK EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 in connection with tlic very commonest birds. Even eggs irom 
 tne same nest may continually be met with, presenting great 
 disparity in bulK ; one in the number being frequently so small 
 in comparison with the others as to set one invariably thinking 
 it must have been the last laid, and that a partial failure ol 
 egg-producing power in the mother-bird must be the explanatioa 
 of the phenomenon. 
 
 It seems scarcely open to question that the physical condition 
 of the parent-bird must exercise a great influence over its egg- 
 producing capacity. Its powers may be impaired by age, by the 
 past effects of injury or sickness, by a partial failure of some 
 necessary element of food, by undue pressure on the egg-pro- 
 ducing organs, such as m'lst occur by the loss of one or 
 more early layings. Indeed all these causes are well-known to 
 interfere with the reproductive energies of animals at large, and 
 it is a thorouglily ascertained fact that both the first and the last 
 act most strongly in the case of many Birds. The comparative 
 size of Bii'ds' eggs, therefore, seems to me a matter to which 
 it is unnecessary, if not inexpedient, to direct the young collector's 
 attention; in any other way at least, than as to a matter of 
 curious observation and contrast. As a means of identification it 
 fails completely, and is only adverted to here for the purpose ol 
 obviating a portion of the perplexity which may often occur in 
 practice to the youthful egg-fancier from the difference in size 
 between different specimens of what are in reality eggs of the 
 same species of birds, but seem to him, from their discrepaucj 
 of dimensions, not possibly so. 
 
 Again, the colour and markings of many different species of 
 eggs are found to admit of great variation. The most familiar 
 and striking instance is in the case of the Guillemot: but one 
 more within the reach of every nest-hunter is presented by tiie
 
 I.N'TEODUCTORY CnAPTERS. 13 
 
 eggs of the Blackbird. Sometimes the spots on them are verj 
 minute and multitudinous ; almost confluent from their number 
 and minuteness ; sometimes large and well defined and permitting 
 the ground-shade of the shell to be very apparent ; sometimes 
 reddisli in colour, closely approaeliing the shade of those on the 
 Ring-Ousel's egg, and sometimes brown in hue, with no reddish 
 tinge at all ; and sometimes they disappear altogether, or very 
 nearly, and leave the egg with a strong resemblance to the littlft- 
 spotted Thrush's egg.* To such an extent is this the case, that 
 a year or two since I was misled into assuming that four eggs 
 which I found in a nest with all the characters of a Blackbird's 
 nest, must most certainly from their colour and markings, be as- 
 signed to a Thrush original and not to a Blackbird. Other familiar 
 instances of the same kind may be noticed as met with in 
 the eggs of the House-Sparrow, tlie Tree-Pipit, tlie Sky-Lark, 
 the Yellow-Haramer, one or more of the Hawks, &c. 
 
 In the fabric and materials of nests, again, as constructed by 
 birds of tlie same species, much dissimilarity, under peculiar 
 circumstances, will be found to prevail. But really not more 
 than might have been looked for beforehand, if it were not that, 
 in our asual way of thinking about birds and other animals, 
 we lay so much stress upon Instinct, and do not so mucli as 
 admit t>D our notice the possibility that many of their actions 
 may be prompted by a measure of intelligcncp, and not simply 
 an unconsidering, unreasoning influence, which we term their 
 Instinctive endowment. No doubt Instinct teaches them both 
 to buUd and how to build their nests, and what materials are the 
 most suitable, and the sites that are most eligible. But it is 
 scarcely Instinct which sets the Eagle and the Crow, wflen tneir 
 abode ia in a place that does not furnish the sticks they commonly 
 • i'arrell, i. 201. Ilewitson, L C3.
 
 14 BRITISH BIRDS, TKEIR EGGS AND NESTS, 
 
 or instinctively use for building their nests, to adopt instead of 
 sticks the sea-weed stems which their home does produce. And 
 so too of the House-Sparrow, which builds a huge domed or well 
 covered-in nest, if it selects a tree or ivy for its site, but only 
 lines the bottom of the hole in thatch, or a wall, with abundant 
 feathers or hair or straw. The Wren, again, which usually 
 builds its nest so that it may easily be removed entii'e and com- 
 pact, may be found to avail itself of such a site for its nest, 
 that it may be built on the principle of application — like the 
 Martin's to the wall beneath the eaves — so that, when taken from 
 its site, it shall appear to have had a segment completely cut out 
 or sliced oiT from it. 
 
 The adaptation of materials to site also, so as to secure a 
 greater degree of concealment by making the intrusive structure 
 assimilate in external fabric and hue to tlie surrounding objects, 
 is well worthy of noticing attention, as supplying not only fresh 
 sources of seeming unlikeness in nests of the same species of 
 birds, but also fresh instances of the little feathered architect's 
 wonderful adaptive iuteUigeuce. 
 
 The question, — Why are Birds' Eggs, iu so many cases, so vari- 
 ously and beautifully ornamented? Why are their hues and 
 markmgs made so attractive to look at ? has ofteu been asked, 
 and two or tliree difi'ereut answers or modes of answer have been 
 suggested. I have seen the idea started that the design of such 
 various colouring and marking is intended to facilitate conceal- 
 ment, by the adaptation of the general hue of the egg to that of 
 the recipient or supporting substances. The theoiy is at least 
 original and amusing ; but unfortunately less happy than when 
 applied to the plumage of the bu-ds themselves which lay the 
 eggs. It is no easy thing to detect a Partridge as she sits, 
 lifeless-seeming, amid other objects not more still than herself.
 
 INTRODUCTORY CUAFTERS. 15 
 
 and presenting no great contrast in colour to her feathers : but 
 there is no difficulty in seeing her eggs as they lie in the nest. 
 And so well aware is she of the fact, that she always covers her 
 eggs with some convenient and suit able material — last year's oak 
 leaves, for example — when leaving her nest deliberately, or not 
 under the impulses of alarm. The Hedge-Sparrow's eggs again, 
 or any other blue egg, how can they be supposed to become less 
 conspicuous by their colour when reposing in some earth-brown 
 or hay-coloured nest-cup ? 
 
 If it had been said that the Golden Plover's eggs, the Peewit's, 
 tne Snipe's, the Norfolk Plover's — not to name many others of 
 which the same might be alleged — were of such general hue, 
 so shaded and so marked as to be anything but conspicuous, as 
 to be indeed well calculated to escape any but a most scrutinising 
 notice, in the apologies for nests which usually contain them, 
 the entire truth of the remark would have appealed to every 
 nest-finder's experience and assent : but it will not do so in any 
 other form. 
 
 It is impossible to lay down any rule for the coloui-s of eggs 
 in connection with the places, or nature of the places, in which 
 they are laid. "White eggs are not laid in nests buUt in dark 
 holes as a rule — indeed, very much the contrary ; witness the 
 Dove's eggs, and so many of those of the Duck tribe; nor are 
 dark-colom-cd eggs invariably found to be laid where exposed 
 to the greatest amount of broad dayliglit. There seems to be 
 no rule in the matter. 
 
 Again, another answer to the question just noticed is, Eggs 
 were made so beautiful, and so vatious in their beauty, to gratify 
 and gladden man's eye. I don't dispute the fact that the beautiful 
 shape, and the beautiful tints, and the beautiful markings do 
 gratify and gladden the human ey< and human heart too. I
 
 16 BlUTISII BIKD8, TIIEIK EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 kuou they do, and in thousands of cases, and with a great, pure 
 pleasure. But that is a very different thing from saying tlial God 
 made them so for no other reason, or even for that purpose as 
 a principal reason. How many thousands of eggs, for ten that 
 are seen by man, escape all human notice whatever ! How 
 many millions upon millions in the old-world times before there 
 were men to see them, must have had their fair colours, and 
 delicate synmietry, and harmonious interminglmg of hues, for 
 no purpose whatever according to this view ! No, no. Nature 
 siiould not be read so. God made tJie Beasts of the Field, and 
 the Birds of tlie Air, and the Fishes of the Sea, and the Insects, 
 and the Shells, and the Trees, and Herbs, and Flowers, ail, as a 
 rule, wonderfully, gloriously, harmoniously beautiful, because He 
 is a God of order, and beauty, and harmony ; because it would 
 liave been inconsistent with His own Being, with the necessary 
 purposes of such a Being, with the declared objects of such a 
 Being in Creation, TiOt to have made all " very good ;" and the 
 same reason which accounts for the beauty of tlie myriad flowers 
 " born to blush unseen," for that of the imiumerable shells and 
 insects of past days and the present day, for that of the glorious 
 birds of Tropic lands, is all that we want in the way of expla- 
 nation of the symmetry and beauty of the Bird's Egg — God made 
 it as well as all other things " very good." 
 
 Something more to the point for the practical egg-hunter, and 
 even although he may be not very juvenile, is to recommend the 
 practice of jotting do-s\Ti notes of any peculiarity of either nest 
 or eggs or behaviour of parent birds, in any supposable case 
 a little unusual. Such notes are always interesting and very often 
 useful at some long subsequent period; useful in themselves, and 
 useful too as commenting on or else illustrated by, the sinular 
 memoranda of other observers. Besides, what is put down upon
 
 IXTKODUCTOKY CHAPTERS. 17 
 
 paper while the incident is still fresh, and the memory of it not 
 Interfered with by other and newer matters of strong interest, the 
 record is sme to be accurate ; wlule mere recollection at a later 
 date is about sure to be insufficient or untrustworthy. 
 
 Perhaps the boy-collector too may not thuik a few sentences 
 about blowing and drying and mounting his egg-treasures either 
 tiresome or uunecessary. As a niJe, let the egg intended to be 
 kept be blown and dried as soon as possible. There are several 
 reasons for tliis piece of advice. The light shells travel more 
 safely than the full ef;g;; the egg-shells do not suffer detriment 
 from lying overlooked with their contents rotting within, as often 
 happens with the collector of un-careful and un-precise habits ; 
 they are put into a state of comparative readiness for prompt 
 and complete preparation and arrangement ; and though last not 
 least, a good, useful, methodical habit is eucouraged in the col- 
 lector himself. 
 
 There are several ways of blowing an egg and going tlirougb 
 the preparatory stages of fitting it to take its place m a collection. 
 There are also instruments for extracting the contents of the 
 shell so as to obviate the necessity of makiug more than one hole. 
 I don't think they are likely to be of much use to a mere boy. 1 
 am sure they would be a great deal of trouble, and I don't think 
 that the end gained would repay the trouble and care expended, 
 I have always found a small hole, only just large enough to admit 
 the passage of sufficient air to expel the contents, made very care- 
 fully and neatly at the small end, and a larger one about half-way 
 between the great end and the line of greatest diameter, which need 
 not be more than a line in breadth for the very largest eggs (if not 
 "hard-sat,") quite sufficient for my purpose, and not objectionable 
 on the score of disfiguring the shell ; for by mounting the egg 
 with the larger or vent hole, downwards — the smaller hole being
 
 18 bhitisu birds, tiieui eggs and nests. 
 
 practically invisible in a great number of instances, at least until 
 looked for — it appears to be altogether entire and perfect. 
 
 Any tolerably strong pin will da for the purpose with small 
 eggs. For the larger and harder shells something more efficient 
 win be required. A hard steel instrument fashioned like a " glo ■ 
 ver's needle" — that is with the penetrating end furnished with 
 three edges all lost in the point — is as good as any thing that 
 could be devised, and by liaving two or three of different sizes, 
 every case of necessity would bo provided for. The sharp-pointed 
 pen-blade may be employed, but great care is necessary lest, 
 when the perforation is just effected, the instrument slip a little 
 further in than was intended, and an ugly fragment of shell be 
 wrenched out. 
 
 When the e^g is thoroughly blown, it is advisable to draw up 
 a little clean water into it by the process of immersing tlie vent 
 hole and sucking or drawing in the air from the shell with the 
 mouth through the other— just reversing the late process of 
 " blowing" in sliort. The shell, when half-full, should be weh 
 shaken, and the water then expelled as the legitimate contents 
 had been : a very gentle puff will suffice for this. Hepeat the 
 process two or three times, or until the water comes out as clear 
 as it went in ; then dry the egg as weU as you can by blowing 
 through it at intervals, after it has been so held that the moisture 
 on the inside may all trickle down towards the vent-hole ; after 
 which it may be set up for some hours in an airy, but not 
 sunny, place to dry thoroughly. Some collectors varnish their 
 eggs. A little of the white of the egg itself is all-sufficient, 
 and that should not be applied unless the egg is perfectly clean, 
 which is by no means the case with the eggs of many ground- 
 building birds when taken from the nest. I have taken Dab- 
 chicks' eggs also so completely muddied all over, that it was
 
 IXTRCD'JCTOKY C HATTERS. I'J 
 
 slmost impossible to get tliem clean. One, met with on one of (he 
 Efesex marshes a year or two since, which was the only one yet 
 laid and apparently not a day old, was so engrained with dirt or 
 mud that it defied all efforts to restore it to its pristine 
 whiteness. In tlie case of an originally white egg, such clTorts 
 will not do much liarm ; in the case of an egg strongly mai-ke.d 
 with deep colours, it is a different matter. The eflorts to remove 
 the clay or dirt imparted by the feet of the parent bird may 
 succeed in removing the stains in question, but mny also very 
 likely remove some of the tmts or stronger colouring too. It 
 must be rem.embered that the deeper colours of many eggs are 
 not " fast," at all events when they have not been long laid, 
 and that attempts at cleansing, more vigorous than judicious, may 
 easDy produce an undesired result. 
 
 If the vent-hole is necessarily made large, there is no objection 
 to placing a piece of thin or gauze paper, wetted with the varnish 
 or white of the egg, so as to cover the entire orifice, and so 
 exclude dust or other intrusive substances. As to mounting the 
 eggs, and labelling for insertion in the collection, much depends 
 on taste. An ordiimry "printer's" card is as good for the 
 purpose as anything, and a little very strong gum-water is the 
 only other requisite. A little attention to placmg the eggs sym- 
 metrically and neatly, and the use of a few gun- wads or half- 
 pence or small wooden wedges, to retain the eggs, when accu- 
 rately set in their true position, until the gum has had time to 
 narden, are matters which will almost sm-ely suggest themselves 
 to any youthful egg-fancier Avho is only tolerably given to admire 
 the "simplex mimditiis." As for labels, they may either be 
 neatly written, or procured, at a very light cost, printed on pui-posa 
 lor such application.
 
 BRITISH BIRDS 
 THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 la the following pages I shall endeavour, as far as my subject 
 will permit, to avoid mere dry aad uninteresting detail. It is, of 
 course, quite inconsistent with the nature of tiie book to omit 
 matter-of-fact descriptions altogether, or even in any very great 
 degree; but an effort will be made to relieve the whole from 
 wearing the appearance of a catalogue in disguise, and to give it 
 as much of a life-like practical character as possible. How many 
 incidents in a school-boy's life are connected, in his memory, 
 with some nesting expedition, some recollection of, perhaps, an 
 accidental discovery of a nest and eggs he had never seen before, 
 or possibly wished and tried to find, but always wished and 
 tried in vain. Such experiences are always pleasant and interesting 
 in their detail to the real lover of birds and their belongings ; 
 and often almost as much so when detailed by others as when 
 reproduced in his own recollections of former days, and their 
 Hopes, and plans, and successes, and disappointments, each often 
 renewed, or often repeated under some rarying from. Why, 
 then, should not such matters stand here and there in these 
 pages? 
 Our plan, therefore, will be to omit all special notice of the
 
 22 BUITISII BIJLDS. TUEIR EGGS AND NhSTS. 
 
 nests and eggs of so-called "British BLi-ds," whose only claim to 
 the designation lies in their having been met with once or twice 
 or even some half-dozen times in the British Isles : to omit it, 
 that is, in the body of the book, and to give such reference or 
 description of at least the more interesting species and their eggs, 
 as space may allow, in an Appendix. Accounts will be, however, 
 given of the liabits of nidification and the eggs of all unques- 
 tionably British Birds, even although their breeding habitat be in 
 another country, or most rarely and exceptionally within the com- 
 pass of the British seas • such birds, for instance, as the Field- 
 fare, the lledwing, the Snow-Bunting, and others, besides several 
 of the Ancdidx. We begin, therefore, with our first Order, the — 
 
 RAPTOKES. 
 
 FAMILY I.— VULTUEID^. 
 
 Two members of this Pamiiy, classed by some naturaUsts as 
 belonging to the same genus, by others as species of two different 
 genera, have been met with in Britain; but I believe one of 
 them, the first-named below, only once, the other only twice or 
 three times. They are only mentioned here as showing the 
 justification there is for claiming the family of Vulturidx as 
 being in anywise exemplified in birds belonging to the Britisb 
 Isles. 
 
 1. GRIFFON VULTURE— (r«/^Kr/«/r«i). 
 
 2. EGYPTIAN VULTURE— (iVeo;5^ro« percnopierus). 
 
 FAMILY II.— FALCONID.E. 
 There are several species belongmg to tiiis Family of suffi- 
 ciently common occurrence even still in these days of ganie- 
 prescrvcrs, ganie-kecpers, and vermin-killers.
 
 GOLDEN EAGLE. 23 
 
 Time was, and not so long since either, uhen many even of 
 those most rare now, wore familiarly met with in almost all parts 
 of the country; and Eagles and the Kite and several of the larger 
 and more conspicuous Falcons and Hawks were not yet become 
 so much like Black Swans, as they are now in so many English 
 and even Scottish counties. 
 
 Tliese birds diCfer, with a marked distinction, from those belong- 
 ing to the Yulture-kind ; and as much in habits and food and 
 power of whig as in appearance, formation, bill and claws, and 
 other matters, such as the scientific naturalist notices for the 
 purpose of enabling liimself and others to distinguish between 
 Family and Family, genus and genus, species and species 
 
 Thus, tlie Vulture's food is usually carrion ; the flesh of animals 
 killed by other agency than their own, and in numberless in- 
 stances in a state of putridity more or less complete. 
 
 The food of tlie Falcon tribe generally consists of the flesh of 
 creatures taken and killed by themselves. I say generally ; — not 
 invariably. The Eagles in a state of nature do not disdain to 
 gorge themselves on the flesh of a dead sheep for instance, 
 although they have had no hand — or rather beak and claw — in the 
 death. StiU the rule is, and admitting not many exceptions when 
 the whole family is considered, that the Falconidse hunt for, or 
 surprise, and slay their prey for themselves. And very intent on 
 this business are they oftentimes, when engaged in discussing the 
 meal their craft or stiU vigilance, or fierce impetuous speed and 
 dash has secured for them. Often, too, not a little sleepy and 
 heavy are they after having been lucky enough to secure a large 
 prey, and greedy enough to stuff themselves fuU with it. 
 
 The bird which stands at the head of the family and alike 
 deserves and does credit to his rank is the
 
 24 IJKniSll lURDS, TIIEIU KbGS AM) NEMS. 
 
 3. GOLDEN EAGLE— (Jfjmla ehrysaetos). 
 
 It seems almost too tame to talk of an " Eagle's nest," and we 
 seem almost to feel as if different M'ords might well be applied to 
 the nursery-structure of the King of Birds, and that of the tiny 
 Tom-tit or the "VYren. So, independently of the nice, simple, 
 old meaning of the word eyry * which makes it so suitable as 
 anrilied to the egg-liome of the grand kingly bii-ds, called Eagles, 
 we feel a sort of satisfaction in limiting the use of the word eyry 
 to the Eagle's nest alone. 
 
 No easy matter is it always to cmtivate a visiting acquaint- 
 ance with an Eagle. His home is not in a place easy of access 
 to any but himself, or those, like himself, up-borne on wings. 
 On rock platforms, not too scanty in size, in mountaLnous 
 districts, and guarded by rugged, stern, precipitous rock-walls, 
 utterly forbidding, in almost every case, access by human 
 members from below, and not often to be safely reached from 
 above, the great pile which forms the nest is usually built. 
 Sometimes, but very rarely by comparison, it may be found on 
 some large, possibly shattered, forest-trunk amid some wild, 
 seldom-approached scene of loneliness or desolation. It is four to 
 five feet in diameter, made of sticks of no mean size and length, 
 sometimes lined with softer materials, sometimes not ; the new or 
 more recently constructed nest placed upon those of last yeyr and 
 other preceding years ; and would require a willing and able 
 labourer to clear it thoroughly away, and no slight touch of the 
 quality of the gate-bearing Jewish hero in the juvenile nest- 
 seeker who might aspire to carry off such a trophy of Jiis nesting 
 
 • Probably from Saxon Eghe (g soundod like y) an egg. The moder'n 
 English form of tlie word would be " Egirery " tlierefore ; the old English 
 form Eyry or Eyrie. Chauoei (about 1400) wrote ey for egg.
 
 GOLDEX EAGLE. 23 
 
 exploits. The site chosen for tlie nest-pile too is ahiiost inv;iri. 
 ably one which commands a wide, unliindered look-out ; partly 
 it is likely, under the influence of the strong instinct of vigilance 
 in self-prcsorvation, partly also for the advantages offered by 
 such a dwelling-place towards the detection of a distant prey. 
 
 The number of eggs deposited is usually two, sometimes 
 three. They are commonly of a dull whitish ground, mottled 
 or marbled nearly or quite all over with a sort of rusty hue. 
 
 The young ones, while yet too young to leave the nest, are 
 amply catered for by their parents. Lists are sometimes given 
 of the spoils, feathered and four-footed, found m what may be 
 styled the Eagle's larder — Black Game, Moor Game, Partridges, 
 Hares, Rabbits, Lambs, young Roes, and so on, to an amount that 
 would seem hardly credible to one not conversant with the Eagle's 
 power of vision and mighty sweep of wing. Indeed there is a 
 story told of a man in L-eland who got a fair provision for his 
 family in a season of scarcity by no other effort than was requisite 
 in plundering an Eagle's nest of the food brought in by the 
 parent birds for their young. He is said also to have prolonged 
 the season of supply by preventing the young ones from flying, 
 by clipping their wings as the feathers grew. Instances have 
 oeen known where the prey seized was human. Professor 
 Wilson tells a touching story, in a touching way, of an incident 
 of the kind, in which the infant was seized as it lay and slept 
 where its mother had placed it, while herself busy not far off in 
 the harvest field, and carried off by the strong bird to its 
 eyry. Tlie poor mother, frantic with her loss, blind to every- 
 thing but tiie thought and effort for the recovery of her babe, 
 safely scaled the precipice, liigh up on which the nest was 
 placed; though no man, however skilful and expert as a 
 cragsman, h.ad ever dared altemct the ascent ; found her babe
 
 2'> iSUlTISII BIRDS, TIIEIB EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 alive and unhurt and smiling in her face, descended again — a 
 iiore perilous feat stUl — in safety, and ouce more on level 
 ground at the foot, swooned helplessly away. The Eagles did 
 not attack her in reality, though their fierce menaces made the 
 spectators tremble. Our boy readers if ever they found an 
 Eagle's nest might well need the protection of a good strong 
 cudgel, fearlessly and skilfully wielded, before they succeeded in 
 possessmg themselves of one of its eggs. — Fi^. 1, plate I. 
 
 4. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.— (ZTa/we^a* albicilla). 
 
 Cidled also Erne, Cinereous Eagle, Sea Eagle. — This species — 
 a member of another genus, however — like the last, breeds amid 
 high, almost inaccessible rocks, in the mountainous solitudes of 
 Scotland, and some of the northernmost British Islands. The 
 nest resembles the Golden Eagle's, but is often more cushioned — 
 one can hardly say lined, when there is scarcely any cavity or 
 depression to receive the eggs — more cushioned with soft material 
 such as heather or sea-weed. This Eagle seldom lays more than 
 two eggs, which in ground-colour are Like the Golden Eagle's, but 
 not often noticeably marked with red- 
 
 The White-tailed Eagle is much more frequently seen south of 
 the Border than the Golden Eagle. In fact, a year rarely passes 
 without some record of the occurrence of this fine bu-d in more 
 than one county of England, and those by no means always the 
 most northerly. On the rabbit waiTcns of Norfolk and Suifolk 
 they are frequently met with, and it not seldom happens that 
 two are seen together — perhaps the young from the same nest 
 driven forth by their stern parents to seek then- ovra. living 
 in the wide worla. 
 
 The male Eagle of this species is kiiowc, like the male of many
 
 97 
 
 otner kinds of birds, to take his turn with his mate in incubating 
 their eggs. It ^ouJd seem difficult for the observer to be mistaken 
 iu this fact ; for the male bii-d, as is the case in the other families of 
 the Falconidse generally, is very distinctly smaller than the female 
 — to the actual extent indeed of not niucn less than one-third cf 
 the entii'e size. 
 
 5. SPOTTED EA.GL'E—iJquila ncevia). 
 Met with in Britain, once or twice only. 
 
 We come next to a Raptorial Bird, whose food is proouied 
 mainly from the water, — namely, the 
 
 G. OSPREY — (Pandlon halixeius). 
 The Osprey, or Fisliing Hawk, or Mullet Hawk, or Eagle 
 Fisher, * builds its nest sometimes on a tree, sometimes on some 
 part of an ancient and deserted building — always on the liighest 
 part, a turret or chimney for instance — and sometimes on a rock 
 or precipitous scar. But a very favourite and almost charac- 
 teristic site — speaking of the bird only as a British bird — is oa 
 some lone insular rock in a wild mountain loch in Scotland. 
 I extract a very striking description from " St. John's Tour in 
 Sutherland : " " The nest was placed in a most curious situation. 
 About a hundred and fifty yards from the shore, there rose 
 from the deep water a solitary rock, about ten feet high, shaped 
 like a broken sugar-loaf or truncated cone. On the summit of 
 this was the nest, a pile of sticks of very great depth, evidently 
 the accumulation of many breeding seasons, as the Osprey returns 
 year after year to the same nest. How this heap of sticks witb- 
 utood the winter gales without being blown at once into the 
 water puzzled me. * * * The female Osprey allowed our 
 boat to approach within two hundred yards or so, and thee 
 
 • A translation of the Gaelic uarae of the bird.
 
 28 BKJTlSIi lilKDS, TlIEIll EGGS AND XKSTS. 
 
 leaving her nest, sailed upwards with a circling flight, till she 
 joined her mate high above U3. 
 
 Having reached the rock, and with some difficulty ascended 
 to the nest, our disappointment may be imagined when we 
 found it empty. From the old bird having remained on so 
 long, we had made sure of finding eggs in it. Tlie nest itself, 
 however, was interesting to me, perched as it was on the very 
 summit o'f tlie rock, and composed of large sticks, * every one 
 of which must have been a heavy burden for a bird of the size 
 of the Osprey. 
 
 In the centre of the pile of sticks was a cup-shaped hoUow, 
 the size of a boy's cap, lined with moss and dead grass, and 
 apparently quite ready to rect-ive eggs." "In another nest," 
 says the same author, elsewhere, "we found two beautiful 
 eggs, of a roundisn shape : the colour white, with numerc^us 
 spots and marks of a fine rich red brown." — Fig. 2, 'plate I. 
 
 The Osprey is met with from time to time in almost all parts 
 of the kingdom, but more especially along the east coast ; but 
 it is known to breed nowhere in England now. In America, 
 it is met with in considerable numbers, forming as it were a 
 large colony, during the breeding season; of course, in the 
 vicinity of some ample and convenient fishing station. 
 
 We come next to the Falcons, distinguished from the rest of the 
 Hawks, by, among otlier things, their long and pointed wings, 
 and their vehement and lapid HigLt and dash in pursuing and 
 seizing their quarry. Fu'st we notice the 
 
 7. GYR FALCON.— (i^a/co Grmnlandicus). 
 Also called Jer Falcon and Greenland Falcon. 
 
 • Some of the sticks — or rather branches— employed, are said to be \\ 
 inch in diameter.
 
 PEREGRINE FALCON. 29 
 
 8. ICELAND FALCON.— (/a/co Islandlcus). 
 Neither of these birds breed in Britain, and they are only occa- 
 sional and somewhat rare visitants. Whatever notice can be 
 afforded to them, will be met with in the Appendix. 
 
 9. PEREGRINE FAI.CON. {Falco perejrinus). 
 There was a tin)e at which this bird was abundant enough in 
 our island. It still breeds in many parts of both England and 
 Scotland, though much more commonly in the latter country. 
 But in the feudal times there would have been no difficulty to 
 the young egg-collector — if such beings existed then — in meeting 
 with the nest of the Peregrine, in districts suitable to their 
 breeding habits and requirements. Although some consideration, 
 it is true, might have been advisable previously to appropriating 
 the contents of the said nest for cabinet purposes. The right 
 iiand of the fortunate collector would have been the penalty in 
 lliose days of strict game laws. So stringent, indeed, were the 
 provisions for preserving the Peregrine, that the customary 
 breeding haunt of a pair was placed under the especial care of 
 the occupiers of the land in the immediate vicinity, and they 
 were made responsible, by the terms of their tenure, for the safe 
 keeping of the noble birds and their offspring. One such site is 
 in Goathlaud, on the line of the Pickering and Whitby Railway, 
 and it is an interesting fact in the nesting habits of the Peregrine, 
 that until within a recent period (and it is believed at the present 
 time also), KiHuig-nab Scar has always been a site of that 
 Falcon's nidification. Many of its breeding places, perhaps Uke 
 others in the interior, known time out of mind by some name 
 derived from the circumstance of their being thus appropriated, 
 such as Faicon-scar, Hawk-scar, Eagle-cliff, are among the tallest 
 and least accessible rocks of the sea coast. The nest itself is 
 placed on rome projection, possibly within some fissure, and is
 
 so BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 made of sticks, or seaweed from the coast, and is lined with soinft 
 hail- on whicii, for the hoUow is not deep, the eggs repose. These 
 are from two to four in number, often vary a good deal in size 
 (probably according to the age of the laying bird), and not less in 
 the markings and mottlings whicli pervade the entire sui'face. 
 A reference to the engraving will give a better idea of the colour 
 and appearance of this beautiful egg, than any description. 
 Indeed, description of many — of most — eggs fails altogether iu 
 conveying an adequate idea of what they are like. 
 
 These birds were so much prized in the middle ages on account 
 of their fitness for the highly-esteemed pursuit of Falconry; 
 and their power of wing and magnificent flight are in themselves 
 matters of great interest, quite independently of the excitement 
 of the chase. The female, from her much greater size and 
 strength, was emphatically "the Falcon;" the male, called the 
 Tercel, or Tiercel, being more frequently flown at much smaller 
 game, as Partridges. A Falcon-flight — although the science is 
 no longer ciiltivatcd at Didlington, in Norfolk, as it was a few 
 years since by the late owner of the estate — may still, however, 
 be seen, from time to time, by the fortunately-placed observer, 
 both Hawk and quarry being ferae naturd. Some luckless GuU, 
 or Guillemot, or Rock-Dove, is selected by the strong freebooter 
 and carried off from amid the passing multitudes with a fierce, 
 rushing dash ; and if there are young to be sustained, the onset 
 aad sweep may possibly be seen once and again. — Fig. 3, plate I. 
 
 10. l\O^V>X—{Falco subbuteo.) 
 
 This beautiful and active little Hawk — a sort of " mmiatut 
 Peregrine," Mr. YarreD calls it — is not a permanent inhabitant 
 of our country. Visiting our shores in April, it leaves ua again 
 before winter. It usually selects a high tree to nest m, verj
 
 u 
 
 often appropriating the old year's or deserted nest of some other 
 bird — Hawk, or Magpie, or Crow — to be its bridal home. It lays 
 two or three (very rarely four) eggs, beautiful, as all the Falcons' 
 eggs are, and leaving no doubt as to tlieir Falcon original to 
 a:iy one who is able to tell even " a Hawk from a Heronsheugh." 
 They are of a nearly uniform pale dull red in ground-colour, 
 thickly spotted and mottled with shades of deeper red. Larks 
 and other small birds are taken — often after lengthened chases — 
 out, besides its feathered prey, the Hobby doubtless destroys 
 large numbers of beetles and oilier insects of any considerable 
 size. — Fiff, 4, p'aie I. 
 
 11. RED-FOOTED FALCOX— (i^«/^o ritfipes). 
 Also Orange-legged Hobby, Red-legged Falcon. — Only a rare 
 risitant, and very little known about either its nest or eggs. 
 
 12. MERLIN— (/^«/ra malon). 
 Also Stone-Falcon, Blue Hawk. — This beautiful bird makes its 
 nest, in moor-land districts at least, almost invariably on the 
 ground ; though it is rather a piece of flattery to say that it 
 makes a nest at aU. A little hollow iu the ground, and that 
 usually not too conspicuous by the absence of ling in its vici- 
 nity, with scarcely any lining, receives the eggs, three to five in 
 number, and characterised by the reddish hue and spottings which 
 seem to garnish the eggs of almost all the true Falcons. The 
 nest is said to be sometimes built in a tree, and then, from l&r. 
 Doubleday's account, seems to be made of sticks, and lined with 
 wool. The Merlin, or Blue Hawk as he is usually called here, 
 IS not a rare bu'd on our North Riding moors ; and a very bold 
 and active Hawk it is. — Fig. 5, plate I. 
 
 ] 3. KESTREL — [Fulco iinnunculus). 
 Also Windliover, Creshawk, Hoverhawk. '^tatuiel or Staunel
 
 32 BlUriSH BIRD5, THEIR KGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 hawk ; — query, Stand-gale, as Montagu wriies one of its provii^ 
 cial names Stone-gaLl. Windhover certainly suggests the meaning 
 of Stand-gale, and that word would be easily shortened into 
 Stannel. 
 
 Who has not heard the sharp, ringing, half-laughiug cry ol 
 the Kestrel? What nest-hunter has not often been warned by 
 that well-known sound, as he came near some scarp of rocks, 
 wood-beset, >\'cll qualiflea to furnish some ledge or crevice to 
 hold the loosely-compacted structure of sticks and wool which 
 does duty for this dainty-looking Hawk's nest ? Yes ; and have 
 not more than one or two of us taken tiie young, and reared 
 them to be our pets, and taken no little pleasure in their beauty 
 and personal pride and preening cares ? Often, too, in a tree 
 may the nest be found, and not seldom will it prove to be not 
 built by the Kestrels themselves, but found — perhaps as many 
 other things are often said to be that certainly were never " lost" 
 before they were " found '' — ready-made to their wants by some 
 luckless Crow or Magpie. And what nesting school-boy too 
 does not know the four or five eggs — one of them often so much 
 less than the rest — which are to be found in the nest ? Some- 
 times red all over, closely spotted with deeper red ; sometimes 
 blotched rather than spotted, and with large blotches; some- 
 times with a lighter ground-colour, but always tinged with red, 
 though otherwise not so unlike the Sparrow-hawk's as not to 
 remind one of that bii-d's eggs. I like to see, and I like to hear 
 the Kestrel, though it is no dainty song he sings. I like to see 
 him fly so steadily, statelily along, and then pause, and hover — 
 tis wings this moment moving rapidly, then as he sails off, 
 Beeming to be as moveless as his body — and next he rounds too so 
 beautifully, and, after a moment's balancing, drops to the ground 
 with swift, but so evenly regulated an impulse, and securing hia
 
 33 
 
 mouse, sails off to feed liis expectant young ones. Mice seem 
 to form a favourite, if not staple, article of their food ; but they 
 are cot exclusive in their diet. An occasional small bird, hosts 
 of coleoptera or beetle-kind, cock-chafers in their season, grubs, 
 and even worms, are known to be readily eaten by them. As 
 intimated above, the species is everywhere familiar, and is alike 
 too beautifid and too useful to be so wantonly killed as it too 
 often is.- -Fiff. G, plaie I. 
 
 14. GOSHAWK— (Jsiur palimbarius). 
 We do not often see the Goshawk in any part of the kingdom, 
 and very rarely indeed, except in some parts of Scotland and in 
 Orkney. It, like the Peregrine, was in much request for the 
 sport of Hawking : only, as its manner of flight was different 
 from that of the Falcon, it was used for the pursuit of different 
 species of game from the latter. Probably this really originated 
 in the impulses of the Goshawk's own Instinct, which leads it to 
 attack Hares and Rabbits, or birds which, like the Partridge and 
 Grouse, never voluntarily fly at any great height above the level 
 of the ground. One curious habit of this bii-d is that of waiting 
 patiently imtil some bird, which it has driven to covert, leaves 
 its shelter, when the pursuit — after a pause of perhaps several 
 hours — is immediately resumed, and probably carried to its pur- 
 posed result. Most of the other Hawks, when baffled in the way 
 noticed, very speedily relinquish all apparent thought or recol- 
 lection of the escaped creature, and proceed to seek for a fresh 
 quarry. It builds its nest on some high tree; only the tree 
 selected is never found in the inner and deep parts of the wood 
 and forest. Like many other birds, both predatory and other, it 
 will often return to the same nest, adding whatever rej'airs may 
 be required, for several successive years. It lays three or four 
 eggs, of a pale faint blue, quite untinged with any other colour.
 
 3^ BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 15. STA'R'ROW-'RA.WK—CAccipaer Nisus.) 
 Sometimes called Pigeon-Hawk. — Another short-winged hawk, 
 as the last named also was, but vastly more common and familiarly 
 known. Some of the Falcons already named may be fitly called 
 bold, or fearless ; the Sparrow-Hawk may be pronounced audaci- 
 ous, or impudent. If you hear some careful, Martha-like 
 housewife of a hen skirling and fussing, in dire alarm, her 
 terrified chicks, the -while^ seeking any possible shelter, you may 
 DC almost certain that the gliding form you caught a glance of 
 rounding the corner of the barn and making a rapid, but by no 
 means noisy stoop, among the young poultry of various kinds in 
 lively attendance on their mothers, — you may be tolerably sure 
 that the intruder was a Sparrow-Hawk, and that some hapless 
 Dove or Chicken has lost the number of his mess. Not that he 
 does not like wild game as well as tame poultry. Mr. Selby 
 mentions one nest, containing five young ones, in or close to 
 which were found a Peewit, two Blackbirds, a Thrush, and two 
 Green-finches, aU fresh, and half plucked. The Sparrow-Hawk is 
 believed seldom to give itself the trouble of building a nest for 
 itself. Some old or deserted nest of the Crow or Magpie, 
 particularly the former, and whether in a fork of the tree or 
 liigh among its top, usually serves its turn ; and in this, very 
 slightly repaired if at all, the mother bird lays four or five 
 eggs, of a pale blueish white, abundantly and most variable 
 blotched with dark red brown. In some few eggs tliis darker 
 colour is more sparingly bestowed ; but they are not frequent, 
 and, usually, the red is more or less confluent about some part of 
 the egg — either end or the middle — more rarely dispersed in 
 very distinct spots, — Fig 7, plate I. 
 
 16. KITE — (Milvus vulgaris) . 
 Glead, Glade, Gled, Pork-tailed Kite or Glead, Puttock, 
 Crotchet-tailed Puttock.
 
 COMMON BUZZARD. 35 
 
 One very rarely sees a Kite nowadays in our customary 
 ield ramblings and observings; though, to be sure, some one 
 did ■^\T.-ite word not long since to the " Zoologist," that he had 
 seen one sailing overhead as he walked the streets of London. 
 Perhaps any but rather resolute nest-hunters might say, if they 
 knew the reception sometimes accorded by a Kite to a would- 
 be plunderer of its nest, "Well, the loss is not without its 
 compensation." Eor the Kite fights fiercely for its eggs or 
 young ; and has been known to inflict damage of both dress and 
 person on a boy attempting to plunder its nest. It is a noble- 
 looking bird; but not distinguished, as the Falcons are, for 
 any very remarkable degree of boldness or courage. A fussy 
 old hen has been known to frighten one from his purposed foray 
 on her cliickens, and he used of old to be chased (for sport, of 
 course) by a species of Palcon " to the manner " trained. The 
 nest, usually found high-up in a high tree in thick wood or 
 forest, is made of sticks and lined with any softer material found 
 handy, and contains two or three eggs of a dii-ty white colour, 
 with a few spots or blotchings of dull red. They cater liberally 
 enough for their young ; no less than twenty-two Moles having 
 been found in one nest. — Fig. ], plate II. 
 
 17. SWALLOW-TAILED "KlT^—CNauclerm furcatus). 
 
 Very rarely seen indeed. 
 
 18. COMMON BUZZARD— r^«^^o vulgaris). 
 
 Puttock. I well remember as a schoolboy in Essex, some 
 thirty odd years ago, that the nests of the Puttock, as the 
 Buzzard was invariably called in that district, were more fre- 
 quently found by us than those of any other wood-building 
 Hawk ; and many a hatch of young Buttocks it fell to my lot to 
 see brought within the old school-gates. Wliether the Buzzard is 
 equally abundant there now 1 cannot tell. It seems to me that
 
 86 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 not oiily Hawks, but very many of the smaller bii'ds as weli, 
 we much less numerous now than in the days of my boyhood; 
 and I have heard other nest-lovers make tlie same remark. 
 
 In rocky countries the Buzzard sometimes builds her nest on 
 precipices, or steep banks ; but generally, in our ovm country, 
 some fork iu a tree supplies either the site for the intended nest, 
 or possibly the nest itself; for, like several otlier of the Hawks 
 already noticed, the Buzzard seems to think tliere is a deal of 
 sound sense in the saying, " Foolish birds build fine nests for 
 wise Hawks to live in them," and acts accordingly. Tho eggs 
 are from two to four in number, of considerable size, and some 
 of them approaching veiy nearly in general look and colour to 
 the Kite's egg. It just as frequently seems to wait until its prey 
 comes to it, aa trouble itself to go far in search of it. It is 
 rather a sluggard and a coward to have so much the air of a fine- 
 iooking bird about it. — Fit/. 2, plaie IT. 
 
 19. ROUGH-LEGGED B^ZZARB—fBufeo lagopus). 
 
 Not to say a rare bird, but still, by no means a common bird 
 in any division of the kingdom. 
 
 20. HONEY BUZZATID— fPm^Js aphorus). 
 
 This never was an abundant species in tliis country, and 
 instances of its nesting with us are very rare. I well remember, 
 however, when White's " Natural History of Selborne " first 
 fell into my boyish hands, how his history of the lucky bii'd's- 
 nesting boy, who climbed the " tall, slender Birch-tree," " on the 
 steep and dizzy situation, near the middle of Selborne Hanger," 
 and brought down the only egg in the nest, and that " hard set," 
 impressed itself on my attention and memory. The nest was a 
 shallow one, composed of sticks, and lined with dead leaves 
 of the beech. The number of eggs — an illustration of which is 
 f )ven — seldom, exceeds two. — Fig. 3, lAaie II.
 
 ASH-COLOURED HAJIXIIER, 37 
 
 21. MARSH UAJmiER—fCircus mfus). 
 Moor Buzzard, Bald Buzzard, Marsh Hawk, Harpy, White- 
 aeaded Harpy, Puttock, Duck-Hawk. — One would hardly expect 
 to find tliat a bird, with such a string of aliases to its name, 
 could enjoy a very wholesome reputation. However, he's no 
 worse than his fellows of the Hawk family, and not so bad as 
 some of them. Probably the name of Harrier, given to this and 
 one or two of the Hawks next named, is derived from their 
 method of beating or quartering the ground, when in search 
 of prey, putting one in mind of tlie evolutions of the hound 
 similarly engaged. Tlie Marsh Harrier or Moor Buzzard (or 
 Bald Buzzard, as I used to hear it called in Essex) builds its nest 
 of flags or rushes — sometimes sticks or twigs — on the ground, 
 amid the grass at the bottom of a fui'ze or other bush ; occa- 
 sionally low in the bush itself; and again, in a tuft of reeds or 
 rushes sufficient to serve the purposes of concealment. In it 
 it deposits three or four eggs, white, or with only a tinge of 
 milk blue about them. It feeds itself and its young with 
 young water-birds, if it can meet with them — and. its name 
 suggests the idea that young water-birds may be met with 
 where itself is found — or young rabbits or birds ; a few mice and 
 small rats doubtless not coming in as altogether unworthy of 
 notice to such hungry customers as four young " Harpies." 
 
 21. HEN -HARRIER— ra?rK5 cyaneus). 
 t don't give a list of country or locai names here, as usual, 
 because I wish to draw my reader's attention to the fact, that 
 the different names applied to the same species of Hawk, are, in 
 several cases, partly attributable to the differences in size, and 
 especially in plumage, dependant on sex and age in the cases in 
 question. This is quite the case with the Harriers generally, 
 and puriicularly with the bird new under notice. There is a
 
 38 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NE3T!». 
 
 remarkable difference in colour between the male and female 
 when adidt, and a likeness when the former is immature and the 
 latter an old bird. Thus, the old male is mainly blue, the 
 female brown ; so he is called the Blue Hawk often, or Dove 
 Hawk, and she the Ringtail. Like those of the Marsh Harrier, 
 the eggs of the Hen Harrier are white, and are placed in a nest 
 of small sticks and long, coarse grasses, built upon the ground, 
 four or five in number, and not often varying from the uniform 
 tint of the ground-colour by the addition of a few reddish- 
 coloured spots or speckles. Its distinctive English name — 
 ZTijw-Harrier, seems to be due to the fact, that, like the sick and 
 repentant old Fox, it appears often to consider " a chicken might 
 suit me too," and acts accordingly. But, from its habits of 
 regularly working over stubbles and other haunts of the 
 Partridge and other like birds, there is little doubt that it 
 varies its diet with a little game occasionally. 
 
 23. ASH-COLOURED IIXRRIER— {Circus cineraceus). 
 Tills bird, for which YarreU proposed the name Montagu's 
 Harrier, is by no means of frequent occurrence in this country, 
 and is scarcely likely to be met with by many of our young 
 readers. The nest, like those of the other two species of Circus 
 just named, is usually on the ground, often not far from gorse or 
 whin-bushes; and the eggs, four or five in number, are like 
 those of its congeners in general colour and aj)pearance. With 
 this bird our list of Falcorudse closes. 
 
 FAMILY II.~STEIGID^. 
 
 When I was a boy I remember — only those goings-back to 
 school were a sad hindrance — trying or helping to make a colleo 
 tion not of Bi-ds' eggs exactly, but of Bird's •merry-thouojhta
 
 MEANS OF FLIGHT IN THE OWl.. '62 
 
 Did our young readers ever see such a collection, or think of 
 it ? Perhaps the answer will be " No ; — and if we had, what 
 would it have to do with a book about Bu-ds' eggs ? " I will try 
 and show that I have a purpose in mentioning Bii'ds' merry- 
 thoughts, and that it may have something to do with such a 
 book a5 this, and its subject. 
 
 We have already agreed that classification is a useful and 
 necessary thing ; tliat nature herself leads us to it, and shows ua 
 how to fashion and contrive it ; nay, that the very eggs of bii'ds 
 are, speaking generally, such in their shape and mai-kings as often 
 to suggest the formaiion of a group out of such and such 
 different species producing them. But the merry-thoughts and 
 the bones they are immediately connected with, the keel-like 
 breast bone and the side and wing bones,* will be found to do 
 the same tiling, with respect to the collection of three or four 
 (or more) such groups of birds, as I have just called them, into 
 what is termed a Family. Thus, if our readers could get the 
 opportunity of looking at the merry-thoughts and breast-bone" 
 of half-a-dozen different Hawks, they would find, with a degree 
 of variation according to the various species selected, a very 
 obvious and striking correspondence or resembiance. The 
 breast-bone, in every case, would show great depth of keel and 
 strength of substance ; and the merry -thoughts would be seen to 
 be firm and strong, and of great or considerable substance 
 Next, if the corresponding bones of about the same umnber of 
 birds of the Owl-kind {Sirigidos), were taken and compared with 
 taose of the Falcon-kind just spoken about, while the mutual 
 ■'esembiance of the Owl-kind bones was seen to be quite as great 
 and obvious as in the case of the Hawks ; the difference between 
 l.he said bones of the Owls and those of the Hawks would be 
 1 don't {rive the scientilic names of these bones, for obvious reasons.
 
 40 lUUTlSIl BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS 
 
 altogether strange and lialf startling, from its greatness and 
 fcddenness. The deep keel and the strong substance of the 
 '.rcast-bone in the Hawk has given place to a shallow keel and 
 weak walls in the Owl, while the curved, strong, broad, solid 
 merry-thought has become a fork with thin, straight, weak, 
 yielding shanks. So great and plain is the difference that any 
 sharp intelligent boy could almost dii-ectly pick out for himself 
 all the Hawk bones, and all the Owl bones, and put them in 
 their several groups. And if he did, I think he would say to 
 himself, and most likely to some other person, as soon as he met 
 with one likely to be able to answer hmi, Wliat does this 
 difference in these bones of these birds of different Families 
 mean ? — In plain words, it means difference in powers of flight. 
 Any of our school-boy readers who wanted to prise his strong 
 school-box open, because he nad lost his key, would not take 
 his peu-knife for the purpose ; because he would think it foolish 
 to use so weak an instrument for so strong an effort. A great 
 strong cliissel would be much more likely to serve his purpose. 
 And so is the work of God's hand. If a long, strong wing has 
 to be moved rapidly, and even vehemently, the motion, like all 
 animal motion, must be given by muscles. But the muscles 
 must be fixed to wliat they are intended to move, or they cannot 
 acton it; and they must be fixed at some other point also, or 
 they would waste their power on nothing, instead of imparting- 
 motion. And, of course, the stronger they are, the stronger 
 must what they are fixed to be, and the larger also to admit of 
 more and more strength. Well, the muscles that move the 
 bird's wing are affixed at their other extremities to its breast- 
 bone and men-y-thought, and hence the size and strength of these 
 bones in the Falcon kind with their vigorous, impetuous l%ht 
 and sweep of wing; and the o iiUj-aruuve insigiiiricance and
 
 MEANS OF FLlbilT IN THE OWLS. 4.\ 
 
 wcakrioss of Uie same parts in the slow-flying, noiseless-winged 
 Owlet. If our young friends are disposed (o udJ, in their 
 collection of birds' eggs, ti^e so-called merry-l liought of each 
 sepai'ate bird to the eggs laid by that bird, they will be apt to 
 learn an interesting and instructive lesson in elementary 
 anatomy. And such a collection may be made to a great exteu!,, 
 without much trouble, by almost every one who has the ordinary 
 facLHties of a residence in the country at his command. 
 
 Having said so much to show how even the most simple and 
 obvious and familiar dilTerences in the bone structure of birds 
 suggests, or, if not, confirms the principle of classification of 
 bii'ds, and therefore of their eggs, let us now go on to notice 
 our quaint "feathered friends," the Owls, and especially our 
 more famihar acquaintance among them. There are other things 
 belonging to the Owl family, which our sharp young friend just 
 named would have just as little trouble in picking out from a 
 heap of similar objects, as in the case of the bones. I mean 
 the eggs. The same character, however much they vary in size — 
 and they do vary vastly in size — is common to every one of the eggs. 
 They are all white ; they are all very slightly oval, or very nearly 
 round, and you cannot tell wh'ch is meant to be the big end, and 
 which the little. Of course, this being the case, it would be of 
 very little use to take up the small space available for illustration 
 in this book, with representations of Owls' eggs ; and for the same 
 reason, as little as possible will be said in the way of description. 
 Any Owl's eggs which are likely to come under the notice of the 
 school-boy nest-hunter wUl tell himagooddeal about their origin, bj 
 their size and the place they are found in ; and the best picture ana 
 description possible would not be able to teach him half as much. 
 Just as the bones, noticed a page or two back, would be found 
 to show that there was a sort of approach to something like a
 
 «S BRITISH BIRDS, THEIK EGGS AND NE5>TS. 
 
 noticeable connection between the Harriers and the Owls, so 
 the eggs of the former seem to hint at something of the same 
 £ind. The merry-thought and breast-bone of the Harriers are 
 yastlj less strong and solid than those of the true Falcons ; and, 
 so to speak, intermediate in such respects between these and 
 those of tlie truest Owl, while the eggs are colourless or nearlj 
 so, and so approach again to the Owl type. 
 
 24. EAGLE OWL— {Bubo maximus.) 
 This noble bird, the first on our list of British Owls, is sa 
 occasionally and irregularly seen in Britain, that it can scarcely 
 claim lengthened notice at our hands. 
 
 25. SCOPS EARED OWL.— {Scops Aldrovattdi). 
 Almost, or rather certainly, more rare than the preceding. 
 
 26. LONG-EARED OWL.— {Otus vulgaris). 
 Met with, though not very abundantly, in most parts of 
 England. Its haunt during the day time is in ivy bushes, or 
 other retreats affording security from the access of much light, 
 its nest is most frequently an appropriated old nest of the Crow 
 or Magpie ; perhaps even what was once the breeding-home of the 
 Squirrel; and m it are laid four or five eggs IW inch long, by 
 ] 2 ? iiich broad. It seeks its prey after sunset ; and as birds of 
 various kinds are known to form part of its food, it seems almost 
 certain that they must be taken as they sit at roost. What sad 
 bug-a-boos Horned Owls must be made to offending j uveniles in 
 little-bird nurseries. 
 
 27. SHORT-EARED OWL— (Oto brachyotus). 
 
 Woodcock Owl, Short-horned Howlet, Mousehawk, Hawk 
 
 Owl. It breeds with us, but not very commonly, and many 
 
 seem to come over in the autumn, and they are then frequently 
 
 Been is a stubble, or otherwise roused by the sportsman. It*.
 
 BASN OWL, 
 
 43 
 
 nest is sometimes on the ground, and perhaps even in a rabbit- 
 burrow. The eggs are thi-ee in number, and scarcely differ the 
 least in size from those of the bii-d last named. Young Grouse 
 and other birds breeding about the moors are abundantly sup- 
 plied by the parent Owls to their young when the nest chances 
 to have been made in such a locality, and the old ones are very 
 jealous of seeing their progeny too nearly approached, and 
 expose themselves almost as fearlesaly on such occasions as 
 either Partridge or Grouse. Tiieir local name of Ilawk-Owl is 
 derived from the circumstance that they pursue their prey — 
 regularly "hawking" for it — daring the daytime. 
 2S. EARN 0\N'L—{Slj-lxJlammed). 
 White Owl, Yellow Owl, Screech Owl, Gilly Howlet, Howlet, 
 Madge Howlet, Church Owl, Hissing Owl. — This common and 
 useful bird breeds by preference in some building or part of one . 
 a church tower, dove-cot, ruined mansion, or castle, and the Hke. 
 My most familiar boy-acquaintance, however, was with the 
 nesting place and habits of a pair which nested for many 
 consecutive years in a slight hollow in the crown of a large 
 pollard Elm tree in my father's church-yard in Essex. Thero 
 were usually three or four young ones year by year, often with 
 perceptible differences of growth among tliem. Indeed it is 
 well kno\Tn that this Owl and the last named, and probably 
 others as well, lay their eggs in instalments, as it were, and 
 when the first batch of two is about hatching or nearly so, 
 other two are deposited in addition, and thus hatched in their 
 turn almost as much by their brother and sister as by thfiir 
 mother. Quainter, graver, odder, stranger, more irresistibly 
 comic creatm-es than these young Owls I never saw; and the 
 hissing and snormg, and peering looks at the spectator, and 
 strange "ntic contortions I heard and saw, bafHe all attempts
 
 44 BRITISH BIKDS, THEIR £GCiS AND iitSTS, 
 
 at description. The eutcrtainment, for such it was most truly, 
 usually begaa some little time before sunset, about which time 
 the old bii'ds might be seen commencing thoir hibours of 
 purveying food for Masters and Misses Howlet. At intervals of 
 from seven to ten minutes one or other of them came to the nest 
 with a prey, and I could always tell by the sounds and gest- 
 ures of the young Owls when the old one was approaching. How 
 they knew I could not tell ; it was not by sight, and I could 
 hear no sound myself; but know they did most certainly. Mice, 
 slugs, sometimes a large insect apparently, or a small bird, very 
 rarely a Mole, or Eat of no large dimensions, were brought in 
 continuous succession, and in the claw, not with the bUl. When 
 the animal was of small dimensions, the old Owl flitted off again 
 ivith scarcely any pause at the nest. It a large one, it seemed 
 by the time which elapsed, and the sounds which became 
 audible — most vehement suorings and hissings — that partition 
 had to be made, and that the said partition was a matter ol 
 the greatest interest to the parties concerned. I cannot affirm 
 positively that the old Owls prosecuted then- most successful 
 hunting all through the night ; but T believe they did, and I 
 have seen them still at work in the morning long after sun-rise, 
 once as lale as between eight and nine in the morning in the 
 height of summer. As the inmates of a dove-cot, they are on 
 very excellent terms with the proper dwellers therein, although 
 from the known habits of other Owls the human ownens oi the 
 dove-cot are apt to assume, most groundlessly and unjustly, th»,t 
 they are sure to destroy the yoimg Pigeons. I don't believe, 
 however, that if all the rejected pellets of bones, fur, feathers, 
 fee, from all the Barn Owls in the kingdom could be examined, 
 tliat any trace of pigeon, old or young, would be discovered ; and 
 that fanner is a foolish farmer who either destroys m Bam
 
 TAWNY QWL. 4s 
 
 Owl himself or suffers any one else, whom he coT;ld prevent, to 
 destroy one. They are perfectly harmless, exceedingly useful, 
 and strangely interesting to the observer. I may add that since I 
 began to write these lines, I am told that the self-same tree is 
 still occupied by a pair of the self-same Owls, and has continued 
 to be from the days of my boyish recollections — a period of 
 more than thirty yeais. The young of this and the next species 
 are very bold, resolute little creatures, if taken when rather 
 more than half-grown. They wiU throw themselves on their 
 backs, and defend themselves pertinaciously with bill and claw 
 against any foe, or supposed foe, human or other. The Barn 
 Owl lias been known to take fish by plunging upon it in the 
 water. The eggs are about li inch long, by 1| broad. 
 29. TAWNY 0'V^'L—{Si/rnium stridula). 
 Brown Owl, Wood Owl, Hoot Owl, Ivy Owl, Jenny Howlet. 
 This is the bird whose well-known and, as I think, musical 
 note is so often heard at night in wooded countries, in the 
 genuine "tu-whit-to-who-o-o-o," or "hoot." The last-named, 
 or Barn Owl, is the Screech Owl proper, though not, in my 
 experience, very much addicted to indulge in her unpleasant 
 song. I very seldom used to hear a downright good screech in 
 those old days. The Brown Owl makes its nest — at least, lays 
 its eggs — in some lioUow tree, usually in a wood or near one. 
 Some times a few feathers or a little moss may receive the eg^?,, 
 often only the decayed wood. I have heard of the nest of this 
 bird in other positions ; e.ff., in a deserted Crow's nest, or 
 a hole in a rocky bank. But the hollow tree is the rule. The 
 eggs are three or four in number, and larger than the Barn 
 Owl's, being about lj§ inch long, by 1| inch broad. The old birds 
 nave two or three notes besides the hoot; one being a short, rather 
 Bnarp cluck, often repeated. The young ones, after they fly
 
 46 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 depend a good deal on their parents' exertions for food, which 
 consists of young Rabbits, Hares, now and then birds of sorts. 
 Rats, Mice, &c. I once saw a young Brown Owl, apparently 
 waiting for its food to be brought, and sitting very still on the 
 topmost bough of a tall tree, aimost knocked off his perch by 
 the whizzing flight of a Wild Duck. The Owl ducked liis head, 
 or I thought the Duck would have actually struck him, so near 
 was the encounter. 
 
 30. SNOWY OWL—iSurnianyctea). 
 A beautiful bird, of very rare occurrence. 
 
 31. HAWK OWL—{Surmaftinerea). 
 Canada Owl — ]\Iore rare than the last. 
 
 32. LITTLE OVJlj—{Noctt(a passerind). 
 Little Night Owl, Sparrow Owl — A very occasional visitant. 
 
 33. TENGMALM'S OWL—{Noctm Tengmaimi), 
 Like the last. 
 
 We arrive now at our second Order, 
 INSESSORES, 
 The first Group in which is — 
 
 DENTIROSTRES. 
 
 FAMILY I.— LANIAD^. 
 
 34. GEJEAT GKEY SHRIKE— (Z««?«s excubitor). 
 Greater Butchel Bird, Ash-coloured Shrike, Cinereous Shrike. 
 
 Grey Shrike — This bird is an occasional visitor only, and has very 
 rareiy been seen in the breeding season. No authentic instance 
 of its nesting with us is known. 
 
 35. RED-BACKED SHRIKE— (Z««j«« eoUurtd). 
 Lesser Butcher Bird, Elusher, Murdering-pie, Jack Baker,
 
 SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER. 47 
 
 &c. — nie male of this species is a beautiful bird, with his bright 
 cnesnut back and lively air. They spend only a part of the year 
 with us, but that part involves the period of nesting. The 
 nest is usually rather high up in a strong, thick bush, large-sized 
 for the bird, cup-shaped, and made of coarse withered herbage 
 externally, with rather finer materials within, and lined with 
 hair or some such substance. The eggs are four or five in 
 number, varying much in colour and marks. The ground-shade 
 varies, and so do the markings ; the latter, however, being usually 
 found thicker and darker in a zone or band encircling some part 
 of the egg. Description is quite inadequate to convey any idea 
 of these variations. The bird deserves its name, for it 
 " slaughters " small birds, as well as other animals, and hangs 
 up the carcases in regular shambles. It is wonderful how the 
 frogs, beetles, caterpillars, cock-chafers, bii'ds, &c., which form 
 its food, are fixed so very firmly and tenaciously upon the strong 
 thorny point. — Fiffs. 4, 5, plate II. 
 
 36. WOODCHAT SHRIKE— (Z:««t«s ru/us). 
 Only an occasional visitant. 
 
 II.— MUSCICAPID^. 
 
 37. SPOTTED 'E'LYGA.TCTn^R—iMusctcapa^risola). 
 Beam-bird, Bee-bird, Rafter -bu'd. Post-bird, Wall-bird, Cherry. 
 chopper. Cherry-sucker, Cobweb-bu'd. Many of these names are 
 taken from the familiar site of its nest, or from some of its habitti 
 in taking food. It will return to the same post, after a short 
 eicursion to seize an insect, ten or a dozen times m succession ; 
 und it wUl build its nest on a wall, on the end of a rafter or 
 beam, on a rake-head, in a trained wall-tree — in fact, in almost 
 every conceivAble place. The nest varies in material and struo
 
 48 BRITISH BIRDS, THErR EGGS AND NESTS 
 
 ture, almost as much as in its site. Moss, old and new, bents, 
 straws, twigs, hairs, feathers, all are used. It is an amusing 
 little bird, and pays many feeding visits to its young, as is the 
 case with all insect-feeding birds. The eggs are four or Cwe in 
 number, of dull white, tinged with blue, and spotted with faint 
 red. It only visits us to breed here. — Fi^. G, picde IT. 
 
 38. m:D JLYCATCBER—iiVuscicapa atricapilla.) 
 Goldfinch. — A rare bird in some localities, and not an abundant 
 one in any. The nest is loosely made of small roots, bents, grass, 
 moss, hair, or some such material, iu a hole, usually in pollard 
 trees, or such as have decayed from natural causes, but some- 
 times also in a hole in a wall or other building. In it may \if^ 
 found four to eight eggs of a uniform light blue coloui-. — Fig. 7, 
 jjiate IT. 
 
 III.— MEEULIDJE. 
 
 39. COMMON DIPPER— (a«efe« aquaticus.) 
 Water-ouzel, Brook-ouzel, Water-crow, Water-piet, Bessy- 
 ducker. — I may as well own that I am a little bit " fond " about 
 the Dipper. I dearly love to see him and hear liim in my ram- 
 bles by our mountain becks. So lively, cheery, and jolly, even 
 In the cold winter day, when the mere look of the chilly, shivering 
 stream makes one feel goosc-skirmy. There he sits at the water 
 edge, and sings like a Robin a little tipsy, and then in he tum- 
 bles, in a rollicking sort of way, as you become a little too 
 niquisitive, and emerging a few yards further down, takes wing, 
 and darts off v ith his Kingfisher-like flight. One nest some 
 lads belonging to my family found here, was a feather-bed sort of 
 structure of moss and a few feathers, filling up a six-inch square 
 hole in the masom^y of a bridge in wliich one of the scaffold-
 
 MISSEL THRUSH. 49 
 
 rafters of the workmen had been inserted, there being a small, 
 rouna nole left in the exposed side for exit and ingress. Others 
 may be seen in cavities in a rock by the water-side ; and one 1 
 heard of, if my memory is correet, in Berwickshire, was built 
 amid the stone-work of a water-lead for conducting the waste 
 water away from a mill, and in sucii a position that the water in 
 :ts fall projected itself beyond the nest, and formed a kind of arch 
 above it. The old birds in going into or leaving their nest had 
 actually to pass in either from the side or through the interstices 
 of the small cascade. The eggs are five or six in number, and per- 
 fectly, purely white. A sad enemy to fish spawn 1 fear my little 
 while-breasted friend is. I never yet carea to shoot one, I love 
 them so well. But when there are half-a-dozen small but very 
 hungry Dipper-mouths to be fed, I fear much consumption of 
 fishes' food, as well as fishes' eggs, takes place. It is able to 
 walk, though with much effort, under water, as weU as dive and 
 swim ; and I have often seen them, on coming to the surface in 
 a quiet pool, remain perfectly quiescent and floating for several 
 seconds, — Fig. S, j^late II. 
 
 40. MISSEL THUUSH— (r«/-t/«s viscivorus). 
 Misseltoe Thrush, Missel-bird, Stormcock, Screech Thrush, 
 Holm Thrush, Holm Screech. — A handsome bu-d and an early 
 builder. The Missel Thrash seems to lay aside some of its wildness 
 in the breeding season, and draws near the dwellings of men. Its 
 nest may continually be found in a garden or orchard close to a 
 house, and in the thick fork of an apple or other fruit tree, often 
 only a few feet from the ground. Woe be to the Cat who comes 
 near the nest ! Such a storm of violent abuse and loud-tongued 
 birds' Billingsgate as is poured on her devoted head ! Nor does the 
 human intruder escape quite without a telling of it, or what my
 
 60 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND N£ST». 
 
 Yorksliire friends term " a calling." If a Missel Thrush is very 
 angry with you, be sure his nest is not far off. It is a larsjo 
 structure, of much such materials and design as the Blackbird's, 
 but often bound round and round with long rushes or roots, or 
 other material sufficiently lengthy and pliable. The eggs, tour or 
 five in general, often vary much in colouring and marks ; but are 
 in general of a whitish ground-colour, lightly tinged with green 
 (or perhaps faint red), and well spotted with red-brown. — Fig. 9, 
 Tplate II. 
 
 41. WHITE'S THRUSH— (y«r^«* Wbitei). 
 
 Only a very rare visitant. 
 
 42. FIELDFARE— (r«?-</z« pilaris). 
 Felfit, Felty-fare, Blue-back, Jack-bird. — A very common 
 winter visitor, and staying sometimes as late as 10th May. But 
 they do not breed with us ; and as space is not too abundant, any 
 notice which can be afforded of this bu-d's nesting habits must 
 be put in the Appendix, if found possible. 
 
 43. COMMON THRUSH— (r«riKS musicus). 
 Song Thrush, Throstle, Mavis. — Every one knows this sweet 
 songster, and could point out its pet stone v/ith its little accu- 
 mulation of shattered snail shells, which, when whole, had been 
 brought there by the knowmg Thrush and hammered agamst the 
 well-fixed anvil until they gave way. Every body knows his 
 persevering song, begun at day-dawn in early February, and per- 
 severed in for months of the spring and early summer. Every 
 one knows its trim, neatly-plastered nest, with its warm, solid 
 coating of grass and bents and roots and such like materials. 
 And every body too, knows the four or five fair blue eggs with 
 iheir tidy black spots, which now and then, however, can hardly 
 be seen at all. Every body also knows how fussy the old mother
 
 BLACRBILD. 51 
 
 Thrush is the day her brood quit their nest ; and how, if you 
 catch one of her luvkward, ill-ilying, soon-tired squad of young 
 ones, she will follow you with much objurgation and no little 
 plaintive entreaty that "a great fellow like you, who ought to be 
 ashamed of yourself for frightening a poor little fluttering crea- 
 tur-e like that, will put it down again soon, and not hurt it, and 
 be a dear, good man, — now do, won't you ! " — Fig. 10, plate II. 
 
 * 42. HEDIVING.— (r«;Y/«* iliacus). 
 
 Like the Fieldfare, frequent in winter ; but breeds m another 
 country. 
 
 * 43. BLACKBIRD.— (r«r^«j merula). 
 Black Ouzel, Amzel, Ouzel, also pronounced sometimes in TCorth 
 Yorkshire, so as to sound like Ussel or Oossel. Merle in Shaks- 
 peare. — The Blackbird's tawny bill and sable plumage aud sweet 
 meUow song — would one like it as well if he were as lavish of 
 it as the Thrush ? "Who does not welcome and love him ? A:id 
 to a very youthful nest-hunter what a deserving bird the Black- 
 bird is. Making his nest usually in such places and so that 
 detection is not at all a matter of course, and yet not altogether 
 beyond the discenmient of inexperienced eyes. The discovery 
 of our first Blackbkd's nest is always felt to be a sort of 
 achievement, aud one to be spoken of with ixasonable seK- 
 approbation too. Li the hedge, at the bottom of the hedge, on 
 the stump, behind the stump, below the stump, an exciesence on 
 the side of the ragged old tree, in a wall tree, in an evergreen 
 or other thick bush — how often have we found the nest ic these 
 and such like places. Once we found one which we sel donm 
 as made by the untidiest Blackbird that ever lived. It was Li a 
 thorn hedge thick and high, and a great rough structure. But 
 a lock of wool, a big one, had been unmanageable and had 
 
 E 2
 
 53 BKlTISll BIRDS, TUEIR EGGS AND NEStfl. 
 
 caught on the thonis, and the feathered architect couIJ do 
 nothing with it, and there it hung out of the ncst-wali a thick 
 tangle, inches long, and making the nest as conspicuous as it 
 a flag had been stuck just above it. Hov; the eggs vary in 
 shade, markings, size, &c., I have already noticed at a former 
 page, and I am fcaiful of absorbing too much of my space by 
 adding more. — Fiff. 11, pla(e IT. 
 
 44. RING OJJZEL— (Tardus torquatas). 
 E-ing Thrush, ]\loor Blackbird, Mountain Blackbird, Tor Ouzel, 
 Bock Ouzel, Bing Blackbird. A bold abusive freebooter in our 
 gardens in North Yorkshire, and other similar localities. lie's a 
 beautiful bird, and a wary, except when seduced by strawberries 
 and red currants. His wild and not unmusical note, though it 
 might sound harsh in a trim garden in Kent or Essex, and to an 
 ear not attuned to moorland sounds, is always as welcome to me as 
 the gentler twitter of the Swallow. I like to hear his attempts 
 at song, reminding the listener of the Missel-bird's early spring 
 music. kxA I like to hear his wilder, grating call-note, which is 
 the usual warning the ornithologist has that the Moor Blackbird 
 has returned for the season. His nest is very like the Blackbird's 
 in design and general structure. An inner lining of bents and 
 fine ling, a wall of clay, and an outer husk of moss, ling, and 
 such like moorland matters. It is not strongly or compactly 
 formed, and makes a great litter if kept a day or two and 
 subject to be handled or moved, however carefully. It is always 
 built on, or near the ground, on the wild moor ; and I once trod 
 the feathers out of the wing of a sitting hen, oa whom and her 
 nest 1 nearly trod in leaping a guUy. The eggs are usually four 
 or five in number, and remind you of the Blackbird's eggs in 
 I heir general appearance; but the blotchings or markings are 
 redder, and often much larger or more pronounced than in the
 
 K(;IUN. 53 
 
 case of llie Blackbird. Their eggs, too, vary generally in size, 
 even in the same nest. Out of the contents of two nests I had 
 brought to me a year or two since, no two seemed to agree 
 exactly in dimensions. — Fig. 12, flute II, 
 
 45. GOLDEN ORIOLE— (0/-/o/«« galbula). 
 Only an unaccustomed summer visitor. 
 
 IV. SYLVIAD^. 
 46. ALPINE ACCENTOR— (^^^(?«^or Alpinus). 
 
 Met witli two or three times in Britain. 
 
 47. HEDGE-SPARROW— (J/ow^«^ modularis). 
 
 Hedge-warbler, Shuffle-wing, Duunock, Hempie. — I cannot 
 call it Iledge-Acceutor, with all my respect for Mr. Yarrell. It 
 was Hedge-Sparrow in my childhood and youth, and Hedge- 
 sparrow to me it will be called to the end of the chapter. I 
 coidd no more wantonly kill a Iledge-Sparrow, in my sparrow- 
 killing days, than a Robin ; and now, wlien I liear his low, sweet 
 pipe, and see his wings quivered as he hops on the ground or 
 from spray to spray not knowing I am noticing him, he seems as 
 dear to me as ever. The mossy nest, with its intermixture of fino 
 roots and hairs, may be found weeks before leaves are thought of, 
 on the bank-side or low in the hedge, and little concealed ; and 
 the four or five "beautiful blue eggs in it become familiar to every 
 nest-seeker among his very earliest acquisitions. — Fig. 13,plaie!T, 
 
 48. IIOBIN — {Erythaca rubectda). 
 Redbreast, llobin Hedbreast, Ruddock, Robinet, Bob-rcfiii;. 
 I remember throwing n stone at a llobin when a very little boy, 
 and to my consternation and utter grief, no less than to my sur 
 prise, killing it. I "felt bad" about it— as our American friends 
 say — and thought I was as wicked as the Sparrow of bow-and-
 
 64 BIUTISII BIRDS, TIIEIll EGGS AND NESlft. 
 
 arrow memory. It seems to be, or to liave been, a common reel- 
 ing among boys, and is embodied in the old lines : — 
 
 " The Robin and the Wren 
 Are God's Cock and Hen." 
 
 ITow beautiful the Robin's eggs are when just laid ; and how they 
 lose their peculiar pinky loveliness from being blown. A hundred 
 different places, too, the little bird selects for the site of its nest ; 
 often being such, moreover, as to illustrate their confiding fear- 
 lessness, as much as the result in them of the pressure of winter 
 cold and hunger. In the tilt ot a wagon ; in a steam-boat ; in a 
 room of the cottage ; near a blacksmith's forge ; in the constantly- 
 used garden-shed, as well as in the ivy or evergreen bush ; or on 
 the bank, or in the hedge ; or in a hole in the old ruin or bank 
 or house-wall : all places seem to suit it alike. The eggs are 
 five or six, sometimes seven; and the shell is wliite, more or 
 less freckled with light red. — Fig, 14, plate II. 
 49. BLUE-THROATED WARBLER— (P//^«/cKm Suecica). 
 Blue-throated Robin, Blue-throated Redstart, Blue-breast. — 
 Only of very rare occurrence; 
 
 50. im'D'&TKKH—CPhcemcura ruticilla). 
 Eiretail, Fireflirt, BrantaU, Redtail. — The male is one of the 
 most beautiful of cm- small birds, and I wish I could think it as 
 abundant with us as it used to be. The nest is loosely con- 
 structed of moss, with a few small straws or bents sometimes, 
 and hair and feathers inside, and almost invariably is placed iu 
 a hole, it may be in a hollowish tree, or a wall, or even in a bank ; 
 and here, where dry-stone walls abound, its choice of nesting- 
 places is inexhaustible. Very watchful are the old birds over the 
 eggs, and very fussy and noisy when the eggs have yielded their 
 living contents, and yet very careful too. I knew there was a 
 nest the vear before last not far from my garden gate ; but it was
 
 WUIN-CUAT. 55 
 
 not till I hid myself most carefully and patiently beliind the 
 door, that I made myself master of the vigilant little sentinel's 
 secret. It lays four or five, and, occasionally, six eggs, of a pale 
 uniform blue colour, perhaps tinged with a faint green shade. They 
 ire almost as pretty as the Hedge-Sparrow's. — Fig. 15, plate II. 
 
 51. BLACK REDSTART— (P/5^«?VKra Tithys). 
 Tithys, Redstart, Black Red-tail. — It has been met with in 
 Britain perhaps half-a-dozen times, or rather more, 
 
 51. STONE-CHAT— (5'a.T/co/a ruLicolu). 
 Sione-cliatter, Stone-clink, Stone-smick, Stone-chack, Stone- 
 smith, Moor-titling, Chick stone, Black-cap. — A very rommon 
 bb:d m many districts, and from his habits much more familiarly 
 and commonly known and noticed than other birds equally 
 or even more abundant, but of less obtrusive, or quieter habits. 
 Flitting about from bush to bush, and seating himselfpertly on the 
 top spray, there he sits and " cliats " or " clinks " till the pas- 
 senger comes too near, and then off he flies again, to perch again 
 a few yards fiu'ther and repeat the same performance. The nest, 
 sometimes very neat and well-constructed, of moss and benty 
 grass, and lined with hair, feathers, fine grass-stalks, &c., is often 
 quite on the groimd and with no bush near ; sometimes at the 
 foot of a low bush, or in the bush itself, but very near the ground. 
 The eggs are five or six, of a pale blue ground, very sparingly 
 freckled with dull reddish brown, and chiefly near the large end. 
 The nest is often hard to find, and especiaDy when built among 
 longish herbage, or in or near a whin-bush. — Fig. 16, plate II. 
 
 53. WHIN-CHAT.— (^^orjVo^a ruhctra). 
 Grass-cnat, Eurze-chat. — Many of the bnds last-named pass 
 the whiter in England ; but only a few of the Whin-chats. This 
 is never so abundant a species as the last, and though with some
 
 50 BRITISH BIRDS, TIIKIR EGGS AND N' tSTs, 
 
 Bimilar habits it has no urgent inclination to force us to notice 
 it by the incessant repetition of its note. The nest strongly 
 resembles that of the Stone-chat. It is also usually placed 
 on the ground, and is folly as hard to find as that bird's. 
 The eggs, five or six of them, are of a uniform blueish green, 
 very slightly speckled or marked with dull-red. — Fig, 17, 
 plate II. 
 
 54. WHEAT-EAR— (5'«.nco/a cenanthe). 
 Eallow-chat, "VVhite-rump, "V\Tiite-tail, Eallow-smick, Fallow- 
 finch, Chacker, Chackbird, Clodhopper, with some other quainter 
 names still, which I have noted down, and yet another or two 
 common to the Wlieat-ear and Stone-chat, such as Stone-ohacker. 
 A common bird enough liere, and with some of the more obvious 
 habits of the Stone-chat. It perches on the stone walls as one 
 approaches it, and flirts its tail and chacks, and then diving below 
 the wall on the far side, re-appears again ten or twelve yards lower, 
 and acts as before ; and so on for a hundred yards or more. The 
 stone walls in our district and the large heaps of stones, removed 
 in reclaiming parts of the moor and flung promiscuously together 
 any where to be out of tlie way, afford them capital breeding 
 places. In other countries old walls, or holes in the sides of pits 
 or excavations, serve their purpose. The nest is not very artistic 
 or well-finished, and formed of many different materials — bents, 
 feathers, dry roots, fur, in short any waste matters which may 
 have come in the way of the builders. The Eggs are five or six 
 in number, and of a pale-blue colour not so dark as tliose of the 
 Hedge-Sparrow. It is said that ])eople accustomed to the habits 
 of the Wheat-eai- are al)lc to find its nest without dilBcidty, 
 from the occurrence r.f certain noticeable sicrr-s ii: its neigh- 
 bourhood. — Vlrj. ], jilale III.
 
 REED WAKULKK. 57 
 
 55. GllASSHOPPER WARBLER— (Salicana locusteUa). 
 
 A summer visitor, of shy and retired habits, and very vigilant. 
 Its note, very shrill and constantly repeated, reminding one of 
 tlie Crieket or Grassliopper's note, gains it its name. The 
 nest is liard to find, and unless the bird be very closely 
 watched, it may baffle a good observer. It is placed in spots 
 matted and overhung with growtli of grass or other herbage and 
 bushes ; is cup-shaped, made of coarse dry grass, wiLli finer 
 within ; and contains sometimes as many as seven eggs, of a 
 pale pinky-white colour, freckled witli spots of a darker shade 
 of red.— ^;V7. 2, plate III. 
 
 56. SEDGE WAllBLEIl-(&/j6-«y7« phragmilis). 
 
 Tin's everlasting little songster is more conniion tiian the bird 
 last named, and almost every boy knows its peculiar chiding note. 
 Many a lad, too, knows that by shying a stone in near its haunt, 
 its notes may be elicited almost any hour in the night or day. 
 I think I have neard it singing on all through the night, and 
 notwithstanding the absence of any pretence at dayUght. Its 
 nest is usually placed near the ground, in the vicinity of more or 
 less water, and is supported, as well as concealed, by the coarse 
 lierbage. Made of coarse grass stalks externally, and lined witli 
 finer ones and hair, sometimes with a foundation of moss, five 
 or SIX eggs are deposited in its cup-shaped lioUow, of a pale brown 
 colour, a little mottled witli darker brown. — Fig. 3, plate III. 
 
 57. SAVl'S YfKKSLEK—CSalicana lascinoides). 
 
 Not of sufficiently common occurrence to demand notice here 
 
 5S. REED ^YkR3h'EK—{SaUcanaarlmdlmeea). 
 Reed Wren, Night Waibler. Almost as zealous a songster as 
 the Sedge Warbler. There are few hours in the twenty-four
 
 55 BKITISII BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 when its voice may not be heard about its accustomed haunts ; 
 namely, willow and reed beds, and particularly the latter. The 
 nest is, perhaps, the deepest made by any English bu-d,'and 
 quite a long inverted none in shape. It is affixed lo, or rathei 
 built so as to include turee or four reeds, or more. So that, 
 however the wind blows, it is quite fast, wliile its great depth 
 prevents the eggs falling out, even if the reeds be blown almost 
 level. The bird has been seen still sitting when the violent 
 gusts forced the nest down almost to the water level. The nest 
 is made of long grass and the seed-stalks of the reed, and lined 
 with wool or the like. Four or five eggs of a greenish-wliite 
 Dolour, marked in spots and dashes of green and pale brown, 
 are usually laid. — yirj. 4, plate III. 
 
 59. NIGHTINGALE.— (P/ii7oOTe/a iKscitiia). 
 This sweetest of the English warblers has but a limited range 
 [n Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, I used to hear it abun- 
 dantly ; but of late years, as a resident in Yorkshire, its note 
 iias become strange in my cars. Shy and vigilant in its habits, 
 it does not willingly expose itself to observation, and its haunts 
 are so thick that discovery of its nest is not always easy. It 
 seems often an untidy structui'c, but according to my observation, 
 not usually built on the ground, as Mr. Yarrcll states. I have 
 found it in a thick thorn hedge or bush, and in slu'ubs in the 
 tjarden; made of twigs, straw, grass, and especially old oak 
 leaves, and with only a jagged margm. The eggs, four aud 
 sometimes five of them, are of " an uniform olive-brown colour," 
 and from the time they are laid, the bird only sings occasionalij. 
 Alter they are hatched, never. — Fi^. 5, plaie III. 
 
 GO. BLACKCAP. — {Curruca atricapilla). 
 Blackcap ^Vai-bler. — This bird, with several others, has a local
 
 GARDKN WAKBLER. 59 
 
 or country hame in common, derivable, I believe, from the 
 structure of the nest. I mean Hay-jack or Ilay-chat; but it is 
 I think, much less frequently distinguished by that name than 
 the three birds next to be mentioned. The country-boy's name 
 for one of these must always be distrusted, as is the case 
 also with Ids designation of other common, but much more 
 dissimilar birds. Thus, not to mention other instances, the 
 Blackcap proper, the Greater Tom-tit and the Stone-chat are 
 all called Blackcap. — The Blackcap Warbler comes to us in spring 
 and builds in our gardens and shrubberies as frequently as ia 
 wilder resorts, but always in places where there is thick foliage 
 and plentiful means of concealment. It is a very shy bird and 
 very unwilling to be gazed at. If it sees you watching it, you 
 soon lose sight of it as it hops and twists from spray to spray 
 into the inner and shadiest recesses of its haunt. Its nest, too, 
 is studiously concealed, and Mr. Yarrell says it will leave two or 
 three just-commenced nests in succession, on light grounds of 
 suspicion that it has been noticed in its labours. The nest is a 
 benty, and saving for the ties of wool or cobweb, a slightly 
 compacted edifice, lined with hair and fine fibres, and contains 
 four or five eggs of varying colour and mottlings — white, greenish 
 or tinged with a peculiar shade of faint red, being the ground- 
 coloui-, with markings of a reddish brown. — Fig. 0, plale III. 
 
 Gl. GA.IIDEN WARBLER— ((7«;T«m hortemis). 
 Pettychaps, Greater Pettychaps. — Inferior to the Blackcap in 
 song, as the Blackcap is inferior to the Nightingale, only not at 
 so great a distance. Still it is a sweet songster. It comes to us 
 to breed, and frequents thick hedges and the covert afforded by 
 our shrubberies and pleasure-plantings in gardens. The nest, 
 like the Blax;k''ap*s in materials and detail, of dry grass-stalks or
 
 61) BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR KliGS A.SU m'sIS 
 
 bents loosely twined but bound together with wool, &c., and 
 Jined with hair and fibrous roots, may bo found among rank 
 growth of various herbage, or in a bush, or iu a row of rodded 
 peas. The usual four or five eggs are of muddled-white, stained and 
 Epotted with greenish brown, lighter or darker. — Fig. ", plate III. 
 
 62. WHITE-THROAT— (C«rrac« cinerca). 
 Nettle-crcepcr. — Another pleasant singer, but with occasional 
 harsher notes, and a chiding one, not unlike the Sedgebird's, when 
 uneasy or irritated. This is the usual Haychat of the country 
 lads, and fully as often called the Nettle-creeper; the former 
 name being due to the fabric of its nest, the latter to its habits 
 of twining in and out of the leaves and coarse herbage which 
 abound among its haunts. Little description of the nest is needed, 
 except that it seems slighter, and is thinner at the sides than 
 those last named, but still it is not less compact. The eggs vary 
 a good deal in appearance, but there is still such a family likeness 
 among them that they are easily recognizable by most egg- 
 fanciers. Green, in different shades, is the predominating colour. 
 —Fij. 8, plate III. 
 
 C3. LESSER MllYYE-1BR0kT—{Cunuca syhiella). 
 Not so common a bird nearly, as the last, and rising higher in 
 the bushes and shrubberies it frequents than it. It shigs low and 
 pleasantly when you arc near enough to hear it, and very inces- 
 santly, but its more frequently heard notes are ratlier harsh. The 
 nest, found among low bushes and brambles, is like the White- 
 throat's, and the fcur or five eggs laid in it are white, speckled, 
 most at the large end, with ash or light brown. — Fig. 9, plate III. 
 
 64. WOOD WARBLER— (^y/i7«« sibilatrix). 
 Wood Wren, Yellow TVren. — This bird was long confounded 
 with the Willow AVrcn to be named next. It comes to us for
 
 CniFFCHAFF. 61 
 
 the summer, the males (as is the case with so many of tha 
 Warblers), coming first by several days. It is abundant enough 
 in some well-wooded parts of the kingdom, and its song is only 
 called such by courtesy. It builds a domed nest ; that is one 
 covered in above, and with a side entrance ; on the ground amid 
 grass or weeds. It is made of grass, dead leaves, moss, and 
 lined with hair and soft grass. The eggs are six in number, 
 wiiite, and very much speckled and spotted with dark red- 
 purple. — Fig. 10, plate III. 
 
 G5. WILLOW WREN— (^^/f/« trocldlus). 
 WUiow Warbler, Yellow Wren, Scotch Wren, Hay-bird, Iluck- 
 rauck, Ground Wren. — A well known little bird to the observant. 
 It sings " a soft and pleasuig " song, and is a lively little fellow, 
 in incessant motion. Very restless and uneasy too, when you are 
 near its nest, and particularly if the young are hatched. The 
 nest is domed, externally like the one last named, but always 
 lined with feathers, wliich the last never is. It is built on a bank 
 or bankside, among grass or other herbage, and contains five to 
 seven eggs, white, with many small speckles of red not very dark. 
 There is an instance on record, in which this bird did not leave 
 its nest tliough it had been bodily removed from its site on 
 the ground, and even before any eggs were laid or the nest 
 itself completed — one of the most remarkable cases of the kmd 
 known. — Fig. 11, plate III. 
 
 66. CHirrCHAPE— (5y/wa hippolais). 
 Lesser Pettychaps, Least Willow Wren. — An "early bird" 
 this is in coming to us in spring time, and able and willing enough 
 to take its substitute for the " worm." The two syllables of its 
 name, differently accented, form its song. Its nest is like that of 
 the ^Villow Wren, with the addition of a few dead leaves outside
 
 62 BRITISH BIRDS, TIIEIK EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 and abundance of featliers inside, and is also placed on (or very 
 near) the ground on a hedgebank. Tlie CbiiTcliaff lays six eggs, 
 white, with specks of dark purplish-red. — Fig. 12, plate III. 
 
 67. DARTFORD ^K^^ljY^^—iMelizophilusprovindaUs). 
 
 A bird wliich is scarcely known except on some of the furze, 
 growing commons of the South, especially Kent and Surrey 
 The nest is of dry grass-stalks, loosely put together and tied 
 with wool, and sparingly lined with other fine and dry vegetable 
 substances. " The eggs," we read in Yarrell, " are somewhat 
 similar to those of the Wliitetliroat, but rather less ; and Hke 
 tliem, are tinged with green. They are speckled all over with 
 olive-brown and cinereous on a greenish white groiond; the 
 markings becoming more dense and forming a zone at the large 
 end."— J?y. 13, plate TIL 
 
 68. GOLD-CRESTED REGULUS— (i?^^«&5 crhtatm). 
 
 Gold-crest, Gold-crested Wren, Golden-crested Warbler, Gold- 
 crowned Kinglet. — One of the smallest of our native birds and 
 possessing a " soft and pleasing song." Its nest — one of the 
 very most beautiful of all our English nests — is built below the 
 branch of a spruce fir-tree and near the end of the bough, being sus- 
 pended to two or more of the spreading side-boughs. These are 
 often woven in with the moss and wool of the nest, and then 
 tliere is a Uuing of feathers; spiders' webs too are used to 
 compact the structure. Seven or eight eggs are laid, which vary 
 remarkably, in d. ffcrent nests, in both ground-shade and mark- 
 ings. Some remind one of the usual Robin's egg in both, though 
 the spots are much finer. Others are pale white, with yellowish- 
 brown (rather than red) speckles, — Fig. 14, plate III.
 
 BLUE TITMOUSR. 63 
 
 69. FIRE-CRESTED 'KEGULUS—CRec/ulus iffmcapiUus). 
 
 Much less common than the last, though very likely often con- 
 founded with it from its great general resemblance. Its nest is 
 like its gold-crowned relation's, and the eggs seem to resemble 
 the variety first described in the above notice of that bird. 
 
 V. PARID^. 
 
 70. GREAT TITMOUSE.— rPara* major). 
 
 Great Tit, Oxeye, Blackcap, Great Blackheaded Tomtit, Pick- 
 cheese. — It might also be called, and I believe is in one district, ths 
 Saw-sharpener, for its note certainly puts one in mind of tha»; 
 agreeable musical operation. The Tomtits are familiar to all of us, 
 and "impudent" is one of the epithets we most usually apply to 
 the whole tribe. Most of them breed in some hollow place or hole. 
 The nest of the Great Tit is formed of moss, with a feather lining, 
 and is sometimes placed in a hole in a wall ; sometimes in some 
 appropriate recess in a hollow tree. Like the other Tits, it lays 
 many eggs, occasionally from six to nine. They are white, of 
 fair size, and well spotted as well as speckled with a decided 
 shade of red. There is an easHy recognised resemblance between 
 the eggs of all the Tomtit family. — Fig. 15, plate III. 
 
 71. BLUE TITMOUSE— (^Par?;5 caruleus). 
 Tomtit, Blue Tomtit, Nun, Blue-cap, Blue-bonnet, BiUy-biter, 
 
 Hickwall, Blue Mope. — One of the most impudent of an impu- 
 dent lot. A pair had biult their nest in a crevice between the 
 lintel and stonework of my coacli-house, and my children from 
 their nursery window observed it. Eor their amusement I got 
 a ladder and looked in. The bold little matron could not be 
 induced to leave the hole, but spit and hissed like a regulai
 
 64 BRITISH niivus, their eggs and nests. 
 
 vixen, and tried to make herself as big -as two by ruflling up het 
 featlicrs, so as to friglitcn the owners of tlic ugly faces, as she 
 would tliiuk, she saw at her door. Often, too, have I been 
 bitten sharply by one I had laid hold of. Almost any hole in any 
 object will do for the nest-site. Even a bottle, a wooden box, a 
 pump-barrel, a quccr-sliaped cavity in an old tree only big enough 
 to admit such a small creature, all are made available. The nest 
 is voluminous, of moss, hair, and feathers ; and the eggs are abnosl 
 endless. From six up to twelve or thirteen is of common occur 
 rence. Llr. Ilewitson mentions one case of eighteen eggs 1 They 
 are white, and spotted with pale red. The jouiTicys of the old 
 birds to and from the nest when supplying their large family 
 with food are literally innumerable ; and the number of small 
 catcr])Lllars, grubs, plant-lice, and the like, destroyed by these 
 jidefatigable caterers, must be simply astonishing. I think the 
 pair just now referred to made at least one visit to the nest every 
 two minutes throughout the day. The climbing, clinging habits 
 of this and other Tomtits are very amusing; and in former days 
 I made them dance on the slack-rope for my amusement and my 
 friends'. 1 strung a nut or two on a piece of strong thread, and 
 tied the two extremities to a tree and a nail in a wall near the 
 window, respectively. This plan gave me many lengthened 
 opportunities for watching their ways. I have also seen them strip- 
 ping off the loose bark from pine-planks and picking out the fine 
 fat grubs which eat their way between the wood and the bark. — 
 Eig. IG, flate III. 
 
 72. CRESTED TITMOUSE— (Par«s cristatm). 
 As rare with us as the last two Tits are common. 
 
 73. COLE TITAIOUSE— (P«rK« ater). 
 Colemouse, Coal-h-^ad. — A hardy little bird, of no rare occur-
 
 I.OKG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 05 
 
 fence in any part of the kingdom. Incessantly active and fre- 
 quently associating with other small bii'ds it prosecutes a restless 
 search for the small insects and seeds which form its food. Ita 
 nest, of moss and wool and hair, is placed in a hole in a tree, 
 sometimes very near the ground ; sometimes even in a hole in the 
 ground which has been made by some small quadi-uped. Like 
 the other Tits, if necessary it wiU enlarge a hole in. a tree which 
 it finds already such as nearly to suit its requirements. Sis to 
 eight eggs are laid, white, and spotted with faint red. 
 
 74. l^IARSII TITMOUSE.— (Ptfr/^? pduslris). 
 Coal-head, Black-cap, "Willow-biter. — A plentiful species in 
 places ; but as its name intimates, with a preference for districts 
 with the peculiar low growth of bush and willow found in low 
 fenny countries. It makes its nest in old willows and the low 
 stunted trunks of pollard trees, and will labour hard to make a 
 nearly suitable hole quite serviceable. It is said to carry the 
 chips it makes quite away to some distance. The nest is better 
 built than those of the Tits hitherto named, of moss and wool ; 
 and the number of eggs varies from live or six to eight or even 
 ten. They are of the usual Tom-tit type, white, spotted with red. 
 
 75. LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE.— (Paras candatus.) 
 Lcng-tailed Mag, Mum-ruffin, Bottle-tit, Bottle-tom, Long- 
 tailed Capon, Long-tail Pie, Caper Long-tail, Oven-buUder, 
 Poke-pudding, Mulllin, &c., &c. — The beautiful, even wonderful 
 nest of this little bird must be well-known to almost all nest- 
 fanciers— oval, of great size compared with the tuiy architect; 
 built, too, entirely by the female, wondrously compacted with 
 moss and wool, and "sparkUng with lichens" affixed to the 
 outside, it affords access by one hole only, on the upper part of 
 one side, to the inside most warmly lined with feathers. So
 
 6(5 ~ BllITISH BIRDS, TITXni EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 thoroughly is it secured to the sticks which support it, that it is 
 scarcely possible to obtain an entire one without cutting i.lie 
 sticks for removal also. The eggs are often ten in number, and 
 sometimes one or two more, wTiite, and very slightly specked 
 with red, if at all. Wliat the little bird does with her long taD 
 when sitting, is a marvel. The young, when able to fly, kecf. 
 much together and with their parents ; and often, when at rest, 
 sit very close together on one branch, so as to present a doubtful- 
 looking feathery lump to the observer's eye. — Fig. 17, plate III. 
 
 76. BEARDED TITMOUSE.— (Par«5 biarmicus). 
 
 The male of this species ia, indeed, a beautiful bird. They ar& 
 met with in sufficient abundance in many districts in England, 
 e.g., about the Norfolk Broads, the Meres in adjacent counties, 
 as well as in Surrey and Middlesex. Until lately, from the 
 fenny nature of the soil of their habitat, they have been less 
 observed than any other birds ; but now their habits are much 
 better known. Their nest is often made of various finer sedges 
 and the dead flag-like leaves of the reed with a little grass, and 
 lined with the seed-down of the reed. Sometimes almost on the- 
 ground, sometimes raised a little above it in a tuft of grass or 
 reeds, on the margin of a ditch or other water, it contains four 
 to six eggs, not so large as those of the Greater Titmouse, and of 
 usual Titmouse colour and markings. — Fig. 1 S, plate III. 
 
 VI. AMPELIDiE. 
 
 77. BOHEMIAN WAXWING.— (^o»ziyc«V/« garrma). 
 
 "Waxen Chatterer, Chatterer, Bohemian Chatterer. — Less rare 
 as a visitor, than some other British Birds; but still only a visitor.
 
 GREY-HEADED AVAGTAIL. 67 
 
 VII. MOTAClLLIDJi:. 
 
 78. PIED WAGTAIL.— (Ifo/anV/fl alba). 
 
 TVliite Wagtail, Black and TVliite Wagtail, Dishwasher, Wash- 
 tail, Nanny Washtail. — I think we, aU of us, know this familiar 
 and very graceful bird, and like to see its active run and short 
 flight taken for the purpose of captm-ing an insect. We have 
 often been amused, too, at seeing perhaps a wJiole family of young 
 ones running among the legs of the cows near the water, and 
 taking a fly now from the belly or flank of the great animal, and 
 then from its leg or the ground. The nest is made of grass, bents, 
 dead roots, moss, and is sometimes found in a hole in the rude 
 wall of an old shed or the side of a haulm wall or pile of furze, 
 or in a hole in a bank ; sometimes on the outside of a heap of 
 sticks, or in thatch, or upon the end of a haystack, and other 
 analogous places. Four or five eggs are customarily found in it, 
 white, and speckled with cinereous spots and lines, being often 
 such as to resemble one variety of the varying eggs of the House- 
 Sparrow. — Fig. 19, plate III. 
 
 79. GEEY WAGTAIL.— (i¥o/ac///« boarula). 
 
 Less plentiful than the Pied Wagtail, equally elegant and 
 more beautiful, this little bird resembles the other in its ways 
 and habits. Its nest is placed on the ground at no great 
 distance from water, which has many attractions for it, as well as 
 for the common " Naimy Washtail." The materials and general 
 structure are, in the main, the same as in the last case ; feathers 
 and wool being introduced as a lining. There are often five or 
 six eggs in it, of a faint white ground-colour, mottled and 
 jtreaked with very light brown, a few streaks being sometimes of 
 a darker tint. — Fig. 20, plate III. 
 
 SO. GKEY-HEADED y^ kGTKlL.—{Motacilla negleda). 
 Met with less than half-a-dozen times in aU in Britain.
 
 68 BIUTISII BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 81. RAY'S WkG1ML.—{MotacillaJlaDa). 
 Yellow Wagtail, Cow-bird. — A summer visitor, aad, of covrse, 
 making its nest with us. It buUds on the ground, in cornfields 
 or fallows ; sometimes on a stump of a tree level with the 
 grouud, or on a bank of earth overhanging water, or in a hole in a 
 wall in the same vieinity. The said nest is made of moss, roots, 
 dry grass, and lined with the same, only finer, and a little hair. 
 Four to six eggs are laid, which Mr. Yarrell says, " are not un 
 like those of the Sedge-Warbler, only rather larger ; whitish in 
 colour, mottled nearly all over with yellow-brown and ash- 
 brown." 
 
 VIII.— ANTIIIDiE. 
 82. TREE PIPIT.— (^«;/i«5 arboreus). 
 Pipit Lark, Pield Titling, Field Lark, Tree Lark, Grasshopper 
 Lark. — No long time elapses after the spring arrival of the Tree 
 Pipit before he makes his presence observable by indulging in 
 his peculiar mode of recommending his song, not unpleasant in 
 itself, to our notice. Seated on the topmost twig of a tree or 
 high busli he sings awhile, and then up he goes with fluttering 
 wing, singing all the while, and also while descending from his 
 greatest height on outstretched wing to the twig he started 
 from. The nest is always on the ground, and not far from a 
 hedge, or under a low bush, and is found also in woods or 
 nurseries not far from the edge of a drive or glade. It is made 
 of moss and fibres and grass, Ihied with finer grass and a little 
 fiair. The eggs vary inconceivably in tint and marks, and 
 entirely baflle description. Some are purple-red, others yellowish- 
 white in ground, clouded and spotted almost all over with different 
 shades of Ki^Gyish brown. — Fiij. 22, 23, plaie III.
 
 KOCK npii. 
 
 69 
 
 83. MEADOW VIVlT.—iJnihus praiensis). 
 
 Titlark, Pipit Lark, Meadow Titling, Moor Tit or Titling, 
 lleatlier-Lintie, Moss-Cheeper, Ling bird. Meadow Lark. — A verv 
 common bird here, both in the enclosed lands and especially on 
 the moors. It is amusing to observe how they sometimes wind 
 their way among the Img, instead of flying from the place at 
 which they have alighted. Its nest is always on the ground, 
 sometimes in the middle of a grass or corn-Geld, sometimes 
 nearer the hedge, but always so placed as to be very well if not 
 very closely concealed. One I found accidentally on the moor 
 was in the side of a cavity left by the extraction of a huge 
 surface block of stone, in a kind of small hollow or recess, and 
 completely covered in by earth and ling. In addition to its five 
 proper eggs, this nest contained a Cuckoo's tg'^. The nest is 
 made of bents, lined with the same and some hairs. Tlie eggs 
 are from four to sLx, and vary in colour. Mr. Yarrell's descri|)- 
 tion is, " of a reddish Iwown colour, mottled over with darker 
 brown." The red is hardly discoverable, if at all, in some 
 I have, and I should have said "dusky brown." — Fig.2\, plate III. 
 84. ROCK VlVVY.—{AniInis petrosus). 
 
 Dusky Lark, Rock Lark, Eicld Lark, Sea Titling, Sea Liutie. 
 This bird, it seems, was long confounded with the two last. It 
 is seldom met with far inland, and is not always found near 
 rocks, notwithstanding its name. It is a ground-builder, and 
 where there are rocks handy, the nest is very likely to be oa 
 their ledges, if only a little grass or the like grows there. It is 
 composed of various diy grasses, and contains four or five eggs 
 of a greenish cast, and mottled with dusky brown or da'is 
 cinereous markings. 
 
 85. RICHARD'S '^lVlT.—{Anthus Ricardi). 
 
 Only an occasional visitor to our shores.
 
 70 BRITISH BIRDS, TlIKill EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 2. CONIROSTRES. 
 
 FAMILY I.— ALAUDIDJE. 
 
 8G. SHORE JjAHK.—iAlauda alpestris). 
 Only a very few of these birds have been met with in Britain. 
 
 87. SKY LARK — {Alauda arvensis). 
 
 Lark, Field Lark, Lavrock. — Very few words of description 
 are requisite in the case of tliis everywhere famihar and favouiite 
 Bongster. Up in the sky, and soaring still, he pours out his 
 joyous strains, suggesting to us much more forcibly than any 
 other bird does in its song the thought that it is offering praise 
 and thanks to Him who made and preserves the fowl that fly in 
 the air, as well as all other creatures. So that the thought in 
 the old German Hymn, — 
 
 " Hark ! Hark ! the Lark at Heaven s gate sings," 
 seems not fanciful to us, but solemn truth. Once last summer 1 
 ■was speaking the solemn words, " dust to dust, ashes to ashes," 
 over a dead parishioner, followed as they so soon are by the telling 
 of our " sm-e and certain hope of a joyful resurrection," when a 
 Sky Lark, right over our heads, broke out into his sweet, simple, 
 thankful, hopeful, joyous melody, and by it spoke to more sad 
 hearts than one in that sQent company. Up, up, to the skv was 
 Ids pathway, and the song and the soaring both said tliat a "joyful 
 resurrection" was no " cunningly devised fable." 
 
 The Sky Lark's nest is always on the ground, often near the 
 edge of a furrow, sometimes near a little grassy unevenness of 
 the surface, sometimes even, cunningly concealed in a dry grassy 
 grip by the side of a field at the foot of a low hedge-bank. It 
 is but a slight and inartificial structure, of bents lined with finer 
 grasses and a few fibrous roots. The eggs, which I never knew
 
 WOOD LAHK. 71 
 
 to exceed five in number, vary as much in general colour and 
 markings as the Tree Pipit's and quite baffle verbal description. 
 I found three in a nest two years ago, altogether dusky in general 
 iiue and so dark that I can hardly use the word brown in describ- 
 ing the shade ; wliile generally " dark grey" and " ash brown " 
 will succeed in conveying an idea of the mottliugs characterising 
 the egg. Besides which, by no means a small proportion of a 
 large collection of Sky Lark's eggs wUl always be found to show 
 a prevaiUng tinge of green in the sui-face colouring. The Lark 
 is a very faitliful mother, and will not easily be induced to leave 
 her nest ; and even when the nest has become quite untenable 
 longer, from any cause, the parent birds have been known to 
 move both eggs and young to a safer place, by grasping them 
 with the long prehensile claws of their feet. — Fi^. 24, plaie III. 
 
 88. TYOOD LARK— (Ala uda ardorea). 
 The Sky Lark is seen everywhere; on the moors here in 
 small parties, on the Saltings ia Essex and other southern 
 counties, in our meadows and corn-fields all over the kingdom. 
 The TVood Lark, on the other hand, is strictly local, though 
 sufficiently abundant where it does occur. I knew, in one case, 
 where a shot was fired at a lot of Larks in the snow, that out 
 of five or six which were kiUed all but one proved to be Wood 
 Larks. So local is it, that though I have been a resident in 
 Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, Berwickshire, anc' 
 Yorkshire, as well as a visitor in other counties, I have never 
 lived among or near its haunts, saving ordy in the western-most 
 county named. The nest is formed on the ground, usually well 
 concealed by grass or a neighbouring scrubby bush, is composed 
 of dry grass and moss, and lined with fibres and a few hairs. The 
 eggs are four or five in number, of a lighter ground-colour (but
 
 12 BRITISH I3I11DS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 scurcely less ia size) than those of the Sky Lark, vary very little 
 comparatively in their general appearance, and often in addition 
 to the ash brown or greenish hue of the superficial frecklings 
 and mottlings, are marked by the presence of a few wine-red 
 blotches. Tlie young are much sought for to keep in cages, as 
 they soon begin to sing very freely. The song of the Wood 
 Lark in a state of nature is one of the sweetest, in some respects, 
 with wliich I am acquainted. — Fi_^. ^o, plate III. 
 
 89. SHORT-TOED 'LK^Y.—{Alatida hrachydadyla). 
 A bird much resembling the Wood Lark in appearance, but of 
 very casual occurrence. 
 
 TI.— EMBERIZID^. 
 
 00. L.iPLAND ^'Si'^Tl^^—{Pledropliunes lapponica). 
 lias been met with in Britain, but on a very few occasions. 
 
 91. SNOW BUNTING— (P/ec^ro29^««es niv lis). 
 Tawny Bunting, Mountain Bunting, Snow-flake or-fleck. — Only 
 
 a winter visitor in tliis country, though often coming in not very 
 scanty numbers. I have frequently seen tlicm on our North 
 Yorkshire moors, and liave heard of tliem as seen in flocks of 
 large dimensions. One informant told me he had seen as many 
 as two hundred together. It breeds in countries very far to the 
 North, and, like otlier indigenes of the North, is subject to con- 
 siderable variations in colour according to season. So much so, 
 that the bii'd which used to be called Tawny Bunting in its 
 summer plumage, was re-christened by the name of Snow Bunting, 
 to suit its winter dress, wliile the young bird was called by tlio 
 name of Mountain Bunting. 
 
 92. COMMON BUNTING— (ff^/im^a miliaria). 
 Bunting, Coi-n Bunting, Ebb. — The name of this bird shows
 
 BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 
 
 73 
 
 that it is not by any means rare in perhaps most of our country 
 districts. It often utters its not very musical cry seated on a 
 tall spray in a hedge, and sometinies wliile flying along. The 
 nest is always made very near the ground, if not actually on it, 
 usually among stunted bushes or coarse herbage. It is made of 
 roots, bents or coarser materials yet, and lined M-ith hair. The 
 Bunting lays four or five eggs, of a kind of stained- white ground, 
 suggesting the idea that a vinous-red stain has been imperfectly 
 washed off, and blotched and streaked and speckled, in the 
 characteristic Bunting style, with sliades of purplish brown, 
 some of them rather dark. Though called Com Bunting, it may 
 be found where corn-fields are not abundant. I once met with a 
 nest at the foot of St. Abb's Head.— /'/y. 1, plate IF. 
 
 93. BLACK-HEADED 'm'^Tm(j<—{Emberizascha-niclus). 
 
 Reed Sparrow, Reed Bunting, Water Sparrow, ]\Iountain Spar- 
 row, Black-bonnet. — Not a rare bird anywhere in England, I 
 believe, where water is not rare ; and very conspicuous from the 
 dark head and bright plumage of the male. On the Essex 
 marshes it is common enougli, and so it is in the marshy or ill- 
 drained meadows of other counties. Mr. Yarrell says the " nest 
 is jreneraUy placed on tlie ground, among coarse long grass or 
 rushes, at the foot of a thorn, or on the side of a canal bank." 
 The last I found was among, and sapported by, the sedges 
 growing at the side of a marsh-ditch in Essex, and not less than 
 ten or twelve inches from the bank — a site which I believe is not 
 an unusual one. It is made of grasses, fragments of rushes, 
 stalks of diffcTcnt plants, and lined sometimes with rred-dowm, 
 or finer grasses and a little moss. I dislodged the male l)ird 
 from the nest just named, and the eggs were perfectly warm to 
 tiie touch. They would have been hatched in a few days. It was
 
 74 BRITISH BIRDS, TU£IR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 thus proved that the male E,eed Bimting takes his share in 
 
 sitting, and tlie position of the nest among green and growing 
 
 sedges adds one more fact to what is known of its nidiflcation. 
 
 The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale reddish-brown 
 
 colour, streaked and spotted with dark brown of a rich purple 
 
 shade. — Eig. 3, plate IF. 
 
 94. YELLOW HAMMER— (^;/i^mz« citrmella). 
 
 Yellow Bunting, Yellow Yowley, Gold-spink, Yellow teldi-ing, 
 
 Yellow Yoldriug, or Yeorling, Yeldrock, Yellow Yite, Yoit, &c. — 
 
 I used to hear in Berwickshire, that 
 
 " The Brock, the Toad, and the Yellow YeOrling, 
 Get a drap o' the Deil's bluid ilka May morning." 
 
 I wonder what they all do with it, and how the plentiful bleeding 
 affects the patient. Por there is certainly no lack of Yellow 
 Hammers all over the country ; and if one looks at the long 
 strings of blown birds' eggs festooned at cottage doors, or hung 
 over the cottage or farm-house mantel-piece, the trophies of some 
 yotuig nest-taking hopeful dwelling there, after the Blackbirds' 
 and Thi-ushes' eggs, the most abundant are almost always those 
 of the Yellow Hammer. We all know his rich plumage and 
 somewhat plaintive song, which, in my school-boy days, used to 
 be Englished into " A very, very little bit of bread and n-o-o 
 c-h-e-e-e-s-e ! " It does not spare materials when engaged in 
 building its nest. Dead grass, small sticks and moss, a fcT? 
 feathers and plentiful hair to form the lining, are ready enough 
 in our fields for its use, and the structure compacted with them 
 is placed usually in a low, thick bush on a hedge-bank, well con- 
 cealed, and but little raised above the soil. Sometimes I have 
 found it in a rough grass-field, amid tufts of rushes and other 
 such-like growth. Sometimes even in a wall-tree, as in my own 
 ;;uden last year ; or in an evergreen shrub, also in my garden a
 
 CHAFFINCH. /5 
 
 year or two since. But the hedge side is the rule. The eegs, 
 tiiree to fh'e in number, and often very round in shape, vary 
 considerably in individual cases, but never so much as to leave 
 the accustomed eye in a moment's doubt as to what bird the egp; 
 belongs to. Of a white ground-colour, scarcely tinged at ali 
 with vinous red, or perhaps much suffused, all of them are 
 streaked and veined and spotted with dark, brown with a shade 
 of red in it. They are beautiful eggs to my eye. — Fig. 3, plate IK. 
 95. GIRL BUNTING— (^;;<imr« cirlus). 
 
 French Yeliow Hammer, Black-throated YeUow Hammer. — 
 A bird long overlooked by our native ornithologists, and perhaps 
 more frequently occurring than is even yet suspected. Still it 
 is by no means a very common bird, — though identified as oc- 
 curring in, perhaps, most of the southern counties. Tlie Rev. 
 Orpen Morris, from whose work on British Bnds and Eggs 1 
 have taken the two provincial names given above, says, " the 
 ne&t is placed in furze or low bushes, and is usually made of 
 dry stalks of grass and a little moss, liued -uith hair and small 
 roots. Some are wholly without moss or hair . . . the 
 small roots constituting the Uning. The eggs are four or five 
 in number, of a dull, bluish white, streaked and speckled with 
 dark brown. They vary much in colour and markings." — Flj. 4, 
 plate IF. 
 
 96. ORTOLAN BUNTING— (^w^mVa hortulana). 
 
 Ortolan, Green-headed Bunting. — Merely an occasional visitor 
 nesting in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Lapland. 
 
 Ill— FEINGILLIDiE. 
 
 97. CIL^JFINCH- (i^riV?yz7/fl calehs). 
 Spink, Pink, Twink, Skelly, Shelly, SheU-aople, Scobby, Shilfa,
 
 76 BRITISH BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 Buckfincli, Horsefmcli, Copperfiii.ch, Wliitefinch, Beeclifinch, Wet. 
 bird, — One of our most beautiful birds is the male of this species— 
 one of quite the most beautiful of our English nests is its nest. 
 It would be a shame if he, with his gay dress and handsome 
 appearance, were the bachelor he is called in his Latin name. It 
 is, however, only at one period of the year that the sexes in the 
 Cliaffinch tribe (as in many other kinds of birds) separate. The 
 song of tlie Cliaffinch, though not of great compass or variety, is 
 very cheery and sweet, and very different from his melancholy 
 sound of " Weet, weet," which many country people take as a 
 prognostication of rain ; — whence his local name of Wet-bird. The 
 nest, always in a tree-fork or bush or hedge, always firmly and 
 securely built in, always contrived and fashioned with a wonderful 
 compactness, neatness and beauty, is formed of mosses, with 
 various-shaded lichens on the surface, and lined with wool and 
 hair and feathers, the last two being the finishing substances. I 
 never knew more than five eggs to be laid, oftener four, of a 
 peculiar winy-red dun, spotted and streaked — and most near the 
 large end— with a rich, dark Sienna brown. The eggs in their 
 comeliness befit the nest, and the nest is worthy of the bird. The 
 female is, however, tlie principal, if not the sole, architect and 
 bailder. — Firj. b, j^laie IF. 
 
 98. MOUNTAIN YYisCll—iFringiUa montifringiUa). 
 Brambling, Mountain Finch, Bramble Finch, Lulean Finch. — 
 Only a winter visitor to our shores, but still pretty generally 
 diffused througliout the kingdom at that season, though never 
 perhaps, strictly speaking, any thing like a common bird any 
 where. 
 
 90. TREE SPA"RROW— (P«55er montjims). 
 Mountain Sparrow. — This sneoios has undoubtedly been long
 
 HOUSE SPAKROW. 77 
 
 and continually confounded with the Common or House Sparrow. 
 And even yet it has not been satisfactorily proved to have occurred 
 in much more than half a dozen counties in England. Further 
 observation may do more yet in identifying the Tree Sparrovr and 
 defining its localities. It nests in holes in pollard or otlier trees, 
 or in thatch, in company with other Sparrows of the common 
 species, but in this case always in holes entered from the outside, 
 not from the inside of tlic roof of the building. Sometimes it has 
 been ascertained to breed in nests made within deserted nests of a 
 Magpie, or some such bird. The nest, like that of the Common 
 Sparrow, is formed of dry grass or hay, or flue straw, and abun- 
 dantly lined with feathers of all sorts. ITie eggs, four or five in 
 general, are distinctly less than those of the House Sparrow, and 
 with more decided brown in the markings on the ground-colour 
 of soiled white. — Fig. 6, jilate IV. 
 
 100. HOUSE S7AKR0W— {Passer domesticus). 
 Sparrow, Common Sparrow. — He may well be called the 
 Common Sparrow, for we find him alike in the town and the 
 country, in the field and in the garden, by the road-side hovel or 
 in the neighbourhood of the great mansion. And whether he be 
 sooty and blacK with the smoke of mid-London, or with his colours 
 pure and unsmirched and bright as in the clear breezy village, he 
 *■ is stiU always the same pert, impudent creature, whose name has 
 passed almost into a proverb for bold familiarity. Ubiquitous as 
 he is by habit and system, his nest is found in sites almost as 
 various and as numerous us, the places of his residence. Under 
 the tUes or eaves of buildings, in the thatch-edges of a bam, in 
 holes in the interior of a thatch-roof, in water-pipes and receivers 
 for eaves-gutters, in holes in walls or old buildings, in ivy clothing 
 either a wall or a tree, in fir trees, in wall-trees, especially if 
 large and high, below Rooks' nests, in deserted ucsls of large
 
 78 BRITISH BIRDS, TUEIR EGGS AXD NESTS. 
 
 birds, — frequent in all these sites, it seem diflicult to say where it 
 may not be found. Often, too, it becomes a mass of straw and 
 dry grass and lavish feather-lining, big enough to fill a man's hat 
 of large size. The eggs are very various in the intensity of their 
 surface markiugs. They are white, speckled and spotted and 
 streaked with ash colour and dusky brown, some so slightly as to 
 be pale grey, others so profusely as to be very dark " pepper and 
 salt." They vary in number from four to sis. Whenever the nest 
 is bmlt in a situation naturally open at top, it is domed over by 
 the little constructor. — Fig. 7, plate IF. 
 
 101. GKSiE^l^mCR—^Coccothrauites chloris). 
 Green Grosbeak, Green Linnet, Green Bird. — A sufficiently 
 common species, and often seen in wiater, in stubbles wliich afford 
 a sufficiency of the seed-constituents of its food, in large flocks. 
 Neither does it yield an insignificant portion of the egg spoUs of 
 the country-boy. The nest is usually built in a hedge, and it 
 dearly loves a thick massive thorn hedge for the purpose. In one 
 such, bordering an orchard in Essex, of perhaps seventy or eighty 
 yards long, I found one day a dozen or more of Greenfinches' 
 nests, almost aJl with eggs in. It is, however, not seldom to be 
 met with in an evergreen or other bush in tne garden ; sometimes 
 in a fir tree, and again in a fruit or ornamental tree. The 
 materials employed are roots, moss, grass, with a lining of the 
 same, only finer, and plentiful hair. I have often noticed the 
 presence of a kind of scrubby scales about the interior of one of their 
 nests. The eggs are four, five, or six. in number, and vary much 
 in size and but little in general appearance. They are white, 
 suffused with a bluish tinge, and with reddish or purple spots and 
 streaks, intermingled with some of a darker shade. — Fig. 8, plate 
 IV.
 
 GOLDFINCH. 73 
 
 102. BAVfFINCR—iCoccoikrausies vulgaris). 
 Common Grosbeak, Haw Grosbeak. — A bird which seems to 
 cccur but sparingly in our island, and for long, supposed to be 
 merely a winter visitor. It is not uncommon about Epping Eorest, 
 and has been found nearer London, and in many of the Southern 
 counties. Mr. Doubleday has given the best account of its habits 
 generally, as well as of its nest and eggs. It seems to have no 
 peculiar situation for its nest preferred to all others, but builds 
 indiscriminately in trees or bushes, and at various heights from 
 the ground. The nest is said to be made of twigs, " with fibrous 
 roots and grey lichens laid flat on them;" the whole structure 
 being such as to remind one of the Ring-dove's flat platform of a 
 nest. The eggs " vary from four to six, and are of a pale olive- 
 green, spotted with black, and streaked with dusky grey." ]\Ir. 
 Doubleday adds, that some are much less marked than others. 
 A few, indeed, with no marks at aU on the green ground-colour, 
 —Fiff. 9, plate IF. 
 
 103. GOJjDJTNCTI—(Carduens ekgans). 
 Thistle-Pinch, Gold-spink, Grey Kate, or Pate (the young), 
 Proud Tailor, Goklie, King Harry Red-cap. — This beautiful little 
 bird is, I fear, one of those which are much less common in 
 many districts than used to be the case in my younger days. It 
 is much sought after for keeping in cages, and is caught for that 
 purpose in numbers by the professional bird-catchers. It builds 
 a beautifully neat and pretty nest ; sometimes in a bush or ever- 
 green, often in the fork of an apple or other fruit-tree, and more 
 rarely m a hedge. It is formed of moss, fir-needles, green bents, 
 wool, thistle-dowTi, willow-down, feathers, hairs, &c., according 
 to the choice afforded by the locality of the nest. The eggs are 
 four or five in number, are bluish white or pale grey, spotted
 
 80 BRITIsn BIRDS, TUER EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 with greyish purple and red bro^ni, and sometimes a little 
 streaked with the same. — Fig. 10, plate IV. 
 
 104. SISKIN— (CaraWi'w spinus). 
 Aberdevine. — Only a winter visitor ; and though not very un- 
 common at that season in many parts of Britain, yet it has been 
 known to nest with us so very rarely that it seems scarcely 
 requisite to give any account of either nest or eggs in this place. 
 
 105. COMMON LINNET— (Zi;zo/« cannabma). 
 Linnet, Grey Linnet, Pi.ed Linnet, Brown Linnet, WLin 
 Linnet, Linnet Finch, Hed-lieaded Finch, Greater Eedpole, 
 Rose Linnet, Lint-white, Lintie. — No wonder school-boys and 
 country boys had, and have, tlu-ee or four different names for this 
 one bird (according to the differences of plumage due to age, sex, 
 or season), when even naturalists made two species of it. The 
 male in his full plum.age, with red poll and rose breast and 
 bright brown plumage, is a handsome bird, and, compared with 
 the female or the young, a very " fine bird" indeed. It is com- 
 mon enough in most districts, and pretty sui-e to be met with 
 where there is much furze. The nest is frequently to be found 
 in the midst of thick furze covers ; but like Mr. Ilewitson, I 
 have found it commonly in thickish thorn-hedges, and very often 
 in small and single furze bushes. It is made of small twigs and 
 bents and moss, and often lined with a copious cushion of woo) 
 merely; at other times, with some hair and vegetable down. 
 The eggs vary greatly in size, as well as in colour and markings, 
 but usually they are of a pale bluish-white ground, speckled with 
 red of different shades, brown to pui-ple. They are four, five, 
 and sometimes six in number. — Fig. 11, plate IF. 
 
 lOG. MEALY IlEDPOLE— (Zjwoifa canetcens). 
 
 Only a winter visitor to this country, and in varying numbenj in
 
 BULLFINCH. 81 
 
 diiTcrent years. Many were obtained in one or two of the counties 
 Adjoining the Metropolis some years since; but no instanca, I 
 believe, is known of its remaining with us to breed. 
 
 107. LESSER REDPOLE— (Z/«o/a linarid). 
 Common Redpole, Lesser Red-headed Finch, Rose Linnet. 
 — Ttiis is a winter visitor to the southern counties of England ; 
 but remains all the year round in Scotland and some parts of 
 north England. The nest seems to be built in some situation 
 not too high above the ground ; for instancej in a bush or stunted 
 tree ; and is made of moss and bents, and like some of those of the 
 Common Linnet, with wiUow-down and the like. There are usually 
 four or five eggs deposited in it, their colour " pale bluish green, 
 spotted with orange-brown, and principally at the larger end." 
 The ground colour seems to vary to greenith-grey, and the spo*s 
 to become more of a reddish tinge. — Fi/j. 12, plate IV. 
 
 108. MOUNTAIN LINNET— (Z/;2o/a montium). 
 Twite, Twite Finch, Heather Lintie. — A bird seldom, if ever, 
 seen much south of the Humber. It is known to breed in York- 
 shire and the northern English counties as well as in Scotland, 
 the Hebrides, &c. As its name leads one to infer, it is usually 
 found in the neighboui-hood of hill or fell. The nest is built on 
 the ground, among the short benty grass of the hiU-side or the 
 dwarf ling of similar localities, or even among longer heather, and 
 is made of the materiab afforded by such herbage, and moss, and 
 lined with fibrous roots, wool and hair. The eggs vary from 
 four to six in number, are ahnost white with the faintest blue or 
 green tinge, spotted with red, brown or dark purple, with some- 
 times a few streaks of a lighter red tinge. — Fig 13, plate IF. 
 
 109. BULLFINCH.— (i>rr/^K^a vulgaris). 
 Olph, Alp, Hoop, Red Hoop, Nope. — One of our really hand
 
 82 BIUTISII BIRDS, THElJR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 some birds, and as familiar to many of us as other and even com- 
 moner birds, by his frequent occupancy of a cage. " Piping 
 Bullfinches" are not very unusual evenintliis country. The Bull- 
 finch is also one of those birds who have long been laid under pro- 
 scription, for the mischief he is assumed to do to the buds of fruit 
 trees. Lilvc as rewards used to be customarily paid in hosts of 
 places out of the Parish funds for the heads of SpaiTOws, Tomtits, 
 &c., so has it been on a lesser scale with our present birds, and 
 I cannot help thinking equally unjustly. No doubt the " Olph" 
 commits sad apparent havock on the blossom-buds ; but I sus- 
 pect the blossom-buds damaged by him (as it seems) would 
 never have come to anything if no Bullfinoh had ever been 
 near them. There was a grub in each of tliem, and that grub 
 would have destroyed the bud quite as effectually, if not 
 qmte as summarily, as the bird which extracted it from what 
 was alike its hiding-place and scene of active ravage and con- 
 sumption. Unlike the Ping Dove and Missel Thrush, and a few 
 other birds, which are usually very wild and shy, but at breeding 
 time lay aside their wildness and distrust, and come to the close 
 neighbourhood of human habitations to nest, the Bullfinch, in 
 spring, leaves our gardens and orchards and resorts to the woods 
 and wilds. The nest is made of twigs and roots and moss, 
 rather loosely constructed, and lined with wool and hair, and is 
 most commonly placed in a good thick bush of considerable height 
 Mid size ; sometimes on a fir or other tree. The hen-bird lays 
 four or five eggs of a pale greenish blue, streaked and spotted 
 M-ith purple-red, chiefly at the larger end. — Firj. 1^, plate IF. 
 
 110. PINE GROSBEAK— (Pj';T/«2//a enucleator). 
 Pine Bullfinch, Common Hawfinch. — Only a very rare visitor 
 hi our islands.
 
 CROSSBILL. 83 
 
 111. COMMON CROSSBILL— CLoxta curtirostra). 
 This is a bird which deserves a little notice at our hands on 
 two or tliree grounds. In its plumage it varies more, according 
 to sex or age, than perhaps any other English bii'd in a state of 
 nature. It is kideed subject to almost startling dissimilarity. 
 The peculiar shape and action of the bill is also noteworthy, and 
 the strengtli of the muscles which move the mandibles may be 
 judged of by the powerful effect produced m startiag the scales 
 of the strongest fir-cones. Again, it has been repeatedly met 
 mth in this country in large numbers ; and not only so, out at 
 such seasons as to render it almost positive, that it must have 
 nested, or be nesting here : nay even females which were ob- 
 tained showed, by the state of their plumage, that they must 
 have been so engaged : and yet until recently, no authentic 
 observation has been recorded of the actual occurrence of its nest 
 and eggs. It is now believed to breed in the very earliest spring 
 or indeed in winter, which may account for the obscurity hiiherto 
 attending its nesting habits. The nest is made of twigs below, 
 with grassy bents upon such foundation, bound together with 
 wool and lined with hair. The eggs seem to vary much in 
 colour, showing a sensible degree of resemblance to those of the 
 Greenfinch, but with a generally warmer tint, and spots of a 
 much more decided or dark red shade. — Fig. 15, plate IF. 
 
 112. PARROT CKOSSBUSL—iLoxiapit^opsittacus). 
 It has occiyrcd in a few instances, but is much too rare to be 
 noticed by us at length ; and indeed the same may be said of the 
 bird next named. 
 
 112. WHITE.T\^NGED CROSSBILL— {Loxia falcirostra), 
 
 G 2
 
 84 BRITISU BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NLSTS. 
 
 IV.— STCJENID^. 
 
 113. STARLING— (5'/«r««5 vuljarii). 
 Common Starling, Stare, Sheep-stare, Solitary Tlirush, BroAnti 
 Starling. — Ttie two last of these names used to be applied 
 to the young of the Starling. Tew cases of more brUliant 
 Tihimage are met with in our English birds than in the instance of 
 the male of the Common Starling. The metallic glow and play 
 of colours in the feathers of his head, neck and back is very 
 beautiful. It is a very abundant bird, and it is supposed by some 
 that there are some peculiarities in its breeding habits. I 
 mean that I have heard it asserted that the male is a polygamist, 
 or rather perhaps a bigamist. I never saw any thing within my own 
 scope of observation which led me to suspect it, but rather to 
 hold the received belief that the Starling pairs exactly as most 
 other birds do. They are exceedingly pertinacious in adhering to 
 their clioice of a place for nesting in. I knew one case in which 
 from the inconvenient nature of the nest-site selected, one of 
 the birds was shot. In a very short space the survivor had paired 
 again, and the gun again dissolved the union. The whole process 
 was repeated five or six times, and the Starlings bred at last in the 
 place chosen by the original pair. The nest is found in a great 
 variety of situations, — in the bowl of a water pipe from the eaves 
 of a house, in a dove-cot, in holes in trees, below the nests in a 
 rookery, in holes in old buildings or more recent masonry, between 
 the slates and underdrawing of a roof, in holes in steep high rocks, 
 in chimneys of houses, and the like. It is made, without stint of 
 materials, of straw, roots, grass, and a plentiful lining of feathers. 
 The eggs, four to six in number, vary strangely in size but not 
 in colour, which is of a uniform pale blue. In some districts 
 where the Starling abounds, they collect in huge flocks, the youn^'
 
 HAVEN. 85 
 
 with the parents, and may be seen when on the wing like a cloud 
 from a great distance. — lig. 1, plate V. 
 
 11£ KOSE-COLOURED PASTOR— CPas^r roseus). 
 Rose-cOiOured Ouzel or Starling. — Merely an accidental visitor 
 lo our shores. 
 
 v.— COEVIDJi. 
 
 IIG. CHOUGH— (Fr^^iVw* graculus). 
 
 Cornish Chough, Red-lcggcd Crow, Cornish Daw, Cornwall 
 Kae, Market-jew Crow, Chauk Daw, Hermit Crow, ClilT Daw, 
 &c. — A bird which occurs more sparingly than it used to do. Its 
 abiding and building place is among the steep rocks which line so 
 many parts of the British coasts. In the Isle of Wight, in Man, 
 on the Cornish shores, at Flamborough, in Berwickshire near St. 
 Abb's Head, it is still (or was till lately) knou-n to breed. 
 "This bird," says Mr. YarrcU, "makes a nest of sticks lined with 
 wool and hair, in the cavities of high cliffs, or in old castles, or 
 church towers near the sea ; laying four or five eggs of a yellowish 
 white colour, spotted with ash-grey and light brown." — Fig. 2, 
 flnte V. 
 
 117. RAVEN— ((7orf«5 corax). 
 
 Corbie, Corbie Crow, Great Corbie Crow. — I dare say the 
 acquaintance of many of us with this fine bird is limited to aiv 
 introduction to some tame or pet Raven. In this district, where, 
 I believe, these biids abounded half a century since — the rocky 
 cliffs of om- moorland solitudes being so well suited to their 
 Habits, — I do not know that I have seen or heard one for the last 
 two or tiu-ee years. Persecuted by the gamekeeper, sought after 
 for domestication, or their eggs taken for sale to the collector, they 
 are becoming very rare in many a part of the country where not long 
 Bince they were frequently seen. They build sometimes on old ruins
 
 86 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS ANI> NESTS. 
 
 or craggy precipices, but oftener in a tree, piling nest after nest in 
 successive years upon the same bough, whence the chosen trco 
 soon comes to be called the " Raven-tree." One such accumulation 
 of nests I knew, as a boy, in Essex, and after a stiff cUmb succeeded, 
 in reaching it. I did it in jeopardy however, for the Ravens were 
 very bold, and every moment I expected they would assail me, ia 
 spite of the short bludgeon I had suspended to my wrist. Ths 
 appearance below the nest of the farmer in whose fields the Raveu 
 tree grew, decided the question — perhaps he frightened tlie Ravens 
 as weU as threatened me ; perhaps they knew he came as their 
 protector — anyhow I did not get my egg, although I had actually 
 liad it in my hand. The nest is a great pile of sticks, lined with wool 
 and roots and felts of hair, and often has four or five eggs laid in 
 it, of a light green ground-shade, blotched and spotted with browns 
 of varying depth of colour, but some of them very dark. — Fig. 3, 
 Tplate V. 
 
 118. CROW— {Cort;a* corone). 
 
 Carrion Crow, Corbie Crow, Flesh Crow, Gor Crow, IVIidden 
 Crow, Black Crow, Black-neb, Hoody. — Another bii-d not nearly 
 so common as it used to be, even within my own recollection — 
 and no wonder ; for he is a strong, fierce bird (j\Ir. Waterton 
 calls him his " Warrior bird"), and a young and weakly lamb, a 
 young Hare or Rabbit, a wounded or frightened Partridge has little 
 or no chance with him. I knew a case a year or two since of a 
 Crow attacking a Partridge and driving it to cover in a hedge, 
 where it lay so terrified and exliausted as to suffer itself to be 
 picked up by a spectator. I knew another instance years ago iu 
 which the Crow attacked a young Rabbit. The old doe came to 
 the assistance of her young one, and the 'oattle was well con- 
 tested, but tlie Crow was the victor, and carried off the spoil.
 
 ROCK. 87 
 
 Paired once, these birds, as in the case of the Raven, are paii-ed 
 for good. The nest is placed in a main fork of a large tree, and is 
 made of sticks and twigs with abundant cushioning of wool and 
 hair. It is believed not to bmld a new nest every year. It lays 
 four or five eggs, varying much in the depth of the tiut of the 
 greenish ground-colour, and generally weU mottled and blotched 
 and spotted with greenish ash colour and bright brown. The 
 parents seem to expel their young from the immediate precincts 
 of their own abode very soon after they are able to provide for 
 themselves ; as is the case with the Raven also. — Fig. 4, 'plate V. 
 
 119. HOODED Q>'?Sm—{Corms comix). 
 Royston Crow, Dun Crow, Norway Crow, Kentish Crow, 
 Grey Crow, Grey-backed Crow, Bunting Crow, Scare Crow, 
 Hoodie. — Even a fiercer and more mischievous bird than the 
 Carrion Crow. It has been very seldom known to breed in 
 England, though coming m great abundance from its more 
 northern haunts before the access of winter. In north and west 
 Scotland, the Hebrides and Orkneys it breeds in large numbers, 
 and rewards for its destruction have been customarily paid to 
 within a recent period, if indeed they have altogether ceased yet. 
 They place their nests among rocks, in the rifts or on ledges. 
 These are built of ling, sticks, roots, stalks of plants, seaweed ; 
 and lined with wool and hair. There are usually four or five 
 eggs, not differing very materially in colouring from those of the 
 Common Crow. — Fig. 5, flate V. 
 
 120. ROOK— ( Corrws frugilegus) . 
 
 Crow. — ^Everyone must be acquainted with the Rook and its 
 
 nesting manners and habits. Even the dwellers in great citie« 
 
 have sometimes had this bird domiciled among them for the 
 
 breeding season, and many places in London are signalized by the
 
 88 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 presence of a Rook's uest, or several, in very unlikely situations. 
 In the country some of the most familiar sights aud sounds are 
 those afforded by the Rookery, or by tlie huge assemblages of 
 Rooks about the fields or winging their morning or evening 
 lliglit in quest of food, or in return to their domiciles. Most of 
 us too have heard of Rook courts of justice, and the sentences 
 awarded against the ^vrongful spoilers of a neighbour's nest, as well 
 as the battles to resist such an invasion. It is ce?-tauily a remark- 
 able instinct, wliich, to so great a degree, forbids birds building 
 in communities to pliuider the building materials placed on the 
 adjoining bough or ledge, and no wonder that Instinct has 
 provided a remedy for what must be looked upon, when it occurs 
 to any extent, as a somewhat unnatural offence. The Rook 
 resorts to the same nest year after year, merely making such 
 repairs as a year's wear and tear from wind and rain and accident 
 nave rendered necessary. When the nest is ready, four or five 
 eggs are deposited, of a greenish ground-colour more or less 
 intense in shade, plentifully mottled and blotched with darker 
 •jnd varying shades of brownish green. Many of the eggs 
 strongly resemble tliose of the Crow, while others are much 
 more like those of the Jackdaw. As in the case of the Bullfinch 
 tlie Rook is often blamed for doing mischief which was really 
 done by the creature which formed tlie real object of search to 
 the supposed offender. The wireworm and the grub of the 
 cockchafer do infinite damage in grass or cornfields by eating ofi 
 the roots of the plants in question. Tiie Rook pulls up these 
 ruined plants ajid eats the offending larva. The farmer or 
 supcrucial observer only sees the dead grass or com plant, and 
 loolishly accuses the Rook, and persecutes him, though in reality 
 a friend and benefactor, to the death. Not but what the Rook does 
 niLseblef at times ; for I have often seen newly sown corn-fields
 
 MAGPIE. 89 
 
 black with them, and have bccu coutiuually a witness to the 
 very extensive damage done to the potato crop just when the 
 young tubers were in most active growth and most susceptible of 
 harm. Still, a few precautions will suffice to protect both corn- 
 lejQ and potato-crop during the brief space while protection is 
 necessary, and the balance of good done is so greatly on the 
 preaoininaling side, that the Rook may well continue to be 
 protected. Rook shooting has charms for many. For myself I 
 seem to see cruelty so conspicuous about the whole process, that 
 I cannot conceive in what the pleasure consists. — 'Eig. 6, ]plata V. 
 
 121. JACKDAW— (Cw^w^ monedula). 
 Daw, Kae, Jack. — The chattering Jackdaw is as familiar as a 
 "Household word" to us, and when one visits an extensive colony 
 of Jackdaws in the nesting season, he is apt to be enabled to form a 
 good estimate of the amount of chatter a few score Jackdaws can 
 contribute. They breed in many places in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of my residence in very considerable numbers, in the holes 
 and crevices which abound among craggy rocks and precipices 
 that rise high above steep wooded banks. Besides, they build 
 in ruinous buildings, in church towers of pigeon-houses, in little 
 used chimneys, in holes in modern masonry, even in deserted 
 chambers. The pile of materials amassed is simply wonderful, 
 and really they are sometimes so laid together as if intended to serve 
 no other purpose but to lengthen out the nest-pile for a builder's 
 amusement. Sticks and wool are the substances usually employed, 
 and the eggs laid vary, as to number, between three and sii. 
 They are of a pale bluish-white, well spotted with ash colour 
 light brown and dark brown. — lig. 7, plate V. 
 
 122. IklAGPIE— (PiVa cauda(a). 
 Pyet, rianet, Madge, ilag. — A very wary, crafty, shy bird the
 
 90 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 ■wild Magpie is. A very bold, impudent, thievish rascal the 
 domesticated Mag as certainly proves himself. Shy and wary as 
 these birds are in a state of nature, uo bird whatever seems to affect 
 concealment less in the fashion and structure and position of its 
 nest. Placed high up among the smaller branches of a taUish 
 tree, or perhaps in the upper part of a strong, thick, high bush in 
 a hedge or standing lonely in a field or park, notliing can well be 
 more conspicuous than the massy Magpie's nest, with its large 
 though light dome of thorny sticks and twigs, I used to be 
 assured as a school boy that there were two sorts or varieties of 
 Magpies, distinguished by the comparative length of their tails 
 and the site of their nests : — the alleged short-tailed one was called 
 the Bush Magpie ; the other the Tree Magpie. It is almost idle 
 to say no such variety or distinction really exists. The materials 
 of the nest are cliiefly sticks, plastered with earth inside, and lined 
 with roots and hair. There are often as many as six or seven 
 eggs laid in it, pale bluish-white in colour, spotted all over, and 
 abundantly so in general, with grey and greenish brown of more 
 than one shade. — Fi/g. 8, plate V. 
 
 123. JAY — {Garrulus glandarius). 
 Jay-pie, Jay-piet. — The Jay's peculiar screeching note is 
 perhaps more familiar to many ears than the bii'd itself to the 
 eyes corresponding to the said ears. It is a shy bii'd, seldom, 
 seen far from its haunts in woods and copses, though when seen, 
 it is noticeable enough from a certain peculiarity in its flight, due 
 to a sort of fluttering use or motion of its wings. It is easily 
 domesticated, and b?.conics a tame and amusing pet. The nest is 
 very often extremely rude and inartificial, almost as much so as the 
 Ring Dove's. It is placed in the upper part of a lofty bush in a 
 wood, or on some one of the lateral oranches of a tree where the 
 height from the ground is considerable'; is made of sticks and
 
 GREEN WOODPECKER. 91 
 
 liued with roots ; the cavity containing the eggs often seeming to 
 be not very considerable. Now and then a nest is met with 
 carefully and strongly compacted, and sufficiently cup-shaped. 
 The Jay lays five or six. eggs of a faint shade of dusky green for 
 ground-colour, closely and thickly freckled all over with light 
 brown. — lig 9, ji^ate V. 
 
 124. NUT-CRACKER— (iVa«/m/7a ccryocatades). 
 A bird which has probably been mer with less than half-a-score 
 times in all in this country. 
 
 GROUP III.— SCANSORES. 
 FAMILY I.— PICIDiE. 
 125. GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER— (P/cm 7;2rtr«»*), 
 Too rare a visitant to demand special notice in our pages. 
 
 12G. GREEN WOODPECKER— (PiVas viridis). 
 Wood-spite, Rain-fowl, Rain-bird, Hew-hole, Yaffle, "UTiet-ile, 
 WoodwaU, WitwaU, Popinjay, Awl-bird, Eaqual, Pick-a-tree, 
 Yappiugale, &c. — I observe Mr. Morris spells the name I have 
 written Eaqual in the form Ecle. I have no idea of the origin 
 or etymology of either form, but I have given these names gene- 
 rally in the thought that they may be helpful to some, and 
 interesting to other young egg-collectors. The Green Wood- 
 pecker is the most common, and much the best known of all our 
 English Woodpeckers. Besides being a very handsome bird, its 
 organization (as is indeed the case with aU the tribe) is so beau- 
 tifully adapted to its mode of life, as to merit a brief notice at 
 our hands. Its strong prehensile feet and claws, two toes being 
 directed forward and two backwards, fit it not only for moving 
 in all directions, and with wonderful readiness and ease in any 
 direction whatever, about the trunk or limbs of a tree, but also 
 for grasping the surface with great tenacity when necessity arises
 
 92 UKITISII BIIIDS, TUEIK KGGS AND NESTS, 
 
 for applying its strong bill to penetrating or disloding either 
 bark or portions of the wood itself. When thus occupied, the 
 tail comes into use, and the bones at the lower extremity of the 
 skeleton are so formed as to enable the stifT, pointed tail-feathers 
 to be appHcd to the tree in such a way as to strengthen the pur- 
 chase already obtained by the firm foot-hold. Add to all this the 
 length of the tongue, its great extensibility, specially provided 
 for by a peculiar arrangement of muscles, together with the 
 structure of the tongue itself — remarkable for its sharp, horny 
 tip and barb like bristles on either side near the point — and we 
 Lave one of Nature's most beautiful accommodations of means to 
 the intended end which can well be offered to our admiring notice . 
 The undulating flight and laugh-like cry of the Green Wood- 
 pecker used to be more common than they seem to be now, and 
 the great multiplicity of provincial names seems to show that 
 once it must have been an exceedingly common bh-d. I have 
 rarely seen or heard it here : and no wonder. For where once 
 there were mUcs of forest, now we have scarcely 100 acres of 
 wood in the whole district. This Woodpecker's cry is loudly 
 and frequently uttered befoie unpending rain ; whence one of its 
 common or by-names. It breeds in holes in trees, which it often 
 excavates in part or enlarges to suit its wants. It makes no 
 nest, but deposits its eggs, four to seven in number, and per- 
 fectly white, on a bed of the soft decayed wood of the tree. The 
 eggs average rather over l|-inchin length, by about |-inch broad. 
 Ko LUustration being possible in ouj: space of purely white eggs 
 I tliink it better to append their measurements. 
 
 127. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER— (Pi««« »j«»oo- 
 
 Pied AVoodpeeker, Frencii-pie, Wood-pie, Whitwall, Great 
 Black and AA'hite Woodpecker, Wood-nacker. — A not very
 
 WRYNECK. 99 
 
 uncommon bird in some localities, and very rare in others now- 
 a-days. It is less likely, too, to betray its presence by its note 
 than the Green Woodpecker, and is so shy and so capable of, 
 concealing itself or keepim:^ the tnink of a tree always between 
 itself and any prying observer, that doubtless it is deemed to be 
 more rare than it reully is. It seems to prefer the vicinity of 
 woods, but may be seen occasionally where woods do not abound, 
 and sometimes even it resorts to places where abundance of old 
 posts or decaying tree-trunks lead it to expect a plentiful repast. 
 It breeds ia holes in trees, making no nest, and laying its four 
 or five eggs on just such a bed as its green namesake. The 
 female is very averse to leaving her eggs, and shows aimost aa 
 much pertinacity as a Tomtit in abiding by tliem. They are 
 1 inch long by |-incli broad. 
 
 12S. LESSER SPOTTED WOODVECKER—(Picus minor). 
 Barred "Woodpecker, Ilick-wall, Little Black and Wlxite Wood- 
 pecker, Crank -bird. — A pretty little bird, very shy, very active, 
 very able to keep itself out of sight, and so, hardly noticed by 
 one in a hundred of those whom Miss Edgeworth would class as 
 more or less nearly connected with the widely-spread family of 
 No-eyes. It is said to prefer large woods of Beech ; and like 
 the other Woodpeckers, makes no nest, but places its eggs in a 
 hoUow tree, accessible by only a small hole, the means of access 
 being often at a considerable distance from the eggs laid below. 
 The eggs of this little bird are four or five in number, purely 
 white, though seeming to be suffused with a delicate pink hue 
 before they are blown, which arises from the transparency of the 
 ihell. They are about l-inch long by rather more than |-inch 
 broad. 
 
 129. ^YRYKF.CK~(runx torquilla). 
 Cuckoo's-mate, Emmet-hunter, Snake-bird, Long-tongue. — k
 
 94 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 dear little bird is the Wryneck, with his cheery spring-aimouncmg 
 cry. We willingly pardon its want of melody for its associations. 
 The marvellous rapidity with which its tongue is darted out and 
 retracted, enabling it by the aid of the glutinous secretion with 
 which its end is furnished to secure an Ant at every action, is 
 highly interesting as illustrating another of the wonderful and 
 beautiful adaptations provided by the Divine Artificer of all 
 The Wryneck makes scarcely any nest (if any), but lays its eggs 
 on the fragments of decayed wood which Ime a hole in a tree. 
 They are from six to ten in number, and white and glossy, and 
 about the same size as those of the Barred Wood-pecker. The 
 old bu-d is singularly unwilling to leave her eggs under any 
 intrusion, and tries by such means as hissing sharply, elevating 
 her crest and contorting her neck, to intimidate or deter the 
 intruder. 
 
 II.— CERTHIADJ2. 
 130. CRYEVER—iCeri/iia familiaris). 
 Tree-creeper, Tree-climber. — A shy, gentle-seeming little bird, 
 shunning observation, and, with the rest of its neighbours in our 
 catalogue, possessing a singular facility of quietly and rapidly 
 shiftuig its place on the trunlc or limb of a tree, so as always to 
 interpose an efficient screen between its own minute body and 
 the eye of any passer-by. Its claws, sharp and long and curved, 
 aided by its long and pointed tail-feathers, are its chief machinery 
 in these facile motions. It builds its nest, generally speaking, in 
 a hole in a tree, with only a very minute aperture. Sometimes, 
 though I think rarely, the nest is outside the tree, but screened 
 from observation by some casual dislodgement of the bark, or in 
 some similar way. It is made of dry grass, small twigs, shreds 
 of moss, with a lining of feathers. It is very hard to distinguish
 
 Oft 
 
 between the eggs of the Creeper, which number from six to nine, 
 and those of the Blue Tit-mouse and the Willow-wren, not to 
 mention one or two other small birds. The illustration will give 
 a better idea of the egg than many lines of description. — Fij. 16, 
 fLate IV. 
 
 131. y^^^l^— [Troglodytes vulgaris). 
 Jenny Wren, Kitty Wren, Titty Wren, Cutty Wren.— A kind 
 of natural pet with every one. I scarcely ever remember to 
 have spoken of the Wren, or heard others speak of it, without some 
 gentle, loving epithet applied to its name. The provincial names 
 quoted are instances of what I mean, and how often the words 
 "poor," "little," "tiny," and even "dear," are jomed to the 
 ;)refixes of Jenny, or Kitty, or Titty. Its little song, its seeming 
 incapacity to bear the rude buffets of storm and cold, its quiet 
 peculiar movements, all tend to commend it to our kmdly notice. 
 And then the beautiful nest it makes — such a great pile for such 
 a tiny builder — and so compact and warm and wonderfully 
 concealed by the use of the nicest adaptations of materials and 
 design to the site selected, — this makes us almost respectfully 
 admire, in addition to our love. I have found it on the moss- 
 covered bank, on the moss-covered trunk of a tree, in thatch, in 
 a haulm wall ; but wherever it is found, the adjacent substances 
 are made to help the concealment. One would think that when 
 strength and ability, seemingly so inadequate, had been so 
 heavily tasked as is implied in the construction of such a nest, 
 the little birds would not be likely to leave it, especially with the 
 bmlding of another in immediate prospect. But I have not 
 found it so in practice. A very trifling enlargement of the 
 single orifice, or straining of the fabric, in the effort to send the 
 finger to the bottom of the nest, is quite sufficient to cause the 
 nest to be deserted ; especially if the Wrens owning it have
 
 9f> mUTISlf BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 once or more been disturbed when in it, or very near it. When the 
 young ones are liatched, the case is altered. The eggs are often 
 from six to nine or ten in number, and I liave heard of even 
 more. They are white, with almost always a few pale red spots 
 about them. The male is said to feed the female during the 
 period of closest incubation. Many other bu'ds ccrtaiiJy have 
 the same habit, even when the mate has left the nest just to 
 stretch her wings, as it were. I have seen the Common Linnet 
 do this. — lig. 17, 'plate IV. 
 
 132. HOOPOE— (C/>Ki;a e/)o;w.) 
 A casual visitor only, but still not so rare that specimens are 
 not obtained almost every year. In fact, the whole appearance 
 of the bird is so very striking, that it is scarcely possible such a 
 risitor should pass without notice. It breeds in several European 
 countries. 
 
 133. NUT-HATCH— (&Y^« Europcea). 
 Nut-jobber, "VVood-cracker. — A very beautiful bird to my eye, 
 with liis bright slate-coloured back, and orange breast, and black 
 bill ; and a very great pet in former days. I had a pair which 
 had never known a day of constraint, but wliich, by patient 
 feeding and care to make them fearless of me, became so tame 
 as almost to take food from my hand ; to take it readily when I 
 jerked it a foot or two into the an-. And they would always 
 come to my signal for them — a few blows on the tree at which 
 I fed them. But they never suffered their young to come to the 
 feast I provided, and always absented themselves for about a 
 month at the breeding time. The nest is, I believe, always made 
 in the hole of a tree, and if the aperture to the hollow is too 
 large, the bird is apt to lessen it by the application of a 
 sort of mud-plaster to some portions of the edge. The nest is
 
 Ci.CKOO. 97 
 
 rather a eontiast tu that, of tlic little "VVrcnjust named, being 
 little more than a loose heap of moss, small twigs, aud chips of 
 Dark and wood. The eggs are five or six and sometimes, it is said, 
 seven in number, white, with some pale-red spots. Many of 
 them are very like the Larger Titmouse's. — T'uj. IS, plate IV. 
 
 III.— CUCULTD^.. 
 
 134. CUCKOO— ((7?^«<fo5 canorus:) 
 Gowk. — Have you heard the Cuckoo yet? How often that 
 question is asked by one's friends or neighbours in the country. 
 Hearing the first Cuckoo and seeiug the first Swallow are 
 always events to true lovers of country scenes aud objects and 
 sounds. But what a strange instuict it is which forbids our 
 Cuckoo to build a nest, and instructs it to lay its t^'^ — at least 
 to place it — in some other bird's nest, and tha'>, bird usually not 
 one-fifth its own size ! A Blackbird's nest is sometimes selected 
 to receive the deposit, but very rarely compared with the Hedge 
 Sparrow's, the Lark's, the ]\Icadow Pipit's, the Water Wagtail's, 
 or the Chaffinch's. How many eggs are laid by a single Cuckoo 
 in a season, is, I think, not ascertained. It is, however, a very 
 rare circumstance to find more than one Cuckoo's c^^ in any 
 given nest, and then open to great doubt if both were placed 
 there by the same Cuckoo. It is a matter of dispute how the 
 ^2^^ is actually deposited in the nest selected ; whether " laid" 
 in, or placed in — after being dropped on the ground suppose — 
 by the bill or claws. I found one in the Meadow Pipit's nest 
 mentioned above (p. 69), where the position and site of the 
 nest were such as to leave no doubt whatever in my mind that 
 the egg could not possibly have been "laid" in tJie nest ; and 
 almost certAinlv inserted bv aid of the heal. How IHp ("'ucAno
 
 93 BRITISU BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 found such a nest at all, was a marvel to me. The eggs are 
 verj' small for the size of the bird which produces them, and 
 strongly resemble some of the darker and more closely freckled 
 specimens of the House Sparrow's egg, but are ratlier larger 
 in size; while Mr. Doubleday says some of them resemble those 
 of the Pied WagtaW.—Fi^. 19, plafe 1 V. 
 
 135. YELLOW-BILLED C\JCKOO~{Cocc^zus Americans). 
 A rare visitor only. 
 
 GROUP lY. FISSIROSTIIES. 
 FAMILY I.— M E E P ID ^. 
 136. ROLLER — {Coracius garrida). 
 Garrulous Roller. — Very rarely met with in England. 
 
 137. BEE-EATER— (J/e?-o/?5 apiaster). 
 An African bird, which strays occasionally so far to the north 
 as to reach Britain, and be claimed as a British Bird. 
 
 II.— HALCTONIDiE. 
 
 138. KINGEISIIER— (^/^^r/o ispida). 
 Beyond doubt, as far as exceeding brilliancy of plumage goes, 
 the most beautiful of our indigenous birds. I have never seen it 
 in any part of the kingdom a numerous bird, though in my fish- 
 ing and other excursions in Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, and Here- 
 fordshire, I used to see many pairs ; each, however, domiciled at 
 some distance from its nearest neighbours. In the district of 
 North Yorkshire I am best acquainted with I have never seen it. 
 Its straight, arrow-like, speeding flight is sure to be remembeured, 
 when once seen, and so is the odour inseparable from its nest- 
 hole or other stated haunt. A hole, sloping upwards, in the 
 ^ank of the water it uaost frequents, whether jjond, stream.
 
 99 
 
 marsh, dit.cii, or large river, is usually clioscu to receive the uest, 
 which is often a foot and a half, or two feet from the entrance; 
 but sometimes the bird has been known to resort to a hole at 
 some distance from any water. The nest, so called, seems to be 
 constituted of small fish-bones, ejected from the King-fisher's 
 stomach, and the dry soil of the hole, while the eggs deposited in 
 it are five or six in number, very round in form, beautifully white 
 when blown, and though, from the thinness of the shell, seeming 
 to have a pink hue before the removal of the yolk. ' 
 
 III.— HIRUNDINID^. 
 
 139. SWALLOW— {Illniudo rustica). 
 Common Swallow, House Swallow, Chimney Swallow, Bam 
 Swallow. — One of the most welcome of all our spring visitors ; 
 and so frequently coming back, the self-same pair of birds appa- 
 rently, to the self-same nest, that they seem to be almost like 
 members of the family returnmg from a temporary absence. The 
 common name. Chimney Swallow, is, however, rather a misno- 
 mer. No doubt they build in chimneys freely and frequently, but 
 in many districts the chimney is quite untenanted by any Swallows, 
 while the open roofs of sheds and barns, the under side of bridges 
 sufficiently flat and uneven to afford the necessary support, 
 disused shafts of mines, and the bice, and even parts of unused 
 rooms, or articles of fui'uiture in such rooms, are resorted to. 
 These nests are very considerably different from those of the 
 Martin (to be noticed next), inasmuch as th(;y are always com- 
 pletely open above, being so built that there is a sensible space 
 between the greater portion of tlie edge of the plaster-work of 
 the nest, and the roof or other surface above ; whiie in the case of 
 the Martin's nest, it is always bmlt so as to be closed above by 
 the eaves or other ledge to which it is affixed, requiring a gap or
 
 100 BRITIsn BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 lip — SO to speak — to be left in the wall to afford ingress and 
 ejjress to the owners. The nest, in either case, is built with many 
 peliets of soft tenacious earth, wrought into form with bits of 
 straw or grass, and afterwards lined with feathers. It is observable 
 that no more work at tlie nest is done in a day than wiU readily 
 harden enough to bear tlie requisite additions of materials abov 
 when the tune comes for making them. There are usually fou 
 five, or six eggs laid; white, speckled and spotted with dee 
 red, and a lighter duller shade, — Fig. 20, plate IV. 
 140. MARIVN—iHirundo urbica). 
 Martlet, Martin Swallow, House Martin, Window Martin 
 Eaves Swallow, Window Swallow. — This familiar little bird 
 whose cheeping note in the nests above our chamber windows i? 
 one of the sounds we should sorely miss, frequents the dwellings 
 of men quite as much as, I think more than, the Swallow. Every 
 one knows where to look for the Martin's nest, and many a house 
 can we all call to mind which seems, from some peculiarity in its 
 site or external fashion, to be particularly affected by these birds 
 — and certainly, in most cases, the imnates of the house take 
 much care to save their confiding feathered friends from disturb- 
 ance. In many places, however, the Martin forms large nesting 
 colonies, which take possession of a series of overhanging ledges 
 on some steep rocky face, and there build their nests in great 
 numbers. In Berwickshire, on the banks of the Whiteadder, I 
 knew of such a colony, and others elsewhere : the principal ones, 
 however, being on the rock-bound coast between St. Abb's Head 
 and Burnmouth. Hundreds of these birds nested in several 
 different places upon those lofty precipices. No description of 
 the nest itself — beyond what was said in the notice of the Swal- 
 low — seems requisite. The number of eggs, which are perfectly 
 Mliite. seems seldom to exceed six.
 
 SWIFT. 101 
 
 141. SAND MAllTIN— (///r««rfo riparia). 
 Bank Martin, Pit Martin, Sand Swallow, Bank Swallow, River 
 Swallow. — This delicate little visitor cornea to us in the spring, 
 often very early, from Africa, as do also the two others of the 
 genus just named. Where it does occur — and it is generally 
 diffused — it is often seen in very large numbers. A Ballast Pit at 
 Fingringhoe, in Essex, is occupied by the most numerous colony 
 I am acquainted with; and a site afforded by the surface beds of 
 sand and sod above a steep scarp of rock on Tweed-bank, nearly 
 opposite Norham Castle, used to accommodate another colony. 
 Some of the holes are bored to a very great depth. I have enlarged 
 the orifice of many tiU it would admit my whole shoulder, and liave 
 tlien been unable to reach the termination of the gallery. Others 
 are much shorter, and admitting of more easy access to the nest 
 The female -will, notwithstanding the noise and violence attending 
 the enlargement of the aperture of her nest-hole, sit resolutely 
 on, and allow herself to be taken in the hand with scarcely a 
 struggle or sign of resistance — even of life, sometimes. One I 
 took thus a year or two since lay in my open hand for a minute or 
 more, and then at last flew only leisurely away. A little loose, 
 soft straw, with some feathers, serves to receive tlie eggs, which 
 are four to six in number, often much elongated in shape, of the 
 most delicate white, and beautifully pink, from the thinness of the 
 shell, before they are blown. 
 
 142. PUIIPLE UKRTm—^Hirundo purpur';a\ 
 American Purple Martin. — Only a very casual visitor. 
 
 143. ^\NlYT—{Ci/pselus opu?). 
 Deviling, Black Martin, Screech, Screech Martin, Slmek Owl 
 Screamer, Squeaker, Skeer or Skir-d'evil, Cran. — I should think no 
 one who has once seen this bird on the wing, and noticed its rapid.
 
 102 BKITISn BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 peculiar, powerful, long-winged, wliii'ling flight, or heard its remark- 
 able scream, would ever be likely to mistake when he saw it again. It 
 is most frequently seen at no great distance from some old tower 
 of castle or church, or such like building, although at times it 
 seems to range far in searcli of food. It makes its nest of pieces 
 of soft straw, bents or grass or hay and feathers, and usually in 
 holes in the buildings aforesaid, or between the tiles and under- 
 roof of houses ; and the nest once made is supposed to be used 
 for many years in succession by the same pair of birds. It some- 
 times seems as if it had been cemented together in some way. 
 The Swift often lays only two eggs, but has been known to pro- 
 duce three, and even four. They are quite white, and rather large 
 for the size of the bird. 
 
 144. ALPINE SWlYT—iC^pselus Alpinus). 
 White-bellied Swift. — A bird which is known to have visited us 
 on some lialf dozen occasions or so. 
 
 IV.— CAPRIMULGID^. 
 
 145. TsIGHT-JAR — {Caprimuhjus Europaeus). 
 Night Hawk, Goat-sucker, Dor Hawk, Fern Owl, Night Crow, 
 Jar Owl, Churn Owl, Wheel-bird, Eve-churr, Night-churr, Puck- 
 eridge. — Far more familiar to many of the comparatively few 
 among country-dwellers who notice such matters, is the Night- 
 jar by sound than by sight. Coming from its retirement but 
 very little and very reluctantly by day, and only pursuing its 
 prey towards and during twilight, it is not by any means an 
 obtnisive bird ; as little so, indeed, as any one of the Owls. But 
 its loud churring or jarring note, as it wheels round a tree or 
 clump of trees, is often enough heard by many a one to whom its 
 form and size and plumage are nearly or utterly strange. It is. 
 perhaps, most frequently met with where patches of furze and
 
 aiXQ DOVB 103 
 
 fern on open commons, not too far from the neighbourhood of 
 plantations, occur. The Night-jar can hardly be said to make a 
 nest ; but hiys two eggs in any slight natural depression of the 
 ground whicli slie can find suiBciently near a bush or clump of 
 whins to be at least partly concealed by it. Tlie eggs are very 
 oval in shape, and very beautifully mottled and clouded and 
 veined with varying tints of blueish iead-colour and browr\, on a 
 whitish ground. — Fig. I, plate VI. 
 
 III.— RASORES. 
 FAMILY I.— COLUMBID^. 
 14C. RIISIG ViOTS.—{Columha pahmhus). 
 Wood Pigeon, Ring Pigeon, Cushat, Cusliie Doo, Queest. — 
 This, the first bird in the new Order of Rasores, is tolerably well 
 known to every one the least acquainted with ordinary country 
 scenes and objects. A fine, handsome bird, met with every- 
 where throughout the country, and, in many parts of it, seen in 
 very large flocks in the winter time ; sure to attract attention, 
 also, as "we walk through the wood, by the loud ringing clap of 
 his wings as he takes flight ; and all this independently of his 
 plaintive nim-mur in the breeding season, soundmg very sweet 
 and mellow as heard from a little distance — the Wood Pigeon, 
 or Queest, or Cushat, as he is named in different districts, is as 
 prominent among wiM birds as the parson of the parish among 
 his parishioners. The young birds are frequently taken from the 
 nest and reared by hand ; and the bold, fearless, confiding fami- 
 liarity of such pets, considering their extreme native shyness and 
 wildness, is remarkable. The Ring Dove makes its rude plat- 
 form nest of sticks, with a cushion of roots to receive the eggs 
 'j\ bushes standing singly or m hedges or woods, in pollard trees, 
 in holly or other thick trees, in evergreens in gardens, and tba
 
 l04 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 like ; and nothing is more common than to see the parent birds 
 frequenting the garden and close vicinity of a country-house, 
 aimost as tamely as if they were a pair of common or house 
 Pigeons. The eggs seem to be invariably very oval in shape, and 
 purely wliite. They are 1^ inch long, by | inch broad. 
 
 147. STOCK T)OYE—(Columba anas). 
 
 Stock Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Wood Dove. — This Dove is not 
 only, generally speaking, much less abundant throughout the coun- 
 try than the Ring Dove, but very often, it would seem, confounded 
 with it by casual observers, who only notice the several birds 
 from a distance, or on the wing. They frequent the same roost- 
 iug-places, and often feed in the same field, thougli probably on 
 different species of food. I have shot birds of both species at 
 the same discharge of the gun, and have noticed the different 
 matters which had supplied their meals of the day, — Holly- 
 berries, in the case of the Ring Dove ; wild mustard-seed, in the 
 other. The Stock Dove is, however, immediately and easily dis- 
 tinguishable from the Ring Dove, by its lesser size, a slight diffe- 
 rence in colour, and the entire absence of the " ring " of white 
 feathers on the neck. Its nest is placed sometimes on pollard 
 trees, sometimes in open holes or hollows in old trees ; and very 
 commonly, in some districts, either on the ground Ijclow tluck 
 furze-bushes, or in deserted rabbit-burrows, two or three feet 
 distant from the entrance. The nest is very slight, consisting 
 merely of a few twigs or roots. The eggs are two in number* 
 pure wliite, about or rather exceeding \\ inch in length, by 
 li inch in breadth. 
 
 ROCK-DOVE— (Co&»23a livia). 
 
 Wild Pigeon, Rock Pigeon, Wild Dove, Doo, Rockier. — This 
 Pigeon has usually, until not long since, beec confused with the
 
 TURTLE DOVE. 105 
 
 Stock Dove. But their plumage is unlike, their voice unlike, and 
 especially their habits and living and breeding haunts unlike. It 
 is believed with some certainty, that the Rock Dove is the reai 
 ■origin of the Domestic Pigeon, and certainly any one who has 
 -seen the large flight of Domestic Pigeons turned wild, which 
 frequent the caverns in tlie rock-bound coast near St, Abb's Head 
 and similar localities, living with, flying with, feeding with, and 
 nesting with the undoubted wild Rockier, can entertain but very 
 small doubts on the subject. The Ptock Dove makes a loose nest 
 ■of twigs and plant-stems and dry grass ; very often far back in 
 holes and crevices of the rock ; and lays two white eggs, with a 
 much better defined " big end" and " little end" than in the case 
 of the two Pigeons last named. 
 
 149. TURTLE DOYl^—(Colimba turiur.) 
 
 Turtle, Common Turtle, Ring-necked Turtle, Wrekin Dove. — 
 Only a summer visitor and not a regular inhabitant, like its three 
 predecessors. It is long since, living where I do, I have heard its 
 sweet, plaintive note. No one but one who loves bnds and theii 
 ways can tell how real a deprivation it is to live for years out ol 
 sound of the sweet and familiar voices of such as are only local, 
 the Nightingale for instance, the Turtle, and many others. The 
 male Tnrtle Dove is a very handsome bnd, but much shier and 
 more retiring at breeding-time than the Ring Dove. The nest is 
 a light platform of sticks, easily permitting the sky to be seen 
 through it from below, and usually placed high up in a holly, a 
 thick bush in a wood, in the branches of a fir, or the lesser fork ol 
 some limb of an oak or other forest tree. As with tiie other 
 Doves, the eggs are two in number, quite white, about 1| inch 
 long, by I broad. 
 
 150. PASSENGER 71GE0'^—(Echpisies migratorius). 
 
 Every bird-loving boy, beyond doubt, has heard of this Pigeon
 
 106 BIUIISH BIRDS, THEIR KGGS AND NESTS, 
 
 and the inconceivable vastness of the flocks in which they pass 
 from one distant district to another in America. Here it is only 
 a casual visitor, and can lawfully lay claim to none of our limited 
 space. 
 
 II.— PHASIANID.E. 
 
 151. PHEASANT— (P^fl««««5 Colchlcus). 
 I dare say "a good few" of our readers if they wers asked 
 " Do you know the Pheasant ?" might answer, " Yes, very well. 
 We had some for dinner, such and such a day." And I have no 
 doubt the acquaintance was satisfactory enough — at least to one 
 of the parties. The Plieasant docs not pair, and on the preserved 
 estates in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire I have frequently seen ia 
 the spring large groups of Cock Pheasants collected and con- 
 sorting together without the intermixture of a single hen. In a 
 vast many places now an artificial system of Pheasant-breeding 
 is adopted, three or four hens with one male beuig turned into a 
 large paled " apartment," well netted in, the whole establishment 
 comprising many such apartments. Each hen lays double or 
 treble the number of eggs she would if suffered to run wild, and 
 these are collected daily and placed ujider hens ready to sit as soon 
 as a sufficient number is got together. In this way twice or 
 three times the number of young ones is secured from one hen as 
 compared with her own greatest success in bringing off a brood 
 in the woods. In her w'M state, the Pheasant makes scarcely 
 any nest, on the ground, \uA lays ten or twelve eggs, of a uniform 
 pale olivo-brown shade. Not only are cases in which two Pheasants 
 lay in the same nest of by no means unfrequent occui-rence, but 
 others even, in which Pheasants' eggs have been found in Par- 
 tridges' nests. Many instances are on record of the Pheasant 
 inter-breeding with other birds, such as the Gumea Fowl, tho
 
 BLACK GROUSE. 
 
 107 
 
 Black Grouse, and the Common Fowl. The cross last named is 
 by no means uncommon, and a remarkably fine male specimen of 
 the produce of a Cock Pheasant and Speckled Hamburg Hen 
 occurred here (one of four birds wiiich were hatched) a few years 
 since. The Pheasant's tail and iiead and general shape as well as 
 fashion of feathers (with access of size) were united to the shades 
 and markings of the plumage of the mother. The bird in question 
 was so inveterate in his visits to the neighbouring farm-yard in 
 order to challenge the Cocks who dwelt there, and so sm-e to kill 
 them outright, or maim or maul them so severely that they had to 
 be kUled, that it became necessary to put him out of the way 
 himself, and his present memorial is liis remarkably well-stuffed 
 skin. — Fit/. 2, plate VI. 
 
 III.— TETEAOXID^. 
 
 152. CAPERCAILLIE— (^e^mo urof/allus). 
 Cock of the Woods, Wood Grouse, Cock of the Mountain, 
 Great Grouse, Capercailzie, Capercally. — An indigenous inhabi- 
 tant of this country, but one which had become, or was becoming, 
 extinct, a few years ago. Now it is becoming comparatively 
 abundant again on the estates of several large and noble owners, 
 principally m Scotland. It is indeed a very noble bird, and well 
 wortliy the care and attention and expense which have been 
 devoted to the attempt to re-establish it. The female makes her 
 nest on the ground, and lays from six to ten or twelve eggs. 
 These are of a pale reddish-yellow bro\vn, spotted all over with 
 two shades of darker orange brown. — Fir/. 3, plate VI. 
 
 153. BLACK GROUSE— (Je^rao (etria:). 
 Black Cock, Black Game, Heath Cock, Heath Poult, and the 
 female. Grey Hen, sometimes Brown Hen. — StLU found in some 
 viistricts out of the north of England, where wild and hilly forest
 
 108 BRITISU BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 still remains, but of much more frequent occurrence in more 
 northerly localities. In fact, the gradual and very complete 
 demolition of the last remains of what were once very extensive 
 forests has completely banished the Black Grouse from places 
 where it used to be common within the memory of living men. 
 It is a very handsome bird, and like the Capercailly and 
 the Pheasant, does not pair. The hen makes a very slight nest 
 on the ground, and lays in it seven to nine or ten eggs, of a some- 
 what less warm ground-shade than those last named, but with 
 larger and brighter-coloured spots and blotches. — Firj. 4:,plale VI. 
 154. RED d'KOV^'E—iLagopns Scoticus.) 
 Red Ptarmigan, Red Game, Moor Game, Muir-fowl, Moor- 
 bird. — A beautiful bird indeed, and pecuhar to the British 
 Islands. The Grouse moors, however, are mainly confined to 
 the nortliern counties of Eugland and Scotland. In the district 
 in which this is written the Grouse may be truly said to abound, 
 and I iiear them coutinually from my garden or open window.* 
 These birds do pair, and pair very early indeed moreover. I 
 have frequently seen them in pairs before the season for killing 
 them, which expires on December 10, is fully out. If the weather 
 becomes severe this union often seems to be annulled ; but I don't 
 think it is in reality. In tlic earlier spring, when the pairing is 
 becoming general, many fierce battles among the males may be 
 seen going on, and very resolute and lengthened and circuitous 
 flights of one in pursuit of another occur. The nest is very 
 slight, of ling and bents chiefly, and usually well concealed in a 
 tuft of heather. From six or seven up to twelve or fifteen eggs 
 are said to be laid, but I should say that the highest average, 
 judging from the number of young bu-ds in a brood, very rarely 
 
 * For a detailud series of observations on the liahits, &c., of the Grouse, 
 see " Sketches in Natural Uistory," Routled^e & Co.
 
 COSlMON PARTRIDGE. 109 
 
 much exceeds eiglat or nine. The eggs are very beautiful and 
 richly coloured, but vary exceedingly in both ground-colour and 
 markings, even those found in the same nest. Some are of a 
 yellowish shade, and others of a blood-stain red, mottled and 
 blotched with rich umber brown, and the paler ones with shades 
 of light-brown. — FIq. 5, plate VI. 
 
 155. VTKKMlGK^—iLarjopus vulgaris). 
 White Grouse, Rock Grouse, White Game — Only found now 
 among the rocky tops of the highest lulls and mountains in the 
 centre and north of Scotland. It is the smallest species of 
 Grouse in Britain, and its plumage varies greatly with the season, 
 becoming nearly pure white in winter. It lays seven to ten eggs 
 frequently on the bare stones. They are of a yellowish ground- 
 colour, blotched and spotted (slightly so as compared with the 
 eggs of the Red Grouse) with ricli dark bro\vn. 
 
 156. COMMON PARTRIDGE— (Per(//2- chierea). 
 Much too familiar a bird by appearance, voice and flavour to 
 require any very lengthened notice from us. The Partridge 
 pairs pretty early — by the end of January, often — and once paired 
 they never separate again throughout the season. At pairing 
 time the cocks fight fiercely, and I have sometimes seen, and 
 even m my garden here, three or four engaged in the conflict, 
 with another, probably the female " apple of discord," sitting 
 quietly by the while. I have seen the male, too, in the evening, 
 when summoning Ms newly-married wife, stand on the top of one 
 of our stone walls and call repeatedly. The nest is made on the 
 ground in a field of grass or corn, or on a dry hedge bank, or at 
 the foot of a waU among the long grass, and consists of little but 
 a slight depression in the ground, with a few dead leaves and
 
 110 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS, 
 
 twenty. But it is no uncommon thing for two Partridges to laj 
 in the same nest, and an instance came to my knowledge two oi 
 three years since, in which a Ked-legged Partridge had laid 
 several eggs in a Common Partridge's nest. Wlien two birds 
 lay together thus, the covey sometimes amounts to thirty or 
 tliirty-five birds. I knew one instance of forty, about three 
 years since. The male Partridge is known to help his mate, when 
 the hatch is drawing on, by sitting at her side and covering some 
 of the eggs. "VVlien there are two layings in the same nest, it is 
 an interesting question whether the two hens sit together, or the 
 original owner of the nest is simply assisted by her mate. The 
 young bu'ds are able to run and " fend for themselves" almost as 
 soon as they are hatched. The eggs are of a uniform pale oUve- 
 brown hue. — Fig. 6, plate VI. 
 
 157. RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE— (P^r^j> rufa). 
 French Partridge, Guernsey Partridge. — A much more striking 
 bird in appearance than the Common Partridge, and said also to 
 be a powerful enemy to it. Certainly, in districts where it has 
 been encouraged and preserved, it seems to have prevailed to 
 the comparative exclusion of the indigenous species. It is sup- 
 posed to have been first introduced about the time of Charles II. 
 For long it seems to have increased and spread but very slowly, 
 but now there are many districts of the south where it is exceed- 
 ingly abundant. These birds form a slight nest of dry bents and 
 leaves upon the ground, amid some growing crop of grass or 
 com. Instances, however, have been asserted in which the nest 
 was a good deal elevated above the ground, as on the top of a 
 stack. The eggs, very hard-shelled, are from ten to fifteen or 
 sixteen in number, of a cream colour, well spotted with small 
 speckles of reddish or cirmamon bro^vn. — Fij. 7, plate VI.
 
 GREAT BUSTARD. Ill 
 
 158. QUAIL — {Coturnix vulgaris). 
 The quail is believed, in some rare instances, to stay with us 
 all the year, but is usually only a summer visitant, not coming in 
 any great numbers. In some countries its migratory hosts are 
 so great that one hundred thousand are said to have been taken 
 in a day. In its appearance, the quail strongly reminds one of 
 the Partridge, and suggests the idea that itself is only a diminu- 
 tive bird of that species. They do not, however, pair, and tlieir 
 nests are met with in many parts of the kingdom. Two years 
 since it was believed that at least two broods were reared on 
 certain lauds in Moorsholm, in North Yorkshire. A small 
 depression in the ground is made, or found, and loosely lined 
 with bits of grass and dry stalks. Seven to ten, or possibly yet 
 more eggs, are laid, presenting much variety of appearance, but 
 usually of a faint cream-coloured ground, mottled and clouded in 
 some cases with red brown, and in others spotted with dark 
 brown spots, some of considerable size. — Fig. 8, 'plate VI, 
 
 IV.— STRUTHIONID^. 
 159. GREAT BUSTARD— (O/w larda). 
 Tills noble bird, once abundant enough on our wide plains and 
 wolds in England, is now, I fear, ahnost extinct among us, as so 
 far as I am aware no very recent* capture of it has been an- 
 nounced. It used, before the gun became so common and sc; 
 fatal to birds of much interest to the ornithologist or others, to 
 be customarily pursued with greyhounds. These birds do not 
 pair, and their nest is said to be a mere natural saucer-shapej' 
 hole in the bare ground. The eggs are seldom more than two, 
 or at most three, in number, and are of an oUve-green ground, 
 
 • Since this was written, one instance has occurred.
 
 112 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 blotched aud spotted with two or three snades of brown, lighter 
 and darker. 
 
 IGO. LITTLE BUSTARD— (O//5 tetrax). 
 Only a casual, and not a summer visitor. 
 
 IV.— GllALLATOUES. 
 
 FAMILY I.— CHARADRIID^. 
 
 IGl. CREAM-COLOURED COURSER— ((7«rMr«B« 
 
 Isabellinus). 
 
 A very rare bird indeed. 
 
 1G2. GREAT l^ljOTEK—{(EcUcnemtis crepitans). 
 
 Stone Cm-lew, Norfolk Plover, "VVliistling Plover, Stone 
 Plover, Thick -knee. — The Stone Curlew is a summer visitor, and 
 strictly a local one. The Is ightingale, for instance, is very much 
 more extensively diffused than the bird just named. It is fouud 
 abundantly enough on the wide sandy plains of Norfolk, and 1 
 used to hear it very commonly in the fields a few miles to the 
 north-west of Bury St. Edmunds. Besides the counties just 
 named, it is met with in parts of Essex and Kent, in Hampshire, 
 and Cambridgeshire, and two or three others. Its peculiar shrill 
 CTj- or whistle, once heard, is not likely to be forgotten. The 
 female lays two eggs on the bare ground, among white-coated 
 flints and stones. An idea of their ground-colour may be given 
 by the mention of what the painters call stone-coloui-, in pale 
 shades, and this is streaked and spotted, or marbled, with dark 
 brown. — Fig. 1, plate VII. 
 
 182.* PRATINCOLE— (G'/roro/a torqmla). 
 
 CoUared Pratincole, Austrian Pratincole. — A bird of sufficiently 
 rare occurrence in this country, and remarkable as having caused 
 some degree of perplexity and dispute among naturalists as to 
 the position it shoidd occupy in the general system or classiiica-
 
 GOLDEN PLOVRR. 1 13 
 
 fion of tiie Bird-family. Mr. Yarrell (in whose first edition it 
 appears at the iiead of the Rail-family) says — " The Pratincole 
 has been arranged by some authors with the Swallows, by tthcin 
 near the Rails ; but I believe, with ]»Ir. Selby, that it ought to be 
 included in the family of the Plovers ; and had I kno\\Ti itr. 
 Plover-liie habits and eggs sooner, I should have arranged it 
 between Cursorius and Charadrius." To this Mr. Hewitson 
 adds — " Besides the similarity of then- habits, the fact of this 
 species laying four eggs is a further link to connect it with the 
 Charadi-iidse." It is, liowever, much too rare — besides being 
 known not to breed in Britain — to have any claim on our limited 
 space for description of its nest or eggs. 
 
 163. GOLDEN ^LOTER—{Ckaradnus pluvialis). 
 Yellow Plover, Green Plover, Wliistliug Plover. — It has some- 
 times been an object to me to obtain specimens of this bird in 
 its breeding-plumage, and it is scarcely possible to imagine a 
 stronger contrast tlian that presented by the male in lils May 
 di'ess and six or eight months later. All the glossy black of 
 neck and breast has entirely disappeared long before the latter 
 period. I have occasionally seen a single pair or two, very early 
 in the year, separating themselves from the great flock of some 
 scores ; and in the female of one such pair which I shot some few 
 years since (the next shot killing five out of a very large flock at 
 no great distance), I found an egg quite ready for extrusion, and 
 which from the depth of its colourhig, would probably have been 
 laid in the course of a few hours at most. The hen-bird makes 
 a very slight nest, and lays just four eggs in it, seldom either 
 more or less. They are of a large size for the bird, of a fair 
 stone-colour, well blotched and spotted with very dark or blackish 
 brown. After sitting eight or ten days the bird becomes very 
 reluctant to leave her nest, and will suffer herself to be almost 
 
 I
 
 114 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 trodden on rather. The young ones, awkward-looking motlied 
 yellow and brown puff-balls on stilts, run fast and well soon after 
 they are batched, and do not speedily acquire the use of those 
 ■wings which, after a time, are to be so strong and swift. Very 
 jeaioas too, are the parents as long as their young are only 
 runners, and very plaintive is their incessant piping if you or 
 your dog approach too near their place of concealment. — ¥ig. 2, 
 plate VII. 
 
 164. DOTT'E.ViEL—iCharadnus mormellus). 
 
 Dottrel or Dotterel Plover, Foolish Dottrel. — This is a sum- 
 mer visitor to our country, and in many localities where it 
 used to be abundant, or at least common, it is now rare or 
 almost unknown. This is the case on parts at least of the York- 
 shire Wolds, as well as in the Lake district. They are sought 
 after by the Fly-fisher and by the Ornithologist and by the 
 Epicure, and from their exceedingly simple and unsuspicious 
 habits they fall easy victims before the fowlhig-piece of modern 
 days. The female makes no nest, but lays her customary three 
 eggs in a slight cavity on the ground near high mountain tops, 
 where some tall-growing moss or other mountain herbage facili- 
 tates concealment. The eggs are of an olivaceous hue, spotted 
 plentifully with very dark brown or brownish-blacK. 
 
 165. RINGED PLOVER— (C/^^ra^/rzz^s Uuticula). 
 
 Ringed or Ring Dottrel. — A very pretty shore-bird, of inter- 
 esting habits, and not infrequent, especially in winter, on many 
 parts of the British coast. In quiet parts, whore large expanses 
 of sand or shingle, or even mud, are left by the receding tide, 
 it may be seen in numbers. It seems to make no nest : — the eggs 
 are laid on the sand, and often at a very considerable distance 
 from the sea ; as, for instance, on the warrens in Norfolk and 
 Suffolk, They are four in number, very large in proportion to
 
 115 
 
 the s:z3 of the bird, possessing the 2;cculiar pointcLl shape of 
 tlie eggs of the entire class of birds we are now among, and of 
 a warm cream-colour, spotted and streaked with black. The 
 parent birds try hard to lead the casual intruder away from the 
 vicinity of their young. — Jig. 3, plate VII. 
 
 IGG. KENTISH PLOVER— (a^/r«f/r/«.? Cmdianus). 
 
 Seldom obtained vei-y far from the southern coasts of England, 
 and not appearing to be a very plentiful bird e\'en there. In 
 liabits, it strongly resembles the Ring Plover just named. The 
 female makes no nest, but lays her four eggs in a slight hollow 
 on sand or shingle, which strongly resemble some of the lighter- 
 coloured examples of the eggs of the last-named species. — Fig. 4, 
 plate VII. 
 
 1G7. LITTLE RINGED V\jO^^YK—{Charadrius minor). 
 
 A very rare British Bird. 
 
 16S. GREY VLOTEK—iSquatarola cinerea). 
 
 A bird which has never been ascertained to breed in England, 
 although specimens in the dark-breasted ]\Iay plumage have been 
 seen in the London Markets, and observed by Mr. Selby in the 
 Fame Islands, in June. It is not uncommon as a winter visitor, 
 lliough even then nothing like so numerous as the Golden Plover 
 in its winter visits to districts in which it does not breed. The 
 eggs are said to be in colour " oil green, spotted with different 
 shades of umber brown ; the spots, crowded and confluent round 
 the obtuse end." 
 
 16D. LAP'vVING — iVanellua cmtaius). ' 
 
 I'ewit or Peewit, Te-wit, Teu-fit, Green Piover, Bastard 
 Plover, Green Lapwing, Crested Lapwing. — Anotiier of thosa 
 bircib whiuh are familiar to almost everyone who is not a mere 
 casual visitor to the country, or quite deaf and bUnd to its 
 commonest sounds and sights. It is a very universally diflfused
 
 116 BRITISH BIRDS, TIIEIK EGGS AND NBSTS. 
 
 bird, even in those districts where it docs not statedly breed. It 
 nests not only on commons and heaths and the wide moor, but in 
 the fields and inclosures; and round my present residence 1 have 
 many yearly evidences that there are half-a-dozen nests within 
 tlie linuts of a sliort lialf-mile wliich intervenes between me and 
 thfc moors. The female constructs scarcely any nest, properly so 
 called, but makes or more likely avails herself of a ready-made 
 slight cavity on the siu'face of the ground, with a sufficiency of 
 some kind of herbage to serve as covert. The female's habits in 
 tonnection with the nest and eggs are different from the male's. 
 She slips off on the approach of a visitor, aud runs very silently 
 and quietly away to some distance before taking wing ; he hastens 
 up on rapid, sounding, whirling wing, and cries and dashes and 
 wheels above and around the cause of alarm in a very remarkable 
 manner. The Peewit lays four eggs, of large size and acutely 
 pointed at the lesser end, and like so many others of the class, 
 often arranged so as to occupy the least possible space, by 
 having their pomts all turned inward. They are of a darkish 
 olive-dun ground, abundantly blotched and spotted with brown 
 and black. These eggs are much sought after as delicacies for 
 the table. They are boiled hard and served cold, and when tlie 
 shell is removed they have quite a jelly-like appearance. But 
 very few of the eggs, however, sold in the market as " Plovers'- 
 eggs," are sometimes recognised by the oologist as having been 
 laid by tlie Lapv/ing. — Tig. 5, jilate VI L 
 
 170. TURxN STONE— (5/re/j5i7aj tnferpres). 
 
 Hebridal Sandpiper. — Found on many parts of our coast either 
 in small parties, or one or two together, from September aJl 
 through the winter. In the spring it leaves us to go to tlie 
 north for breeding objects, but has never been recognised aa
 
 OYSTER-CATCUEll. 117 
 
 nesting within the limits of the British Islands, We cannot 
 therefore notice its nest and eggs in this place. 
 
 171. SANDERLIKG— (Cam/m arenanj). 
 Common Sanderling, Sanderling Plover. — Like the bird last 
 named, a by no means unusual visitant to most parts of our 
 coasts, and sometimes met with also at tlie edge of large pieces 
 of fresh water, but never known hitherto to have bred with us. 
 It is found associating most commonly, though in small parties 
 for the most part, with the Dunlin, and other similar shore- 
 haunting bii'ds. 
 
 172. OYSTER-CATCHER— (Zr««a/o;)«5 ostntlegm). 
 Pied Oyster-catcher, Shelder, Sea-Pie, Olive. — A very beautiful 
 and well-known dweller on our sea-coasts, and wonderfully pro- 
 vided by nature, too, with a suitable instrument for purveying its 
 destined food. The bill of the Oyster-catcher is one of those 
 natural objects which form each a study in themselves. Woe be 
 to the oyster or mussel, however powerful its mechanism for 
 closing its valves, if once the Oyster-catcher has found means to 
 insert that natural weapon of his. Flattened sideways, and hard 
 and strong as so much bone, its eiEcacy is so great that there can 
 be scarcely a struggle for life on the part of the shell-fish. It 
 runs well, and is even said to dive and swim with facility. I 
 never saw this, though I have had them mider my observation for 
 hours together in fonncr days. But I know their shrill, rattling 
 whistle, and their short uneasy (lights, and restless paddlings up 
 and doMTi upon the ooze, wlien I liave been among their haunts, 
 well — and marry a nest it used to be my lot to discover on some 
 parts of some of the Essex Saltings. The eggs, usually three or 
 four in number, are laid on the bare ground, sometimes in slight 
 holes amid the Salting herbage above high-water mark ; or
 
 118 BKITISU TilRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 where there is sliingle, in ?iome cavity among its 'higher and 
 coarser layers. They are cream-coloured, of varying shades o» 
 warmth, and blotched and spotted, or spotted and stronglj 
 streaked -with very dark brown and some few touciies of a lighter 
 hue.— i^7^. G,plaleVn. 
 
 II.— GEUID^. 
 17o. CRANE — {Grus cinered). 
 A coupie of centuries since it is not improbable the Crane may 
 have — at least, occasionally — bred in this country ; but now it ia 
 become a very rare and casual visitor. 
 
 III.— ARDEID^. 
 
 174. COMMON W^VSm—{Ardea cinerea). 
 Hern, Heronshaw, Heronseugh. — It would have been no light 
 matter once to have molested a Heron. Those birds were " pre- 
 served" with a strictness we scarcely can imagine even in these 
 days of game-preserves. They were the peculiar game of royal 
 and noble personages. Now, however, the case is widely 
 different, and probably not one Heron in a himdred can now be 
 met with as compared with the days of falconry. It is a strange 
 odd sight to sec a Heron balancing himself on the topmost twig 
 of some fir-tree, and succeeding after a few uneasy motions of 
 body and wings in poising himself. The Heron sometimes breeds 
 on precipitous rocks, but much more commonly on trees, — 
 generally trees of large size, and commonly oaks or firs. It is 
 not a solitary builder, but Kke the Hook forms a community, and 
 frequents the same tree or clump of trees tlircugh successive 
 years for many generations. Each nest is of large size, and com- 
 posed of sticks with a lining of wool. Four or five eggs are 
 usually deposited, of an uniform pale green colour. A few nests 
 ai-e said to hare been met with on the ground. — Fiq. 1, ylate VIII.
 
 LITTLE BITTEKN. 
 
 175. PURPLE KERO'^—iJrdea purpurea). 
 A few instances only of the occurrence of this bird in Britain 
 ihave been recorded. 
 
 17G. GREAT WHITE B.ERO^—(Ardea alba). 
 'Wliite Heron, Great Egret. — A rarer and more accidental 
 visitor than even the bird last named. 
 
 177. LITTLE EGiVCE[^—{Ardea garzetta) 
 Egret, Egret Heron, Little Egret Heron — There is good 
 reason to believe that this bird may once, at a remote period, 
 Jiave been sufficiently common, or even abundant in England. 
 Now, however, it is of exceedingly rare occurrence anywhere 
 witliin the British seas. 
 
 179. BUEF-BACKED HERON— (.^/-c/ea russata). 
 Red-billed Heron, Rufous-backed Egret, Little White Heron 
 (the young). — An exceedingly rare bird, with perhaps scanty 
 -claim to be considered British at all. 
 
 ISO. SQUACCO HERON— (^r(/m ralloides). 
 Buff-colom-ed Egret. — A bird which has been met with in 
 sevenJ of the counties in the southern half of England, and 1 
 believe more or less frequently in some of them. StiU it is but 
 a visitor, and, comparatively with many other not very common 
 birds, a rare one ; and, as certainly not breeding in our is land 
 possessing no claim upon us for lengthened notice here. 
 
 ISl. LITTLE 'SlTYES^—iBotaurus mmutus). 
 It would seem that this bird is to be looked upon rather as a 
 summer visitor to us ; and Mr. YarreU says of it, " Some, if not 
 prevented, would probably have bred in this country." Still, 
 •although the grounds for this opinion seem valid and conclusive, 
 no actual instance of uidification here lias ever been ascertained.
 
 120 BIUTISH BIKUS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 :82. COMMON BlTIEKii—iBoiuurussfellaris). 
 
 Mire Drum, Butter-bump, Bog-bumper, Bittour, Bumpy-coss, 
 Bull-of-the-Bog, Bog-blutter, Bog-jumper. — Clearances and drain- 
 age, and the onward strides of agriculture, and the gun, and the 
 pursuit of specimen-hunters and collectors have made this a rare 
 species almost everywhere. It was common enough a centui'y or 
 two since ; and many a fertile cornfield, which then was a seem- 
 ingly hopeless marsh and bog, has resounded far and wide 
 with the deep, booming, bellowing cry of the Bittern. Becorded 
 instances even of its nesthig here are becoming more and more 
 rare and unusual, and ere long it is to be feared this beautifully 
 plumaged bird will be among the things that "have been." Its 
 nest is composed of sticks, reeds and lilce matters, built on the 
 ground, at no great distance from the water it frequents, and liid 
 among the plentiful water-growth found at the edges of shallow 
 standing waters. The eggs are three to five in number, of an 
 uniform olive-brown coloui-. — Fi//. 2, plale VIII. 
 
 183. AMERICAN mTT&m—{Botarus lentiginosus). 
 
 A bird of rare and most accidental occurrence in England. 
 184. NIGHT T\.Y.\\01^—{Ni/dlcomx Gardeni.) 
 
 Gardcnian Heron, Spotted Heron, Night Baven. — Tliis bird 
 claims to be a British Bird, inasmuch as upwards of a dozen 
 s)ieciincns have been met with here. But it docs not breed 
 with us, if indeed commonly at all in Europe. 
 
 185. WHITE STORK— f(7icov/« alba). 
 
 A much too conspicuous object not be noticed whenever its 
 visits have l)cen paid to our shores. Accordingly, we find it had 
 long been known as a visitor, though the instances of its occui-- 
 rence in the last generation or two arc noticeably less frequent 
 „han in former days. As breeding abundantly in llclland, it 
 would be strange if the Stork did not come to us sometimes.
 
 CURLKW. ]21 
 
 185. BLACK STOHK—iCiconia mym). 
 The Black StorK has occurred mucli more rarely than its white 
 congener. 
 
 187. SPOON-BILL— (P/^//«^m leucorodid). 
 A bird which is said to have bred in former days iu our country, 
 but which has certainly become, for a long time past, a mere 
 visitor, and not a frequent one. 
 
 ISS. GLOSSY imS>—{lbis falcinellux). 
 This visitor has been met with iu lute years, even iu some 
 small numbers. There was one about the moors in this district 
 four or five years since, which I saw myself and heard of as seen 
 in the same neighbourhood by others ; and about the same tune J 
 noticed that birds of the same species had been observed io 
 several other parts of Yorksliire, and elsewhere. Still it is oiJy a 
 visitor, and a casual one. 
 
 IV.— SCOLOPAClDiE. 
 
 1S9. CURLEW— (i\V««2/tfi' arqi'ala). 
 A\niaup. — As common a bii'd as almost any along the whole of the 
 British coasts. Sometimes smgly and sometimes in groups of eight 
 or ten, it may be seen along the line of oozy shores or the sandy 
 Qats which are laid bare by the receding tide. When the water is 
 sufficiently high to cover all its feeding grounds, it betakes itself 
 to some higher groiuid in the vicinity, to rest during those hours 
 of inactivity in food-search. When removing from one place, or 
 part of the coast, to another, it usually flics in long lines, which 
 liowevcr scarcely maintain the same degree of accuracy as in the 
 case of Wild Geese or other line-flying wild fowl. On the arrival 
 of spring the Curlews leave the coast and retire to their breeding 
 niunts iu the hills of the extreme north of England, the highest
 
 15i2 BIUTISI! liiRL'S, TUEIK liGCiS AND NESTS. 
 
 moorlands of Scotland, and other similar places in more norther!^ 
 latitudes yet. Its note once heard is sufficiently noticeable to be 
 easily recognised on any future occasion. It makes a very care- 
 less or rude nest, and lays four eggs which vary a good deal in 
 the depth of the ground-colour and the amount of their spots. 
 It is pale greenish dun, varying to olive-green, and spotted with 
 darker shades of green and dark-brown. — Fig. 3, jilate VIII. 
 190. ^\lllls^>>\l'EL—{Numenius phceopus). 
 Wliimbrel-Curlew, Curlew-Jack, Curlew-Knot, Half-Curlew, 
 Jack-Curlew, Stone Curlew, Tang-Whaap. — No wonder it haa 
 the name of Half-Curlew, for it does most strongly resemble a 
 diminutive Curlew in its plumage, shape, fashion of bill, haunts, 
 and many of its habits. It is seen, in no great numbers, on many 
 of our coasts in winter ; nut I have met with it on the Essex 
 Saltings only in the early spring and previous to its retirement 
 to the north to breed. It is difficult to assert positively that it 
 frequents any part of the main British Island for that purpose ; 
 but it is known to nest in both Orkney and Shetland. The nest 
 is said by Dr. Fleming to be placed in exposed parts of a moor. 
 The eggs are four in number, and, though very much less in size 
 very much like the darker varieties of the Curlew's eggs. The 
 Whimbrcl is probably a fast decreasing species. 
 
 191. SPOTTED RED-SHANK— (To^tf«?«/«5r?«'). 
 Spotted Snipe, Dusky Sand-piper, Black-headed Snipe, Cour- 
 
 and Suipc. — A l)ii-d which varies much in plumage according to 
 season, being almost black in the summer, — but only an occa- 
 sional visitor, and scarcely anythmg known certainly of its nest 
 or breeding habits. 
 
 192. CO:\IMON RED-SHANK— (ro^«?j«* ealidris). 
 Redshank Sandpiper, Tenke, Pool Snipe, Sand Cock, Red- 
 legged lioi'seman, Red-legged Sandpiper. — One of the most
 
 GKEEX SAND-rirKR. 123 
 
 familiar oC all our birds to me in my youth. Many ''>ng days 
 have I spent amid their haunts on the Essex Saltings. Their 
 nests are very slightly constructed of a few bits of grass amidst a 
 tuft of herbage, or in a small hole or cavity which is sheltered by 
 some cf the taller-growing marine plants. The eggs are usually 
 :'our in number, occasionally but two or three, of a cream-colcur 
 (sometimes daslicd with a somewhat warmer hue) spotted and 
 speckled with dark brown. The spots are less and more nume- 
 rous than in the case of the Peewit's egg. Tn the case of the 
 last nest I foimd, about two years since, the old bird suffered me 
 to walk within a yard of her before taking flight. "WTien the 
 young are newly hatched the parent birds betray excessive jea- 
 lousy and anxiety at the approach of either man or dog to their 
 resort. They liave sometimes come and settled on the ground 
 within two or three paces of mc, and, at others, flown so directly 
 towards me, as to suggest tlie possible intention of attacking mc, 
 piping most plaintively and incessantly tlie wliile. This conduct 
 is designated by the term " mobbing," on the Essex marshes. 
 Fi^. 4, plale VIII. 
 
 ]93. GREEN ^\lsT)-V\Vn{.—{Tof anus och opus). 
 
 It is supposed that a few of these birds may remain with us 
 to breed ; but far the greater part of those which are customa- 
 rily seen about the sides of our smaller streams and ditches and 
 canals, are kno^vn to retui-n far to the north to produce their 
 eggs and young. I believe no authenticated instances of its 
 nesting with us are known, but a few very young birds have been 
 met with under circumstances which seemed to leave no doubt 
 that tliey must have been hatched in the neighbourhood. The 
 nest is said to be placed " on a bank, or am.ong grass, on the side 
 of a stream," and the eggs, four in number, to be ot a grecnisii
 
 124 BlUTISH BIRDS, TIIElll EGGS AND NESlfi. 
 
 ground-colovir, spotted with differeat shades of broMJi, light and 
 dark, and with gray. 
 
 194. WOOD SK^D-VlYEH—iToianusfflareola). 
 
 This Sand-Piper resembles the last in some degree, and the 
 two have been sometunes looked upon as varieties of the same 
 species. It is not by any means a frequently occurring visitor, 
 though it seems to be admitted that it is more than probable it 
 sometimes breeds in this country. Mr. Hoy's account of its 
 habits and nesting peculiarities, as observed by himself in Dutch 
 Brabant, is quoted at length by both Mr. Yarrell and Mr. Ilew- 
 itson. He says, " The nest is generally placed at a short distance 
 from the water, among stunted heath, or scrubby plants of the 
 Bog Myrtle, or among coarse grass and rushes. It is placed in. 
 a hollow, and formed of dry grass and other plants. The eggs^ 
 are four iia number." " They are pointed in shape, of a pale 
 greenish white, spotted and speckled, particularly over the broad 
 end, with dark reddish brown," 
 
 195. COMMON SA'^'D-'PIT^R—iTolanus/if/poleuca). 
 
 Summer Snipe, WUly Wicket, Sand Lark. — A pretty little 
 bird enough, and seeming to be pretty extensively diffused, 
 though not a numerous species any where. It is commO".:ly seen 
 running briskly along by the water edge of streams or lakes, or 
 perhaps flitting along as disturbed by your sudden invasion of it» 
 haunt. Unlike the Dipper, wliich may constantly be seen sitting 
 quite still near the edge of the stream, the Summer Snipe is 
 always in motion. It makes a very rude nest of dry grass in 
 some hole in a bank not far from water, where the shelter anil 
 concealment of sufhcient herbage is available, and lays in it four 
 eggs, which vary often in colour and spots but are usually of a 
 ytUowish-white, with blotches and spots of deep brown or 
 ordinary brown. Th
 
 AVOCET. 125 
 
 ground among shingle or collections ot small pebbles.— i^^^. 5, 
 flaie Fill. 
 
 19G. SPOTTED SAND-PirER— (7'(;^«;2«5 macularius). 
 
 A visitor, but cn.e of the rarest and most casual of all our 
 feathered visitors. 
 
 197. GREEN-SHANK— (ro/«««5 f/lottis). 
 
 Cinerous Godwit, Green-legged Horseman. — I used to meet 
 with it oecasionally in the early autumn on the Essex Saltings, 
 and remember thinking I had got a prize the first time I shot 
 one, and noticed its slightly upturned bill. It is only rare as a 
 species, and not known positively to breed anywhere much south 
 of the Hebrides. The nest is said to be like that of the Golden 
 Plover or Lapwing, consisting only of a few blades of grass or 
 sprigs of ling, placed in a hollow in the soil. The eggs— like so 
 very many of those characterised by the pyriform shape peculiar 
 to the Grallatores — are placed with their pointed ends together 
 in the middle, and are of a pale yellowish-green colour, spotted 
 all over irregularly with dark brown with intermingled blotches 
 of light pui-plish-grey ; the spots and blotches being more nuine- 
 rous at the larger end. 
 
 198. KNQCWi:—{Recurvirostra avocstta). 
 
 Butterflip, Scooper, Yelper, Cobbler's Awl, Crooked-bill, Cob- 
 bler's-Awl Duck. — Fast verging on extinction. In Sir Thomas 
 Browne's time it was not at all uncommon ; but of late years 
 but seldom recorded as having been " obtained," or met with. 
 If only people weren't so fond of "obtaining" our rare birds. 
 But now-a-days, when every third person has a gun, the appear- 
 ance of a "rare bird" is enough to set half a village off in 
 pursuit, and the great object of hundreds throughout the country 
 seems just to be to destroy the casual feathered visitor, howcvei 
 interesting it may be or whatever claims it might seem to possess
 
 on our hospitality. The Avocet's bill and plumage are enough to 
 point it out for slaughter, and so, slaughtered it has beefi.. 
 It used to breed in Sussex and Norfolk. " The nest is said to 
 be a small liole in the drier parts of extensive marshes. The 
 eggs are said to be only two in number, of a clay-coloured 
 brown, spotted and speckled with black." 
 199. BLACK-WINGED STILT— (Himanfopiis vielampterus). 
 
 Long-legged Plover, Long-Legs, Long-Shanks, Stilt Plover.- • 
 Not so very uncommon as a visitor ; but stiU, strictly speaking, 
 only accidental in its appearance here. 
 
 200. BLACK-TAILED GODWIT— (Z/wo.srt melanum). 
 
 Red-Godwit Snipe, Jadreka Snipe, Red Godwit, Yarwhelp, 
 Yarwhip, Shricker. — Another of tliose birds which two or three 
 generations back were exceedingly more abundant than now: 
 proportionately esteemed, too, as an article of delicate fare in the 
 days of its frefjuency, now little heard of, or perhaps thought of. 
 But our forefathers tliought many things of the eatable sort 
 good, which their descendants of ISGl had rather not sit down 
 to. I rather tliink my young readers might not eat Poi-poise or 
 Heron either, with any great relish, not to speak of other matter* 
 about equally, or more questionably, " good eating." Both this 
 species of Godwit and the one to be mentioned next are subject, 
 like the Golden Plover, the Gray Plover, the Spotted Redshank, 
 aad many others yet to be named, to very great and striking 
 changes of plumage in the breeding season. At all times they 
 are handsome birds. Tiie Black-Tailed Godwit is believed stUl to 
 breed, however rarely, in England — in Norfolk and Cambridge- 
 shire, in fact. The nest Is found in marshy places, made of dry 
 grass and the like, and more or less concealed by the coarse 
 i,'rowths peculiar to such places. The eggs vary in both size a:i.^. 
 colours, but are usually of a greenish oiive-browTi, marbled and
 
 KUFF. 127 
 
 blotched with darker brown ; and, as usual in this class of birds, 
 are generally four in iiuinber. 
 
 201. BAR-TAILED GODWlT—{Ltmosa rvfa). 
 
 Common Godwit, Grey Godwit, Hcd Godwii, Godwit Snipe, 
 Red-breasted Snipe. — Of much the same habits ay the last, only 
 not remaining in this country to breed, and consequently occur 
 ring much more frequently in winter than in spring, and uot at 
 all in summer. As not nesting with us, no space can be conceded 
 here for a notice of its eggs and nest. 
 
 202. W^m—{JSlachetes pugnax). 
 
 Female, Reeve. — Time was, and not so very long ago cither, 
 when one fenman could take six dozen of these Ijirds in a suigle 
 day. Now, I fear, be woidd scarcely get that number in an 
 entire season. The Ruff is, however, stiU. known to breed 
 annually in some of the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. 
 The variety of plumage, no less than the very remarkable ruff or 
 feathery appendage about the neck of the male in the breeding 
 season, is quite sufficient to make this a very conspicuous bird 
 among our truly native birds. Scarcely any two males in an 
 assemblage of some dozens can, in some cases, be picked out as 
 possessing exactly the same plumage. The breeding habits, or 
 some of them, observed in this bird are also very characteristic. 
 His Latin name, as given above, simply meats "pugnacious 
 warrior," and verily he is as thorough a lover of battle as any 
 knight-errant of the middle ages, or fierce Northern sea-rover of 
 four or five centuries earlier. They do not pair, and therefore 
 fight for the possessioji of the females, and they have spots, 
 known to the fenmen by the name of Hills, which are as much 
 the scenes of universal challenge and battle as ever the stated 
 "lists" of the old days of tournament or playing at battle. 
 This habit of theirs faciUtates the process of capture vcrj
 
 128 lUUTISII BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND HESTS. 
 
 materially, and by means of a peculiar kind of not, duly arranged 
 before the day begins to dawn, the fowler is enabled to capture 
 all, or almost all, who have been attracted by their peculiar 
 instmcts to the vicinity of any given hill. The Reeves lay each 
 her four eggs, which vary in colour from olive-green to a yellow- 
 ish stone colour, and are spotted and blotched with "liver 
 colour" and rich brown. 
 
 203. WOOD-COCK— {Scolopax rudicola). 
 One of our most universally recognised "birds of passage," 
 coming to us sometimes in the autumn (always, at least, begin- 
 ning to arrive in October), and leaving us again in the spring ; 
 still no season passes, there is reason to believe, in which many 
 pairs do not remain to breed, and that too in many different 
 parts of the kingdom. It was an object to me some twenty 
 years ago to obtain eggs of the Woodcock, and I applied to a 
 person in Norfolk, who had not any difficulty in procuring for 
 me eggs from the gamekeeper of a neighboui'ing estate out o( 
 two different nests which had been deserted by their owners. 
 My friend added the information, that scarcely a year passed in 
 which one nest or more of Woodcocks was not known of on the 
 estate in question. The nest, a very loose one, is made of deaa 
 leaves and the like. Bracken leaves appearing to be commonly 
 used for the purpose. The eggs are usually about four in 
 number, and want the peculiar pointed shape common to almost 
 all the other birds of the Order. They are of a dirty yellowish- 
 white, a good deal blotched and spotted with two or three shades 
 of pale brown and purplish-grey. The old bird is known to 
 transport her young, if occasion demands, from one place to 
 another. She has been seen doing so repeatedly, and by good 
 observers, generally making use of both feet for the purpose, 
 sometimes one only ; and, it is said, using her beak sometimes foi 
 the same purpose. — Fig. 1, plate IX.
 
 <;OM.MON SNll'E. 121 
 
 20i. GREAL' SmV'E—iSco.'.ofa.vmajoi). 
 
 Solitary Snipe, Double Suipe. — Often taken, no doubt, by 
 many a sportsman in former days to be a very large specimen o 
 the Common Snipe, than which no bird with wliieh I am well 
 acquainted seems to vary more in si;5C. On the wing it does not 
 look much larger than the Common Snipe, and is seldom seen 
 except alone, or at most two in company. It breeds in higli 
 northern localities, and never with us, and no notice, therefore, 
 of its nesting habits is permissible in this place. 
 
 205. COMMON SmVE—iScolopax ffallimf/o). 
 
 Whole Snipe, Snite, Heather-bleatcr. — Although this Snipe, 
 like the Woodcock, retires to northern latitudes to breed, yet 
 there are few districts in Britain suitable to its habits in wliich 
 it is not known to breed in greater or less numbers. And it is a 
 bird, moreover, which is quite sure to make it very distinctly 
 known that it has a nest and eggs somewhere near, if only any 
 human visitor appears on the scene. I refer to the very peculiar 
 note or sound emitted Ijy the male, always while he is on the 
 wing high in the air, and always accompanied with a very remark- 
 able action of his wings and curving descent iu his flight. This 
 sound or note — for it is not absolutely certain, I think, how it is 
 produced — is variously called humming, bleating, drumming, 
 buzzing. To me, the first time I heard it, and before I knew to 
 wnat origin to assign it, the impression produced was precisely 
 that of a large Bee, entangled in some particular place and unable 
 to extricate itself ; and I remem.ber spending some minutes in 
 trying to discover the supposed insect. The eggs are usually 
 four, placed in a very sh'ght and inartificial nest on the ground 
 near some tuft of rushes or other water-herbage. They are of a 
 greenish-olive hue, blotched and spotted with two or three shades 
 of brown, the deepest being very dark. The old ones are said to 
 
 K
 
 139 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NKSTS. 
 
 be very jealous and careful of their young. Many couple are 
 often killed on the moors in this district on or just after the 12th 
 of August. — Fig. 2, flate IX. 
 
 206. JACK ^"^IV^—iScobpax galUnuIa). 
 
 Judcock, Half Snipe. — A little bird, very often seen quite 
 late in the spring, but no specimen of whose e^^ undoubtedly 
 laid in Britain has, as far as I know, ever yet been produced. It 
 mai/ breed here, in some few instances, but none such are yet ascer- 
 tained. No notice of its eggs can consequently be inserted here. 
 207. SABINE'S ^'^l'?'E.-—{Scolopa.T Sabini). 
 
 A very few instances indeed have been recorded of the occur- 
 rence of this bird in England. 
 
 208. BROWN ^'El?'E.—{3Iacroramphus griseus). 
 
 As rare a bird as that last named, or nearly so. 
 
 209. CURLEW SAND-PIPER— (r^/^a subarquata) 
 
 This little bird, which serves to connect the true Snipes with 
 the sea-frequenting Snipes, or Sandpipers, was till lately con- 
 sidered to be a very rare and occasional visitor. But it is very 
 likely to have been confused with the Dunlin, or other small 
 shore-birds, and is now supposed even to breed occasionally in 
 our country. During autumn it is sometimes seen in small 
 groups or flocks. " M. Temminck says this bird breeds occa- 
 sionally in Holland, and that the eggs are yellowish-white, 
 spotted with dark brown." 
 
 210. KNOT.— (rr%a Caimtus). 
 
 Camden says this bird derived its name from the Danish King 
 Knut or Cnut, (generally written Canute, but not properly 
 Tsrouounced so ;) probably because he was very fond of eating 
 *aera. A very poor piece of etymology I should almost think. 
 It is not uncommonly met with in autumn on several parts of 
 our coasts, and as far as I have seen is by no means dilficult to
 
 DUNLIN. 131 
 
 approach. Bat its breeding-place is very much more to the 
 north than any portion of the British Islands extends. The 
 male in his nuptial dress is a very much gayer gentleman than 
 after his annual honeymoon is over. 
 211. BUFF-BREASTED SAND-?irER~(rr%o rvfescetii). 
 Only of very casual occurrence here. 
 212. BROAD-BILLED ^mD-?l\^^Vi—{Tringaplal>/rhpica]. 
 Fully as rare as the last. 
 
 132. LITTLE ^Tl^ll—{Tringa minufa 
 Not to be described altogether as a rare little bird, for it 
 seems to be met with sometimes in autumn ou the Southern and 
 Eastern coasts in some numbers, and even in flocks of twenty 
 or thirty together. They are often seen in company with the 
 Dunlin or other small shore-bu'ds. Very little is known about 
 their breeding places or habits. 
 
 2U. TEMMINCK'S STINT— (r/7«ya Temmiuckii). 
 Less even than the last named small bird, and mucli more 
 rare ; besides which it frequents fresh waters rather than the 
 sea-shore. No very great number of them, however, has been 
 met with in England. 
 
 214*. SCHINZ'S SAND-PIPER— (7'r««^a ScJdnzii). 
 A very rare bird. 
 
 215. PECTORAL SAND-PIPER— (r;-?/;^/^ isec^ora/w). 
 Another rare Sandpiper ; and, like the last, a native of America. 
 
 216. DUNLIN— (rr%a variabilis). 
 D unlin Sandpiper, PuiTC, Churr, Stint, Oxbird, Sea Snipe, 
 Least Snipe, Sea Lark. — Perhaps the very commonest and best 
 known, as well as incomparably the most abundant of all our 
 small shore bii'ds, and yet the one about which heaps of scientific 
 mistakes have been made. The male has a conspicuous wedding- 
 dress, which he duly puts on in the Spring, and once it was on 
 
 R 2
 
 132 BlllTISII BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND KESTS. 
 
 he was ciiristened Tringa Alpina, tlie DuiJin. Then in the 
 autiunn and winter, having divested himself alike of his summer 
 dress and alJ properly or concern in wife and children, he wa? 
 named anew Tringa Cinclus, the Purre. On its behig satisfactorily 
 ascertained that the only real difference between Dunlin and 
 Purre was that of a few feathers, and those cliiefly on the 
 breast, and dependent simply on Season, the new name at the 
 head of this notice was suggested and willingly adopted as 
 altogettier a fit one. The Dunlin, always called Oxbird where 
 my boyhood was spent, and often seen there in flocks of not 
 simply hundi'cds, but thousands, and many thousands, in the 
 autumn and winter, goes to the far north to breed, though some 
 of their hosts stay in the north of Scotland, the Hebrides, 
 Orkneys and other Islands near. Their nests are placed on the 
 ground, among long grass and ling, and always contain four 
 eggs. Mr. Hewitson says : — " In beauty of colouring and ele- 
 gance of form the eggs of the Dunlin are unrivalled. The ground- 
 colour is sometimes of a clear light green, richly spotted with, 
 light brown ; sometimes the ground-colour is of a bluish-white."' 
 The hen will suffer herseK to be removed from her nest by the 
 naud rather than leave her eggs. — Ylg. 3, plate IX. 
 
 217. PURPLE SAND-PIPER— (rm^a marithnd). 
 Sebiinger Sand-piper, Black Sand-piper. — Not a very numerous 
 species, but by no means infrequent on the British coasts. Very 
 few, however, are seen except in winter and early spring, the far 
 greater part resorting to some place far in the north to nest. Still 
 it seems almost certain that a few breed \nsh us in North England 
 and Scotland. It lays four eggs of "a yellowish-grey colour, 
 varied with small irregular spots of pale brown, thick at the 
 obtuse end, rarer at the other."
 
 LAND- KAIL. 133 
 
 v.— EALLID^. 
 
 218. LAND-RAIL— (Ci-e.r pratensis). 
 Corn Crake, Meadow Crake, Dakerhen. — This bird is found 
 in most parts of tlie kingdom, though for the most part in no 
 great abundance any where, in the earlier months of the autumn. 
 In most of the northern parts it breeds annually, but I clo not 
 remember ever hearmg its breeding note while I was a dweller 
 in the district embracing what are usually called the Eastern 
 Counties. Nor yet in Herefordshire. But the note in question 
 has been sufficiently familiar to me for the last twenty years, and 
 here in North Yorkshire I hear it on all sides of me, at all hours, 
 I may say, of day and night. For two or three years in succes- 
 sion a pair took possession of a small plantation of young fir trees 
 bordering my garden lawn on the north, and only separated from 
 it by a deep ditch with a run of water at the bottom. Long 
 after the union seemed to have been formed the pecidiar note was 
 kept up, and I used to see both birds within a few feet of each 
 other during its continuance. Scarcely a day passed during their 
 sojourn of eight or ten days in and about the plantation, but 
 excursions were taken into the garden, frequently extending to 
 the terrace beneath my dining-room window, where sundry very 
 inquirnig and mterested glances — not to say stares — were ex- 
 changed between the visitors and myself and divers members of 
 my family. The visitors seemed very little disturbed at our 
 notice as long as we remained quite still and silent, but any 
 movement on our part led to immediate retreat on the Corn 
 Crake's. Its movements were desultory or in jerks, so to 
 Bpeak. The bird would run ten or twelve paces in an 
 attitude and with a speed which left one in doubt for a moment 
 whether it were not some small quadruped. Tiien it would
 
 134 BRITISH BIRDS, TUEIR EGGS AND >'ESTS, 
 
 skulk amid taller herbage, or under tlie slirubs of a raised bed, m 
 beneath a rhododendron bush. A minute after it would be seea 
 with its head and whole body erect, and the neck so out-stretched 
 that if the bird had been hung up by its head it could not have 
 been much more elongated. This was the invariable position or 
 attitude assumed when interchanging looks with tlie occupants of 
 the window. My own impression was that these journeys or 
 excui-sions (which I knew extended into the grass-Held beyond the 
 garden, and into a field over the road at the back of tlie plantation) 
 were simply made for the purpose of inspection, and with a view 
 to the selection of a place for nesting — and tliat, pending this in- 
 teresting investigation, the fir trees and herbage baucatli afforded 
 an ample covert. As far as I could ascertain, the place actually 
 selected by them for the purpose was in the field — a corn-field — 
 just beyond that which lay adjacent to the garden. The Corn 
 Crake makes a loose nest of dry herbage and stalks and grass ; 
 and I think almost always among growing herbage — grass, 
 clover, or corn. The hen lays seven or eight eggs, some- 
 times even ten, and sits very close upon them. They are whitish 
 in ground, suffused with a reddish tinge, and spotted and speckled 
 with brownish-red and purplish-grey . — Fig. 4, phi{e IX. 
 
 219. SrOTTED CRk'K'E—{Crex j^orzana). 
 A summer visitor, as the Land Rail is, to our shores. It is 
 rare, however, compared with the Land Rail, and with more 
 predilection for the vicinity of water. Like all tlie other Rails it 
 conceals itself very closely, and from the form of its body and 
 power of leg runs with great speed and equal facility, even 
 among what seems to be and is very thick covert. It is knowai 
 to breed m Norfolk and in Cambridgeshire, and is believed to do 
 40 in other localities as well. The nest, made on the ground i»
 
 WATEK-RAIL. 105 
 
 wet marshes, is "formed on the outside," says Mr. Yarrell, 
 " with coarse aquatic plants, lined witii finer materials within." 
 From seven to ten eggs appears to be the number laid, and they 
 vary very much in their ground-colour, between a pale brownish- 
 dun and a slightly yellow-white, the spots or blotches being of a 
 reddish brown of some intensity. — Fig. 5, plate IX. 
 220. LITTLE Q,RKKE—{Crex pusilla). 
 Olivaceous Gallinule, Little Gallinule. — Strictly speaking, still 
 a rare bird in this country. 
 
 221. BAILLON'S CRAKE— (<7/-^.r BaiUonii). 
 More rare than the last, and, perhaps, occasionally confused 
 with it. 
 
 222. WATER V.kTL—{Ralliis aquaticus). 
 
 Bilcock, Skiddycock, Runner, Brook-runner, Velvet-runner. 
 — One of the very shiest of our British birds, and thus seeming 
 to be much more rare tlian it really is. I have seen it at a 1 
 seasons of the year, though it is, I am weU aware, less tolerant 
 of cold than many other of our winter-stay mg birds. Its motions 
 on the bank of a stream, when suddenly disturbed, are much 
 more like those of a Water Rat than a bird. It breeds with some 
 degree of commonness in several of the Southern counties. I 
 obtained two nests from the estate in Norfolk, already mentioned 
 in these pages, at the same time with the Woodcock's eggs, and 
 was informed that it bred regularly there. I had reason also to 
 know that it bred at ToUeshunt D'Arcv, in Essex. The nest is 
 made often in an osier ground or among thick water plants, and 
 composed of different kinds of aquatic herbage. The eggs are 
 from six to nine or ten in number, and seldom quite white mhue; 
 usually they are much more like pale or faded specimens of the 
 Land Rail's eggs, the spots being both fewer and fainter. — Fig. 
 ht plate IX,
 
 J36 BITISU BUIDS, THElll EGGS A.NH KtSlS. 
 
 223. MOOR ilES—{Gallinula cJiloropus). 
 Water Hen, Gallinule, Moat Hen, Marsh Hen.— Few nest- 
 hiuaters, liowcver young, hut know the nest and eggs of this very 
 common bird. I have in many cases seen it almost domesticated, 
 and constantly taking its food among domestic fowls, and some- 
 times even almost from the hands of human creatm-es. Its nest 
 is made in somewhat various places. I have seen it amid the 
 sedges growing in the water near the edge of a marsh-ditch or 
 the like, on di-y tussocky tumps near a sheet of water, among 
 ^he herbage and wiUow stubs not far from the same Mere, built 
 upon masses of fallen but not decayed buh-ushes and flags, at 
 the edge of a pond, on a bough projecting several feet horizon- 
 tally from the bank over and resting upon (or partly in) the 
 water of a running stream, nay, even in a branch or top of a 
 thick tree, or among the ivy which mantled its trunk and 
 wreathed its branches. In it are laid six, seven, or eight eggs, 
 of a reddish-white colour, sparingly speckled and spotted with 
 reddish-brown. The eggs have been known to be removed by 
 the parent birds under circumstances of perd awaiting them — 
 from a flood for instance — and hatched in some new locality. 
 Instances also have been recorded in which a supplementary nest 
 has been constructed by the female parent to receive a part of 
 her brood, when they were too numeious mid had grown too 
 large to be accommodated by their original nest-home at night. — 
 Fiff. 7, plate IX. 
 
 VI.— LOBIPEDIDvE. 
 
 224.— COOT— (i^«//f« atra). 
 Bald Coot.— A common bird enough in many parts of tne king- 
 dom, and, in former days, I have sometunes seen them in strag- 
 gling flocks of several hundreds or tliousands along the tide- way
 
 GKEr-LKGGED GOOSE, 1^7 
 
 on the Essex coasts. Witli its white oval spot ou the forehead, 
 and perfectly black plumage, it is a suillcieatly noticeable bird. 
 It seems to be much more at home on the water than on land ; 
 but, like the Moor lien, can and does move with very considerable 
 ease and speed on the latter. The Coot makes a large and very 
 strong and compact nest, makmg or finding a Gxm foundation for 
 it below the surface of tlie water, and heaping up and twisting in 
 dry flags and bukushes and pieces of reed, until some of the 
 nests are sufEcicntly firm and stable to support a considerable 
 weight. The eggs laid are usually seven or eight, and up to ten; 
 though even twelve or fourteen have been mentioned as some- 
 times found. They are of a dingy stone-colour, speckled and 
 spotted with dark brown. — Fi^. 8, p/aie IX. 
 
 225. GREY PHALAROPE— (P//«/«ro;??« loba(us). 
 
 Red Phalarope. — Supposed, some half-century since, to be ex- 
 ceedingly rare in this country, but now known to visit our shores 
 in small numbers, perliaps annually, on their way to their winter 
 place of sojourning. Like the Coot, they arc lobe-footed, and 
 very capable swimmers. 
 226. RED-NECKED niMjrVllO^'E.—iF/iaiaropus hijpsrhoreus). 
 
 Red Piialarope. — More rare than the last-named in England, 
 though occun-ing, occasionally, somewhat more abundantly in 
 some of tlie northern Scotch Islands. 
 
 v.— NATATORES. 
 FAMILY I.— ANATIDtS. 
 
 227. GREY-LEGGED GOOSE— (J;^?er/er«j). 
 Grey-lag Goose, Grey Goose, Wild Goose. — It is not pro- 
 posed to give any illustrations whatever of the eggs of the Wild- 
 fowl — the Geese, Swans, Ducks, ar.d Divmg Ducks — inasmuch 
 as they are not only of large size, and would usurp much space
 
 138 BHITISU BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 to the absolute exclusion of many others of much interest and 
 urgently demanding pictorial illustration, but, also, are charac- 
 terised by so much sameness or general uniformity of colour ; — 
 for they vary only, in that respect, about as much as the eggs of 
 the common Fowl and common Duck do. A very large propor- 
 tion of them, moreover, never by any chance breed in any por- 
 tion of the British Islands, but resort to distant and very northerly 
 localities for that purpose. The first on our list, the Common 
 Grey, or Wild Goose, is an instance in point. It is believed once 
 to have been a regular inhabitant, and to have bred abundantly 
 in the fenny districts which then prevailed over many parts of 
 the kingdom, not at all near or connected with what is yet called 
 " the fen country." But now it is comparatively a rare bird at 
 any season of the year, and nests no nearer to us than some of 
 the isles and coasts of Scandinavia. 
 
 228. BEAN GOOS^—(Jnser set/e^/m). 
 
 Like the last, and in common witli the Geese next to be men* 
 tioned, indiscriminately know^l by the name of Wild Goose. 
 Unlike the last, however, it is ascertained to breed in small num- 
 bers on some of the large lakes in the north of Scotland, and iu 
 the islands of Ijf^wis and Harris. Besides which, a nesting loca- 
 lity of this species in Westmoreland is named. The nests, iu 
 some instances, are hid in very tall ling, and the eggs are from 
 five to seven in number. In size they are a little under 3| inches 
 long by 2^ broad. 
 
 229. PINK-rOOTED GOOSI.—(Jnser hrachyrhyncus). 
 
 A smaller bird than the last, but otherwise bearing a veiy 
 strolls' resemblance to it ; so much so, that it appears more than 
 probable it has often been assumed to be a young or small speci- 
 men of the former species. It is, however, of compai'atively raro 
 occurrence notwithstanding.
 
 BRENT GOOSE. 1S9 
 
 230. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE— (^«.?ca alblfrons). 
 Laughing Goose. — A regular winter visitor, and not in any very 
 scanty numbers. One of my very worst discomfitures in my early 
 sporting-days took place in connection with a flock of these birds. 
 There were seven or eight of them -which flew deUberately right 
 on towards my fatlier and myself till they were within twenty- 
 five yards of us, and then they doubled up into a confused 
 clump, and I was already counting the slain when my gun missed 
 fire. My father's did not, and gave us the opportunity of identi- 
 fying the species. It breeds in Scotland and other countries far 
 to the north. 
 
 231. BERNICLE GOOSE— (^;wer leucopsis). 
 Another winter visitor ; often appearing in great flocks, but 
 always retiring to the north again to breed. It is supposed to 
 frequent the shores of the White Sea especially for such purpose. 
 
 232. BRENT GOOSE— (4;^.ye/- brcutu). 
 Black Goose, Ware Goose. — By far tlie most numerous of all 
 the geese which visit oiir shores in winter, as it is also the least. 
 I have seen it in inconceivable numbers on the Essex coast in 
 hard winters, and the numbers reported to have been killed at 
 one discharge of a heavy ]mnt-gun, seem simply incredible. In 
 the very hard and loug-coutiuued winter of 1S37-3S, I saw the ice 
 which, in broken fragments of four or five feet square by three 
 or four inches thick, covered the whole estuary of the Blackwater 
 at ToUesbury (a space ot very considerable width), black with 
 them during highwater. The expression m.ade use of by one of 
 the sea-faring men of the neighbourhood was, "There are acres of 
 'em." StiU of all their vast numbers none remain to breed, and 
 no great proportion of them are known to breed in Europe.
 
 140 BRITISH BIRDS, TUEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 233. KED-BREASTED GOOSE— (Jnser rujicollis). 
 A very rare species, and one of which but little is known as to 
 history or habits. 
 
 234.. EGYPTIAN GOOSE— (^«*.-- Egi/piiacus). 
 Equally rare and more exceptional than the last : as the few 
 that have occurred may have escaped from confinement. 
 
 235. SPUR-WINGED GOOSE— (^«5er Gambensis). 
 Gambo Goose. — An accidental visitor mdeed. 
 
 23G. CANADA GOOSE— {Anser Ca)iadeiisis). 
 Cravat Goose. — Many of these remarkably fine birds are kept on 
 ornamental waters in many different parts of the kingdom ; and 
 these have been known sometimes (aided by a storm, perhaps. 
 or some unusual occurrence) to make their escape. Many of the 
 supposed wild birds shot, or otherwise taken, have been accounted 
 for on the supposition that they are such escaped birds. How- 
 ever, it would seem most probable that considerable flights of 
 really wild Cravat Geese do occasionally visit this country, and 
 even that some pair or two of them may occasionally stay to 
 breed. The eggs are six. to nine in number, of very large size 
 and white. 
 
 237. llOOVEl\—{C!/ffm(s feria). 
 Wild Swan, Whistling Swan, Elk. — Of sufficiently common oc- 
 currence on the British coasts, and particularly in hard winters. 
 Few birds vary much more in size and weight than do these. A 
 young bird of the year may weigh only twelve or thirteen pounds ; 
 the older and more full-grown specimens, twenty or twenty-one. 
 They breed very far to the north. 
 
 238. BEWICK'S S\Nm—{Ci/gnus Bewickii). 
 A smaller bird than the Hooper, and of very much rarer occur- 
 rence. Still it is an ascertained species, and visits us frequently, 
 not annually, in some numbers.
 
 COilMON SUIELDRAKR. 141 
 
 239. MUTE SWAIi—iCyffms oior.) 
 
 The Common tame Swan of our ornamental waters. — They 
 Are found wild in many, if not all, the nortlicrn countries of 
 Europe. It is too well knov\Ti by everyone to require detailed 
 notice here, 
 
 240. POLISH SWAN— ((%««5 immutabilis). 
 
 A bird of very rare occurrence in a wUd state, and deriving its 
 Latin name from the circumstance that its plumage undergoes no 
 change in colour at any period of its age. It is always wliite. 
 The cygnets of the other swans are, on the contrary, grey or 
 dusky-coloured for a lengthened period, and only become wliite 
 on their reaching maturity. 
 
 241. RUDDY SHrELDRAKE— (^fl^oraa rutila). 
 
 A bird of exceedingly rare occurrence. 
 242. COMMON SHIELDRAKE— (r«^ora« vulpamer). 
 
 Burrow Duck, Skel Goose, Bar Goose. — One of the very most 
 beautiful of aU our wild fowl, or even of those which for their 
 beauty are selected to be ornamental accessions to the waters of 
 the park or pleasm-e-ground. Its plumage is so beautiful and 
 clear and brilliant, and its attitude in repose so graceful, one 
 camiot but admire it greatly. It breeds not uncommonly on 
 many sandy parts of our coasts, occupying the deep rabbit-bur- 
 rows, which are found in what are called the " sand-hills," to 
 place its nest in. Tiie nest is one reaUy, made of bents and dry 
 stalks, and lined or cushioned with down liberally plucked from 
 the builder's own breast. The number of eggs laid varies between 
 eight or nine and twelve or fourteen. They are nearly or quite 
 white, about 2f inches long by nearly 2 in breadth. I have 
 known instances in which the eggs obtained from one of tlicir 
 nests have been hatched under a common Hen. The young 
 seemed to accustom themselves to their life of restraint tolerably
 
 143 liUlTISII BllltS, rUEIR ECGS AND NESTS. 
 
 well, out never showed any disposition to pair or breed. Fro. 
 bably it might be because no suitable hole for a nest was withm 
 their reach. The male of this species is known to assist the 
 female in the labours and constraint of incubation. 
 243. SHOVELLER— (^«as clypeatd). 
 Elue-wiiiged Shoveller, Broad bill. — The first ia the list of the 
 true Ducks, and a very beautifully plumaged bird indeed. But 
 gaily feathered as he is, and brilliant as is a part, at least, of the 
 plumage of all the male Ducks during a certain portion of the 
 year, yet it is remarkable that they all undergo a change in this 
 respect about the breeding time, just the reverse of that which 
 takes place in the males of so many other birds at the same 
 season. They become more brilliant, or their colours deeper or 
 richer then: — the male ducks duskier, plainer coloui-ed, more like 
 the female in her more unobtrusive hues. The Shoveller's biU is 
 very remarkable, and, as I said of the Oyster-catcher's, a study 
 for all who admu-e the works of God. It merits our notice for 
 its adaptation to its purposes in a direction just opposite to that 
 which characterizes the bill of the bird just named. Dilated at 
 the sides so as almost to look awkward, it is furnished with a 
 large series of very sensitive laminae or plates, such that the 
 minute objects which form a considerable portion of the bird's food 
 may be instantly detected by the sense of touch, and retamed. It 
 used to breed very commonly in many parts of the kingdom, 
 Norfolk and tlie Een districts for instance, as well as in. Homney 
 Marsh and other places more in the south of the Island. At 
 present it has become comparatively rare. The nest is made ol 
 fine grass, and the eggs are eventually enveloped in down pro- 
 cured from the bird's o\vn breast. The eggs may be from eight 
 to twelve in number, white, tinged with a greenish-dun shade, and 
 about 2 inches long by \\ broad.
 
 WILD r^LTK. 1*3 
 
 244. GADWALL— (.//i«5 sCreperu). 
 
 Hodge, Grey Duck. — A Duck which occurs L\ no very great 
 Ctimbers at any time ; mostly about the end of the -whiter, or in 
 spring; and is not known to breed commonly in any part of 
 ilorope. 
 
 2i5. PINTAIL BVGK—iAnas acuta) 
 
 Cracker, "Winter Duck. — An early visitor to our sliores wliea 
 winter has once urged the wild fowl hosts to leave their nortliern 
 nesting-places. It is not, however, a numerous bird with us, but 
 abounds in many of the northernmost countries of Europe. 
 246. BIMACULATED Ti\]CYi—{AnasgIocitans). 
 
 Hather a handsome bird in plumage and markings, but one of 
 rare occurrence, and of which or its liabits very little is known. 
 247. WILD DUCK— (^ms boschas). 
 
 MaUard. — By far the most common of all our wild fowl among 
 the Ducks, but lessening, year by year, in the numbers which 
 visit us. Within my own recollection many Decoys on the Essex 
 coast were wrought constantly and successfully, which for many 
 years now have been dismantled and unused. I well remember, 
 when I was a lad of ten or twelve, being at a house in Tolles- 
 hunt D'Arcy, on the farm belonging to which was an active 
 Decoy, and seeing the birds whicli had been taken in the course 
 of one morning. Tlie numbers were so great tluit many of the 
 undermost Ducks, where the great accumulation had taken place 
 at the end of the " pipe," bad died of pressure and suffocation, 
 and some even were sensibly flattened by the superincumbent 
 weight of their fellows. The multiplication of shooters on shore 
 and afloat has sensibly tended to lessen the numbers of the Wild 
 Duck ; while di-ainage on a large scale in many a district the 
 country through, has materially lessened the number of their 
 haunts. Still a very considerable number remain to breed, and
 
 144 BlUTISU BIRDS, TllEIK EGGS AND NKSTB. 
 
 a Wild Duck's nest in many parts of the kingdom is no raritj. 
 The nest is made of grass, lined and interwoven -with down. It 
 is customarily placed on dry ground on the margin of water, 
 among reeds and bulrushes, or the like ; but may often be found 
 at sorae distance from water, and in places so unlikely for the 
 purpose as on tlie open moor, or in a tree top, or in tlie lofty 
 deserted nest of a crow. The eggs are from nine to twelve in 
 number, sometimes however exceeding the latter limit, of a 
 ;»reeuish-white colour, and about 2 j inches long by 1 1 broad. It 
 is long before the young Wild Ducks fly well enough to leave 
 their native reed beds, or similar shelter, and, in the state pre- 
 ceding that of actual power to fly away, they are called Flappers; 
 and many a Flapper hunt have I taken part in in my youngei 
 days. 
 
 248. GARGANEY— (y/««i querquedidd). 
 
 Summer Duck, Summer Teal, Pied Wiggon. — This is a some- 
 what rare bird, and is seen sometimes in late autumn, but more 
 usually in the spring. It has been known to breed in this 
 country, though by no means commonly or frequently. It is 
 said to make a nest among reeds of dry grass, rushes and down, 
 and the number of eggs deposited to run from eight or nine tc 
 twelve, or even more. They are of a disiiuct but pale bufT 
 colour. If inch long by l^- broad. 
 
 249. TEAL — {Anas crecca). 
 
 A very pretty little Duck, and the least of all our wLite? 
 visiters of that species. It is of common occurrence, but not 
 met with in any great numbers. It breeds abundantly in Nor- 
 way and Sweden, and especially in Lapland, whither the great 
 oulk of our winter friends retire on the approach of the northern 
 summer ; stiU, pairs often remain throughout the summer in 
 various parts of oui- country to nest and rear their young.
 
 EIDER DUCK, 14? 
 
 WTieu 1 was a boy 1 heard of nests, almost annually, on seme of 
 the marshes 1 knew most familiarly. Tlie Teal builds a nest ot" 
 abundance of different vegetable substances, varying according 
 to the locality and its productions, and luies it with down and 
 feathers, the concealment afforded by the neiglibouring herb^e 
 being carefully adopted. Eight to ten or twelve eggs are laid, of 
 a buffy-white, If inch long by rather over 1^ broad. 
 250. WIGEON— (^««5 Penelope). 
 Wliewer, V^Hum. — Mr. Watertou has recorded an observation 
 on the habits of this Duck, which is of great interest. Whereas, 
 all the birds of the Duck-kind which we have hitherto named arp 
 night-feeders, the Wigeon obtains its food by day, " and that 
 food is grass." The great body of our winter visitors of this 
 species retire to the north to breed about the end of March, or 
 April ; but a few have been ascertained to remain for that pur- 
 pose in north Scotland. A nest, found on Loch Laighal in 
 Sutherlandshire, was " placed in the midst of a clump of grass, and 
 was made of decayed rushes and reeds, with a lining of its own 
 dowTi. The eggs were smaller than tliose of the Wild Duck, and 
 of a rich cream-white colour." The number of eggs laid varies 
 between five and eight or nine; the length, 2\ inches by 1| 
 in breadth. 
 
 251. AMERICAN TV^GEON— (^«a5 Americana^ 
 Of entirely rare and accidental occurrence. 
 
 252. EIDER ^^^^^—{Somatena mollissima), 
 St. Cuthbert's Duck. — We have now arrived at another section 
 of the Duck family. Those hitherto named all frequent the 
 fresh waters, and chiefly affect those that are of no great extent 
 or depth. These, the first of which we have just named, fre- 
 quent the sea or, in a few instances, the deepest parts of large 
 freshwater lakes. The Eider Duck, well-known to most of us by 
 
 t
 
 146 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESIS. 
 
 name, to some of us by sight, breeds in some marshes on tb»? 
 Faroe islands, and in many of the islands on the coast of Scotland. 
 The nests are principally composed, on a foundation of sea-weed 
 cr grass, of the beautiful light elastic down, commonly known aa 
 Eider-down ; and if the first is plundered, a second, and even » 
 third are formed ; but the down decreases in quality and quantity 
 in each successive instance. The first accumulation is so large 
 and springy as quite to conceal the eggs contained, which are 
 usually five in number, and are of a light-green colour, about three 
 inches long by two wide. The lining of one nest, admitting of 
 easy compression by the hand, is described oy Mr. Hewitson as 
 capable, when fully expanded, of filling a man's hat. 
 
 253. KING DJJCK—iSomaieria spectabilis). 
 A much rarer bird than the last ; indeed occurring only very 
 casually. It has been known to breed in one of the Orkney 
 Islands, wliile Iceland, Nova Zcmbla, Spitzergen, and like locali- 
 ties, are the great breeding haunts of the species. The nests are 
 made on the ground, and contain five eggs, very closely resem- 
 bling the Eider-duck's, except in size. They are rather less. 
 
 254. STELLER'S WESTERN DUCK— (Po.>5/eV/rt Stelleri). 
 
 Exceedingly rare in Britain, and not much less so, it seems, in. 
 Eui'ope generally. 
 
 255. \T:LVET ^COTm.—{Oidemiafusca). 
 
 Velvet Duck. — A winter visitor, and rare on our south coasts. 
 More common in the far north of Britain. 
 
 256. COMMON SCOTER.— {Oidemia nigra). 
 
 Scoter, Black Scoter, Black Duck, Black Diver. — This dusky- 
 coloured Duck is seen in considerable numbers on various parts 
 of our coasts in winter, and always swimming and diving in 
 what may be called " loose order," like the Coots rather than any
 
 TUFTED DUCK. 147 
 
 of the true Ducks. It does not, however, ever stay to breed 
 with us, and can have no further notice nere. 
 
 257. SURF ^C01^K—{0idemia perspicillata). 
 
 A bird of very rare, and, perhaps also it may be added, very 
 local occurrence. 
 258. IIED-CRESTED WHISTLING Ji\]CYi—{Fuligula rufina). 
 
 Again another occasional vistor. 
 
 259. YOQjVLKSSi—iFuUgulafenna). 
 
 Dunbird, lled-hcaded Wigeon, lied-headed Poker, Duncur. — A 
 whiter visitor, and in very considerable numbers in districts 
 where the presence of inland waters to a s'xfBcient extent enables 
 them to follow out then- natural habits. It is ahnost impossible, 
 from their great quickness and skill in diving, to take them with 
 tlie other " Fowl " in the Decoy, and they are therefore captured by 
 a peculiar arrangement of nets affixed to poles so heavily weighted 
 at one end as on being Liberated to elevate the net in such a way 
 as to intercept the flight of the birds, as soon as they are fairly on 
 wing. The Dimbu'd does not now breed in this country. 
 260. FERRUGINOUS DUCK— (i^«%«/a nyroca). 
 
 Somewhat resembling the Pochard in general hue, but smaller, 
 and in respect of the numbers in which it has been met with in 
 this country, comparatively a very rare visitor. 
 
 261. SCAUP DUCK— (i^«%/^/« marila). 
 
 Spoon-bill Duck. — A winter visitor, and not an unusual one, 
 
 although its numbers are never such as to commend it to notice 
 
 in the same way as the Wild Duck, the Dunbird, the Wigeon, and 
 
 some others. It breeds commonly in Iceland, but never in Britain. 
 
 262. TUFTED DUCK— (i^«%a& cristata). 
 
 Another constant winter visitor, and as well or better known 
 than the Scaup. Like the Scaup Duck it usually prefers oozy 
 or muddy estuaries and their customary accompaniments. But 
 
 L 2
 
 148 BRITISH BIRDS, THJCIR EGGS AlUJJ StarB. 
 
 have met willi it here in the narrow, rapid trout-stream which 
 1 uiis through this part of the country, and at a distance of not 
 less than nine or ten miles from the sea. It breeds sparingly iu 
 Holland and in more northerly countries. 
 
 2G3. LONG-TAILED T>VCY^—{Fulignla glasialii). 
 Another bird wliicli, like the two last, is sufficiently well- 
 known witnout Demg exceedingly or indeed in the least degree 
 numerous. It is in fact a rather rare and very beautiful Duck, 
 and is remarkable for the great variations of plumage to which it 
 13 liable, according to differences of age, sex, and season. It 
 breeds abundantly in Norway and Denmark, and much more so 
 in puj-ely Arctic regions. 
 
 204. HAllLEQUIN DUCK— (2^«%a/« histrionica). 
 Another very beautiful bird, and most peculiarly marked. So 
 much so as to remind its sponsors, as it appears, of the artistic 
 effects produced by tlie customary pictorial adoriunent of our 
 facetious friend Harlequin's face. A rarer bird, however, than 
 even the Long-tailed Duck last named. 
 
 2C5. GOLDEN YXE—iFuligula clangula). 
 Brown-headed Duck, Grey-lieaded Duck, Pied Wigeon, Golden- 
 eyed Wigeon, Duck or Teal, Morillon, Rattlewings. — As well 
 known and as common as perhaps either the Scaup or the 
 Tufted Duck, but known by different names according to the 
 •tate of plumage depending on sex and age, females and young 
 oirds being much more common than adult males. As not known 
 to breed in England no notice of nest or eggs can be inserted 
 here. In the Appendix, 'lowever, a very interesting notice of one 
 of its habits connected with its breeding time will be inserted. 
 
 2GG. BUEEEL-HEADED DUCK— (2^^%k/« albeola). 
 A visitor, but a very rare one, to our shores in winter.
 
 GOOSANDER. 149 
 
 207. SMEW— (3/«?;y/k« albelliis). 
 ^Hiite Nun, Red-headed Smew (for young), Smec, Lougn 
 Diver, "VVhite-lieaded Goosander. 'Uliite Merganser. — This biru 
 nelps us from tlie group of sea-loving Ducks jast noticed to that 
 of the Mergansers, whose diving habits and powers may be in- 
 terred from their names. Tiie Smew is perhaps quite the most 
 common of tlie entire family; but they are very wary and difficult to 
 api)roach. They are not known to breed m any part of the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 26S. HOODED :MERGx\.NSER— (^Ver^K* cvcuUatus). 
 k. rare and accidental visitor to this country, and indeed to the 
 European continent. 
 169. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER— (.l/er^K* serrator. 
 
 Red-breasted Goosander. — This handsome bird is an undoubted 
 denizen of our country during the breeding season, but in nr> 
 great numbers in any year or district. It breeds in Ireland, on 
 islands in several of the Loughs ; also in the Hebrides and otjier 
 Scottish islands. The nest is made of long grass or moss, small 
 roots, di-y water-herbage, mixed and lined with the bird's own 
 down, doubtless added to as incubation proceeds. It is often 
 placed at the foot of a tree, if there be one on the islet selected. 
 The eggs are six to nine in number, of a pale buff or fawn- 
 colour. They are 2| inches long by If broad. 
 
 270. GOOSANDER.— (J/er^«5 merganser). 
 Dun Diver, Sparling Fowl, Jacksaw, Saw-biU. — A few of 
 these birds also remain to breed in Britain, though by far the 
 most retire to the north of Europe for that purpose. Its nests 
 are common in both the Orkney Islands and the Hebrides. They 
 are large, made of dry grass and roots, and lined with the down of 
 ^le female, and placed amid bushes or stones, or in some cavity 
 afforded by an old tree. The eggs rarely exceed six or seven,
 
 150 BKITISII BIKDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 not varying much in shade from those last descnbed, and are 2| 
 inches in length, by nearly ] | in breadth. 
 
 II.— COLTMBIDtE. 
 
 271. GREAT CRESTED GR'EBK—{Podiceps crisiains}. 
 
 Cargoose, Loon, Greater Loon, Tippet Grebe. — We have come 
 now to the Divers properly so called, and the family of Grebes 
 to be noticed first are to be looked upon as principally out not 
 exclusively, frequenting the fresh water. The bii-d now under 
 notice remains almost all the year on the large sheets of water 
 which it inhabits in Wales, Shropshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire. 
 Like the rest of the Grebes, it is little able to walk and not much 
 disposed to fly, but possessing marvellous capacity and power of 
 diving. Its nest is made of a large heap of half rotten water- 
 weeds, but little raised above the surface of the water, and 
 always soaked with wet. On this likely-seeming place for duly 
 addling every egg deposited, three, four or five eggs are laid, 
 which are almost white when newly di'opped, but soon become so 
 stained from constant contact with wet and decaying vegetable 
 substances as to be any colour rather than white. They are 
 about 2i inches long, by 1^ broad. The eggs, in the absence of 
 the parent bu'd, are usually found covered with portions of some 
 water vegetable ; and the owner, on being disturbed on her nest, 
 always dives away from it. The first lessons of the young Loon 
 in diving are taken beneath the literal " shelter of their mother's 
 wing." 
 
 272. RED-CRESTED GR'EBR—iPodiceps rubnccUis), 
 
 Not so common as the Grebe last named, and more frequently 
 met with on salt water, though not usually far from some estuary 
 or inland arm of the sea. It is cot known to iiave bred in thia 
 country.
 
 LlTlLli GREBE. ]51 
 
 273. SCLAVONIAN GR'EB'E—iPodicejJs cornutm). 
 Dusky Grebe, Horned Grebe. — Rather a rare bird in tlie 
 summer, and not common at any period of tiie year; nor has it 
 ever been known to breed with us. 
 
 274. EARED GREBE— (Po(//c^s awnto). 
 
 The rarest of all the Grebes. It occurs however from time to 
 time, and I knew of one instance in Esses some thirty years ago 
 in which one of these birds was taken from a "Water-Rat's hole 
 into which it had been seen to creep for shelter. 
 
 275. LITTLE GREBE— (Por//c^^5 minor). 
 Dabchick or Dobchick, Didapper, Small Ducker, Blackchiu 
 
 Grebe. — A very common and very interesting little bird, and yet, 
 in spite of its frequency and familiarity, blessed with a couple of 
 scientific names, originating (as in the case of the Dunlin), in 
 differences of plumage, depending on age or season. It is 
 difficiJt to say where it is 7wt to be met with in spring, provided 
 only there be what the Americans call a sufficient " water- 
 privilege," neither too shallow nor too rapid, for its requirements. 
 As expert a diver as any of those hitherto named, it seldom resorts 
 to the use of its wings, except just at the time when bu'ds' love- 
 makuig goes on. Then the male (at least) may be seen working 
 his short wings most vigorously and rapidly, uttering his rattling 
 cry as he circles over and about the Mere on which he has 
 " squatted " for the season. The nest is a lieap of water weeds 
 only just flush with the surface, and always steeping wet. The 
 eggs are four, five or six in number, perfectly white when laid, 
 but soon ceasing to be clean-looking, for they grow more dingy 
 day by day, until on some waters they become completely mud- 
 coloured, on others, assume a hue which I can compare to nothing 
 but old blood stains on some du-ty surface. I am quite convinced 
 that in some cases at least this discolouration is intentional on the
 
 152 BRlTlSn BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND KEtTS. 
 
 part of the parent bird, though in others it may be simpl^f due tc 
 the action of the juices of fresh or decaying vegetable substances 
 I never yet, though I have seen some dozens of nests, found the 
 eggs left uncovered by the owner, save only in one instance, in 
 which only one egg had been laid. The weeds used as a covering 
 were, moreover, in the majority of instances, fresh, and evidently 
 procured by the Dabchick in virtue of her skill in diving. The 
 young birds swim and dive almost immediately they are hatched, 
 and are very persevering little skulkers if disturbed on their 
 breeding waters. 
 
 276. GREAT NORTHERN BlVI.n—iColt/mdus fflacialis). 
 Greatest Speckled Diver, Great Doucker,Immer,Immer Diver. — 
 
 This magnificent bird — I shot one, in full plumage, several 
 years since, which weighed nearly thirteen pounds — is usually 
 found at some distance from the coast, except during that part 
 of the year which is devoted to the work of propagation. 
 There seems good reason to think some of them may breed 
 in some of the most northerly British Islands, but no authentic 
 history of its ever naving been known to do so, is, I believe, 
 extant. 
 
 277. BLACK-TIIROATED DIVLR— (Co/ymi«s ardicus). 
 Lumme, Norlliern Doucker, Speckled Loon. — The rarest of 
 
 the three Divers known in our seas. It is, however, described 
 as breeding in several ol the lakes of Sutherlandshire. It 
 makes no nest, but lays its two eggs on the bare ground, at 
 no great distance from the water-edgo. These aie in some 
 instances of a light shade of chocolate-brown, others having 
 more of an olive-brown tinge about them, and sparingly spotted 
 with black. 
 
 278. RED-THROATED J)lTE.R—{Coli/mbus sepleniriomli."). 
 Rain Goose, Cobble, Sprat-borer, Spratoon, Speckled Divct
 
 COMMON GUILLEMOT. 153 
 
 — The commonest and the smallest of the Divers, and vailing 
 greatly in their plumage, according to age and season. It breeds 
 on the Scottish mainland, m Shetland, in the Hebrides, and until 
 lately in the Orkneys. The eggs are said to be always deposited 
 very near the water's edge. They are two in number, of a greenisli 
 brown colour, spotted with very dark brown, but, as Mr. Yarrell 
 states, when the egg has been long sat upon the brown ground- 
 colour is apt to assume a chestnut, or dark reddish-brown tint. 
 
 III.— ALCAD^. 
 
 279. COMMON GUILLEMOT— (f/'nr/ Iroile). 
 Foolish Guillemot, "VVillock, Tinkershere, Tarrock, Scout, Sea- 
 Hen, Murre, Lavy. — The first on the list of our Ptockbirds, as 
 they are often called. It is remarkable in several particulars 
 connected with its breeding peculiarities. It makes no nest and 
 lays but one egg, but that an egg of huge dimensions as con- 
 trasted with the size of the bird itself; besides which, it is almost 
 impossible out of a collection of many scores to pick out half a 
 dozen that are precisely alike, either in ground-colour or general 
 markings. The eggs are laid on the ledges of rocky precipices 
 overhanging the sea, on various parts of the British coasts. 1 
 have frequently seen the "VVDlocks under the impulse of a sudden 
 alarm — for instance, the firing of a gun in the close vicinity of 
 their egg-bestrown ledges — fly off in very large numbers and 
 with every symptom of precipitation. But no egg is ever dis- 
 lodged ; a cii'cumstance which some Have sought to account for 
 on the supposition that they must be cemented to the rockj 
 The explanation really is, it would seem, that the shape of the 
 eggs is such that, instead of rolling off in any direction, as a 
 :.all would do on being sufficiently moved, they simply turn round 
 ana vour.i witliin the length of their own axis. It would serve
 
 154 BKlTlin BIRDS, TUEIR EGGS AXD NESTS. 
 
 but little purpose to attempt a description of the Guillemot's 
 figg. They are of all shades, from nearly or quite white to a 
 dark green, some profusely spotted and blotched and streaked 
 with, dark colours, others very slightly so or scarcely at all. 
 Unfortunately the egg is so large that but two illustrations can be 
 given in the limited space available to us. — Fiff. 1, 2, j}late X. 
 
 280. BRUNNICH'S GUILLEMOT— (Z7n« Brunnichii). 
 
 Thick-billed Guillemot. — Easily distinguished by an expe- 
 rienced eye from the last, but a bird of which, perhaps, it can 
 scarcely be said that it has been actually ascertained to breed 
 any where within the limits of the British Isles. The eggs are 
 described as varying from those of the Common Guillemot in 
 their greater roundness ; they are less long in proportion to their 
 thickness than the others, but seem to run through the sanitj 
 endless variations of ground-colour. 
 
 281. RINGED GUILLEMOT— (^/-/^ lacrpnans). 
 
 Bridled Guillemot. — There has been some doubt whether this 
 bird is to be considered a distinct species, or merely a variety 
 of the Common Guillemot. It is now, however, generally ad- 
 mitted as a good species. It occurs in company with the other 
 Guillemot on various parts of our coasts, and in Wales is said 
 to be equally numerous with it. The eggs are distinguishable 
 from those of the other two species already named, but still ex- 
 hibiting precisely similar characteristics. 
 
 282. BLACK GUILLEMOT— (6Vi«^;y//e). 
 
 Tyste, Seraber, Greenland Dove, Sea Turtle. — Sensibly less 
 in size than the Common Guillemot, and not found commonly 
 on our more southerly coasts. Shetland, the Orkneys and 
 Western Isles are all frequented by thcin, and their quick 
 and lively motions are pleasant enough to witness. These birdv 
 lay two eggs each instead of one, in holes or crevices of pre«
 
 PUFHN. 135 
 
 cipitous rocks, and at some distance from the aperture ; sometimes, 
 where no such nest-sites are available, on the bare ground, 
 under or between fragments of rock or large stones. They 
 are most commonly white more or less tinged with blue, specklea, 
 spotted and blotched or marbled with chestnut brown, very dark 
 brown and a kind of neutral tint. — Fig. 3, plate X. 
 
 283. LITTLE A.\]K—(Merffidus melanoleucos). 
 I have rarely seen any bird, much more a very small bird like 
 this, whose whole air and deportment conveyed to me more com- 
 pletely the idea of entire independence. Only under the pressure 
 of severe storms or long continued hard weather do they leave 
 the deep sea in order to seek the comparative shelter of some 
 land-sheltered bay or reach. It breeds on the Faroe Isles and in 
 Iceland, but not in Britain. 
 
 284. '2'[]Y'Sl'^—{Fra(ercula arctica). 
 Sea Parrot, Coulterneb, Tammy Norie. — This is, one may safely 
 say, the quaintest-looking of all the host of our Enghsh birds. 
 The young Owl is grotesque enough, but more by reason of its 
 deliberate, solemn-seeming and yet laughable movements; but 
 the P uffin , with its upright attitude and liuge ribbed and painted 
 beak — reminding one somewhat strongly of the highly-coloured 
 pasteboard noses of preposterous shape and dimensions wliich 
 decorate the windows of the toy-shop — strikes us as more laugh- 
 ably singular yet. They breed abundantly about many of our 
 rocky coasts m all parts of the kingdom, depositing their one egg 
 — a large one, again, in proportion to the size of the bird — some- 
 times in crannies or rifts in the surface of the cliff, often very far 
 back ; at other times in rabbit-buiTows where such excavations 
 ore to be met with sufficiently near the coast and otherwise suit- 
 able to the wants of the bird. It does not foUow that because 
 the Puffin occupies tlie hole, that the rabbit had forsaken it or
 
 156 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 even given it up " for a consideration." On tlie contrary tlie 
 Puffin is quite ready and equally able to seize on and continue to 
 occupy the desired home by force of arms. In other cases they 
 dig their own holes, and often excavate them to the depth of two 
 or three feet. The eggs are nearly white before they become 
 soiled — that is spotted and marbled with a tinge of ash colour. 
 
 2S5. llAZOR-BILL~(Alca torda). 
 llazor-bill Auk, Black-billed Auk, Murre, Marrot. — It may 
 almost be said that wherever the Guillemot is met with the 
 Razor-bill is sure not to be far distant. They have their habits 
 their food, their haunts, even to a great degree their general ap- 
 pearance, in conunon. There is, however, a great difference both 
 in the shape and size and also in the colouring of the single egg 
 laid by the Hazor-blll, from that of the Willock. It is less in pro- 
 portion, less elongated, wants the infinite diversity of colouring 
 which characterises the cg^ of the latter, the ground-colour 
 being always whitish or white tinged with some light buffy shade, 
 and the spots and blotches, which are siifficiently abundant, are 
 some of a reddish or chestnut brown, others of a very deep rich 
 brown. — Fig. 4, flute X. 
 
 2S0. GREAT AUK— (^/crt impemis). 
 Gair-Fowl. — Not merely an exceedingly rare British bird, but 
 It is to be feared, extinct as a British species. Where it is yet ia 
 existence it is said scarcely ever to leave the water, and it lays 
 its one large egg almost close to high-water mark. These eggt 
 are white in ground, or sometimes soiled or slightly yellowish 
 wliite, blotched and streaked, most at the larger end, with black. 
 They somewhat resemble the Guillemot's (^g in shape, but are 
 rather less elongated. The value of these eggs is aimost
 
 suAG, L57 
 
 fabulous, sixty guineas* bavinej been given for a couple of them. 
 I have to thank Mr. Chanipley, C.E., of Scarborough, for most 
 kindly sending me an engraving of a Great Auk's egg in his 
 possession, as well as for offering me access to his admirable coi- 
 lection of eggs, numbering upwards of SOOO specimens. 
 
 IV.— PELECANID^.. 
 287. CO^mON COmiOTyKNT—iP/ialacrocorai: carlo). 
 
 Crested Cormorant, Corvorant, Great Black Cormorant, Cole 
 Goose, Skart. — "V^Hierever there are any traces of a rocky coast 
 about our island, there the Cormorant is pretty sure to be found, 
 so that he may very well be described as a common bird. Where 
 the rocky coast is not only extensive, but not liable to much 
 disturbance from human intrusion, these birds abound, and may 
 be seen in numbers and observed to anyone's heart's content- 
 They build their nests, which arc of ample size, with sticks, sea- 
 weed and coarse herbage of any obtainable sort, on ledges of the 
 precipices ; and many nests are usually formed in the near neigh- 
 bourhood of each other. They are much disposed also to select 
 as the situation for their nests a rocky islet with cliffy sides, and 
 woe to the nose of anyone who approaches such an island-rock 
 from the leeward side. What from the nature of their food and 
 the abundance of their excrement, an intolerably fetid odour 
 always prevails about their breeding-place. The eggs vary in 
 number from four to six, and are almost entirely covered over with 
 a white chalky incrustation, which, however, admits of easy 
 removal by a knife or similar means, leaving a shell of a bluish- 
 green colour apparent. 
 
 2S8. SHAG — {Phalacrocorax crislatus). 
 
 Green Cormorant, Crested Cormorant, Crested Shag. — A 
 • Morria's Nestg and Eggs of British Birds,
 
 158 BRITISTI BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 smaller bird than the last, but easily distingmshable by that and iif 
 prevailing green colour. As to habits and haunts the differences 
 are not great. The Shags are said to breed lower down on the 
 rocks than the Cormorant, and the nests are principally com- 
 posed of sea weed and grasses. The eggs are three to five in 
 number, and covered with the same incrustation as those of the 
 Cormorant, and equally removable. White at first, they soon 
 become as soiled and stained as tliose of the Grebes. 
 
 2S9. GANNET.— (/S^fe Bassana). 
 Solan Goose. — Common enougli in certain localities, though 
 the localities in which they occur vary with the season. When 
 the breeding time comes round, they congregate in hosts of 
 many thousands at some half-dozen different stations, particularly 
 affected by them on different parts of our coasts. During the 
 breeding season they become exceedingly tame, and wiU even 
 suffer themselves to be touched. Tliey make their nests of a 
 large mass of sea weed and dry grass, on rather than in which they 
 lay each one single tg^, of no very considerable size. This, 
 when first laid, is white or bluish-white, (the colour being dae 
 to an incrustation similar to that of the Cormorant's egg), but 
 soon becomes soiled and stained. 
 
 v.— LAEID^. 
 
 290. CASPIAN TEllN— (67fra« Caspta). 
 The first member of the last Family of British birds, compris- 
 ing many birds of habits and peculiarities as widely distinct, when 
 it is remembered they are all water-birds, from those of the two 
 Families last nader notice, as is readily conceivable. The Grebes, 
 Divers, Cormorants, all gifted with wonderful powers of diving; the 
 Gulls and Terns incapable of diving an inch; the latter, buoyant and 
 bitting as lightly on the water as a cork ; the former deep-sunken
 
 ROSEATE TERN. 15^ 
 
 in the water, and seeming to require almost an effort to support 
 themselves on the surface at all. The contrast is certainly 
 sufficiently striking, •vrlthout taking into account that the one 
 group has immense power of flight, and exercises it ; and the 
 others seem to have little inclination to use their wings at all, 
 more than is absolutely necessary. The handsome and large 
 Tern, specially under notice, does not breed in this country, 
 but is known to inhabit the coast of some parts of the European 
 continent, at no great distance from our own shores. 
 
 291.--SAND-WICII TI^'R'N—iS/erna Cantiaca). 
 
 This bird has been noticed as breeding in several different 
 localities on our southern coasts, and it is known to frequent 
 both Coquet Island and one or more of the Fame Islands for 
 the same purpose. It lays three or four eggs in a hole, or rather 
 cavity, either scratched or found ready-made in the neighbour- 
 hood of plants or herbage sufScient to afford some covert. The 
 colour of the eggs varies from yellowish white to a buffy stone- 
 colour, and they are thickly spotted with neutral tint, chestnut 
 and deep rich brown. There is, indeed, considerable variat ion 
 m the colouring of the eggs, but all are very beautiful. — Fig. ], 2, 
 vlate XI. 
 
 292. ROSEATE TEK^— {Sterna Doyffallii). 
 
 This bird is now known to be a regular but not abundant 
 summer visitor. Unlike many of our recognised British Birds, 
 this Tern seems rather to increase in numbers than to diminish. 
 They associate with other and infinitely more common species, 
 and closer observation only lias distinguished between them and 
 their eggs and those of their more numerous associates. The 
 eggs of the Roseate Tern are two or three in number, and vary 
 among themselves to some small extent. They are usually of a
 
 160 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 liglit yellowish stone-colour, spotted and speckled with dark-p;re? 
 and dark-brown. 
 
 293. COMMON TERN— (<S/«-«« hirundo). 
 Sea Swallow, Tarney or Pictamey, Tarrock, Pirr, Gull-teazer, 
 &c. — ^Although distinguished by the epithet of Common, this Tern 
 is really not much more numerous, and in that sense common, 
 than one or two other species with which it customarily consorts. 
 It is very generally diffused however, and in that sense w common. 
 It usually biulds on the ground in marshy localities near large 
 sheets of water, or on islands low and flat not far from the sea. 
 Sometimes, though more rarely, it builds upon low rocks or 
 slightly elevated sand-banks. They lay two or three eggs, and 
 are exceedingly and noisily restless and uneasy when they, or 
 especially their yoiuig, are too nearly approached. Their eggs 
 vary a good deal, but most of them are of a medium stone-colour, 
 blotched and spotted with ash-grey and dark red-brown. The 
 buoyancy and power of flight exhibited by these birds is very 
 observable. — Fij. 3, 'plate XT. 
 
 ARCTIC TERN— (iS^eraa ardica). 
 This Tern, until a comparatively recent period, was confounded 
 with the Common Tern, but a clear specilic difference was pointed 
 out by M. Temmiuck, and it is now acknowledged that, in maiiy 
 of the more nortlierly localities especially, it is a much more 
 numerous species than the Common Tern. It breeds plentifully 
 m Shetland, Orkney and some parts of the Hebrides, and in great 
 numbers on Coquet Island and one or more of the Fames. It 
 lays two or three eggs, which are exceedingly like those of tiie 
 Common Tern, and vary in the same proportion. Some have 3 
 ijreenish shade, and others rather a pronounced buff, spotted and
 
 BUCK TERN. 161 
 
 blotched as ;n the case of those of the last-named specica. — Fig. 4, 
 plate XI. 
 
 295. VVlIlSIvi:ilED TERN— (5/^r«« leucopareia). 
 Of very rare, or rather accidental occurrence. 
 
 29G. GULL-BILLED TEim—{Slerna Anglica). 
 Aaother bird, of which much the same may be said as of the last. 
 
 297. LESSER TEim— {Sterna minutd). 
 
 Lesser Sea Swallow, Jjittle Tern. — A pretty — almost a deli- 
 cate — nttle bird, and not infrequent on such parts of oui- coasts 
 as are adapted to its habits. It seems to prefer sand or shingle- 
 banks or surfaces, and lays its two or three eggs in any small 
 cavity which it may be lucky enough to find in the selected place. 
 It is perfectly surprising in many cases how closely the eggs laid 
 resemble the stones and gravel among which they are laid. They 
 are palish stone-colour, speckled and spotted with ash-grey and 
 dark brown. — Fig. 5, plate XI. 
 
 298. BLACK TEK^—iSierna nigra). 
 
 Blue Darr. — These birds show considerable varieties in plumage, 
 according to sex and age. They used to be very much more 
 numerous than they now are, many of their favourite haunts 
 having been drained or otherwise broken up. Still it is not 
 uncommon, even yet, in some parts of the fenny districts — 
 g'.though other Terns build in the close vicinity of the sea, atid in 
 dry sites. The Black Tern, however, selects marshy places and 
 often builds in very wet spots, making a nest of flags and grass. 
 The eggs are sometimes four in number, this being the only Tern 
 which lays more than three. They vary much in colour and 
 markings, some being of a palish green, others of a brownish 
 yellow, or dull buff, but all spotted and blotched with deep brown. 
 Fig. G, plate XL
 
 162 BRITISH BIRDS THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 299. NODDY TER'N—(Sierm stolida). 
 A bird of only rare and casual occurrence. 
 
 300. SABINE'S GULL- (Z^/ras SaMni). 
 
 This, the first of the Gulls which falls unaer our notice, is onlj 
 a rare visitor. 
 
 301. LITTLE Gi\JlAj—{Larus minutus). 
 
 Not only the least English Gull, but the least of all the Gulls, 
 and a very pretty looking little bu-d. It is, however, only a 
 visitor, though known, of late years, as putting in a more frequent 
 ajjpearance than had been before noticed. 
 
 302. MASKED-GULL— (Ztfr«5 capistratus). 
 A very rare bird, and one of which only a very few specimens 
 generally speaking, Jiave been nitherto met with. 
 
 303. BLACK-HEADED GULL— (Z«r«5 ridibundus). 
 Brown-headed Gull, Red-legged Gull, Laughing Gull, Pewit 
 Gull, Black-cap, Sea Crow, Hooded Mew. — This is a very numer- 
 ous, and at least, at some periods of the year, a very generally 
 diffused species. At the breeding time, although a few pairs may 
 be met with in an infinite number of localities, the great bulk of 
 the species seems to collect at a few chosen places. One such 
 place, in wliich they breed in thousands, is on Scoulton Mere, 
 in Norfolk ; another at PaUinsburn, in Northumberland ; and a 
 tliird, in Lincolnsliire, not fur from Brigg. The nests are made 
 of sedges, grass and the flowering part of the reed, and are not 
 very deeply cup-sliaped. The bird lays three eggs, and there is a 
 very great degree of variation between them in respect of colour 
 and markings ; the ground-colour being sometimes of a light 
 blue or yellow, and sometimes green, or red, or brown. Some, 
 too, are thickly covered with spots, and others scarcely marked 
 with a single speckle or spot. In more than one of their great
 
 COMMON GULL. 
 
 103 
 
 breeding-places the right or gathering the eggs is rented, and 
 sonaetimes upwards of a thousand eggs are collected in a single 
 day. When the first laying of eggs is taken, a second batch, and 
 even a third is produced ; but in each successive instance, the 
 eggs become less. They are used as the Pewit's eggs are, and also 
 for culinary purposes, being sold for about fivepence a score. — 
 Fig. 7, plate XI. 
 
 304. LAUGHING-GULL— (Z«rK5 atricilla). 
 A bii'd of exceedingly rare, or rather exceptional, occurrence. 
 
 305. ^YIIV^ K^^Si—fjMrus tridadylus). 
 Tarrock, Annet. — A very common rock-breeding GuU, met 
 
 •with on ahnost all parts of our coasts, and nesting in great num- 
 bers in many different localities. Plamborough Head, St. Abb's 
 Hea^d, the Bass, more than one of the Earns islands, are such 
 places. It places its nest of sea-weed high up on the face of 
 some rocky steep on a narrow ledge, and deposits therein, for the 
 most part, three eggs. These differ much in colour and in the 
 amount and position of the spots ; some are stone-coloured, some 
 tinged with an olive shade, and some with a bluish cast. The 
 spots and blotches are of ash-grey and two or three shades of 
 bro-uTi, chestnut to umber. — FigX, plate XII. 
 
 306. IVORY-GULL— (Zar«5 ehurems). 
 Snow-bird. — A bird of very rare occurrence. 
 
 307. COI\mON-GULL— (Xflr«5 cams). 
 
 Winter Mew, Sea Mew, Sea Mall or Maw, Sea Gull, Sea Cob, 
 Cob. — This Gidl is, on the whole, sufficiently general and well- 
 known on all parts of our coast to merit the prefix, of Common, 
 which is usually applied to it. Fcr though it is essentially a sea- 
 bird, yet during some weeks in the spring, it may frequntly be 
 seen in the new-ploughed or sowed fields at some miles' distance 
 from the salt-water. Its nest may sometimes be found on marshes 
 
 M 2
 
 164 BlUTISII BIRDS, TIIEIK EGGS AND NESTS. 
 
 or low. flat islands, such as are not rare in some of our southern 
 estuaries, while in other districts it breeds ou high rocks. In 
 either case, tlie nest is a structure of considerable size, formed o( 
 sea-weed and grass, and the female deposits two or three eggs in 
 it, which are a good deal varied in appearance : " Some," says 
 JNlr. Hewitson, " with a ground-colour of light blue, or straw- 
 colour, others green or brown ; some a good deal like eggs of the 
 Ojster-catcher, others covered all over with minute spots." Some, 
 moreover, are sufficiently well blotched and spotted with ash- 
 colour and dark-brown; others well streaked with the brown. 
 but with only a few spots of the grey colour. — Fig. 2, plale XII. 
 
 308. ICELAND GULL— (Zr/;-«.9 Tdandlcus). 
 Lesser White-winged Gull. — A bird which has been obtained 
 in this courxtry from time to time, but in cases of no great 
 frequency. 
 
 309. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GiVlAj—{Larusfuscus). 
 
 Ycllow-leggcd Gull.— This Gull is seen in sufficient numbers, 
 and all the year round, on many parts of the British coasts, and 
 in the south as well as the north. It almost exclusively prefers 
 localities to breed in which are characterised by the presence of 
 rocky cliffs, but yet makes a nest of some considerable thickness 
 — even when placed ou the grassy summit of some rocky island — 
 " of grass loosely bundled together in large pieces, and placed in 
 some slight depression or hollow of the rock." Its nests are 
 intermingled, in several places, with those of the Herring Gull ; in 
 many places greatly exceeding those of the latter, in others as 
 greatly inferior, in number. The eggs (two or three in number) 
 vary greatly in colouring, — from a warm stone-colour, through 
 shades of brown, to pale green or light oUve-green. The spota 
 and blotches vary too, and vary greatly, in number, size, position
 
 GREAT BLACR-EACKED GDLL. 1G5 
 
 and iutensity; neutral-tiut, chestnut brown, and dark brown being 
 all met witli, and sometimes in the same specimen. — Fig. 2 
 plate XII. 
 
 310. HERRING G\jlAj—{La>-us argentatus). 
 A very numerous speeics in many different parts of tbe kinj^- 
 dom, wnerc rocky coasts sufficiently high and precipitous are met, 
 with. I have seen it abundantly at Flamborough Head and St. 
 Abb's Head, and in smaller numbers on many parts of the York- 
 shire coast north of Flamborough, as well as in. others not distant 
 from St. Abb's. It usually selects for the site of its nest a flat 
 ledge or other rock-surface towards the upper part of the cliff ' 
 but win sometimes build on a low rock or grassy island. Tht. 
 nest is like that of the last species, but even larger, and usually 
 contains three eggs. These so strongly resemble those of the 
 Lesser Black-back as to make it very difficult to distingush 
 between the one and the otlier. Mr. Hewitson says the only 
 means of distinction available even to an experienced eye seem to 
 depend on the somewhat greater size of the Herring Gull's egg, 
 and the larger and more confluent character of the blotches of 
 surface colour. — Fig. 4, plate XII. 
 
 311. GREAT BLACK-BACKED Gl]l.L—(Larusmarinus). 
 Black-back, Cob, Great Black-and-white GuU. — By no means 
 a numerous species, and not affecting society as so many of the 
 other Gulls do. It breeds, in some cases, on the Marsh or Salting- 
 spaces met with so abundantly on some, of the southern and 
 eastern shores ; but more commonly on rocky parts of the coast. 
 Thus, it breeds very abimdautly on the Orkney and Shetland 
 Islands. Tlic nest is made of a large quantity cf dry grass 
 simply thrown together. The eggs are three in number, often 
 bearing a great resemblance to those of tlie two species last
 
 166 BlUTISU BIRDS, TUEIU EGGS AND KES18. 
 
 named, but usually distinguishable by the larger masses of 
 surface colouring, and by some superiority in size. The Black 
 back's eggs are much esteemed as articles of food, or for cooking 
 purposes generally. The yolk is very deep and rich-coloured, 
 and the white colourless or transparent. Each female wUl lay 
 tliree sets of eggs ; the first two sets being, in some cases, 
 customarily taken, and the last left for her to hatcn. 
 
 312. GLAUCOUS GJJLlj—iLarusfflaucus). 
 Large White-winged GuU, Burgomaster. — A GuU equally large 
 with the last, one of which, shot by myself, exceeded six feet 
 from the tip of one wing to that of the other ; but one of merely 
 casual occurrence as a British bird. 
 
 313. COMMON SKUK—iLesMs catarrades). 
 Skua GuU, Brown GuU, Bonxie. — We pass here into a some- 
 what different class of birds. The Skua is as bold and insolent 
 as most of the GuUs are timid and retiring. In many instances 
 these birds do not take the trouble to fish for themselves, but, 
 watching the fishing operations of the Gull, seize their oppor- 
 tunity of assailing a successful fisher, and compel him to disgorge 
 his prey. The Common Skua has only a very limited breedmg- 
 range in Britain, not beiag known to nest out of Shetland, and 
 to have but three places for nidification there. So resolute and 
 daring are they when they have young to defend, they do not 
 scruple to attack the eagle, and a pair have been known to beat 
 the strong, proud marauder effectually off. The Skua makes a 
 large nest of moor-growing moss, and takes some pains in its 
 construction. It is placed among the heath and moss of a hiUy 
 island. The eggs are two in number, and vary much in coloui- ; 
 according to locality it would almost seem. Some are dusky
 
 FULMAR PETREL. 167 
 
 olive brown, others with a much greener hue, and they are 
 blotched with darker brown, and a few spots of rust colour. 
 
 314. POMARINE SKV A.—{Lestris Pomarinus). 
 Merely a casual visitor, although more frequently noticed of 
 late years than before ornithology became so favourite a study. 
 
 315. RICHARDSON'S SKUA— (Zes^m Richardsonii). 
 Arctic Gull, Black-toed Gull, Arctic Skua. — This species is the 
 most numerous of all those which visit this country. It breeds 
 in the Hebrides, in the Orkneys and in Shetland, and numerously 
 enough in the two localities last named. The female has been 
 observed to make use of the same artifices as the Partridge and 
 the Grouse to decoy an intrusive dog or man away from its nest 
 or young. The nest is built of moss or ling, on some elevated 
 knoll amid marshy ground, or on the moor, and coutaius two eggs. 
 These are of a greenish olive-brown colour, spotted with dark 
 browni. This Skua not only restlessly and pitilessly persecutes 
 the Kittiwake and other Gulls in order to obtain its own food from 
 them at second-hand, but also makes free with their eggs for the 
 same purpose in a very marauder-like fashion. — Fir/. 5, plate Xlf. 
 
 316. BUEEON'S SKUA— (Ze^^m Buffonii). 
 Mr. Yarrell distiaguishes between this bird and the true L. 
 Parasiticus, and consequently adopts the scientific name I have 
 now given. This Skua can only be considered a rare and acci- 
 dental visitor. 
 
 317. FULMAR PETREL— (P;-oceJ&r?« glacialis). 
 
 Fulmar, Northern Fulmar. — The Fulmar breeds in incredible 
 
 numbers at St. KUda, but is rarely met with, even in winter, 
 
 about the southern coasts of England. Both old birds and 
 
 their young on being touched eject a considerable quantity of
 
 168 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND XESTS. 
 
 clear oil, v/hicli, however, is by no means of an agreeable odour ; 
 and probably from this cause the nest, young birds, and even the 
 rock on which they are placed, stink almost intolerably. The 
 nest is very slight, if any, and the bird lays her single white egg 
 in little excavations, and lightly lined, on such shelves on the face 
 of high precipitous rocks as are surfaced with a little grass or 
 sward. The egg varies in length from a Httle over 2i inches to 
 3 inches. 
 
 318. GREATER SHEARWATER— (P#«2« major). 
 Cinerous Shearwater, Dusky Shearwater. — A bird which has 
 
 not been very frequently recorded as met with on the British 
 seas, but still one of occasional occiirrence. 
 
 319. :MANX SHEARWATER— (P«#«m5 Angiorum). 
 Shearwater Petrel, Manx Puffin. — This is a regular sea-taring 
 
 little bird, and perhaps would hardly ever care to come to land if 
 it weie not for the need of something solid for its eggs to repose 
 upon. It usually frequents islands well-washed by the sea and 
 not much frequented by men. It used to be very abundant on 
 the Calf of Man, but is never seen there now. In one of the 
 Scilly Islands it breeds in some numbers still, and on St. KUda, 
 the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. The nest is made deep 
 down in a hole in some wild and half inaccessible part of the 
 islands frequented, and in it one egg ot exceeding whiteness is 
 laid, and remarkable for the fine texture ot the shell amd the 
 musky scent of the entire egg. It is about 2\ inches long by 1| 
 broad. 
 
 320. BULWER'S '£'^TKEL—{Thalassidroma Bulwerii). 
 
 A Petrel of sufficiently rare occurrence. 
 
 321. WILSON'S PETREL— (7%tftes«c?ro»?fl Wilsont). 
 
 Equally rare with the bird last-named.
 
 STORM PETREV 169 
 
 322. FORK-TAILED VETnYL—iThahssidroma Leachii). 
 Subject to tlie same remark as the two last. 
 
 323. STORM "BETMli—^Thalassidroma procellaria). 
 Mother Carey's Chicken. — This is said to be the smallest web- 
 footed bird known, and it is the last as well as the least. It nevei 
 comes to the shore except at the breeding-season, and only seeks 
 comparative shelter under the pressure of very heavy weather. 
 It breeds in the SciUy Islands, some of the islands on the Irish 
 coast, and abundantly on St. Kilda, the Orkneys and Shetland. 
 They breed in holes in a cliff, or under large-sized stones, which, 
 from their great size and the accumulation of boulders and large 
 shingle about them, afford many deep recesses well suited to the 
 wants of the nesting Petrel. Like the Manx Shearwater, they 
 are by no means silent m. their nest-holes, but make themselves 
 distinctly audible to the passenger above. They lay one white 
 esrg, a little exceediag 1 inch long, by J nroad. 
 
 * TJie simpUst and best way ofblovying eggs is to drill a hole in one side 
 [not at the ends), then taking the egg, hole downwards, between the 
 finger and thumb of the left hand, place the blowpipe pioint jicst outside 
 the hole, and blow into the egg ; this will force out the contents. When 
 this is done, blow a little clean water into the egg, and shake it well; 
 then remove the \oater in the same way as a.bove, and allow the egg to dry, 
 hole downwards, on blotting paper ; it will then be quite clean.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Our object in adding this Appendix is simply a wish to make the book 
 more complete by adding notices, more or less detailed, of the nests and 
 eggs and any interesting breeding-season peculiarities of birds recognized 
 as really well entitled to the name of British Birds, but not happening to 
 remain within the limits of Britain to breed. The first bird of the kind i" 
 that which, in our complete list, is numbered 
 
 7. GREENLAND FAl.GON. 
 The equivalent to Mr. Yarrell's Gyr Falcon. 
 
 8. ICELAND FALCON. 
 These two species are now, I believe, looked upon as established, but the 
 differences between them are not excessively striking, except it be to a scien- 
 tific naturalist. Mr. Hewitson has figured an egg of tlie Iceland Falcon 
 which he believes may have lost some of its colour. It was taken from a neat 
 made with sticks and roots, lined with wool, which once perhaps was the 
 nest of a Raven. The nest in question was in a cliff, and had the remains of 
 manysortsof birds— Whimbrels, Golden Plovers, GuUlemots, Ducks— strewed 
 round it. The egg is of a bufFy red colour, mottled and speckled— very thickly 
 in places— with deeper red. 
 
 30. SNOWY OWL. 
 
 SuflSciently often met withinNorth Britain (and even occurring sometimee 
 in England) to merit a short notice here. It inhabits Sweden, Norway, Lap- 
 land and the greater part of Northern Europe. These birds are accustomed 
 to take their prey by daylight, and seem, from the accounts received, to be
 
 172 
 
 In the habit of" bolting " their food, when not vei-y largo, whole. It makes 
 its nest on the ground, and lays in it three or four white eggs. 
 
 54. GREAT GEEY SHRIKE. 
 This bird is met with in Denmark and other northern countries of Western 
 Europe, and also in Russia, Germany and France, It is said to frequent 
 wocds and forests, and to build upon trees at some distance from the 
 ground, as well as in thick bushes and hedges. The nest is made of roots, 
 moss, wool and dry stalks, lined with dry grass and root-fibres. The eggs 
 are four to seven in number, and though they vary a good deal in colour, 
 they always illustrate the peculiar tendency of the eggs of the Shrikes to 
 show a sort of zone or girdle, due to the agglomeration of the spots about 
 some part of the circumference. They are yellowish or greyish white, and 
 the spots of grey and light brown. 
 
 42. FIELDFARE. 
 I have sometimes seen this favourite game-bird of the sohool-boy here as 
 early as the latter part of September, and I have frequently noticed them 
 foeding in hundreds on the holly berries which abound in more than one 
 part of this district. They must breed very late in the year from the late 
 period of their departure hence, and the distance of the countries to which 
 many of them resort for that purpose. It breeds very abundantly in Nor- 
 way, and also in Sweden, Russia and Siberia, not to mention other and more 
 southerly countries in Europe. Their nests, in Norway, are usually bailt 
 ^gainst the trunk of the spruce-fir, and at very variable heights from the 
 ground. They are said to be very like those of the Ring Ouzel, except that 
 small twigs are added to th^i outside structure. The eggs are from three to 
 five, and are very like those of the Ring Ouzel, but with somewhat more red 
 about them. The Fieldfare seems to prefer breeding in numerous groups or 
 colonies, two or three hundi ed nests oeuig frequently seen within a i'ather 
 limited space. 
 
 43.' REDWING. 
 
 This winter visitor is known to breed occasionally, but yet only very excop- 
 
 t'onally, in this country. A nest was brought to me two summers since, 
 
 whicli, from its construction, the size and cokuring of the eggs, and espo- 
 
 tially from the description of the bird which my informal. t saw leaving th«
 
 APPENDIX. 173 
 
 D«8t, I have little doubt was a Redwing. It breeds abundantly in Sweden 
 and in lesser niimbexs in Norwaj , and is described as being a very sweet 
 su;ger, as heard among the forest solitudes of the latter country. Its nest is 
 very similar to those of the Blackbird, Ring Ouzel and Fieldfare, in materials 
 and structure. The eggs are four to six in number, and very similar, allow- 
 ing for a little inferiority in size, to those of the Fieldfare, and to very red 
 specimens of the Uing Ouzel's. 
 
 91. SNOW BUNTING 
 
 This bird resorts in the breeding-season to the " Arctic Regions and tlie 
 Islands of the Polar Sea." Mr. Yarrell says, " the nest is composed of dry 
 grass, neatly lined with deers' hair and a few feathers, and is generally fixed 
 in a crevice of a rock, or in a loose pile of timber or stones. The eggs are 
 a greenish white, with a circle of irregular umber-brown spots round the 
 thick end, and numerous blotches of subdued lavender purple." 
 
 98. MOUNTAIN FINCH. 
 
 This Finch is occasionally met with in sufficient numbers to be deserving 
 of a short notice here. It seems to breed in Denmark, Norway, and Lapland, 
 and it is at least possible that a few pairs may, from time to time, stay to 
 nest with us. It is said to build in fir-trees, though from Mr. Hewitsou's 
 account, the nests are by no means easy to find. The following is an account 
 of a nest made by a pair in an aviary at Becclcs in Suffolk : — " Tlie nest was 
 deep, the walls thick, a large quantity of materials employed for the founda- 
 tion which was worked among the stalks of the ivy-leaves. It was composed 
 of moss, wool, and dry grass ; and lined with hair." The general appearance 
 of the eggs is one of resemblance to those of the Chaffinch ; the spots 
 however, seeming to be fewer, smaller and less decided. 
 
 104,. SISKI.X. 
 This little bird lias been known in several instances to breed with us in 
 its natural wild condition, but its nesting-home is in Russia, Germany and 
 north-western Europe. It has been ascertained to build in furze bushes, 
 and also close to the trunk of a fir-tree, where a projecting bough afforded 
 support for the structure. The nest is composed of similar materials to the 
 Chaffinchs', and the eggs present a good deal of resemblance to those of the 
 Goldfinch, with a little inferiority in size.
 
 l74 
 
 170. TURNSTONE. 
 This very handsomely pIumap;od. bird inhabits the countries bordering on 
 the Baltic, as also Greenland and other localities far to the north. Mr. 
 Hewitson gives a most interesting account of his discovery of its nest i» 
 Norway : — " We had visited numerous islands with little encouragemer- 
 and were about to land upon a flat rock, when our attention was attractet 
 by the singular cry of a Turnstone. We remained in the boat a short tims 
 until we had watched it behind a tuft of grass, near which after a minute 
 search, we succeeded in finding the nest. It was placed against a ledge <x. 
 the rock, and consisted of nothing more than the dropping leaves of the 
 Juniper bush, under a creeping branch of which the eggs, four in number, 
 were snugly concealed and sheltered." Several other nests were also found 
 in the course of further researches, which, however, were required to be both 
 close and systematic. The eggs are of an olive-green colour, spotted and 
 streaked with different shades of red-brown, and " all having a beautiful 
 tint of purple or crimson, seen in few other eggs.'' 
 
 171. SANDERLING. 
 It breeds in Greenland, Labrador and other Arctic countries. It makes 
 its nest on marshy grounds, of grass, and lays four " dusky- coloured eggs, 
 spotted with black." But little seems to be known of either the nidification 
 or the eggs of this species, as no figure is given by either Mr. Hewitson or 
 in the Reverend O. Morris's book. 
 
 237. HOOPER. 
 Occasionally met with during the breeding season in Iceland, and more 
 commonly in Lapland. They are described as inhabiting the most remote 
 and inaccessible lakes and morasses in forest districts. The nest is made of 
 any coarse water herbage which is suitable and at the same time accessible. 
 It is large, and raised some inches above the surface of the supporting soil. 
 The eggs are believed to be from three or four to seven in number, and are 
 usually of a uale brownish white colour, extending to about 4 inches long by 
 2J broad. 
 
 245. PINTAIL. 
 
 This Duck breeds in Iceland, and commonly in Lapland and some of the 
 
 iistricts about the Gulf of Bothnia. It builds, like most others of its kind
 
 APPENDIX. 175 
 
 among the thick herbage commonly growing near the edge of pieces of fresh 
 water; the nest being made of tlie same, but dry, and lined with down. 
 The eggs are six to eight or nine in number, and are of a light greenish 
 white colour, and about the same size as those of the Wild Duck proper. 
 
 265. VELVET SCOTER. 
 
 This Sea Duck is found in Russia, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and also in 
 Iceland. Mr. Audubon's account of its nest and eggs is as follows :— " The 
 nests are placed within a few feet of the borders of small lakes, a mile or two 
 from the sea, and usually under the low boughs of the bushes, of the twigs 
 if which, with mosses and various plants matted together, they are formed 
 f hey are large and almost flat, several inches thick, with some feathers of 
 the female, but no down, under the eggs, which are usually six in number, 
 2J inches in length, by If in breadth, of an uniform pale cream colour, 
 tinged with green." 
 
 256, COMMON SCOTER. 
 
 It breeds, but not very numerously, in Iceland ; but is seen nesting in com- 
 pany with the Velvet Scoter, in Scandinavia, rather more commonly. It 
 makes a nest of any available vegetable substance, such as grasses, twigs, 
 leaves, dry stalks ; it is lined with down, and placed under the partial cover 
 or concealment afforded by low shrubs or other plants. The eggs are six or 
 seven to ten in number, of a pale buff colour slightly tinged with green, 2i 
 inches long by If broad. After the eggs are laid, the males aseemble in large 
 flocks and draw towairds the coast. 
 
 259. POCHARD. 
 
 The breeding-haunt of this bird seems to be more to the eastward than 
 the mojority of those hitherto named. It is said to be abundant in Russia 
 and in the north of Germany, and is very commonly found in the Fur-coun- 
 tries in America during the breeding-season. A few also breed on the 
 Borders of the Meres in Holland. The nest is similar in site and materials 
 to those of the Wild Duck and other Ducks, and the eggs sometimes reach 
 the nimaber of twelve. They are of a greenish buff colour, 2 inches in 
 length, by H in breadth. The Pochard was discovered, several years since
 
 176 APPENDIX 
 
 as breeding about the mere at Scarborough, and has also been stated to nest 
 occasionally in one or two places in Tforfolk. 
 
 281. SCAUP DUCK. 
 
 This Duck has also been known as breeding very incidentally in this coun«. 
 try, but its almost unbroken habit is to return to such countries as Iceland, 
 the swampy lake-district north of the GiJf of Bothnia, and some parts of 
 Norway, for nesting purposes. It sometimes makes its nest in wliat may be 
 almost called the usual site for the nests of Ducks, and sometimes upon the 
 stones and shinglo at the edge of sheets of fresh water. The nest is very 
 thin and slightly formed, but well lined with down, and the eggs seem to be 
 six, seven, or eight in number, They are of a pal 3 bulT colour, and sensibly 
 less in size than those of the Pochard last named. 
 
 262. TUPTED DUCK. 
 
 This little Duck is known to breed near the head of the Bothnian Gulf, as 
 well as in oth er parts of Sweden, and in Lapland and Russia. A few pairs 
 also are seen nesting in Holland. It makes a very slight nest of grasses and 
 the like. The eggs are seven or eight to ten in number, very similar in 
 shade to those of the Scaup Duck last mentioned, but much less in size, 
 being only a little over 2 inches long, by less than 1\ in breadth. 
 
 263. LONG-TAILED DUCK. 
 It is known to breed in Iceland, and believed to do so in Norway. It 
 makes its nest among low brushwoou and the herbage usual at or near tho 
 margin of fresh water. A few stems of grass Ibrm the substructure, on which 
 is placed a plentiful lining of down. The eggs are from six to twelve in 
 number. They art of yellowish-white, just tinged with green, and nearly 
 2| inches long by IJ in breadth. 
 
 265. GOLDEN EYE. 
 
 This Duck seems to prefer wooded or forest districts for nesting in. It 
 breeds in Lapland, Sweden and Norway, and has such a strong liking for a 
 hole in a tree to nest in, that if suitable boxes with an adequate entrance-
 
 AJr'PENUIX. 177 
 
 hole are placed <ai the trees growing on the banks of streams or lakes fre- 
 quented by them, their eggs are su ro io be deposited therein, to the great 
 profit of those who suspend theboxes. Of course when it isknowu that aDuck 
 hatches its young in a hole in a tree, the question must suggest itself— as it 
 did to the original obserrer in the ease of the Wild Ducks' nest on a pollard, 
 or in a Fir-tree — How can the young Ducks ever be got down safely, and still 
 more, finally launched on their proper element ? An observed habit of the 
 Golden Eye answers this question. A Lap clergyman saw the parent bird 
 conveying its young, to the number of five or more, but one at a time, from 
 the nest to the water, and he was at last able to " make out that the young 
 bird was held under the bill, but supported by the neck of the parent." The 
 eicgs of the Golden Eye are said to be ten or twelve or oven more in number, 
 Hiid of a brighter colour than is usual with the eggs of the Duck tribe, being 
 of a rather decided green colour. 
 
 267. SMEW. 
 
 But little that is quite authentic seems to be known of the nesting habits 
 of this little Duuk; nor is it certainly ascertained where its chief numbers 
 retire to breed. The esgs are said to be eight or ten in number, or even 
 more than that, and to be of a yellowish white colour. 
 
 270. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 
 
 This bird breeds on the Faroe Islands, and on some of the lakes in Ice- 
 land ; as also on some of the islands of Finmark. Spitzbergen and Greenland 
 are also named as the breeding resort of many of these Divers. They lay, it 
 is supposed, two eggs each, though in some observed instances only one was 
 to be seen. Mr. Audubon says that three are sometimes laid. They are of 
 a dark olive-brown, with a few spota of dark umber brown, and are of con- 
 siderable size 
 
 £S3. LITTLE A^JK, 
 
 This little wave-dwclIer has its nesting home in countries far more r.o tho 
 North than ours. It abounds on some parts cf the Greenland shores, and it 
 is also met with but much more sparingly, iu Iceland. It makes no nest» 
 
 M
 
 ilS ArPENDlX. 
 
 but lays its one egg on the ground amongst or possibly beneath the large 
 rock-masses which encumber the shore after falling from the overhanging 
 cliffs and precipices. The parent birds are exceedingly averse to leave theii 
 egg when incubation has commenced, and like some other species already 
 mentioned, will rather suffer themselves to be removed by the hand. Tha 
 egg is white lightly tinged with blue, a little spotted and veined with rual 
 colour.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Accentor, Alpine, 63. 
 Auk Little, 155. 
 
 Great, 15fi. 
 
 Bivoeet, 125. 
 
 Bee-Eater, 98. 
 
 Blackbird, 51. 
 
 Blackcap, 58. 
 
 Bittern, Little, 119. 
 
 Common, 120. 
 
 American, 120. 
 
 Bullfinch, 81. 
 
 Bunting, Lapland, 72. 
 
 ^^— ^ Common, 72. 
 
 ■ Black - head- 
 ed, 73. 
 
 Snow 72. 
 
 Cirl, 75. 
 
 Ortolan, 75. 
 
 Bustard, Great, 111. 
 
 Little, 112. 
 
 Buzzard, Rough-leg- 
 ged, 36. 
 
 Honey, 36. 
 
 Common, 35. 
 
 Capercaillie, 107. 
 Chaffinch. 75. 
 
 Chiffchaff, 61. 
 Chough, 83. 
 Coot, 136. 
 
 Cormorant,Comm3n,157. 
 Courser, Cream-colour- 
 ed, 112. 
 Crane, 118. 
 Crake, Spotted, 134, 
 
 Little, 135. 
 
 Baillon s, 135. 
 
 Creeper, 9-1. 
 Crossbill, Common, S3. 
 
 Parrot, 83. 
 
 'Wlutewinged, 89. 
 
 Crow, 86. 
 
 Hooded, 87. 
 
 Cuckoo, 97. 
 
 Yellow-billed, 98. 
 
 Curlew, 121. 
 
 Dipper, Common, 4S. 
 Dotterel, 114. 
 Dove, Ring, 103. 
 
 Stock, 104. 
 
 Rock, 104. 
 
 Turtle, 105. 
 
 Dunlin, 131. 
 Duek.Piiitwl. 145. 
 
 Duck, Bimaculated, 143. 
 
 Wild, 143. 
 
 Eider, 143. 
 
 King, 14G. 
 
 Steller's Western, 148 
 
 Red-crested "WTiistl- 
 
 ing. 147. 
 
 Fsimsinous, 147. 
 
 Scaup, 147. 
 
 Tufted, 147. 
 
 Long-tailed, 148. 
 
 Harlequin, 148. 
 
 Golden-Eye, 8. 
 
 Buffel-huadcd, 14S. 
 
 Diver, Great North- 
 ern. 152. 
 
 BLaC -throated, 15'i. 
 
 R«d-throated, 152. 
 
 Eagle, Golden, 24. 
 
 Spotted, 27. 
 
 \71iite-tailcd. 28. 
 
 E;;rct. Little, 119. 
 
 Jfalcon, Red-footed, 31. 
 
 Gyr, 28. 
 
 Iceland, 29. 
 
 Peregrine, S9.
 
 IbU 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Finch, Mountain. 7G. 
 Flycatcher, Spotted, 47. 
 
 Pied. 48. 
 
 Fieldfare, 50. 
 
 Gad wall, 113. 
 Gannet, 168. 
 Garganey, 144. 
 Godwit, Black-tailed, 126. 
 
 Bar-tailed, I£7. 
 
 Goldfinch, 79. 
 Goosander, 149. 
 Goose, Grey-legged, 137. 
 
 • Beau, 138. 
 
 Pink-footed, 138. 
 
 White-fronted, 139, 
 
 Beniicle, 139. 
 
 Brent, 1S9. 
 
 Ked-breasted, 110. 
 
 Egyptian, 140. 
 
 Spur-winged, 140. 
 
 >j Canada, 140. 
 
 G rebe. Great Crested, 1 30. 
 
 Red-crested, 150. 
 
 Sclavonian, IBl. 
 
 Eared, IBl. 
 
 Little, 151. 
 
 Qreenflnch, 78. 
 •Sreenshank, 125. 
 Grosbeak, Pine, S2. 
 Grouse, Black, 107 
 — — Red. 108. 
 
 Guillemot, Common, 153. 
 
 Brunnich's, 154. 
 
 Ringed, 154. 
 
 Black, 154. 
 
 Gull, Sabine's. Ifi 
 
 Little, 162. 
 
 Masked, 1C2. 
 
 Black-headfcd. 132. 
 
 Laughing, 16S. 
 
 Ivory, 163. 
 
 Common, 163. 
 
 Iceland, 164. 
 
 Lesser Black-back- 
 ed, 164. 
 
 Herring, 165. 
 
 Great Black-back- 
 ed, 165. 
 
 Glaucous, 166. 
 
 Harrier, Marsh, 37. 
 
 Hen, 37. 
 
 Ash-coloured. 33. 
 
 Hawfinch, 79. 
 Hawk, Sparrow, 34. 
 
 Gos, 33. 
 
 Heron, Common, 118. 
 — Purple, 119. 
 
 Great Wliite, 119. 
 
 Buff-backed, 119. 
 
 Squacco, Hi. 
 
 Niglit, 121>L 
 
 HoDby, 30. 
 
 Hooper, 140. 
 Hoopoe; C6. 
 
 Ibis, Glossy. Ift. 
 
 Jackdaw. SS. 
 Jay. 90. 
 
 Kestrel, SI. 
 Kite, 34. 
 
 Swallow-tatlea U. 
 
 Kittiwake, 163. 
 Kingfisher, 08. 
 Knot, 130. 
 
 Lapwing, 115. 
 Lark, Shore, 70. 
 
 Sky, 70. 
 
 Lark, Wood, 71. 
 
 Short-toed, 715. 
 
 Linnet, Common, 80. 
 Mountain, 81. 
 
 Magpie, 89. 
 Martin, 100. 
 
 Sand, 101. 
 
 Purple, 101. 
 
 Merganser, Hooded, 149. 
 
 R«d-breasted,14a. 
 
 Merlin, 31. 
 Moor Hen, 136.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Jbl 
 
 Nightingale, 5S. 
 
 Pipit, Tree. 63. 
 
 
 Roofc, 87. 
 
 Night- Jar. 102. 
 
 Meadow, S». 
 
 
 Rutf , 127. 
 
 Nutcracker, 91. 
 
 =• Rock, 69. 
 
 
 
 Nuthatch, 96. 
 
 Richard's. 6ft. 
 
 
 Sandpiper, Green, 123, 
 
 
 Plover, Great. 112. 
 
 
 Wood, 12'k 
 
 Oriole, Golden, 53. 
 
 — Golden, i:3. 
 
 
 C«mmon, 124. 
 
 Ouzel Ring. 52. 
 
 Ringed, 114. 
 
 
 Spotted, 125. 
 
 Osprey, 27. 
 
 Kentish, 115. 
 
 
 
 Owl, Eagle, 42. 
 
 Little Hinged, 
 
 ,115. 
 
 Buff-breasted, 131. 
 
 Scopseared, 42. 
 
 Grey. 115. 
 
 
 Broad-billed, ISl. 
 
 — — Long-eared, 42. 
 
 Pochard, 147. 
 
 
 Schinz's 131. 
 
 • Short-eared, 42. 
 
 Pratincole, 112. 
 
 
 Pectoral, 131. 
 
 Barn, 43. 
 
 Ptarmigan, 109. 
 
 
 Purple. 132. 
 
 Tawny, 45. 
 
 Puffin, 153. 
 
 
 Sanderling, 117. 
 
 Snowy, 46. 
 
 
 
 Scoter, Velvet, 146. 
 
 Hawk, 46. 
 
 Quail, 111. 
 
 
 Common, 14<1 
 
 Little, 46. 
 
 
 
 Surf, 147. 
 
 Tengmalm's, 4S. 
 
 Rail, Land, 133. 
 
 
 Shag, 157. 
 
 Oyster-catcher, 117. 
 
 "Water, 135. 
 
 
 Shearwater, Greater, 168. 
 
 
 Raven, 85. 
 
 
 Manx, 168. 
 
 Partridge, Common, 109. 
 
 Razor-Bill, 156. 
 
 
 Shieldrake, Ruddy, Ul. 
 
 T>«^ iA»»/t;i 11A 
 
 Redshank, Spotted, 
 
 122. 
 
 ■ ■ Commop 3 ♦!* 
 
 
 
 Pastor, Uose-coloured, S5. 
 
 Common, 
 
 122, 
 
 Shoveller, 142. 
 
 Petrel, Fulmar, 167. 
 
 Redpole, Mealy, 80. 
 
 
 Shrike. Great Grey, 46. 
 
 Bulwer's, 163. 
 
 WUson's, 168. 
 
 
 
 
 Redstart, 54. 
 
 
 ■^''nnrl Phnt 17 
 
 
 Fork-tailed, 1C9. 
 
 Black. 55. 
 
 
 Siskin, 80, 
 
 Storm, 169. 
 
 Redwing, 51. 
 
 
 Skua, Common, 166. 
 
 Pbalarope, Grey, 157. 
 
 Regulus, Gcld-crestod,62. 
 
 Pomarine, 167. 
 
 Red-necked, 137. 
 
 Pheasant, 106. 
 
 T?:Hn nytn^4-nA £tQ 
 
 
 Robin, 53, 
 
 Aj \rK^ 
 
 Bufibn's, 167 
 
 Pigeon, Passenger 105. 
 
 Roller, 9S. 
 
 
 Smew, 149.
 
 182 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sparrow, HedRC, B3. 
 
 Tree, 76. 
 
 House, 77. 
 
 Spoonbill, 121. 
 Starling, 84. 
 
 Stilt, Black-winged, 1S«. 
 Stint, Little. 131. 
 
 Temminck's, 131. 
 
 Stone-chat, 55. 
 Stork. White, 120. 
 
 Black. 121. 
 
 Swallow, 99. 
 
 Swan, Bewick's, 140. 
 
 Mute, 141. 
 
 Polish, 141. 
 
 bwift 101. 
 Alpine. 102. 
 
 Snipe, Great, 129. 
 
 Common, 129, 
 
 Jack, 130. 
 
 Sabine's 130. 
 
 Brown, 130. 
 
 Teal, 144. 
 
 Tern, Caspian, 158. 
 
 Sandwich. 15t», 
 
 Tera, Roseate, 159. 
 
 Common, 160. 
 
 Arctic, 160. 
 
 Whiskered. 161. 
 
 GuU-billea, 161. 
 
 Lesser, 161. 
 
 Black, 161. 
 
 Noddy. 162. 
 
 Thrush, Missel, 49. 
 
 White's, 50. 
 
 Common, 50. 
 
 Titmouse, Great, 63. 
 
 Blue, 63. 
 
 Crested, 64. 
 
 Cole, 64. 
 
 Marsh, 65. 
 
 Long-tailed, 65. 
 
 Bearded, 66. 
 
 Turnstone, 116. 
 
 -'■■'' V^ 
 
 Vulture. Griffon, 22. 
 Egyptian, 22. 
 
 Wagtail, Pied, 67. 
 
 ■ Grey. 67. 
 
 Grey-headed, 67. 
 
 E&y'B.6S. 
 
 \larbler, Blue-throat- 
 ed, 54. 
 
 — Grasshopper, 67. 
 
 Sedge, 57. 
 
 Dartford, 62. 
 
 AVood, 60. 
 
 Savi's, 57. 
 
 Reed. 57. 
 
 Garden, 59. 
 
 Waxwing, Bohemian, 66 
 Wheat-ear, 56. 
 AVhimbrel, 122. 
 Whin-chat, 55. 
 Whitethroat, 60. 
 
 Lesser, 60. 
 
 Wigeon, 145. 
 
 American, 145. 
 
 Woodpecker, Great 
 Black, 91. 
 
 Green, 91. 
 
 Great Spotted, 92. 
 
 Lesser Spotted, 93i. 
 
 Woodcock, 128. 
 Wren, 95. 
 
 Willow, 61. 
 
 Wryneck, 93. 
 YeLicwhammer, 74. 
 
 CtKOBS PaSSS LONTK)S.
 
 BOOKS FOR THE COUNTRY. 
 
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 1. Common Objects of the 
 
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 2. Common Objects of the 
 
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 3. Our Woodlands, 
 
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 W. S. Coleman. 
 
 4. British Ferns and 
 
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 8vo. Thomas Moore. 
 
 5. British Butterflies. 
 
 Two Hundred Figures. 
 W. S. Coleman. 
 
 6. British Birds' Eggs and 
 
 Nests. Rev. J. C. 
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 7. Wild Flowers. Spen- 
 
 cer Thomson. 
 
 8. Common Objects of the 
 
 Microscope. Rev. J. 
 G. Wood. 
 
 9. Haunts of Wild 
 
 Flovs^ers. Anne Pratt. 
 
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 Garden. E. S. Dela- 
 
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 II. Fresh and Salt Water 
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 Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 13. Common British 
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 *I4. Chamber and Cage 
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 *I5. Calendar of the Year. 
 Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 18. Roses: A Handbook of 
 How, When, and Where 
 to Purchase, Propagate, 
 and Plant Them. With 
 Eight Pages Coloured 
 Illustrations. W. D. 
 Prior. 
 
 *X9. Gardening at a Glance. 
 With Many Illustrations, 
 crown Svo. George 
 Glenny. 
 20. Hardy Shrubs. With 
 Illustrations and Coloured 
 Plates, crown Svo. W. 
 D. Prior. 
 
 *2i. The Seaside Naturalist. 
 Rev. R. W. Fraser. 
 
 *22. Our Garden Friendsand 
 Foes. With more than 
 Two Hundred Woodcuts 
 and Full -Page Plates. 
 Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 
 Plain Wooodcuts. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS.
 
 BOOKS FOR THE COUNTRY 
 
 JViih numerous Illustrations, in Fanry Boards, or Printed 
 Cloth, One Shilling each. 
 
 I. Angling, and Where To Go . 
 Blakev. 
 
 2. Pigeons and Rabbits. Illus- 
 
 trated by H. Weir. E. S. 
 Delamer. 
 
 3. Shooting. Illu=tratIons by H. 
 
 Weir. Blakev. 
 
 4. Sheep : Domestic Brepds and 
 
 Treatment. Illustrations by 
 Harvey. W. C. L. Martin. 
 
 5. Flax and Hemp : Their Culture 
 
 and Manipulation. Delamer. 
 
 6. The Poultry Yard Illustrated 
 
 by H. Weir. E. Watts. 
 8. Cattle: ThfirHistoryandVarious 
 Breeds, Management, Treat- 
 ment, and Diseases. W. C. L. 
 Martin. Revised by W. and 
 H. Ravnbird. 
 
 10. The Horse. Illustrated by 
 
 Wells. Cecil. 
 
 11. Bees: Their Habits and Manage- 
 
 ment. Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 
 12. Cage and Singing Birds. H 
 
 G. Adams. 
 
 13. Small Farms, and How They 
 
 Ought to be Managed. M. 
 
 DOVLE. 
 
 Kitchen Garden. E. S. Dela- 
 mer. 
 
 Flower Garden. E. S. Dela- 
 mer. 
 
 Common Objects of the Sea- 
 Shore. Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 
 Common Objects of the Coun- 
 try. Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 
 Woodlands, Heaths, and 
 Hedges. W. S. Coleman. 
 
 British Ferns. Boards with 
 Coloured Plates. Thomas 
 Moore, F.L.S. 
 
 British Butterflies. Coleman. 
 
 British Birds' Eggs and 
 Nests. Rev. J. C. Atkinson. 
 
 A Field Full of Wonders. 
 C. S. Chei.tnam. 
 
 The Pig: How to Ch»ose, Breed, 
 Rear, Keep, and Cure Sam 
 Sidney. 
 
 Fresh and Salt Water Aqua- 
 rium. Rev. J. G. Wood. 
 
 54- 
 55- 
 56- 
 57- 
 60. 
 
 i 
 
 I 26. 
 
 British Moths. Rev. J. G. 
 
 Wood. 
 Window Gardening. A. Mei- 
 
 KLB. 
 
 Geology for the Million. M. 
 Plues. 
 
 British Beetles. Rev. J. G. 
 Wood. 
 
 Cottage Garden. A. Meikle. 
 
 Fly Fishing- H. C. Pennell. 
 
 Bottom Fishing. Ditto 
 
 Trolling. Ditto 
 
 The Domestic Cat. Dt. Gor- 
 don Stables. 
 
 Dogs : Their Management in 
 Health and Disease. (\s dd.) 
 Edwd. Mayhew, M.R.C.V.S. 
 
 Two Shillings eack. 
 
 25. The Rat, with Anecdotes. 
 Uncle Ja.mes. 
 
 30. Wild Flowers : Where to Find 
 Them and How to Know Them. 
 Illustrated. Spencer Thom- 
 son. 
 
 33. Haunts of the Wild Flowers. 
 Anne Pratt. 
 
 36. Horse Taming. Rarey. 
 
 42. Agricultural Chemistry. Al- 
 fred SiBSON, F.C.S. 
 
 50. Our Native Song Birds. 
 
 Barnesby. 
 
 51. Our Farm of Four Acres. 
 
 59. How to Farm Profitably. 
 
 Third Series. MecHi. 
 62. Calendar of the Year. Rev. J. 
 
 G. Wood. 
 
 68. Hardy Shrubs. W. D. Prior. 
 
 69. Gardening at a Glance. 
 
 Glen NY. 
 
 LONDON : GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS.
 
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