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I, 
 
 THE 
 
 FEATHERED TRIBES 
 
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 THE BRITISH ISLANDS, 
 
 
 
 tJBERT MUDIE. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, 
 
 REVISED BY W. C. L. MARTIN, ESQ. 
 Late one of the Scientific Officers of the Zoological Society of London. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH TWENTY-EIGHT PLATES, 
 
 CONTAINING FIFTY -TWO FIGURES OF BIRDS, AND SEVEN 
 ADDITIONAL PLATES OF EOGS. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 MDCCCLIV. 
 
FEINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, 
 LOHDOJi OA2TT Ol'JUCJt, ST. MAJITIN'S LAMi. 
 
EDITOE'S NOTICE TO THE FOUBTH EDITION. 
 
 ON undertaking to superintend a new edition of MTTDIE'S 
 popular work, we were somewhat in doubt whether the 
 whole should not be re-arranged in families and orders, 
 according to the ornithological system most generally adopted 
 by British zoologists. But on reflection, this plan was aban- 
 doned, inasmuch as it would have altered the character of 
 the work, which professes to be popular rather than rigidly 
 scientific. "I have formed," said Mr. MUDIE, "no system; 
 I have followed no systematist." Justice to the author, 
 therefore, forbids that such a tone should be given to the 
 work as would render it different from what he expressly 
 intended. 
 
 Besides, as modifications in systematic arrangements are 
 perpetually in progress, the best would be liable, in the 
 course of time, to be superseded ; and it was, perhaps, in 
 this feeling that the author determined neither to form nor 
 to follow any scientific arrangement. 
 
 No alteration, therefore, has been made, but what would, 
 doubtless, have met with the author's approval ; notes and 
 comments have been added, where necessary, (distinguished 
 from the author's own, by the signature M.,) but the de- 
 scriptions themselves have been left in their original purity. 
 A few corrections of nomenclature have also been made ; 
 such, for example, as the substitution of Gallince for Gal- 
 linid<B, and Grallce for Grallidce, terms ending in idee being 
 
iv EDITOE'S KOTICE TO THE TOTJKTH EDITION. 
 
 used only as family appellatives, and not as the titles of 
 orders. 
 
 Into the merits of the present work we need not enter. 
 It is admirably adapted to the perusal of the young, and of 
 those who, though disclaiming pretensions to recondite in- 
 quiry, yet love the works of creation, and delight to trace the 
 habits of the feathered tribes, whether in the wood or on 
 the mountain, on the lake or the morass, along the shores or 
 on the bosom of the briny deep. 
 
 W. C. L. MAETIN. 
 
P E E F A C E. 
 
 IN submitting these volumes to the public, to whom I 
 have the feeling that I am bound to be grateful, I have 
 not the vanity to suppose that I have materially extended 
 what is usually termed the science of Ornithology. I 
 have formed no system, I have followed no systematist, 
 I have drawn up no nomenclature of shapes or of 
 colours, and I have not counted the feathers, or the 
 scales or reticulations on the tarsi, of a single bird. 
 Therefore, I conclude, that my little book is without 
 the province of either the praise or the censure of the 
 profound. I should also suppose, that most of what I 
 have written must appear so ragged and incomplete 
 out of its connection, that my book will escape the in- 
 glorious martrydom of being hacked and hawked in 
 pennyworths, ere it has had even a chance for life. 
 
 My object is a much humbler one ; but it is one 
 which to me is more delightful, and, in my opinion an 
 opinion in which I am borne out by long experience 
 by no means less generally useful. It is simply, to en- 
 tice my fellow Britons, of all ages, classes, and ranks, 
 who are not too learned for relishing the beauties of 
 nature as they stand displayed in nature itself, into 
 the fields, that they may know and feel the extent of 
 delightful knowledge, rational and even profound 
 thinking, and useful hints for every department of 
 
 a 2 
 
Tl PREFACE. 
 
 science and pursuit, to say nothing of well-sinewed 
 limbs, and hearts tuned for enjoyment, that are to be 
 met with there, and met with in abundance by all who 
 will but take the trouble of seeing with their own eyes 
 and hearing with their own ears. It has been my wish 
 and my endeavour to produce a book upon which the 
 reader could lay his hand and say, " Herein I shall find 
 a notice of every feathered creature which I may meet 
 within the four seas, or on their margins, so expressed 
 as to correspond with its appearance and habits in free 
 nature ; and by the help of which I shall not only know 
 each bird when I see it, but, in some sort, borrow its 
 wings, and soar with it and survey the glories and the 
 wonders of that creation of which it forms so lively and 
 so enlivening a part." 
 
 My first purpose was to attempt the accomplishment 
 of this in a single pocket volume ; but, in spite of all my 
 efforts, it has extended to two ; and even then, I have 
 been again and again constrained to shut the door upon 
 some of my favourites, before they had half told their 
 story. The bird, too, is only a disjointed fragment, 
 without the scene and the season or other cause which 
 brings it to that scene; and when, in the contemplation 
 of nature, we once begin to trace the relation between 
 subject and subject, it is always difficult, and in some 
 instances impossible, to stop the analysis, till it has car- 
 ried us beyond the range of merely human reasoning, 
 to that sublime field where we can but admire, and dare 
 not restrain our adoration. The passages in which I 
 have ventured to indulge in that strain will be found to 
 be few ; but as it is the ultimate feeling in the study of 
 nature, and the one which repays most fully and exqui- 
 
PKEFACE. Vll 
 
 sitely the labour of all the rest, I have ventured, in 
 those few passages/ to extend the analysis as much 
 further than is usually done in such books, as to carry 
 the ordinary reader beyond that point at which the 
 half-informed stand in some jeopardy of falling into 
 error, more seriously injurious to their happiness than 
 any mistake that could be made in the details of Orni- 
 thology or of any other science. 
 
 In the narrowest view that can be taken of any na- 
 tural subject, in such a way as to be popularly useful, 
 there are three general points, each branching out into 
 many subdivisions. First, there is the particular know- 
 ledge of the subject itself, in all those characters by 
 which it is distinguished as an individual; secondly, 
 there are the relations in which it stands to the rest of 
 nature, in place and in time, in subject and in event; 
 and thirdly, there are the general relations of nature 
 to the Creator by whom it has been made, and to man 
 by whom it should be studied both for bodily use and 
 for mental information and pleasure. In pursuing the 
 matter systematically, for the purpose of extending the 
 light of science over these, it may, perhaps, be better to 
 divide them, just as the constructing of a nice ma- 
 chine, a watch, for instance, succeeds best when divided 
 among many hands. But it is otherwise with the 
 public, who want the machine or the science for popular 
 use. When a plain man wishes to know how time 
 passes, he does not go to one handicraft for a spring, 
 another for a chain, a third for a balance, and so on for 
 all the several parts of a watch ; he goes to the man 
 who can furnish him with a watch in " going order," 
 and prefers one even of rude workmanship, to the dis- 
 
V1U PREFACE. 
 
 jointed parts made by the first workmen in the king- 
 dom. The popular desire for a book, and especially for 
 a book upon Natural History, or any part of it, is nearly 
 of the same description, though, as such books are 
 neither so familiar nor so simple in their use as watches, 
 people themselves cannot express so readily, or so 
 clearly, what it is that they desire. 
 
 It may seem to be a little vain in me to offer even a 
 tentatory example on the subject ; but my chief reason 
 for it is, that I am myself an instance of the class of 
 persons to whom my volumes are addressed. I am not 
 a naturalist in any of the common meanings of the 
 term ; but I have, for more than forty years, been an 
 admirer of nature, having found it health in' sickness, 
 and a sure anchor to the mind when the current of life 
 ran adverse or turbulent. During the whole of that 
 period I have let slip no opportunity of noticing any 
 one production or phenomenon in nature that came in 
 my way ; and during the greater part of it, my oppor- 
 tunities have been both numerous and varied. How 
 they have been improved must be judged of by others, 
 from the execution of these volumes, which are upon 
 one of my favourite subjects, where it is likely that a 
 man would, at least, try to do his best. Whatever 
 else there may have been in my experience, there is 
 certainly thus much, that I never proceeded in it upon 
 anybody's system, either with a view to the establish- 
 ment or the overthrow of any hypothesis. I looked at 
 matters just as I found them ; and when I perceived 
 that I should have to follow any subject or principle 
 into a new field, I endeavoured to explore that field, 
 however slight the connection might appear to be be- 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 tween it and the subject which had led me to it. All 
 this was done without confederacy, consultation, or the 
 least reference either to becoming scientific or to the 
 writing of a book; for I knew not then, and I know 
 not now, whether all who have had the same oppor- 
 tunities may not know much more of the matter in all 
 its bearings than I do. 
 
 I mention these circumstances for no ostentatious 
 purpose, and they are indeed nothing to boast of, but 
 rather the reverse. I mention them merely to ground 
 upon them a claim to originality, such originality as 
 there can be upon a subject, upon which so many have 
 written, or to speak more correctly, upon which the 
 same writing has appeared in so many different forms. 
 Though I have laboured to avoid them all, yet I would 
 rather stand convicted of dullness, vanity, and error 
 jointly, than have it said that I had appropriated, in 
 any way, the labours of another man, how strongly 
 soever I may have felt their value and superiority. An 
 original book, be it ever so faulty in the plan, or feeble 
 in the execution, always adds something to the mass of 
 knowledge. A compilation always debases that which 
 is already known ; and therefore, both the principle and 
 the practice, by whomsoever they may be held, exercised 
 and encouraged, are to me equally revolting as a robbery 
 upon the parties from whom they are purloined, and a 
 fraud upon the public, always the more mischievous, 
 and therefore the more base and contemptible, the more 
 influential the party under whose sanction it is per- 
 petrated. 
 
 We are all debtors for knowledge to those who have 
 preceded us, and it is one of the advantages of that most 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 valuable of all possessions,, that it descends to the world 
 generally, and not to kindred or heirs that can be 
 named in the will of the bequeather. But still I am 
 not aware that, in the course of these volumes, I have 
 appropriated any man's words without acknowledg- 
 ment ; and even with it, I have not been lavish in quo- 
 tation either from others or from anything that I 
 myself may formerly have published which is as much 
 a fraud upon the public as the appropriation of that 
 which they have already in the works of another. 
 
 Still I feel myself under numerous and weighty 
 obligations, some of which I am not at liberty to ac- 
 knowledge. But I cannot pass without notice those 
 which I owe to Mr. YARHELL, whose name is so well 
 known, and whose talents and labours are so justly 
 esteemed by all who possessed the love, and are con- 
 versant with the knowledge of nature. That most acute 
 and truly scientific zoologist is not, however, answer- 
 able for any one point, debatable or not debatable, 
 which appears in this work ; but yet I must say and I 
 say it with pride that his museum and stores of know- 
 ledge, his sound judgment and candid opinion, which 
 are far more valuable than any museum or collection, 
 have been freely open and liberally afforded to me, and 
 that they have sustained me in several instances where, 
 through the imperfection of my own experience, my 
 confidence might otherwise have broken down. 
 
 So much for the general purpose of these volumes ; 
 and though the execution must speak for itself, a few 
 words of explanation may not be altogether unneces- 
 sary. A complete system is quite incompatible with an 
 account of the birds of a single country of small 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 dimensions; and to dwell much upon system would 
 have been out of keeping with the purpose and cha- 
 racter of the book. There are some good points and 
 some imperfections in all the systems which have been 
 promulgated ; and therefore I have sometimes followed 
 one and sometimes another : but I have followed them 
 no further than I could, by some general remarks 
 under the orders, genera, and groups, save repetition, 
 and thereby have more scope for the characters and 
 relations of the species. In one order, the first in the 
 second volume, or that of the birds which feed mostly 
 upon vegetable substances at least at certain seasons 
 I have used a name at which the fastidious may cavil, 
 namely, the word grammwora instead of granivora ; 
 but I have done so advisedly, in consequence of the 
 limited meaning of the latter term, and also of its being 
 sometimes applied to substances which are not vege- 
 table ; and if the general name, Botany, which is ex- 
 pressive of all plants, be derived from a root that 
 signifies " to graze," surely a word of similar import 
 and origin may be applied to those birds whose food is 
 chiefly vegetable. But, even without this explanation, 
 the name cannot mislead, as there is nothing founded 
 upon it. 
 
 In the details, whether of appearance, character, 
 habit, or haunt, I have aimed at giving truth and force 
 rather than elegance and grace, and so far as knowledge 
 would bear me out, I have endeavoured to apportion 
 the length of the articles to the importance of the sub- 
 jects. But that is a matter of opinion; and as I have 
 followed my own, it may appear faulty to others. 
 
 In various places of both volumes, there will be found 
 
ill PEEFACE. 
 
 hints, and sometimes short disquisitions of more exten- 
 sive range than the mere history of birds ; and of these, 
 several will be found to be new : but they have been 
 studiously introduced in the least ostentatious manner 
 possible, that they might not alarm the ordinary reader 
 with the parade of science, which is always more formi- 
 dable than the reality. 
 
 As, in works of instruction generally, and especially 
 in popular works, one main object ought to be to please, 
 and if possible, to delight the reader, controversy, and 
 especially anything bordering upon acerbity, is sadly 
 out of place. Therefore, though I have not, in one or 
 two solitary instances, been able wholly to conceal what 
 I felt, I have endeavoured to express the feeling in the 
 shortest and gentlest terms possible. One cannot help 
 a little turning away of the countenance from cupidity, 
 arrogance, or even gratuitous error ; but still, one's 
 bowels yearn over that "frailty of the flesh/' through 
 which such things occur. These matters, though in 
 themselves neither profitable nor pleasant, yet afford a 
 strong and striking proof of the advantages of the study 
 of nature, inasmuch as all mankind agree, as far as they 
 understand the facts, and dispute only about their own 
 supplemental or substitutional assumptions. 
 
 The illustrations will speak for themselves, and may 
 be depended on for fidelity of expression and accuracy 
 of tint. I could have wished that they had been more 
 numerous, extending to all the species ; but that would 
 have vastly increased the cost of the book, and also 
 thrown the author into the shade. More figures, in an 
 inferior style, might possibly have tempted into larceny 
 those whose natural instinct needs no spurring ; aud 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 who, since a late unadvised outbreak of charity for the 
 destitute, or haply of that fatherly Sropyr) before 
 which equity and justice are of course but as cobwebs, 
 stand in more peril than heretofore. 
 
 I should mention that the Vignettes on the Title 
 Pages are novelties, being the first successful specimen 
 of what may be called POLYCHROMATIC PRINTING, or 
 printing in "many colours" from wooded blocks. By 
 this method every shade of colour, every breadth of 
 tint, every delicacy of hatching, and every degree of 
 evanescence in the outline, can be obtained, and fifty 
 thousand fac 'similes of a painting may be produced 
 with perfect uniformity and at a moderate expense. 
 The advantages to books, of which a large number is to 
 be sold, will be very great, not only as removing the 
 cost of tinting by hand, which is the same for the last 
 thousand as the first ; but by making the copies more 
 alike and more durable, and rising more above the 
 reach of the ignoble pecus of imitators. In these 
 Yignettes, Mr. Baxter had no coloured copy but the 
 birds, which are from nature. I made him work from 
 mere scratches in outline, in order to test his metal ; 
 and I feel confident that the public will agree with me 
 in thinking it sterling. In carrying this very beautiful 
 branch of the typographic art successfully into effect, 
 Baxter has, I believe, completed what was the last pro- 
 ject of the great Bewick, but which that truly original 
 and admirable genius did not live to accomplish. 
 
 It now remains only to notice the synoptic list which 
 is prefixed to the first volume, and serves as an index to 
 both. The indications there given are only approxima- 
 tions ; but they are more numerous and varied than 
 those given in any similar enumeration. 
 
XIV PKEFACE. 
 
 Having said thus much in the way of explanation, 
 apology, or whatever else it may be called, I must now 
 leave the work to its fate, in the anxious hope that some 
 readers might derive, not from its perusal, but from 
 that study of nature to which it may lead them, some 
 portion of the same pleasure which I have enjoyed in 
 that prolonged course of simple observation, of which it 
 is one of the results. 
 
 But having thus spoken of myself, or of my produc- 
 tion (which is of course nearly the same), I may per- 
 haps be permitted to say a few words to others. These 
 I say, not with the dictation of a pedagogue, but with 
 the anxious desire of a scholar, trusting that they will 
 be received as such. They are these : the nomenclature 
 of science, more especially of natural science, is an ab- 
 solute chaos, of good materials I grant, but in perfect 
 confusion, huddled together, not only without organiza- 
 tion, but absolutely without that polarity which belongs 
 to the smallest and simplest atom of mere matter. 
 Over this chaos I wish the spirit of the learned to 
 brood, and to turn it to a systematic world of light and 
 of life : by fixing, at their first national meeting, (if 
 they can as soon make up their minds,) AN ENGLISH 
 NOMENCLATURE OF SCIENCE, which shall be classical, by 
 issuing from under the authority of the combined talent 
 of the nation. Such an act would not surely be 
 difficult for so many : and besides enabling observers 
 and inquirers, in all parts of the empire, to understand 
 each other, it w r ould repress, if not utterly destroy, that 
 "calling of names," which, on the part of the lower 
 orders in science, is as offensive as similar practices 
 among lower orders of any other description. 
 
 The circumstances of the times render the fixing 
 
PEEFACE. XV 
 
 of some nomenclature a duty equally imperious and 
 pleasing. Whether the establishment of Zoological 
 Societies be the cause or the effect, I leave to be 
 settled by others, but it is certain that there is a spirit 
 awakened all over the kingdom, to the love and the study 
 of nature, of which we have had no example in modern 
 times. Till lately, the Country Gentlemen of England 
 knew nothing of their estates save the rent which they 
 yielded, and the animals that were hunted as vermin or 
 as game ; and the consequence was that they did not 
 want the people, except as administrators to the fur- 
 nishing of food, clothing, and the trappings of state. 
 The result has been that, ever since the breaking up of 
 the feudal system, by which baron and vassal were 
 linked together in war, there has been an estrangement 
 of the different ranks of society from each other, a 
 state of things which has every day become more and 
 more unwholesome ; and for which, much as has been 
 said and written on the subject, there is no political 
 cure. One can easily see that such must have been 
 the result. The different ranks had no relation to each 
 other but that of bargain and sale ; and consequently 
 they rated each other at a money price, and nothing 
 more. But the feelings of the human heart cannot 
 be made chattels; and they have consequently lain 
 dormant. 
 
 The study of nature will, however, bring the different 
 ranks together again, and unite them by a bond far 
 more secure than anything feudal. The owner of an 
 estate will enjoy it all, not merely levy and spend the 
 rent, but claim kindred with, and derive pleasure from, 
 the plants and the animals. "Without the love and the 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 knowledge of nature, he can be said to inhabit only 
 the mansion-house, and that but for a portion of the 
 year ; but with these he will inhabit the whole domain, 
 however ample; and instead of his importance being 
 rated by the thousands that he can spend in the year, 
 it will be rated by the fields, the forests, the groves, and 
 the waters, which lie around him, as a lovely and an 
 ever-open book ; and he and his family will find their 
 delight there, and they will cleave to their country and 
 their countrymen, with heart and soul, and their coun- 
 trymen will cleave to them, and the whole nation will 
 be linked together by that "cord of nature," which 
 God has made ; and sustained by that, all the charities 
 and all the gratitudes of the heart will be excited, and 
 peasant arid peer, while they preserve the ranks which 
 civilization assigns them, will be brothers in nature, and 
 each will vie with the other in striving who shall do the 
 first good office. 
 
 This is not the doting dream of a lover of nature, but 
 a plain and philosophic truth. In the city, people of 
 different ranks stand scowling and apart; but when 
 they go to hunt, to fish, or to any other sport or occu- 
 pation in the fields, they are fellows. Nature thus 
 makes brotherhood ; and if all mankind would study 
 nature, all mankind would be brothers. 
 
 This is a truth which often forced itself upon me 
 while sickening with disgust in the turmoil of politics; 
 and, now that I have " 'scaped the Stygian pool," I 
 earnestly and respectfully recommend it to the attention 
 of my fellow-countrymen. 
 
 ROBERT MUDIE. 
 
 GROVE COTTAGE, CHELSEA, 
 
 Fel. 14, 1834. 
 
ALPHABETICAL LIST 
 
 OF 
 
 BRITISH BIRDS, 
 
 WITH A SYNOPTIC YIEW OF SOME OF THEIR LEADING 
 DISTINCTIONS. 
 
 EXPLANATION. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 The first column contains the common English names, and the second 
 column the generic and specific systematic ones. The former are arranged 
 alphabetically; and the only explanation they require is, that when the 
 name contains an adjective or epithet, that is put first, but the epithet 
 " common " is omitted. 
 
 CHARACTERS. 
 
 The third column, headed c. expresses the character of the bird, and 
 requires attention to these particulars, 
 
 R. means a resident bird, or one which is found in some part of the 
 country all the year round. 
 
 S v. means a summer visitant, w v. a winter visitant, o v. an occa- 
 sional visitant, and s. a straggler not belonging to a regular migration. 
 
 The italics prefixed qualify the characters; c. means common, or that 
 the bird is generally distributed; /. means local, and r. means rare: but 
 the application of these cannot be very precise ; e. or w. prefixed to an 
 occasional visitant or straggler, means that it belongs to an eastern or 
 a western migration. 
 
 HABITS. 
 
 The fourth column headed H. refers to the habits of the birds in feeding, 
 There, 
 
 A. means aerial birds, which seek their prey on the wing; h. prefixed 
 means that they fly high, m. moderate height, and /. that they fly low. 
 
 B. means branch or bush-birds, which find their food on trees or 
 bushes ; t. prefixed denotes that they seek it on the twigs and leaves, and 
 I. on the bark. 
 
 H. means that they seek their food on herbaceous plants. 
 
 G. means a ground bird; r. is prefixed if a runner, and s. if they search 
 the earth either with the bill or by scraping with the feet. 
 
 w. means a water bird; w. that it wades, a. that it feeds on fishes on 
 the wing, s. that it swims, and d. that it dives. 
 
XY111 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF 
 
 The fifth and sixth columns, headed s. and w. mean the summer and 
 winter haunts; and the following are the leading distinctions, though 
 they are necessarily vague, 
 
 M. indicates a mountaineer, or bird which inhabits elevated places only. 
 
 n. means a hill bird, or inhabitant of the moors which have considerable 
 elevation. 
 
 c. means a bird of the commons, or open wastes less elevated. 
 
 F. means a field bird, or one which inhabits the cultivated grounds. 
 w. means a woodland bird, whether of brake, copse, grove or forest. 
 
 G. means a garden bird, or one which inhabits near houses. 
 
 B. means a bank bird, or one which inhabits the margins of lakes, 
 streams, or pools, in reeds, or otherwise. 
 
 N, means a fen bird, but it is applied to marshy places generally. 
 
 s. means a shore bird, or one which is found on the beaches. 
 
 R. means a rock bird, or one which inhabits bold clifts ; but no birds 
 find much of their food in such places. The swallow tribe are, properly 
 speaking, rock birds ; they do not inhabit chimneys and steeples, because 
 these are built by man. 
 
 p. means a pelagic bird, or one which is discursive over the sea. 
 
 The column s. refers to the breeding haunts of the birds; and the quali- 
 fying italics have the following meaning : s. that the birds are social or 
 breed many in the same place, d. that they are dispersed apart from each 
 other, and h. that they breed hidingly. 
 
 The column w. refers to the winter haunts ; andy. means that the birds 
 flock, p. that they remain in packs or coveys, and *. that they are solitary. 
 
 The numerals prefixed and affixed to either of these, point out the num- 
 bers of the months, counting from January as 1, between which the bird 
 may be looked for ; but they are vague, varying with both the place and 
 the season. 
 
 NESTING PLACES. 
 
 The seventh column headed N. points out the nesting places; T. means 
 in high trees, B in brakes or bushes lower down, G. on the ground but 
 concealed, F. exposed on the open surface, H. in holes, whether of trees, 
 walls, rocks, or the earth, and L. on cliffs or ledges of rocks. The kind 
 of surface is, in some measure, determined by the haunt; and no bird 
 deposits its eggs on a humid surface, as the evaporation would be propor- 
 tional to the heat, and the eggs could not be hatched. 
 
 The italics in this column denote the character of the nest ; o. that there 
 is no formal one, r. that it is rude, n. that it is neat, and e. that it is 
 elaborate. 
 
 These characters might have been extended ; but too many columns 
 would be apt to breed confusion. 
 
 The last column marked P. indicates the page ; and when i. is prefixed, 
 is in the first volume. 
 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 When any column against a particular species of bird is blank, it im- 
 plies that there is little reason to expect any character or habit of the 
 species as British answering to that column ; and when it is marked by 
 the character (?) it is understood to be doubtful, and as such worthy of 
 further investigation ; the place to be sought is sometimes marked, but it 
 is, of course, only guesswork; as, where there is not positive knowledge, 
 there can be no certainty. 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC NAME. 
 
 c. 
 
 H. 
 
 S. 
 
 W. 
 
 N. 
 
 P. 
 
 Alpine Titling 
 
 Accentor alp inns 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 1320 
 
 
 Vultur percnopterus . . . 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 i!68 
 
 American Bittern .... 
 
 Botaurus lentioinosus , . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 165 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 381 
 
 Arctic Tern 
 
 Sterna arctica , 
 
 Zs 
 
 a w 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 412 
 
 Ash-coloured Harrier,, 
 
 Falco cineraceus 
 
 ZR 
 
 AZ 
 
 H 
 
 p 
 
 B r 
 
 il!4 
 
 Ash-coloured Shrike . . 
 
 Lanius excubitor 
 
 e s 
 
 A I 
 
 
 F 
 
 
 1262 
 
 Baillon's Crake 
 
 Crex Baillonii 
 
 e o v 
 
 ?G 
 
 B 
 
 
 > 
 
 240 
 
 Barn Owl 
 
 Strix flammed 
 
 C R 
 
 A I n 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 B 
 
 1165 
 
 Bar-tailed Godwit 
 
 Limosa rufa 
 
 W V 
 
 w w 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 222 
 
 Bean Goose 
 
 Anas segetum 
 
 IB 
 
 * w 
 
 p 
 
 p 
 
 N 
 
 -312 
 
 Bearded Tit 
 
 
 I R 
 
 | 
 
 N 
 
 
 u 
 
 1419 
 
 Bee-eater 
 
 Merops apiaster 
 
 e o v 
 
 A I 
 
 B 
 
 
 H 
 
 1233 
 
 Bernacle Goose . . . . 
 
 Anssr bernicla ........ 
 
 W V 
 
 S W 
 
 ^^ 
 
 p 
 
 
 814 
 
 
 Cygnus Beivickii 
 
 O V 
 
 s w 
 
 sB 
 
 W 
 
 
 322 
 
 Bi maculated Teal .... 
 
 Querquedula glocitans 
 
 W S 
 
 
 
 
 
 336 
 
 Bittern 
 
 Botaurus stellaris 
 
 IK 
 
 5 G 
 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 B 
 
 145 
 
 Blackbird 
 
 Turdus merula 
 
 C R 
 
 B 
 
 W/t 
 
 G 
 
 B 
 
 1281 
 
 Black-cap Warbler 
 
 Cnrruca atricapilla . . . 
 
 CSV 
 
 B 
 
 4BS 
 
 
 B 
 
 1376 
 
 Black Grous 
 
 Tetrao tetrix 
 
 lR 
 
 S G 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 G 
 
 i 41 
 
 Black Guillemot 
 
 Uria grylle 
 
 r R 
 
 dvr 
 
 R 
 
 P 
 
 L 
 
 293 
 
 Black-headed Gull.... 
 
 Lams atricillus 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 395 
 
 Black Scoter 
 
 
 W V 
 
 d w 
 
 
 
 
 340 
 
 Black Stork 
 
 Ciconia nigra 
 
 es 
 
 
 
 
 
 170 
 
 Black-tailed Godwit . . 
 
 Limosa melanura 
 
 ZR 
 
 w w 
 
 N 
 
 N S 
 
 N h 
 
 220 
 
 Black Tern 
 
 Sterna nigra 
 
 S V 
 
 aw 
 
 N 
 
 
 N 
 
 408 
 
 Black-throated Diver.. 
 
 Colymbus arcticus .... 
 
 rw v 
 
 d w 
 
 
 
 
 288 
 
 Black-winged Stilt .... 
 
 Himantopus me.lanop- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 97 
 
 Bine-breasted Warbler. 
 
 Sylvia suecica 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 313 
 
 Brown-headed Gull . . . 
 
 Larus capistratus 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 397 
 
 Blue Tit 
 
 Parus cceruleus 
 
 C R 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 G 
 
 B 
 
 i412 
 
 Blush Redstart 
 
 Sylvia Tethys 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 362 
 
 Brake Warbler 
 
 
 1 8 V 
 
 
 4 w 
 
 
 
 i 364 
 
 Brent Goose 
 
 Anser brenta 
 
 ZR 
 
 * w 
 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 G 
 
 316 
 
 Brown Long-beak .... 
 
 Macrorhamphus griseus 
 
 w s 
 
 
 
 
 
 203 
 
 Buff-breasted Tringa . . 
 
 Tringa rufescens ...... 
 
 W S 
 
 
 
 
 
 201 
 
 Bull-finch 
 
 Pyrrhula vutyaris 
 
 C R 
 
 B 
 
 W 
 
 W 
 
 B 
 
 70 
 
 Bunting 
 
 Emberiza miliaria .... 
 
 C R 
 
 H 
 
 F 
 
 F 
 
 G 
 
 15 
 
 Burgomaster Gull .... 
 
 Larus glaucus 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 386 
 
 Bustard 
 
 Otis tarda 
 
 ZR 
 
 r G 
 
 F 
 
 F 
 
 G 
 
 i 59 
 
 Buzzard 
 
 Falco buteo 
 
 R 
 
 A I 
 
 W 
 
 F 
 
 T r 
 
 1116 
 
 Carrion Crow 
 
 Corvus corone 
 
 C R 
 
 G 
 
 W 
 
 F 
 
 T 
 
 i 181 
 
 Caspian Tern 
 
 Sterna caspia 
 
 e s 
 
 
 
 
 
 405 
 
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC NAME. 
 
 c. 
 
 H. 
 
 s. 
 
 W. 
 
 N. 
 
 P. 
 
 Chaffinch 
 Chimney Swallow .... 
 Chough 
 
 Fringilla Calebs 
 Hirundo rustica 
 Pyrrhocorax graculus 
 
 C R 
 CSV 
 1 R 
 
 B 
 
 A m 
 
 S G 
 
 G 
 
 4c9 
 
 H 
 
 F/ 
 H 
 
 B 
 H 
 j-j 
 
 44 
 
 i242 
 i 197 
 
 Cinereous Petrel 
 Cirl Bunting. ...'.... 
 Cole Tit 
 
 Puffinus cinereus 
 Emberiza cirlus 
 
 s 
 In 
 
 H 
 
 F 
 W 
 
 F 
 G 
 
 B 
 H G 
 
 418 
 27 
 i 394 
 
 Collared Pratincole . . . 
 
 Glareola torquata 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 251 
 
 Coot 
 
 
 C R 
 
 * W 
 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 G 
 
 0,54 
 
 Cormorant 
 Corn Crake 
 Crane 
 Cream-coloured Swift- 
 foot 
 
 Carbo cormoranus .... 
 Crex pratensis 
 Grus cinerea 
 
 Cursorius Isabellinus . . 
 
 C R 
 
 CSV 
 
 e s 
 e s 
 
 dvr 
 
 S G 
 
 R 
 
 4F9 
 
 P 
 
 L 
 G 
 
 3t>4 
 237 
 172 
 
 103 
 
 Creeper 
 Crested Grebe 
 Crested purple Heron 
 
 Certhia familiaris .... 
 Podiceps cristatus 
 Ardea purpurea 
 
 C R 
 
 In 
 e o v 
 
 B b 
 dVf 
 W 
 
 G 
 
 N 
 B 
 
 T 
 
 N 
 
 H 
 
 G 
 
 9 
 
 i 226 
 274 
 101 
 
 Crested Tit 
 Cross-bill 
 Cuckoo 
 Curlew 
 Curlew Tringa 
 Dartford Warbler .... 
 Dipper 
 Dotterell 
 
 Parus cristatus 
 Loxia curvirostra 
 Cuculus canorus 
 
 Numenius arquatus . . . 
 Tringa subarquata. . . . 
 Sylvia provincialis .... 
 Cinchts aquaticus 
 Oharadrius morinellus 
 
 In 
 o v 
 
 CSV 
 C R 
 
 In 
 In 
 
 In 
 
 S v 
 
 B 
 B 
 
 B t 
 S G 
 S G 
 B 
 
 r G 
 
 S G 
 
 W 
 W 
 
 4w8 
 
 H 
 N 
 C 
 B 
 jj 
 
 W 
 W 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 B 
 
 T e 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 G r 
 
 9 
 
 Bh 
 
 H C 
 
 G ll 
 
 i417 
 73 
 1222 
 173 
 198 
 i 312 
 1314 
 112 
 
 Duskv Sand-piper .... 
 
 
 1 R 
 
 S G 
 
 N 
 
 s 
 
 G i, 
 
 185 
 
 Eared Grebe .. 
 Eider Duck 
 Featherv-footed Owl. . . 
 
 Podiceps auritus 
 
 Somateria mollissima. . 
 
 ZR 
 ZR 
 
 Z R 
 
 dw 
 s w 
 
 H 
 R 
 
 N 
 P 
 
 G 
 
 F 
 
 277 
 :U7 
 i 103 
 
 Field-fare 
 Fishing Eagle 
 Fiery-crested Wren . . . 
 Foolish Guillemot .... 
 
 T urdus pilaris 
 Falco haliceetus 
 
 Regulus ignicapillus . . . 
 
 e w v 
 ZR 
 In 
 
 C R 
 
 S G 
 S W 
 B 
 
 d w 
 
 R 
 W 
 R 
 
 9c/5 
 
 R 
 W 
 
 L 
 
 T e 
 
 L 
 
 i28o 
 1143 
 i340 
 290 
 
 Fork-tailed Petrel 
 Fulmar Petrel 
 Gadwall 
 Gallinule 
 
 ThalassidromaBullockii 
 Procellaria glacialis . . 
 Chauliodus strepera . . . 
 Gallinula chloropus . . . 
 
 1 R 
 
 ZR 
 wv 
 
 C R 
 
 a w 
 a w 
 
 WVf 
 
 R 
 R 
 
 B 
 
 P 
 P 
 
 N 
 B 
 
 L 
 H 
 
 G 
 
 425 
 413 
 328 
 249 
 
 Garden Warbler 
 Gargany Teal 
 Glossy Ibis 
 
 Currucca hortensis .... 
 Querquedula circia .... 
 Ibis falcinellus 
 Caprimulgus Europ&us 
 
 Zsv 
 
 W V 
 
 e s 
 Zsv 
 
 B 
 
 * w 
 A Id 
 
 .I K S 
 
 
 B 
 9 
 
 G 
 
 i379 
 335 
 172 
 1252 
 
 Golden crested Wren.. 
 Golden Eagle 
 Golden Eye 
 
 Regulus auricapillus . . 
 Falco chrysae'tos 
 Clang ula vulgaris . . 
 
 C R 
 
 ZR 
 
 W V 
 
 B 
 
 A A 
 
 W 
 M 
 
 W 
 M 
 
 T 6 
 
 L r 
 
 i 337 
 i}29 
 352 
 
 Golden Oriole 
 Goldfinch 
 
 Oriolus galbula 
 Fringilla cardttelis. . . . 
 
 es 
 
 C R 
 
 H 
 
 F 
 
 F 
 
 B e 
 
 1204 
 56 
 
 Goosander 
 Gos-hawk 
 
 Mergus merganser .... 
 Falco palumbarius . . . . 
 
 W V 
 Z R 
 
 * W 
 
 A m 
 
 W 
 
 P 
 H 
 
 T 
 
 3--..-, 
 i 106 
 
 Grasshopper Warbler 
 
 
 Z s v 
 
 B 
 
 4w8 
 
 
 B 
 
 i 345 
 
 Great Auk 
 
 
 1 R 
 
 
 R 
 
 P 
 
 H 
 
 300 
 
 Great Black-backed 
 Gull 
 Great-tufted Owl ..... 
 Greater Red-pole Finch 
 
 Larus marinus 
 Strix bubo 
 
 Fringilla eannabina . . 
 
 ZR 
 
 O V 
 C R 
 
 a w 
 
 H 
 
 R 
 C 
 
 P 
 
 G 
 H 
 
 385 
 1153 
 47 
 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
 
 
 
 c. 
 
 C R 
 
 e o v 
 
 I R 
 
 e s ? 
 
 C R 
 
 lR 
 I R ? 
 
 H. 
 B t 
 
 B b 
 
 H 
 # G 
 * G 
 B b 
 S G 
 * W 
 S G 
 S W 
 S G 
 
 a w 
 a w 
 
 s w 
 
 B 
 B 
 A* 
 W W 
 
 a w 
 
 A/I 
 A I 
 S G 
 
 dw 
 Am 
 
 * G 
 
 S G 
 S G 
 * G 
 
 A h 
 S G 
 A/i 
 S W 
 Al 
 A h 
 
 aw 
 
 S G 
 S G 
 
 aw 
 a w 
 
 B 
 G 
 
 a w 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 G 
 
 W 
 
 O 
 N 
 
 S 
 W 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 B 
 P 
 
 W 
 
 r B ? 
 C 
 B 
 P 
 
 F 
 
 N 
 G 
 
 F/ 
 
 N 
 W 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 P 
 
 B 
 C 
 P 
 
 S 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 P 
 w 
 
 F/ 
 
 N. 
 
 H 
 
 Hk 
 B 
 
 G r 
 ? 
 
 H h 
 G ? 
 
 Gh 
 
 Uh 
 G 
 
 T 
 B 
 
 B r 
 T ; 
 
 L 
 
 T r 
 
 B 
 
 G 
 H 
 H 
 
 H 
 G 
 T h 
 9 
 
 F 
 
 T r 
 
 G 
 H 
 
 T 
 L 
 9 
 
 G 
 G 
 L 
 H h 
 
 B n 
 
 F 
 
 p. 
 
 i889 
 214 
 
 1217 
 162 
 42 
 181 
 184 
 1210 
 133 
 310 
 i 53 
 261 
 i 308 
 390 
 403 
 352 
 68 
 i 373 
 il!2 
 161 
 387 
 i 97 
 il!8 
 1178 
 356 
 1230 
 276 
 1245 
 37 
 386 
 389 
 i 187 
 215 
 1194 
 i 89 
 121 
 1102 
 349 
 1233 
 1119 
 392 
 196 
 130 
 36 
 393 
 
 387 
 
 1218 
 51 
 407 
 164 
 
 E.'GLISH NAME. 
 
 
 Great Tit 
 Great Snipe 
 Great Spotted Wood- 
 pecker 
 Great White Heron. . . 
 Green-finch 
 Green Sand-piper 
 
 Parus major 
 Scolopax major 
 
 Picus major 
 Ardea alba 
 Fringilla chloris 
 Totanus ochropus 
 
 w 
 w 
 
 F 
 
 N 
 p 
 
 W 
 H ? 
 
 F 
 
 B 
 
 N 
 
 W 
 
 3w9 
 c 
 
 B 
 R 
 4F10 
 W 
 H 
 
 N 
 
 4G10 
 
 G 
 
 R 
 N ? 
 W 
 
 S 
 F 
 R 
 B 
 C 
 R 
 N 
 H 
 
 N 
 R 
 
 W 
 
 C 
 
 s 
 
 Green-shank Sand-piper 
 Green Wood-pecker. . . 
 Grey Lapwin 01 
 
 Picus viridis 
 
 C R 
 I P ? 
 
 Grey-lag Goose 
 Guernsey Partridge . . . 
 Grey Phalarope 
 
 Anser palustris 
 Perdrix rufa 
 
 Phalaropus lobatus . . . 
 Motacilla boarula .... 
 
 WV? 
 1 R 
 
 rw v 
 In 
 
 1 R 
 
 e s 
 
 V 
 l-R 
 
 JSV? 
 C R 
 C R 
 C R 
 I S V 
 
 e o v 
 
 Grev Wagtail 
 Gull 
 
 Gull-billed Tern 
 Harlequin Garrot 
 
 Sterna anglica 
 Clangula histrionica . . 
 Fringilla coccothraustet 
 Curruca hippolais .... 
 Falco cyaneus 
 Ardea cinerea 
 Larus argentatus 
 Falco subbuteo 
 Falco apivorus 
 
 Hedge Warbler 
 Hen Harrier 
 Heron 
 Herring Gull 
 Hobby 
 Honev Buzzard 
 
 Hooded Crow 
 Hooded Merganser. . . . 
 Hoopoe ......... 
 
 Corvus cornix 
 Mergus cucullatus .... 
 
 l-R 
 
 s 
 
 
 Podiceps cornutus 
 Hirundo urbica 
 Purgita domcstica, .... 
 
 In 
 
 CSV 
 C R 
 V 
 O V 
 C R 
 
 In 
 
 C R 
 / O V 
 1 R 
 R 
 
 In 
 
 1 R 
 C R 
 
 In 
 
 C R 
 
 C R 
 
 ZR 
 
 ZR 
 
 1 R 
 1 R 
 
 s v 
 e o v 
 
 House Martin 
 House Sparrow 
 
 Iceland Gull 
 Ivory Gull 
 Jack-daw 
 Jack-snipe , 
 Jay 
 Jer-falcon 
 
 Larus islandicus 
 Larus eburneus 
 Corvus monedula 
 Scolopax gallinula .... 
 
 Garrulas glandorius. . . 
 Falco islandicus . . . 
 
 
 Charadriug canlianus . 
 Falco tinnunculus .... 
 Somateria spectabilis . . 
 Alcedo ispida 
 Falco milvus 
 
 Kestrel 
 
 King-eider 
 
 King-fisher 
 Kite 
 
 Knot Tringa 
 
 Tringa canutus 
 
 Lapwing 
 
 Vanellus cristatus .... 
 Emberiza calcarata . . . 
 Larus ridibundus 
 
 Lark-heeled Bunting . . 
 Laughing Gull 
 
 Lesser Black-backed 
 Gull 
 
 Lesser Spotted Wood- 
 pecker 
 
 Picus minor 
 Fringilla linaria . ... 
 Sterna minuta* . . 
 
 Lesser Tern 
 
 Little Bittern 
 
 Botaurus minutus .... 
 
XX11 
 
 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC NAMK. 
 
 c. 
 
 e s 
 / s v 
 e s 
 
 1 R 
 V 
 
 wv? 
 
 e s 
 
 lR 
 
 wv 
 
 C R 
 C R 
 lR 
 C R 
 C R 
 C R 
 
 r R 
 
 O V 
 1 R 
 lR 
 lR 
 
 s 
 
 / S V 
 
 wv 
 
 e o v 
 
 lR 
 C R 
 S 
 
 e R 
 
 lR 
 O V 
 
 I s \ 
 
 C R 
 
 C R 
 W S 
 lR 
 C R 
 lR 
 C R 
 I S V 
 C R 
 lR 
 C R 
 
 C R 
 
 e s 
 
 lR 
 O V 
 
 W V 
 
 lR 
 
 H. 
 
 S. 
 
 W. 
 
 N. 
 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 B e 
 T n 
 
 H 
 
 G r 
 
 B 
 G 
 
 G r 
 
 ? 
 
 B n 
 B n 
 B n 
 
 G 
 
 H 
 F 
 
 G h 
 
 R S 
 
 B n 
 H n 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 H 
 9 
 
 G 
 Gh 
 G 
 I, S 
 L 
 
 B n 
 B h 
 
 
 G 
 
 p. 
 
 Little Bustard . . . 
 
 or tt' 
 
 r G 
 
 H 
 
 A n 
 
 A n 
 
 8 W 
 S G 
 
 s w 
 
 A I 
 B 
 8 G 
 A h 
 S G 
 B G 
 H 
 H 
 
 B 
 
 B b 
 S G 
 
 S G 
 A h 
 B 
 B 
 S G 
 
 s w 
 
 S (i 
 
 a w 
 
 S G 
 
 dw 
 
 S G 
 S G 
 * G 
 W 
 G 
 
 dw 
 
 A I 
 B G 
 
 d w 
 d w 
 d w 
 
 G 
 
 F 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 W 
 
 B 
 
 G 
 R 
 N 
 B 
 H 
 H 
 S 
 W 
 H 
 H 
 
 5w& 
 
 W 
 G 
 
 N 
 
 F 
 
 H 
 
 5w8 
 
 B 
 
 N 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 R 
 S 
 S, B 
 OF 9 
 B 
 F X 
 R 
 
 5 w 9 
 w 
 
 N 
 
 H 
 
 p 
 N 
 
 G 
 
 W 
 P 
 B 
 G 
 P 
 N 
 F 
 N 
 F 
 S 
 W 
 
 vf 
 r 
 
 G 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 F 
 
 F 
 P 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 B 
 H S 
 P 
 
 G 
 P 
 
 HP 
 
 i 66 
 241 
 163 
 278 
 398 
 i 162 
 163 
 i loo 
 346 
 i399 
 i!90 
 416 
 illo 
 i398 
 i324 
 ilOO 
 201 
 i270 
 54 
 66 
 167 
 i381 
 412 
 286 
 
 i205 
 i229 
 99 
 36 
 79 
 i 46 
 i 93 
 73 
 i 206 
 i304 
 333 
 104 
 379 
 i 30 
 302 
 192 
 190 
 i 53 
 243 
 
 1 INIJ 
 
 907 
 
 i263 
 i335 
 317 
 354 
 345 
 342 
 i 36 
 
 Little Crake 
 Little- crested Heron. . . 
 Little Grebe 
 Little Gull 
 Little Owl 
 Little White Heron . . . 
 Long-tufled Owl 
 Long-tailed Hareld .... 
 Long-tailed Tit 
 
 Crex pusilla 
 
 Podiceps minor 
 Larus minutus 
 Strix passerina 
 Ardea russata 
 Strix otus 
 Harelda glacialis 
 Parus caudatus ...... 
 
 Magpie 
 Manks Shearwater .... 
 Marsh Harrier 
 Marsh Tit 
 
 Pica melanoleuca 
 Pujftnus anglorum .... 
 Falco rufux 
 
 Meadow Pipit 
 
 Anthus pratensis 
 Falco asalon 
 Tringa minuta 
 Turdus viscivorus 
 Fringilla montium . . . 
 Fr ing ilia montif ring ilia 
 Nycticorax Gardeni... 
 
 Merlin 
 
 Minute Tringa 
 Missel Thrush 
 Mountain Linnet 
 Mountain Finch 
 
 Night Heron 
 
 Noddy 
 Northern Diver 
 
 Sterna stolida 
 
 Colt/mbus glacialis. . . . 
 Nucifraga caryoca- 
 
 Nut-cracker 
 
 Nuthatch 
 Oyster, catcher 
 Ortolan 
 Parrot Crossbill 
 
 Sitta europcea 
 Hatmatopus ostralegus . 
 Emberiza hortulana . . . 
 Loxoa pytiopsittacus . . 
 Perdrix cinerea 
 Falco pertorinus ...... 
 
 Partridge 
 Peregrine Falcon 
 Pine Gross-beak 
 Pied Fly-catcher 
 Pied Wagtail 
 Pintail 
 
 Pyrrhula enucleator. . . 
 Muscicapa luctuosa . . . 
 Motacilla alba 
 Querquedula acuta .... 
 Charadrius pluvialis . . 
 Lestris pomarinux .... 
 Lagopus vulgaris 
 Fratercula arctica .... 
 Tringa maritima 
 Tringa variabilis 
 Coturnix vulgaris 
 Rallus aquaticus 
 Corvus corax 
 Alca torda 
 Lanius collurio 
 Sylvia rubicola 
 Anser ritfivollis 
 
 Plover 
 Pomarine Skua 
 Ptarmigan 
 Puffin 
 Purple Tringa 
 Purre, or Dunlin 
 Quail 
 Rail 
 Raven 
 Razor-bill 
 Red-backed Shrike 
 Red-breast 
 Red-breasted Goose . . . 
 Red breasted M erganser 
 Red-crested Pochard . . 
 Red-headed Pochard . . 
 Red Grous 
 
 Fuligula rtifina 
 Fuligula ferina 
 
 
 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
 
 XX111 
 
 ENGLISH NAME. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC NAMK. 
 
 c. 
 
 s v 
 wv? 
 
 I R 
 
 I R 
 C R 
 S V 
 W V 
 C R 
 S V 
 I S 
 C R 
 C R 
 
 In 
 
 S V 
 l-R 
 E S 
 
 e s 
 
 C R 
 
 1 R 
 
 e o v 
 
 O V 
 
 e o v 
 s 
 s v 
 o v 
 
 V ? 
 
 In 
 
 CSV 
 C R 
 I S V 
 W V 
 
 In 
 
 V 
 fi R 
 
 In 
 
 i S "N 
 
 ZR 
 In 
 
 /R 
 
 In 
 r R 
 o v 
 In 
 
 C R 
 WV 
 C R 
 W V 
 V 
 
 In 
 
 C R 
 S 
 C R 
 
 H. 
 
 dw 
 
 s vv 
 
 d w 
 s u 
 
 B 
 S G 
 H 
 H 
 
 aw 
 
 .s G 
 5 G 
 G 
 S G 
 
 S G 
 
 aw 
 dw 
 s \v 
 
 S G 
 
 S G 
 S G 
 A I 
 S G 
 
 a w 
 dw 
 
 WVf 
 
 A n 
 A In 
 a w 
 
 H 
 
 dw 
 s w 
 
 S G 
 
 A n 
 
 a w 
 
 aw 
 
 S G 
 S W 
 S G 
 
 aw 
 
 B 
 Aft 
 
 s. 
 
 H 
 
 N 
 
 4w8 
 
 W. 
 
 P 
 S S 
 
 9c/5 
 
 F 
 
 P 
 
 W 
 
 s 
 
 R 
 
 F/ 
 p 
 
 R 
 
 9 
 
 S 
 
 N 
 
 G 
 R 
 
 P 
 P 
 
 S 
 W 
 
 P 
 
 F/ 
 
 N 
 H 
 
 P 
 F/ 
 
 F 
 
 N. 
 
 G 
 
 G r 
 H n 
 
 B 
 B 
 
 G 
 
 T r 
 
 F 
 B 
 
 R r 
 
 T S 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 p 
 F 
 H 
 F 
 G 
 
 G h 
 B/i 
 
 L r 
 9k 
 
 L 
 L 
 G 
 T 
 
 G 
 G 
 
 Gh 
 
 L 
 B 
 
 B r 
 
 p. 
 
 105 
 273 
 259 
 
 289 
 180 
 358 
 288 
 23 
 355 
 330 
 380 
 72 
 116 
 282 
 75 
 36 
 203 
 172 
 409 
 204 
 295 
 118 
 327 
 232 
 399 
 214 
 125 
 1246 
 176 
 407 
 343 
 222 
 1159 
 1163 
 1137 
 1353 
 867 
 326 
 1326 
 115$ 
 327 
 63 
 376 
 6 
 357 
 206 
 2 
 i 15 
 36fc 
 127( 
 4U 
 ilOt 
 
 Red-legged Falcon .... 
 Red-necked Grebe .... 
 Ked-necked Phalarope . 
 Red-throated Diver . . . 
 
 Red-shank Sandpiper. . 
 Red Warbler 
 
 ?alco rufipes 
 
 JJ odiceps rubrlcoUis . . . 
 halaropus hyperboreus 
 Colymbus septentrio- 
 
 Totanus calidris 
 Curruca phcenicurus . . . 
 Turd us iliacus 
 Emberiza schaniclus . . 
 durruca arundinacea . . 
 Anthvs Richardi 
 Lestris Richardsonii . . 
 doltimba palumbus .... 
 Charadrius hiaticula . . 
 T urdus torquatus 
 
 Red-wing Thrush 
 Reed Bunting 
 Reed Warbler 
 Richard's Pipit 
 Richardson's Skua .... 
 Rin^-Dove 
 
 B 
 
 5 B 8 
 
 H 
 W 
 S 
 
 4n9 
 F/ 
 
 F/ 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 N 
 
 ? 
 
 S 
 B8 
 B 
 R 
 
 N 
 
 G 
 R 
 
 4fi8 
 
 R 
 R 
 S 
 W 
 
 H 
 
 F 
 
 N 
 R 
 
 wh 
 
 T 
 
 Ring Plover 
 
 Ring Thrush .... .... 
 Rock Dove 
 
 Rock G rous 
 Roller 
 Rook 
 
 Roseate Tern ... 
 
 Tctrao rupestris 
 Coracias garrulus 
 Corvits frugilegus 
 Sterna Dougallii 
 Pastor roseus 
 Meryulus melanjleucos 
 
 Rose coloured Pastor . . 
 Rotche 
 
 Rough-legged Buzzard 
 Ruddv Sheldrake 
 Ruff/ 
 Sabine's Gull 
 
 Tadorna rutila 
 Machetes pugnax .... 
 
 Sabine's Snipe . . 
 
 Scolopax Sabini 
 
 Sanderling 
 Sand Martin 
 Sand-pipsr ... . 
 
 Calidris arenaria .... 
 Hirundo riparia 
 Totanus hypoleucos . . 
 Sterna Boysii 
 Fuligula mania 
 Recurvirostra avocetta 
 Strix scops 
 Strix stridula 
 Falco albicilla 
 Curruca phragmitis . . 
 Carbo grnculns 
 Tadorna vulpanser . . . 
 Anihus aquaticus .... 
 Strix brachyotus 
 Spathulea clijpeata. . . 
 F ring ilia spinus 
 
 Sandwich Tern 
 Scaup Pochard 
 Scooping Avocet 
 Scops-tufted Owl 
 Screech Owl 
 Sea-Eagle 
 Sedge Warbler 
 Shag 
 Sheldrake 
 
 Shore Pipit 
 
 Short-tufted Owl 
 Shoveller 
 Siskin 
 Skua 
 
 Skv-lark 
 
 Alauda arvensis 
 Mergus albellus 
 Scolopax galllnago . . . 
 Emberiza nit' alls .... 
 Strix nijctea , . 
 
 Smew 
 Snipe 
 
 Sno\v Bunting 
 Snowv Owl . . 
 
 Solan Gannet 
 Song Thrush 
 Sootv Petrel .... 
 
 Sula bassana 
 Turdus musicus 
 Pi'ffinus fuliginosus . . 
 Falco nisus 
 
 Sparrow Hawk 
 
XXIV 
 
 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BRITISH BIEDS. 
 
 KNGI.ISH NAME. 
 
 SYSTEMATIC NAMK. 
 
 c. 
 
 H. 
 
 S. 
 
 W. 
 
 N. 
 
 p. 
 
 Spotted Crake 
 
 Crex porzana 
 
 / s v 
 
 S G 
 
 3nlO 
 
 
 G 
 
 230 
 
 Spotted Fly-catcher . . . 
 
 Mnscicapa grisola .... 
 
 / s v 
 
 B 
 
 -5w9 
 
 
 B n 
 
 i268 
 
 Spotted Sand-piper .... 
 
 Totanus macularius . . . 
 
 w s 
 
 
 
 
 
 1.S3 
 
 Squaeco-Heron 
 
 Ardea ralloides 
 
 e s 
 
 
 
 
 
 163 
 
 Starling 
 
 Sturnus vulgaris 
 
 C R 
 
 r G 
 
 H 
 
 c/ 
 
 H 
 
 i200 
 
 Stock Dove 
 
 Columba fp/nas 
 
 IR 
 
 S G 
 
 W 
 
 F/ 
 
 B 
 
 i 75 
 
 Stone Chat 
 
 Saxlcola rubicola 
 
 C R 
 
 8 6 
 
 C 
 
 C 
 
 B n 
 
 1291 
 
 
 T/iulassidronia pelaqica 
 
 1 R 
 
 a w 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 1'27 
 
 Surf Scoter 
 
 Oidemia perspicilla .... 
 
 V 
 
 d w 
 
 
 
 
 341 
 
 Swift 
 
 Cypselus a pus 
 
 S V 
 
 A /* 
 
 OG7 
 
 
 H 
 
 i248 
 
 Teal 
 
 QllCrQUcdllltt. CTCCCa . . . . 
 
 1 R 
 
 
 
 
 
 384 
 
 Tern 
 
 Xtt-rna hirundo 
 
 S V 
 
 aw 
 
 s 
 
 
 G 
 
 410 
 
 Teinminck's Tringa . . . 
 
 Tringa Temminckii . . . 
 
 V 
 
 S G 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 200 
 
 Thick-knee 
 
 (Edicmmus cn-p-Hans. . 
 
 r I* 
 
 r G 
 
 c 
 
 C? 
 
 F 
 
 93 
 
 Titling 
 
 Accentor modulari* .... 
 
 C R 
 
 B 
 
 F 
 
 F 
 
 B h 
 
 i320 
 
 Tree Pipit 
 
 An thus arboreus 
 
 S V 
 
 B 
 
 F 
 
 
 G n 
 
 1328 
 
 Tree Sparrow 
 
 Pyrqita montana . . . 
 
 1 R 
 
 .s' G 
 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 Tufted Pochard 
 
 Fnligula cristata 
 
 W V 
 
 (fW 
 
 
 
 
 344 
 
 Turnstone 
 
 Strepsilas collaris 
 
 WV? 
 
 S G 
 
 p 
 
 S 
 
 9 
 
 134 
 
 Turtle D..ve 
 
 Columba turtur 
 
 I 8V 
 
 S G 
 
 W 
 
 
 T h 
 
 i 78 
 
 Velvet Scoter 
 
 Oidcwiici fusccL ... 
 
 
 d\v 
 
 
 
 
 341 
 
 "VVax-\Ving ....... 
 
 Hombi/civora (jarrula.. 
 
 6 O V 
 
 
 
 F f 
 
 
 i 203 
 
 "Western Eider 
 
 Xomateria dixpar 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 1 J 
 
 
 3.50 
 
 "Widgeon 
 
 Mareca penelope 
 
 WV? 
 
 s w 
 
 
 
 N ? 
 
 337 
 
 Wheat-ear Chat 
 
 Scucicola fcnanthe 
 
 CSV 
 
 S G 
 
 4c 7 
 
 
 H n 
 
 i ">97 
 
 Whinjbrel Curlew .... 
 
 Numenius phaopus .... 
 
 C R 
 
 S G 
 
 H 
 
 S 
 
 G r 
 
 175 
 
 Whin Chat 
 
 fia&icola rubetra ...... 
 
 I S V 
 
 8 G 
 
 4 c9 
 
 
 B n 
 
 i >!);> 
 
 "Whistling Swan 
 
 Cygnus fonts 
 
 WV? 
 
 ,S W 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 S20 
 
 White bellied Swift . . . 
 
 Cupselus alpinuv 
 
 1 S V 
 
 
 
 
 
 i252 
 
 White-eyed Pochard . . 
 
 Fuligula nyroca 
 
 V 
 
 Jw 
 
 
 
 
 344 
 
 White-fronted Gome . . 
 
 Anser erythropus 
 
 W V 
 
 * W 
 
 
 
 
 313 
 
 White Spoonbill 
 
 Platalea leucorodia .... 
 
 V 
 
 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 9 
 
 171 
 
 White Stork 
 
 Ciconia alba 
 
 O V 
 
 
 
 
 
 169 
 
 White-throat Warbler . 
 
 Curruca einerea 
 
 CSV 
 
 AZ 
 
 OF8 
 
 
 B7i 
 
 1362 
 
 Wild Duck 
 
 Anas boschas 
 
 C R 
 
 S W 
 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 G 
 
 830 
 
 Willow Warbler 
 
 Curruca trochilus 
 
 I 8V 
 
 B 
 
 4s8 
 
 
 G e 
 
 = 37-2 
 
 Wood-chat Shrike 
 
 Lanius rtitilus 
 
 e o v 
 
 A / 
 
 5w8 
 
 
 B n 
 
 i -Jti i 
 
 Wood-lark 
 
 
 C R 
 
 S G 
 
 c 
 
 c 
 
 G 
 
 11 
 
 Woodcock 
 
 Scolopax ru&ticola .... 
 
 WV? 
 
 S 
 
 w 
 
 W 
 
 G 
 
 208 
 
 Wood Sand-piper .... 
 
 Totanus glarcola 
 
 W V? 
 
 # G 
 
 
 
 
 18-2 
 
 Wood Ws.rbler 
 
 Curruca sibilatrix .... 
 
 1 8 V 
 
 B 
 
 4w8 
 
 
 B 
 
 i :?r.5 
 
 Wren 
 
 Troglodyte* rulgaris . . . 
 
 CR 
 
 B 
 
 w 
 
 G 
 
 B e 
 
 i 3:',-2' 
 
 
 
 I S V 
 
 B b 
 
 Iw8 
 
 
 H h 
 
 i219 
 
 Yellow Hunting 
 
 Emberiza cilrinella . . . 
 
 C R 
 
 H 
 
 w 
 
 F f 
 
 B 
 
 17 
 
 Yellow Wagtail 
 
 Motacilla Jtava 
 
 S V 
 
 8 G 
 
 B 
 
 ? 
 
 H h 
 
 i310 
 
LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Golden Eagle Frontispiece. 
 Dipper and Nest . Vignette. 
 
 The Roller ... 7 
 Ptarmigan . . .30 
 Quail . . ib. 
 
 Field-fare ib. 
 
 Mule Pheasant ... 57 
 Goatsucker . . . ib. 
 Walking and Running Feet 
 
 Ring-dove and Little Bust- 
 
 tard . 61 
 
 Rapacious Beaks 
 
 Hawk, Eagle, and Owl . 87 
 Peregrine Falcon . . .93 
 Great Eared Owl . . ib. 
 Common Owl . . . ib. 
 Clutching Feet 
 
 Golden Eagle and Osprey 128 
 Jay .... 194 
 
 Goldfinch . . ib. 
 
 Bulfinch . ib. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Feet of the Woodpecker and 
 
 Nuthatch . .207 
 
 Green Woodpecker . . 210 
 
 Kingfisher . . . ib. 
 
 Creeper . . ib. 
 
 Bills of the Goatsucker and 
 
 Swallow . . .241 
 
 Sand-Martin . . . 246 
 
 Pied Fly-catcher . . ib. 
 
 Swift . ib. 
 
 Ring-Ouzel . . .282 
 
 Pied Wagtail ib. 
 
 Stonechat . . . ib. 
 
 Feet of the Lark and Wagtail 303 
 
 Reed-Warbler . . . 354 
 
 Red-Start ib. 
 
 Golden-crested Wren . . ib. 
 
 Greater Pettichaps . . ib. 
 
 Blue Tit . . . . 386 
 
 Yellow Bunting . . ib. 
 
 Cross-bill . . ib. 
 
 Wood-lark . ib. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 The Gannet . Frontispiece. 
 Little Grebes and Nest Vignette. 
 
 Dotterel . . . 112 
 
 Lapwing ... ib. 
 
 Jack Snipe ... ib. 
 
 Sand-piper . . . ib. 
 
 Kentish Plover . 121 
 
 Phalarope . . ib. 
 
 Turnstone . . - 135 
 
 Pratincole ... ib. 
 
 Bittern . 151 
 
 Curlew ... ib. 
 
 Crake . . ib. 
 
 Grebe's Foot 
 Puffin . 
 Teal . 
 Shag . 
 Eider Duck . 
 Fork-tailed Petrel 
 Diver 
 
 Cormorant's Foot 
 Cormorant . 
 Skua-Gull . 
 Kitty-wake . 
 Tern . 
 Storm Petrel 
 
 PAGB 
 
 272 
 303 
 334 
 
 ib. 
 347 
 
 ib. 
 
 ib. 
 361 
 364 
 
 ib. 
 392 
 
 ib. 
 429 
 
ADDITIONAL PLATES TO 
 MUDIE'S BRITISH BIRDS. 
 
 
 
 
 EGGS OP BIRDS. 
 
 
 V Plates 
 
 1 to 
 
 4 fo placed at end of Vol. 1, ^e remainder 
 
 at 
 
 
 
 
 end of Vol. 2. 
 
 
 Plate 1, 
 
 fig. 
 
 1. 
 
 Peregrine Falcon Described Vol. 1 , page 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 2. 
 
 Merlin 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 3. 
 
 Sparrow Hawk ,, ,, 
 
 108 
 
 Plate 2, 
 
 fig. 
 
 1. 
 
 Golden Eagle 
 
 129 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 2. 
 
 Osprey or Fishing Eagle ,, 
 
 143 
 
 Plate 3, fig. 
 
 1. 
 
 Common Buzzard .... ,, ,, 
 
 116 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 2. 
 
 Honey Buzzard 
 
 118 
 
 > 
 
 fig- 
 
 3. 
 
 Kite 
 
 119 
 
 Plate 4, 
 
 fig- 
 
 1. 
 
 Marsh Harrier 
 
 115 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 2. 
 
 Htm Harrier ,, ,, 
 
 112 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 3. 
 
 Tawny Owl 
 
 155 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 4. 
 
 Short-eared Owl 
 
 158 
 
 Plate 5, 
 
 fig. 
 
 1. 
 
 Song Thrush 
 
 276 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 2. 
 
 Golden Crested Wren.. 
 
 337 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 3. 
 
 Chimney Swallow .... 
 
 242 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 4. 
 
 Wren 
 
 332 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 5. 
 
 Jay 
 
 194 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 6. 
 
 King-fisher 
 
 233 
 
 Plate 6, 
 
 fig- 
 
 1. 
 
 Water Crow 
 
 178 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 2. 
 
 Raven ,, 
 
 183 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 3. 
 
 Robin , r 
 
 335 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 4. 
 
 Wheatear 
 
 297 
 
 99 
 
 fig. 
 
 5. 
 
 Goldfinch Vol. 2, 
 
 56 
 
 n 
 
 fig. 
 
 6. 
 
 Nightingale Vol. 1, 
 
 381 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 7. 
 
 Magpie 
 
 190 
 
 fig- 8. 
 
 Haw Finch Vol. 2, 
 
 68 
 
 Plate 7, 
 
 fig- 
 
 1. 
 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 2. 
 
 Green Wood Pecker . . Vol. 1, 
 
 210 
 
 n 
 
 fig. 
 
 3. 
 
 Grey Wagtail 
 
 308 
 
 
 
 fig. 
 
 4. 
 
 Shrike 
 
 263 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 5. 
 
 Hoopoe 
 
 230 
 
 M 
 
 fig. 
 
 6. 
 
 Blackbird 
 
 281 
 
 
 
 fig- 
 
 7. 
 
 Bee Eater 
 
 238 
 
 19 
 
 fig- 
 
 8. 
 
 Cuckoo 
 
 222 
 
;< 
 
 THE 
 
 FEATHERED TRIBES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 V . 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BIRDS are the most interesting division of nature's living 
 productions : the elegance of their forms, the delicacy of their 
 covering, the beauty of their colours, the element in which 
 they live, the variety of their motions, the labours which 
 they perform, the songs which they pour forth, and the 
 indications which they give of the vicissitudes of the seasons 
 and the changes of the weather, are subjects of observation, 
 continually varying, but always delightful : so much so, as to 
 have commanded the attention of mankind in all ages and 
 under every degree of civilization. 
 
 When the infant first begins to notice that creation which 
 is to be its support, and should be its study through life, 
 birds are the fondest subjects of its admiration; and, long 
 before it can use its feet, it will stretch its little hands, and 
 strain to be out of the nurse's arms, in eagerness to catch 
 the sportive tenants of the sky; and when the bird tunes its 
 melody, the child is hushed into a repose apparently as 
 fascinating as that which it derives when listening to the 
 lullaby of the fondest mother. 
 
 "When the wind of winter is up, when the forest howls in 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 its fury, driving the twitterers from the sprays, and forcing 
 them to take shelter in clefts of the trees and crannies of 
 the earth, when the sky is darkened by the congregated 
 flakes of snow, which throw their protecting mantle over the 
 earth, but compel the inhabitants of the cottage to remain 
 within, and merely eye the storm which rages without, it is 
 then that the door is left a-jar, and the little red-breast 
 comes hopping in for his crumbs, welcome and well-beloved 
 by the very boys that make the plundering of nests a portion 
 of their summer's sport ; and the memory of his winter visit 
 of familiarity, his chirp of gratitude for his pittance, and the 
 early song with which he serenades his benefactors before 
 taking his seasonal departure for the coppice, remains; and 
 the boys spare the robin's nest, in order that the winter 
 visitant may return again with confidence. 
 
 When the winter relents, when the snowy mantle is dis- 
 solved, so that the early flowers display their colours, and the 
 icy fetters of the waters are broken, so that the early water- 
 flies begin to sport in the sun, when man first feels the 
 genial breath of the young year, away from the smoke of the 
 town, or the shelter of the country habitation, the song of 
 the lark, soaring to the zenith, and thrilling the atmosphere, 
 is more gratifying to the sense, and inspires more uplifting of 
 the spirit, than all the skill of the orchestra. 
 
 Indeed, in all places wherein man can hold converse with 
 nature, or derive pleasure from the contemplation of it, the 
 Urd, the inhabitant of the life-giving atmosphere, is that 
 which imparts the finishing touch to the enjoyment. 
 
 At the base of some wave-beaten cliff, which rises bold and 
 rugged into mid air, cutting off the landward view, it is plea- 
 sant to sit on some jutting point, or to recline in some little 
 niche which nature's own hand has scooped out, and look 
 upon the glorious expanse of water which girdles the globe. 
 It is one of those mackerel-breezy days on which the surface 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 of the water just dances and dimples, to show its obedience 
 to the air. Before one's feet, it sports in turn all the tints 
 of the rainbow; but it softens off in the distance, and so 
 blends its beryl with the subdued sapphire of the horizon 
 sky, that the line of their separation is obliterated, and the 
 observer feels linked to the universe. 
 
 On such days, the fishes sport so near the surface that 
 their multitudes are ever and anon whitening the water, and 
 impressing you with a feeling of the vast productiveness of 
 that wide and wonderful element. 
 
 But i in the midst of your contemplation, the gannet 
 should come prone down, like a fragment hurled from the 
 summit, dashing into the water till the ripple closes over 
 him, and again bounding upwards with the reward of his 
 daring in his bill, then the cliff, the sky, the sea, and the 
 fishes, would all be forgotten, and your attention would be 
 wholly and irresistibly absorbed by the bird. Even the 
 dismal sand, where land and sea are equally void of inte- 
 rest, save the melancholy interest produced by the bleaching 
 fragments of ships, which remain to mark the spots where 
 they were stranded, and, it may be, their crews enshrouded 
 in the flood ; even there, the scream of a curlew, the whistle 
 of a sand-piper, or the wail of some sea-bird on the wing, will 
 bring you back to animated nature, and your imagination 
 will soon people the dreary waste with subjects of pleasure 
 and admiration. Go where you will, be the scene and season 
 what they may, be the sky serene or be it in storms, there is 
 always a bird to be found, and that bird never fails to be 
 interesting, as well to the unlearned as to the learned. Thus, 
 the study of birds is not only one of the best and most 
 certain sources of rational enjoyment, but it is one which 
 leads more directly than any other to the love, and conse- 
 quently to the study and the knowledge, of all nature, and of 
 nature's Author. 
 
 B2 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Nor can the natural history of birds be regarded as merely 
 a subject of intellectual enjoyment, high as it ranks in this 
 respect ; for the elements of much practical science, and the 
 foundations of many of our most useful arts, may be traced 
 in the economy of birds. The doctrine of motion is one of 
 the most useful branches of knowledge, and nowhere can that 
 be studied so easily, or under so many varieties and modifica- 
 tions, as in the feathered tribes. The birds move through 
 the air in all directions, upwards, downwards, and horizon- 
 tally : they run upon the earth over all sorts of surfaces, on 
 firm ground, over quagmire, or on long grass ; and some of 
 them, aided by the action of their wings, walk the waters, 
 and row themselves by their feet, while the weight of the 
 body is suspended on the air. They swim, they dive, they 
 run along on the bottom in the shallows, or through the 
 water in the deeps; and, in short, they perform every species 
 and almost every rate of motion that can be imagined, from 
 a velocity which surpasses the hurricane in the utmost of its 
 fury, to gentle gliding, barely perceptible by the eye. All 
 these varied motions are performed by means of organs 
 adapted so much more nicely to their purposes than even 
 our finest mechanical contrivances, that they may be said to 
 differ from these in kind more than in degree ; and, though 
 we may take many useful hints from them, they are far 
 above our imitation. That the same bird should be able, 
 without any change of substance, and by the action of its 
 mechanical structure alone, to ascend and descend at pleasure, 
 either in air or in water, is in itself a subject well worthy of 
 the most profound investigation. 
 
 Nor are the uses of the birds, not merely in wild nature 
 but in conjunction with man as he cultivates the garden and 
 the field, less worthy of being observed and admired. We, 
 in our ignorance, often regard them as pests, and as such 
 destroy them in the most assiduous manner, deeming every 
 e athered creature which we deprive of life as so much cer- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tainly added to the produce of our horticulture and our 
 farming ; but we little know, while we are acting thus, that 
 we are sacrificing the guardians of our vegetable wealth, and 
 giving protection and scope to its destroyers. The whole of 
 nature is so replenished with the germs of small life, in a 
 condition ready to be developed the instant that the state of 
 heat and moisture accords with their development, that a 
 means for preventing their extraordinary increase, more 
 efficient both in itself and in its application than anything 
 of human contrivance, is absolutely requisite, in order to 
 preserve that relative balance which is essential for main- 
 taining the system of nature, and which no part of that 
 system is without. 
 
 Every bud, every crevice in bark, very many roots, all the 
 pools and slow streams, and all animal and vegetable matters 
 in a state of decay, are full of the rudiments of small animals 
 in some state or other, and those rudiments are awakened so 
 easily, and by causes so little open to common observation, 
 that, if there were not some counteracting power, our gardens 
 might, in the course of a single season, be left without a 
 blossom, our forests without a leaf, and our fields without* a 
 blade of grass, a spike of corn, or an esculent root. If this 
 once took place, vegetation would be gone, save the poison- 
 ous fungi which might be nourished by the remains of the 
 destroyers. 
 
 We have partial experience of this almost every season. 
 When the wind of the early year is soft, and the showers are 
 genial, the leaves and the blossoms are perfect in their forms, 
 and rich in their colours ; they are also cool in their tempe- 
 rature, and their sap is astringent. If this state of things 
 continues, the year is one of abundance ; but if, in the midst 
 of the verdure, the east wind should dry the surface of the 
 leaves, and the unclouded sun, co-operating with the wind, at 
 the same time raise them to a certain temperature, the juice 
 which is in them would become saccharine, as it does in 
 
6 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 ripening fruits ; and, as that is the proper food of the larvae, 
 or caterpillars, of insects, these would appear in myriads, as if 
 they came by magic, or rode on the wings of the destroying 
 wind. Those reverses are part of the system of nature's 
 economy, and inseparable from a climate so variable, and, by 
 that means, so favourable to continual cultivation as ours ; 
 and they produce the most serious effects when they come 
 upon the vegetable tribes in the most active and vigorous 
 growth. Nor is there any season during which they would 
 not destroy the produce of the gardens and orchards, and 
 greatly diminish that of the fields, were it not for the birds. 
 
 Almost all birds feed upon insects, molluscous animals, 
 (such as snails and slugs,) and worms, though many have 
 recourse to other food, particularly at certain seasons ; and 
 many retire from Britain when their favourite food becomes 
 scarce. But even those birds which feed upon the smaller 
 seeds are of service ; and the flocks which throng to the 
 corn-fields and pastures .during the winter, pick up the seeds 
 of various plants, which, if allowed to remain, would spring 
 up during the following season, and choke the more valuable 
 species. 
 
 . The organs by which the various races of birds get at that 
 species of food which is best suited to their natures, are 
 admirably suited to the functions which they perform. If 
 the bird is to procure the larvae from the earth, as the rooks 
 do in clearing the land of those of cockchaffers and other 
 insect pests, the bill is formed like a sort of mattock, for 
 digging into the soil ; if the food be soft insects and their 
 caterpillars, the bill is soft and weak ; if seeds are part of the 
 food, the bill is of stronger form and firmer texture, in order 
 that it may clear the kernels of the seeds from their exterior 
 husks, which are either indigestible or afford very little nou- 
 rishment ; if the food is more strongly enclosed, as when it is 
 the kernel of a nut, or some insect or larva which burrows 
 under the bark or in the decaying wood of trees, then the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 bill is a chisel, an awl, or a pair of pincers, or forceps, according 
 to circumstances, all of which are worthy of observation, not 
 only as distinguishing characters of the birds, but as important 
 facts in the general economy of nature. Indeed, the various 
 organs with which birds are provided for arriving at the 
 places where their food is, for seizing it when they are there, 
 and for fitting it for being converted to the purpose of nou- 
 rishment after it is seized, are so varied and so curious, that 
 it is impossible to enumerate them in any other way than by 
 reference to the individual species. 
 
 PAKTS OF A BIRD. 
 
 The Roller. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The popular study of birds being properly that of them 
 when living and in a state of nature, or undomesticated by 
 man, the external parts only are those which chiefly interest 
 the ordinary observer. The common parts of a bird, with 
 their names, are so familiar to every body, that they require 
 no explanation ; but there are a few, upon the variations of 
 which the distinguishing of one bird from another so much 
 depends, that it may be necessary very briefly to glance at 
 them, referring to the systematic works for more minute 
 particulars. 
 
 The cut on the previous page represents a bird which 
 is so rarely seen in this country, that it hardly deserves to be 
 considered as a British bird ; but, as it is one in which me 
 different feathers are very distinct, it answers better for an 
 index to the more remarkable parts than most birds with 
 which we are more familiar. Of course it is possible to re- 
 present only half the surface of a bird by any one figure, and 
 as the back is the most interesting part, and the one nDst 
 generally seen, it is given in preference. 
 
 1. Is the ear-covert, which consists of certain soft feathars 
 that cover the external organ of hearing. They vary c*n- 
 siderably in birds of different species, and on that accouit 
 they are of considerable use as means of distinction. 
 
 2. The scapulars, or feathers which cover the shoulders 
 and shoulder bones, and the places where the humeri, or first 
 bones of the wings, answering to the bones of the human 
 arm above the elbow, are articulated. They unite without 
 much distinction with the common feathers of the back, and 
 also with those of the wings and the sides. The scapular 
 feathers serve only as clothing to the parts which they cover, 
 but they form a thick and comparatively a downy covering, 
 which, while it admits of easy motion, preserves the important 
 joints which it covers from the variations of the weather. 
 
 3. The bastard wing. This consists of a greater or smaller 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 number of feathers, bearing some resemblance to the quills 
 of the true wing. They grow from a little bone, which is 
 united to the third or wrist joint of the wing ; and they and 
 the bones by which they are supported, are generally strong, 
 in proportion to the power of flight in the bird. Indeed, 
 there is generally a development of all that part of the wing 
 which corresponds to the hand, proportional to the power of 
 flying. Thus, in the wing of the jer-falcon, which may be 
 considered as being the bird of finest and most graceful 
 flight, the thumb consists of two distinct bones, and even a 
 marking as if the last were two united ; and the four fingers 
 may be traced, the first in a long bone, the second in a small 
 one, and the third and fourth in two ribs united by a very 
 thin plate of bone. The use of the bastard wing is not very 
 well known, because the action of the different parts of the 
 wing, during flight, is not easily observed ; but it is probable 
 that it prevents the wing from turning upwards, and even 
 gives the point of it a downward motion, in the contrary 
 direction to that in which the whole wing is moved, and thus 
 propels it forwards. 
 
 4. The lesser wing-coverts. These are the first parts of the 
 plumage of the wings which, in all birds, take the form of 
 definite and firm feathers. There are generally several rows 
 of them ; and there are under-coverts, which answer to them, 
 and line the under or inner sides of the wings, but these are 
 more slender and downy in their consistence, and, generally 
 speaking, they have less colour. 
 
 5. The greater wing-coverts. These lie under the lesser 
 ones, and are still larger and stronger, stretching a consider- 
 able way over the quills or flying feathers, and being supports 
 to these for a greater part of their length than the lesser 
 coverts. They are also much stronger in proportion to the 
 coverts which answer to them on the under sides of the 
 wings. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 6. The primaries, or principal quills. These form the ter- 
 mination of the wing, and are the strongest feathers on the 
 bird. They rise from the hand, or that portion of the wing 
 which is below the wrist joint, and which, though it some- 
 times contains three distinct bones in its length, is frequently 
 called the first (or third) bone of the wing. These feathers 
 are numbered in order ; the outer one, or that which is fore- 
 most in the expanded or lowest in the closed wing, is the first. 
 Considerable differences in the form of wings arise from the 
 various lengths of the feathers ; and these are accompanied 
 by corresponding variations in the style of flight. If the first 
 or second of these feathers be the longest in the wing (and 
 when the second is longest the first comes underneath and 
 supports it), the bird can turn in the air with greater ease than 
 with any other form of wing. Birds which hawk flying, or 
 catch their prey while on the wing, whether they catch other 
 birds as the falcons, or insects as the swallows, have their 
 wings of this construction. The pigeons, which are also birds 
 of excellent wing, have the second feather longest ; but the 
 lapwing, which is remarkable for the variety of its motions in 
 the air, has the longest feather farther into the wing. 
 
 7. The secondaries, or second quills of the wings. They 
 arise from that part of the wing which is commonly called 
 the second bone, and which answers to the fore arm in man. 
 They arise from it towards the wrist joint, and admit of a 
 folding of the wing between them and the primaries when 
 the wing is closed. When the wing is open, they sometimes 
 appear a continuation of the same curve with the primaries, 
 and at other times they form a distinct curve of their own. 
 
 8. The tertiaries, or third quills of the wings. They arise 
 chiefly from the same bones as the secondaries, but nearer to 
 the elbow joint. In some birds, especially those which are 
 in the habit of running very swiftly with the wings partially 
 opened, the tertiaries are often so long and come so to a point, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 that the bird appears as if it had four wings, or rather had a 
 double wing on each side. This form of wing answers some 
 important purposes in their economy, which can be more 
 satisfactorily noticed in the particular accounts of those birds 
 in which it is found. 
 
 From the manner in which the several coverts support each 
 other and the quills, the wing is a finer combination of light- 
 ness, strength, elasticity, and stiffness, than could be produced 
 by ? ny other means. The different coverts support each other, 
 and admit of motion upon each other, not unlike that which 
 takes place in a coach spring, which is about the best of our 
 mechanical contrivances for rendering motion smooth and 
 free from jolts, at the same time that the compound spring 
 is much less liable to be broken than if it were formed of a 
 single piece, containing the same quantity of metal. 
 
 9. The rump feathers, and upper tail-coverts. The first of 
 these are a continuation of the covering of the back; and the 
 second support the tail feathers on the upper side, and are 
 strong in proportion as these are adapted for action in flying. 
 In birds which use the tail as the means of support in fixing 
 themselves upon upright surfaces, as is the case in the wood- 
 peckers, the upper tail-coverts are very strong and close, and 
 so thick in their array as to give that organ the same stiffness 
 as a powerful wing. In those birds also which have to take 
 wing from the water, and yet have not the feet webbed and 
 placed far backwards, so as to support them when rising, the 
 tail-coverts are peculiarly strong, in order to support the tail 
 feathers, which are the principal fulcra from which the bird 
 gets into the air. 
 
 10. The vent feathers, and under tail-coverts, which cover 
 the hinder part of the bird ; and, in those birds in which the 
 tail feathers are long and stiff and much used in the act of 
 flying, support the under side of these feathers, in the same 
 manner as the under-coverts support the quills of the wings. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In those birds which have a habit of flirting up the tail, the 
 under coverts are longer and stronger than in those which 
 have no such habit. 
 
 The tail feathers require no reference. They vary much in 
 their numbers and length, and also in the form of their ter- 
 minations, and the motions which the bird can communicate 
 to them. In some birds the whole, or at least great part, 
 of those feathers appear to be merely ornamental, which of 
 course means nothing more than that their uses have not 
 been observed. In general, however, they act both as a 
 rudder in flying, and as a means of directing the motion 
 upwards or downwards. Analogy would indeed lead us to 
 suppose that their chief use is in the upward and downward 
 motion, because their greatest surface is generally horizontal. 
 That analogy is further confirmed by the fact, that many of 
 the low-flying birds have the breadth of the closed tail in the 
 vertical plane, though these also can, in general, spread it out 
 like a fan when they fly. 
 
 The other feathers are to be considered rather as the cloth- 
 ing of the bird than as active instruments in its flight, or as 
 auxiliaries in its motions upon the land or the water. But 
 still they are not less worthy of notice, both in the distin- 
 guishing of one bird from another, and in tracing how well 
 all the parts of birds are adapted to their general habits and 
 their haunts. These ordinary feathers are imbricated, that is, 
 they are placed one over the edges of two, as slates or plain 
 tiles are in a covering of a roof. By means of this arrange- 
 ment, all the parts of the bird are equally feathered, and so 
 they are equally proof to the action of the atmosphere. The 
 lines in which the several rows of feathers are placed form 
 very curious curves, and their shafts diverge or converge so 
 naturally, and with so perfect agreement to the surfaces which 
 they cover, that no line of separation can be traced. 
 
 The feathers of birds, the coverings of the featherless parts, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 and even the beaks and claws, are all, chemically speaking, 
 formed of nearly the same materials, and nearly the same with 
 the hair and cuticle of all animals, and even with the epider- 
 mis which covers living shells. This material is coagulated 
 albumen, or nearly the same substance as white of egg when 
 consolidated by heat, in which state it better resists the action 
 of water than almost any other flexible substance. This sub- 
 stance is, especially in the upper or more coloured and glossy 
 parts of the feathers, combined with oils and metallic sub- 
 stances in very minute portions ; but in the down and the 
 light-coloured feathers it is nearly pure. 
 
 The under part of the clothing feathers, and also a small 
 portion of almost all feathers near the tube or barrel, consists 
 of down, but the exposed surfaces even of the softest feathers 
 are smoothed, so as to throw off the water. This is the case 
 even in those water-birds which pass the greater part of their 
 time with the under part of the body immersed in water. On 
 them, the down is abundant in proportion as the habits of the 
 birds expose them to cold, and the external surface is water- 
 proof from its glossy texture, and (possibly ?) also from the oil 
 with which the bird anoints it by means of its bill : but, in 
 all birds, there is an external surface, adapted to prevent 
 decomposition ; and an inner downy matter, as a protection 
 against changes of temperature. The down is partly on the 
 root-ends of the feathers, and partly on the skin in the inter- 
 vals between them, but the material is in all cases substan- 
 tially the same ; the difference is in the form or in the colour, 
 which generally approaches nearer to white in the down than 
 in the feathers. When the bird remains all the year round in 
 situations where there are great differences in the heat of the 
 seasons, the down increases in quantity during winter ; and 
 when birds of a warmer climate are domesticated in a colder 
 one, they become more downy. The form which the down 
 assumes is often characteristic of the habits of the bird. In 
 
14 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 the ostrich there is none ; in some birds it is a mere tuft at 
 the origin of the webs, in others it is a second feather ori- 
 ginating there ; and there are all the intermediate states in 
 different birds, and very considerable seasonal differences in 
 the same bird. 
 
 Different birds find their food in different states, both of 
 the atmosphere and the waters; and very beautiful corre- 
 sponding differences in their plumage may be traced. The 
 plumage upon the raven, which braves the storm in the wilds, 
 is very different from that of the gallinaceous or poultry races 
 which a slight shower drives to their cover or their perch ; 
 and ducks and other water-birds, which seek their food peace- 
 ably on the banks or by swimming in the shallow waters, 
 have very different plumage from those which hawk about on 
 the wing in order to catch what the troubled sea brings to 
 the surface. If the habit of the bird be to steal softly on its 
 prey, then the feathers are fined off to exceedingly delicate 
 points, so that it can glide silently through the air. 
 
 MOULT AND MIGRATION. 
 
 The feathers of birds, while they remain perfect and firm 
 in their connection, are really parts of a living animal, and 
 as such they must be regarded as organs of feeling. They do 
 not probably in themselves feel pain, but they are in intimate 
 connection with parts which do. The epidermis in no animal 
 appears to feel pain, even in those parts of the animal which 
 are regarded as being more immediately the organs of sensa- 
 tion ; but they very speedily transmit impressions to the 
 parts that do feel. It is the same with hair, and with all the 
 appendages of the cuticle, such as nails, claws, hoofs, and 
 horns. The horse feels his footsteps in the dark, even when 
 his hoofs are shod with iron ; and he feels not only the touch 
 of a wall, a gate, or any other obstacle, but he feels the differ- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 ence which such objects cause in the resistance of the air, and 
 that enables him to avoid touching them. 
 
 The horse feels his way by means of the hair ; and birds 
 must in like manner often feel their way by their feathers. 
 Such must be habitually the case with owls and other noctur- 
 nal birds, which can fly darkling through thick woods and 
 other intricate places ; and though the owls have the eyes 
 directed forwards, and not laterally, as many other birds have, 
 they are by that means less capacitated for avoiding by sight, 
 even admitting that they can see with the smallest possible 
 portion of light, those obstacles which it would be the most 
 awkward to encounter those of course which would injure, 
 entangle, or impede their wings. If one wing were to come 
 in contact with a tree, or even with a leaf, the bird would be 
 upset, as certainly as a man is when, in walking heedlessly, 
 he places one foot over a pit or ditch, while the other is on 
 the ground. 
 
 The necessity of feeling with the feathers is not confined 
 to nocturnal birds, but is essential to the safety of all the 
 winged tribes ; the feathers must therefore always be in a 
 state of great perfection. Now, though the shafts of many 
 feathers, and the larger ribs of the webs or vanes of not a few 
 are of considerable substance and strength, all feathers are 
 subdivided till the ultimate ramifications are exceedingly 
 minute. Consequently they produce very large surfaces to 
 the air in proportion to the quantities of matter they contain. 
 
 Feathers are thus very much exposed to atmospheric action, 
 which dries them and renders them unfit for the functions 
 that are required of them. They are also apt to be broken 
 or torn, in the flights, the wars, and the labours of their 
 owners. They are therefore periodically shed and repro- 
 duced; and the reproduction usually takes place in such a 
 way, as that the bird shall be in best feather at the very time 
 when it has the greatest labour to perform. 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The resident native birds of countries where the heat of 
 the year is comparatively uniform, moult gradually ; and the 
 same may be said of those that have their haunts in regions 
 that are always cold, and where the food is comparatively 
 limited. Such birds are seldom so denuded of feathers as to 
 be unfit for pretty vigorous flight. Birds which migrate 
 from region to region, moult more periodically ; and in places 
 where the migration is extensive, it will perhaps be found, 
 upon further examination, that the bird moults twice in the 
 year: though in most instances the Spring moult is less 
 general than the autumnal one, being, in many birds, the 
 males especially, rather a change of colour than of all the 
 feathers. Birds which migrate polarly, or for the purpose of 
 breeding, generally receive their nuptial colours, if not their 
 plumage, after they arrive; but when they migrate equa- 
 torially, they change their plumage before they begin their 
 journey. 
 
 The vernal change in the plumage of birds is owing to the 
 same cause as the change of their voices from the chirp or 
 cry to song ; and in a state of nature the two cease together. 
 This change bears some analogy to the blossoming of plants, 
 while the autumnal moult more resembles the fall of the 
 leaf. 
 
 That the migration depends much upon the state of the 
 atmosphere is proved by the fact that the number is aug- 
 mented with an augmentation of that state which we sup- 
 pose makes them leave the country from which they came. 
 Our winter migrants are always most numerous when the 
 season is most severe in the countries from which they come : 
 and there are some rare species which reach our shores only 
 in very severe winters. 
 
 With our summer migrants the state of things is just the 
 reverse. Warm weather in the places whence they come 
 sends them to us sooner and in great numbers; and cold 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 weather in the autumn makes them sooner quit our shores. 
 A very mild year will, on the other hand, induce some 
 stragglers to remain the whole winter. The differences 
 between the appearance and habits of these and those of 
 their brethren that have performed the two migratory- 
 voyages in the interim, are well worthy of attention. 
 
 The long nights which the migratory birds take, are of 
 course much affected by the winds; and it is worthy of 
 notice, that at the season when our birds are migrating 
 northward, south winds are most prevalent, and north winds 
 are most prevalent about the time that they are coming south- 
 ward. But though these are the predominating winds, they 
 are not the only ones; for the times of the migration of 
 birds, both the spring and the autumn, are times when the 
 weather is unsettled, and severe gales often blow from the 
 cross points. These winds cause the numbers and also the 
 species of migratory birds to vary in different seasons. An 
 easterly wind, at either season, will cause the birds to be 
 more numerous, and also bring stragglers of those which, 
 though common on the continent, do not regularly visit 
 Britain. A west wind will, on the other hand, lessen the 
 number, and keep away the stragglers. We have not so 
 many summer stragglers on the west side of the island as 
 we have on the east, when the wind is from the west during 
 the time of migration, because the Atlantic is wider than 
 the mere lee-way which any land bird, guided by meridional 
 impulses, is likely to make. In the autumn the numbers 
 that straggle from that side are greater, because the absolute 
 distance in latitude is less towards the north ; but the 
 stragglers then are principally rare birds, and they seldom 
 come farther than the western coast. Upon examining the 
 position of Britain on the map, it will be apparent that the 
 summer migrants must be more abundant in the south-east 
 of England than in any other part of the country, while 
 
 VOL. i. c 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 winter migrants will be the least abundant there. Through- 
 out the whole island, the summer birds may be looked for in 
 the greatest abundance near the lines of shore, or of moun- 
 tain ridge, that are inclined to the south; and the winter 
 birds near those lines which are inclined to the north. Thus, 
 on the east coast of England there are more summer birds in 
 proportion from Dover to the Spurn, and more winter birds 
 in proportion from the Spurn to the Tweed. In Scotland, 
 Fife, Forfar, and Kincardine have more summer birds in 
 proportion than the counties along the southern shores of 
 the Moray Frith, or even than the Lothians; but the coun- 
 ties on the Moray Frith and Aberdeenshire have probably 
 a greater proportion of winter birds. The migration of 
 birds, not only with regard to its general nature, but as it 
 is connected with the different states of the weather in dif- 
 ferent seasons, is a subject well worthy even of popular obser- 
 vation, not only as part of the natural history of birds, but as 
 capable of throwing much light upon that subject of universal 
 interest and speculation the weather. 
 
 POPULAR DISTINCTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
 
 Colour, size, and shape, are the most simple and obvious 
 appearances by which to know one bird from another. 
 Colour is, however, rather a variable character; and though 
 there never can be any doubt that two birds, of which the 
 colours are of the same tints and marked in the same manner, 
 belong to the same species, and may be called by the same 
 name, yet the colour of all birds changes a little with dif- 
 ferences of age, and that of very many birds changes at 
 different seasons. The immature bird is very generally dif- 
 ferently coloured from the mature one, and one in the full 
 vigour of life from one which is beginning to decay. There 
 is no positive law for these differences, but the young bird is 
 in general, though not always, more mottled than the mature 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 one ; and both in the young and the decaying bird, the tints 
 are less perfect and the gloss is inferior. With very few 
 exceptions, the male bird has the finest plumage; but the 
 young male is not easily distinguished from the young 
 female: and in the mature bird the distinguishing colours, 
 and also the peculiar and often supplemental feathers in 
 which those colours appear, are most conspicuous about the 
 pairing time. That is, indeed, the very best time for study- 
 ing birds, as they are then seen and heard to the greatest 
 advantage; while the general activity and freshness of the 
 season have the charm of novelty, heightened by the re- 
 membered contrast of the gloomy winter, which is just over. 
 The popular descriptions of birds are perhaps, however, 
 too much dependent on colour, and too little on the size, 
 shape, and especially on the structure and habits of the 
 birds. 
 
 Size is, in so far, a very good means of distinction ; but, in 
 many instances, it is more vague than even colour. Many of 
 the small birds which frequent the gardens and shrubberies, 
 and are in consequence the most convenient for general 
 observation and study, are so nearly equal in size, that it is 
 not easy to say which is the largest, and which the least, 
 unless when the different ones are seen at the same time and 
 nearly at the same distance. 
 
 Shape, or form, is a good means of distinction, because 
 there is a resemblance in form among all the birds that have 
 the same general habits, even though they differ ever so much 
 in colour and size; and though there are variations in the 
 details (as no two species of birds have exactly the same 
 habits), yet the similarity in form runs through all the parts 
 of the bird. Birds have, however, so much power over their 
 attitudes, and the outlines of their form change so much with 
 the changes of these, and are, taken as a whole, so different in 
 the living and the dead bird, that the characters are much 
 
 c2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 more easily understood than expressed. It would be very 
 difficult to find names for all the curves that are found in the 
 outlines of birds, and still more to point out the differences. 
 It may be observed, however, that the bodies (the necks, 
 heads, and feet vary to suit other purposes) of fast-flying 
 birds are like fast-sailing vessels, compact and round for- 
 wards, and diminished to the hinder extremity. This is so 
 remarkable in the hawk and swallow tribes, that one who has 
 seen any one species on the wing, can know at first sight any 
 other of the tribe, whatever may be the species. It is true 
 that there is the style of flying, or the attitude in repose, and 
 also the haunt of the bird, if in a state of nature, but still the 
 form is an essential element in judging. 
 
 The haunts and habits of birds are certainly the best 
 means of distinction ; but the perfect or detailed knowledge 
 of them requires an acquaintance with the bird, which 
 includes the whole of its natural history as a species, and 
 therefore a few of the more remarkable haunts and habits 
 are taken as indices to the rest, or general heads, under 
 which the others may be arranged as they are found out. 
 
 Of haunts, land and water are the most obvious dis- 
 tinctions. Land birds, with few exceptions, can walk and 
 fly, but they cannot swim. Water birds can, in general 
 walk, and fly, and swim, but in many instances they are bad 
 walkers. The . bird is always best fitted for the performance 
 of that kind of motion which it most habitually performs ; 
 and therefore when we have seen in one bird the organization 
 and the haunt, we may, from similar organization in another 
 bird, infer that the haunt is similar ; and the same inference 
 may be made from the organization to the habit. These 
 inferences are, however, merely general 
 
 Birds are also distinguished by the times of their appear- 
 ance. Those which remain in the same countiy all the year 
 round, are resident birds ; those which come in the spring and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 depart in the autumn, are summer visitants ; those which come 
 in the autumn and depart in the spring, are winter visitants; 
 those which do not come every season, are occasional visitants; 
 and those that are seen rarely, only one now and then, are 
 accidental visitants, or stragglers. The resident birds and 
 summer visitants may both be considered as natives; because, 
 although visitants that are not hatched in the country may 
 come with those that are, there are always more of every 
 species hatched in the country than can be expected to live 
 and return to it. The winter visitants and stragglers are 
 not natives ; and the occasional summer visitants are only 
 partially so. It is common, however, to call every bird that 
 is found in Britain, without having been brought there by 
 artificial means, a British bird, and to distinguish them as 
 common or rare in their occurrence in respect both of place 
 and of time. 
 
 The finding of food for themselves and their young is the 
 grand object to which all the organizations and the habits of 
 birds tend, when we consider them merely in themselves, and 
 without any reference to the rest of nature ; and therefore 
 these objects must be kept in view in the study of the birds, 
 and also in the arrangement of them. But almost all birds 
 can subsist on different kinds of food, and some have a very 
 great range, so that it becomes necessary to consider the 
 place where the food is found as well as the food itself, before 
 the general character and habits of the bird can be deter- 
 mined. The bill, the feet, the wings, and (though in a less 
 degree) tne tail, are the parts of the bird most essential to be 
 studied for that purpose ; but to these we must also add, the 
 strength and the spirit of the bird. The kestrel, for instance, 
 is a larger, and to common observation a stronger bird than 
 either the merlin or the sparrow-hawk, and it does not 
 appear to be much inferior in beak and claws, yet the kestrel 
 follows humbler game than these do. 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Having made these few general observations, we shall 
 proceed to give short notices of the different British birds, 
 and the places where, and the times when, they are most 
 likely to be found, beginning with the land birds, as those 
 with which the majority of people are most familiar. 
 
23 
 
 DISTRIBUTION AND NUMBERS OF BRITISH 
 BIRDS. 
 
 THE distribution and even the numbers of the feathered tribes 
 which inhabit the British islands, or resort to them periodi- 
 cally to breed in the summer, or to avoid more inclement 
 skies in the winter, are points upon which no precise state- 
 ment can be made ; because we are ignorant of the habits of 
 many of the species that make their appearance occasionally, 
 and very recent experience shows that some which were 
 formerly considered as stragglers remain in the country the 
 whole year round, though they are generally concealed both 
 by their habits and by the nature of the places in which, 
 especially in the breeding season, they take up their abodes. 
 In round numbers, however, there may be stated to be 
 between two hundred and ninety and three hundred different 
 species of British birds, that is, of birds which by natural 
 means have at some time or other found their way into the 
 country and been taken alive or killed ; and this exclusive of 
 the species that have been imported, or the varieties into 
 which those species have been broken by those differences of 
 treatment of which unfortunately no particular note has been 
 taken, but which, if that had been judiciously done, would 
 have verj- much assisted in determining how far climate and 
 food influence the characters of birds in the wild state. 
 
 The distribution of the feathered tribes is as indeterminate 
 as the numbers ; for though there no doubt are birds which 
 belong to certain localities and not to others, some regulated 
 by climate, others by situation, some apparently by drought, 
 others by humidity, some by the covert of woods or other 
 
24 DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS. 
 
 tall vegetation, and some by open places and naked ground ; 
 yet the lines of demarcation between the localities of those 
 birds are not drawn with anything like precision, so that one 
 species is often found, at least seasonally, upon those grounds 
 which we would be apt to suppose belonged exclusively to 
 another. 
 
 The common distinction of land birds and water birds is, 
 indeed, a very imperfect and unsatisfactory one. All birds 
 deposit their eggs on land, and therefore, if we consider only 
 the places of their nativity, they would all deserve the name 
 of land birds ; and if we attend to the places in which they 
 seek their food, these are so varied, and often so varying in 
 the individual, that they cannot be made the foundation of 
 any general arrangement : thus we are under the necessity of 
 considering the haunt along with the genus, or, in many 
 instances, along with the species. 
 
 The proper element of birds is the air; and as nearly 
 all birds, and certainly all British birds, can transport them- 
 selves from place to place by means of that element, they are 
 enabled to shift their localities with changes of season, or 
 of the circumstances of different places, so as to be always 
 in that part of the country which is the best adapted to 
 their habits.* Wherever there is food for a bird to be found, 
 
 * There is one exception to this, so far as British birds are concerned; 
 for the great auk (Alca impennis), which occasionally visits the northern 
 isles of Scotland, has its wings so abbreviated, and clad with feathers of 
 such a character, as to be useless as organs of flight ; but they constitute 
 admirable oars, as the bird swims submerged in the water, the head and 
 part of the neck excepted. 
 
 The great auk may be said to be the northern representative of the 
 penguins of the southern seas. In these the wings are formed as rigid 
 oars ; in one species, however, the jackass penguin (Sptieriscus demersus), 
 abundant at the Falkland Islands, the wings, when the bird is on shore, 
 are used as front legs. " When crawling, it may be said, on tour legs, 
 through the tussocks, or on the side of a grassy cliff, it moved so readily 
 that it might easily have been mistaken for a quadruped. When at sea 
 and fishing, it comes to the surface, for the purpose of breathing, with 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS. 25 
 
 a bird comes to consume that food ; and as most of them can 
 make their escape into the air, they can venture to seek their 
 food more in the light of day, and in the presence of man, 
 than the wild quadrupeds. 
 
 such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, that I defy any one at 
 first sight to be sure that it is not a fish leaping for sport." DARWIN. 
 
 Though, as a rule, the proper element of birds is the air, there are 
 many birds still extant whose wings, being in a rudimentary condition, 
 are useless as organs of flight ; and the remains of birds similarly 
 organized, found in a fossil state, are so numerous as to lead us to the 
 conclusion, that our extant wingless species are but the relics of an 
 extensive series of varied forms of birds, which, nevertheless, agreed in 
 this abnormal condition of the wing. 
 
 The extant species, setting, as the great auk, and many penguins, are 
 the ostrich, the cassowary, two species of Rhea, and two, if not three, 
 species of Apteryx in New Zealand. There is reason to believe that a 
 large struthious bird exists in Madagascar; and the fossil eggs, and 
 some of the bones, of an extinct gigantic bird of the ostrich form, have 
 been recently brought from that island to Paris. This bird is the 
 Mpyornis maximus of M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire. Each egg is nearly 
 equal to six eggs of the common ostrich. 
 
 It is but recently that the dodo, the solitaire, and as there is reason 
 to believe, other wingless birds, have been extirpated by the agency of 
 man in the islands of Bourbon, Mauritius, and Rodriguez. With respect 
 to other external forms, it may be observed that the fossil remains of a 
 struthious bird have been found in the Sewalik Hills. (Proc. Zool. Soc. 
 1847, p. 11.) 
 
 New Zealand appears to have been formerly a great nursery for 
 wingless birds. The following species have been described by Professor 
 Owen : 
 
 Gen. DiisroRNis. D. giganteus, D. casuarinus, D. didiformis, D. 
 struthioides, D. curtus, D. otidiformis. 
 
 Gen. APTEKOKNTS. 
 
 Gen. PALAPTERYX, allied to the Rails. P. ingens, P. dromio'ides, 
 P. geranoides. 
 
 Gen. NOTORNIS, one of the Rail family (Rallida). N. Mantelli. 
 
 Whether this last species be yet utterly extinct, is very questionable. 
 Dr. Mantell is in the possession of the stuffed skin of the notornis, pro- 
 cured by Mr. Walter Mantell in New Zealand. The bird was captured 
 alive ; it would be strange should it prove the last of its race. It is a 
 large and beautiful wingless Gallinule, and certainly of extreme rarity. 
 The natives were unacquainted with it. It is most probable that the 
 tridactyle birds, the impressions of whose footsteps occur in the new red 
 sandstone of Connecticut, were brevipinnate. M. 
 
26 DISTRIBUTION OP BIRDS. 
 
 Birds are thus distributed from the verge of perpetual 
 snow on the mountain-top, to almost the farthest range at 
 sea ; from the depth of the forest to the bleak and treeless 
 hill j from the marsh to the arid waste ; and, in short, in all 
 the extremes of surface or of climate which the country 
 presents. Also, when places change with the seasons, from 
 one character of surface to another, the birds change their 
 habitations ; and if the season does not leave within the 
 country any place adapted for them, they take wing, and 
 migrate to another ; and the extent to which they perform 
 those changes is so varied, that it cannot be reduced to any 
 general law ; therefore the natural history of birds becomes 
 necessarily a matter of detail, except in so far as it derives 
 some little assistance from the arrangement of them into 
 orders and genera. 
 
ORDER I. 
 GALLING. 
 
 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS, OB POULTRY, 
 
 BIRDS of this order are the most useful to man as food, and 
 they have been longest and most completely domesticated, 
 though none of the domesticated species are originally Bri- 
 tish birds. There are five of them ; the common fowl, origi- 
 ginally from Asia, but the particular locality undetermined, 
 the small variety called the Bantam, is of more recent im- 
 portation, and from Java; the peacock, also from Asia; the 
 guinea-hen, from Africa; the turkey, from America; and the 
 pheasants, from Asia, the common ones from the western 
 parts of that continent, and those of finer plumage from 
 China. It is only those which are in a state of complete 
 domestication that are called poultry, the common name of 
 the wild ones is game. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERS OF THE GALLING. 
 
 The body bulky, the head small, and the legs so placed as 
 to balance the body, and leave the head free. Three toes 
 before, united by a membrane at their bases, and one behind 
 articulated on the tarsus, or foot-bone (often called the leg), 
 above the articulation of the front toes ; so that in walking, 
 which is the principal motion of the order, as they feed on 
 the ground, the front toes are chiefly used. Claws hollowed 
 on their under sides, and adapted for scraping in the soil. 
 The tarsi of some of the males armed with a horny spur, 
 
28 GALLING. 
 
 which they use in their combats of gallantry. Legs and 
 tarsi strong, and of moderate length, and the former more 
 muscular than in birds which are more on the wing. 
 
 Bill rather short, but strong and convex, the upper man- 
 dible bent wholly or at the tip, and projecting over the under 
 one. Nostrils lateral, protected by a scale, and sometimes by 
 feathers, wings mostly short in proportion to the weight of 
 the body, and very concave on their under sides ; hence the 
 flight seems laborious and fluttering, and is performed with a 
 peculiar noise, arising from the rapid motion of the short and 
 hollow wings. 
 
 Tail consisting of from ten to eighteen feathers ; and in 
 the male birds often highly coloured, and with ornamental 
 feathers. 
 
 Food, very indiscriminate, seeds, grains, berries, buds, 
 insects, and succulent vegetable substances and soft animal 
 ones of all kinds ; but varying of course with the haunts of 
 the different species. 
 
 Eggs, generally numerous, and much relished as food, as is 
 also the muscular fibre, which is sweeter and more whole- 
 some than that of any other order of birds. The young, 
 when they first appear, are covered with down, and they are 
 at once able to follow the parent birds, some, as the com- 
 mon field partridge, with a portion of the shell upon the 
 body. 
 
 Their habits are, to seek their food generally, if not exclu- 
 sively, upon the ground ; to deposit their eggs there in very 
 rude nests, though some few nestle in trees or bushes ; to 
 feed in the morning, and again towards sunset : to scrape, and 
 roll and bathe their feathers in the dust, while basking in the 
 mid-day sun ; and to squat upon the ground, or perch on 
 trees, during the night. Some of them pair for the season, 
 and the family keep together in a covey till next pairing 
 time ; others are polygamous, or have a number of females 
 
GROUS. 29 
 
 associating with one male ; the males, especially of the poly- 
 gamous kinds, fight courageously for and in defence of their 
 females ; but, even in those which pair, the labours of incu- 
 bation and of defending the young devolve chiefly upon the 
 female ; and she often becomes so courageous in their defence, 
 as to beat off quadrupeds as well as birds of prey. The 
 young are gathered under her wings for protection both from 
 the inclemency of the weather and from enemies. 
 
 Their haunts, in consequence of the wings being fitted for 
 short flights only, are better defined than those of many other 
 birds. They are, or at least were, the mountain top, the 
 mountain side, the mountain forest, the hill, the field, and the 
 margin of the waters ; but some of those which frequent the 
 latter places are of stronger wing than the others, bear some 
 resemblance to the running birds, and are migrants. 
 
 It does not apppear that there are any migrant gallinae 
 among British birds, though the quail has become so rare in 
 most localities, that it is usually considered as a migrant. 
 But they are said, on what may be reckoned good authority, 
 to be far from rare on the Surrey hills and individuals have 
 been found in that county, and also in Bedfordshire, in the 
 winter months, within these few years, and also a nest not 
 five miles from London bridge. Therefore, the native Gal- 
 linse of Britain are, Grous, Partridges, and Quails ; and there 
 are no species entirely migrant. 
 
 GKOUS. 
 
 There are two divisions of Grous (Tetrao, Linn.) : those 
 which have the tarsi and toes feathered, and those which 
 have the tarsi feathered, and the toes bare. 
 
 WITH THE TOES FEATHERED (Lagopus). 
 
 These are the mountaineers, and get the name of Lagopus, 
 or " feathery foot." Of them there are two species, ptarmi- 
 gan and red grous. 
 
30 GALLING. 
 
 PTARMIGAN (Lagopus mutus). 
 
 See Plate opposite, where the bird is represented in its 
 winter plumage, one-sixth of the natural size, in lineal dimen- 
 sions. It may save trouble and prevent mistakes, to observe, 
 that the surface is as the square of the lineal dimensions ; thus, 
 the figure of the ptarmigan, being one-sixth or two inches to 
 a foot, is one thirty-sixth of the natural surface of the bird ; 
 and if the bird is to be considered as a solid, the solidity will 
 be as the cube of the lineal dimensions, or the figure one two 
 hundred and sixteenth of the natural size. The proper under- 
 standing of the figure therefore is : the ptarmigan diminished 
 six times in line, thirty-six times in surface, and two hundred 
 and sixteen times in solidity or bulk. 
 
 When, with weary steps, you have gained the summit of 
 one of our loftiest mountains, say of Ben-Nevis, which over- 
 looks the valley of Lochaber, the wide desolation of Rannoch 
 Moor, and the glittering Atlantic, spotted with its isles and 
 islets ; or of Cairngorm, to look down on the one hand on 
 the dark pine forests of Strath-Spey, and on the other to look 
 onward to the summits of the neighbouring mountains, 
 equally sublime, and even more cliffy and desolate than that 
 on which you stand ; when you have so ascended, (and if 
 the day is fine, wondered at so much of the earth being dis- 
 played at one view,) remarking the silence and the apparent 
 death which, on a tranquil and sunny day especially, appear 
 to reign there, you begin at last to feel alone, severed entirely 
 from the world of society, of life, and of growth, and com- 
 mitted to the solitude of the ancient hills and immeasurable 
 sky. The snow lies thick on the side of the summit, and 
 even peers over the top, defying the utmost efforts of solsti- 
 tial heat. There is no plant under your feet, save lichen on 
 the rock, apparently as hard and stony as that to which it 
 adheres it can hardly be said to grow and moss in some 
 
'- '~ : '^ v 
 
 
PTARMIGAN. 31 
 
 crevice, undistinguishable from the dull and cold mud into 
 which the storms of many winters have abraded the granite. 
 You are above the reach of all sound from the inhabited 
 parts of the country ; and as one cannot think very long 
 upon bare rocks and blue skies, however sublime they may be 
 in themselves, or however novel the visit to them may be, 
 there is a wish for some living creature, to share even that 
 unproductive scene along with you. 
 
 A few mottled pebbles, or at least what appear to be such, 
 each about twice the size of your hand, lie at some distance, 
 where the decomposed rock, and the rudiments of what may 
 be called the most elevated mountain vegetation, just begin 
 to ruffle the surface. By-and-by, a cloud shadows the sun, 
 the air blows chill as November, and a few drops fall, freezing 
 or melting in their descent, you cannot well tell which. 
 The mottled pebbles begin to move : you throw a stone at 
 them, to show that you can move pebbles as well as the 
 mountain. The stone hits beyond them ; they run towards 
 your feet, as if claiming your protection : they are birds, - 
 ptarmigan, the uppermost tenants of the island, whom not 
 even winds which could uproot forests, and frosts which 
 could all but congeal mercury, can drive from these their 
 mountain haunts. It has often been observed, that of all the 
 human inhabitants of the earth, the mountaineer, be his 
 mountain ever so barren, is the last to quit ; and the same 
 holds true of the mountain bird. 
 
 The ptarmigan, though not only constantly resident in the 
 country, but constantly resident in very nearly the same 
 locality, is perhaps less seen than almost any of our perma- 
 nent birds. It is not nearly so often seen in the dead state 
 as the red grous, because it is much less abundant, and its 
 flesh is less juicy and of inferior flavour. It is, however, a 
 very interesting bird, both from the peculiarity of its haunts, 
 and from what may be called the simplicity of its habits. 
 Enemies, in its native regions, the ptarmigan has compara- 
 
32 GALLING. 
 
 tively few. It is above the range of the fox, the mountain 
 cat, and the martin ; and generally speaking, above that of 
 the raven and the eagle. It is true that the raven does 
 prowl on bleak elevations ; but even in summer, he seldom 
 goes to the highest mountain-tops ; and though he frequently 
 may make a meal of those ptarmigan which are beaten to 
 the earth by mountain storms, and rolled down the slopes by 
 mountain floods, he does not commit so much positive havoc 
 among ptarmigan or their nests, as he does among the red 
 grous, which inhabit lower down. The eagle, too, though her 
 eyrie is in lofty and lonely situations, seldom has it in the 
 cliffs of the very highest mountains ; and though she may be 
 occasionally observed soaring far above the loftiest summits, 
 the most favourite and frequent scenes of her hunting are 
 the valleys farther down, in which animal life is more abun- 
 dant ; so that the grand enemy of the ptarmigan is the 
 inclement situation it inhabits.* 
 
 And it is in every respect well adapted for that situation. 
 It is more compact in its form, and stands more firmly on its 
 legs than any of the other gallinse, and its general attitude 
 presents less resistance to the wind. Its haunts being in a 
 great measure free from vegetable cover, it does not require 
 that elevated position of the body, in looking around it, 
 which is found in those species that inhabit more fertile 
 places. Its feet and toes, down to the very claws, are so 
 completely and closely feathered, that they are proof to 
 almost any degree of cold ; and thus, as water does not stag- 
 nate on mountain tops, the ptarmigan is always in a condi- 
 tion for using its feet. 
 
 The full grown ptarmigan is about fifteen inches in length, 
 and nearly two feet in the stretch of the wings. Its weight 
 is about a pound and a quarter. The bill is black and strong 
 (black bills and claws are always firmer than those of any 
 
 * Can this be said relative to the ordained and natural situation of any 
 living creature ? We think not. M. 
 
PTARMIGAN. 33 
 
 other colour), and well adapted for crushing the hard berries, 
 heath-tops, mosses, lichens, and even, as some say, pebbles or 
 gravel, on which it feeds. We may observe, in passing, that 
 it is a general habit with the gallinse to swallow gravel, 
 more especially when they are fed on dry and hard vegetable 
 matter; but the proportion found in the stomach of the 
 ptarmigan, perhaps, exceeds that found in the stomach of any 
 other bird. 
 
 The head of the ptarmigan appears stupid or simple ; indeed, 
 there is little character or expression in the heads of any of 
 the order. From the gape of the bill to the eyes a black 
 streak extends, which not only remains when the general 
 plumage changes to white, but at that season stretches along 
 the upper part of the ear-coverts. That band is wanting in 
 the female. A naked scarlet spot over the eye, in the form of 
 a crescent, is another character of the male bird. 
 
 The summer plumage is very beautifully mottled with 
 brown, grey, and white ; the quills on the wings, of which 
 there are twenty-four, have black shafts, and pure white 
 webs, which give a curious streaky appearance to the extended 
 wing. Of the tail feathers, which are sixteen in number, 
 seven on each side, and the shafts of the two centre ones, are 
 black, the webs of the latter two are mottled with brown and 
 white. 
 
 As autumn advances, the plumage begins gradually to 
 change, the black and brown giving way first, and then the 
 grey, till by the time that the winter is confirmed, the whole 
 bird, with the exception of the eye-streak in the male, the 
 outer tail feathers, and the shafts of the middle ones and the 
 quills, become snow-white. Those changes do not take place 
 in consequence of a moult, or separation of the coloured 
 feathers to be replaced by white ones, but by an actual 
 change of colour in the feathers themselves. No doubt new 
 feathers grow towards the autumn, and some of the old ones 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 GALLING 
 
 are thrown off; but there is no general moult in the feathers 
 at that season, and probably not at any season, the moult 
 being gradual, just as the shedding of leaves is upon some 
 evergreen trees. In winter, these birds congregate in family 
 parties or packs, live peaceably together, and shelter them- 
 selves in holes in the earth or in the snow, through which last 
 hey contrive to scrape down till they arrive at the scanty 
 vegetation which it covers. At the commencement of sum- 
 mer (for in their haunts spring is a season of snows), that is, 
 usually about the month of June, they disperse in pairs 
 (they are monogamous), a little further down the mountain 
 than their winter haunts, and there scrape a circular nest, in 
 which the eggs, varying from six to twelve, or fifteen, the 
 average being about ten, are deposited. The young are 
 covered with down, which bears some resemblance to the 
 general tint of the summer plumage, but is less mottled, and 
 lighter in the tints. The eggs also partake of an admixture 
 of the same colours. 
 
 That the autumnal change of colour in the ptarmigan, and 
 probably also the summer change, is a change in the same 
 feathers, and not the effect of a moult, is proved by many 
 circumstances. In the first place, the birds have more pow- 
 erful flight during the time that the change is taking place, 
 than at any other period of the year. In the second place, 
 two moults at least would be necessary ; for, with the excep- 
 tion of the ear-coverts, the prevailing tint of the whole bird 
 is grey in autumn, and brown in summer. Thirdly, the 
 decay first of the brown, and then of the grey, is gradual 
 over the whole bird. Fourthly, the change to white is 
 complete, in proportion as the place and the season are cold. 
 
 The plumage of the ptarmigan is thus a sort of natural 
 thermometer ; and as the plumage becomes a bad conductor 
 of heat in proportion as it whitens, and the evaporating 
 power of the air diminishes with the cold, it is probable that 
 
PTARMIGAN. 35 
 
 the birds may feel as warm "while burrowing in the snow, as 
 while basking in the sun. 
 
 The ptarmigan being a bird which, both from its haunts 
 and its habits, is the most exposed to changes of temperature, 
 and the seasonal variations in its plumage being greater than 
 those in any other, we can in it see the causes of those more 
 partial variations, which, to a greater or less extent, take 
 place in all birds which remain the whole year in exposed 
 situations in variable climates. The sun has less influence 
 on the winter plumage : there is less evaporation and waste 
 from that plumage ; and the bird fattens with less food than 
 it requires in summer. 
 
 It is no doubt in order to find more abundant food, and 
 more especially to find insects for the newly-hatched young, 
 that the ptarmigan descends, and, contrary to the general 
 habit of birds, chooses during the breeding season a region 
 having the temperature a little higher. But their descent 
 subjects them to greater dangers than they meet with in 
 their more elevated regions ; and therefore the old birds not 
 only fight desperately for their young while they remain on 
 the slopes, but lead them to the mountain-tops as soon as 
 they can follow. While the female is sitting, and indeed as 
 long as they remain in the lower places, the male is constantly 
 on the watch, and, on the appearance of danger, gives his 
 alarm-call, which is harsh, and has some resemblance to that 
 of the missel thrush. They do not give the alarm on the 
 passage of a human being, or that of a large quadruped ; so 
 that a person may search the last short heath upon the 
 mountains long enough without finding any ptarmigan, even 
 though there may be numbers quite close to the path. But 
 when they are in the exposed situations, they are just as 
 little anxious to hide themselves ; and therefore, the sports- 
 man who meets with a pack, may shoot them one by one, 
 without those that remain after each discharge making any 
 
 D2 
 
36 GALLING 
 
 attempt to get out of the range of the shot. Instances are 
 mentioned of ptarmigans having bred in confinement ; but 
 they are certainly not, by their habits, adapted for the pur- 
 poses of domestication ; and the birds are best studied in 
 those lofty regions of which they are a very peculiar and 
 very characteristic ornament. 
 
 Though the summits of the Grampians (the eastern part 
 of the great central ridge especially) be the principal places 
 of the British Islands where ptarmigan are met with, there 
 are a few, and but a very few, on the highest mountains of 
 the north of England and of Wales ; but they are hardly 
 numerous enough in any place to render the shooting of 
 them a regular field-sport. It has been mentioned, that for 
 table they are inferior to the red grous, but that applies to 
 birds which have wintered in the mountains, and borne the 
 severe cold, and subsisted on the scanty food of that season. 
 The young, if taken in the autumn of the same year, are 
 very delicious. 
 
 A single specimen of another ptarmigan (Tetrao rupestris 
 of authors), which was killed in Perthshire, is now in the 
 collection of Lord Stanley.* 
 
 RED GROUS, OR MOOR-FOWL (LagOpUS ScotlCUs). 
 
 The red grous is a little larger than the ptarmigan, though 
 the difference, except in the length of the wings, is incon- 
 siderable. Many of the habits are also the same in both 
 birds ; but the grous is always found farther down the hill 
 than the ptarmigan. The bill also is shorter, and less 
 pointed ; and there is a white circle round the eyes, and a 
 white spot at the base of the lower mandible. The scarlet 
 spot above the eye is fringed along its upper side. The 
 general colours of the feathers are red, different shades of 
 brown, and black ; and the quills of the wings and external 
 * This species is a native of northern and central Europe. M. 
 
RED GROUS. 37 
 
 feathers of the tail, which both in number and arrangement 
 bear a considerable resemblance to those of the ptarmigan, 
 are black The attitude of the body is also more erect ; and 
 the male is larger and more gay in plumage, as compared 
 with the female. The cry of the male bird is very different, 
 being lively and often repeated, while that of the ptarmigan 
 is a sort of croak. 
 
 To the lovers of wild scenery and daring excursions, the 
 haunts of the red grous are not nearly so interesting as those 
 of the mountain bird : they are the slopes and flats, where 
 the heath is of considerable length, which renders walking 
 over them very fatiguing. There is no danger, however, of 
 being lured into bogs and quagmires in the pursuit of grous, 
 as the birds always keep the firm ground. Their feet are not 
 adapted for soft places ; and as their security from birds of 
 prey is in the heather, and not on the wing, they do not rise, 
 except at the sight of men or quadrupeds, and not always 
 then. As they are much more generally distributed in 
 Britain, and more abundant than their upland neighbours, 
 they encounter more visitors, and are more on their guard ; 
 and even when the pack are basking during their noontide 
 repose in the sunny days of autumn, a keen and experienced 
 eye, or the assistance of a pocket telescope, may observe the 
 heads of one or more of the males elevated just so much 
 above the cover as to be able to see in all directions. The 
 visitor is soon espied, a short call-note is uttered, the heads 
 disappear, and the whole pack lie close till the stranger 
 passes. So difficult is it to raise them, especially when the 
 season has been rather unfavourable, and they are not in 
 good feather, that one who has little knowledge of the moors 
 may wander for days in the places where they are most 
 abundant, and not see a single bird. 
 
 On the other hand, when the season is very early and 
 feivourable, and the birds are strong on the wing, they rise 
 
00 GALLING. 
 
 too readily, so that the sportsman cannot get within range of 
 them, though he sees them in considerable numbers. When 
 the young had acquired their full strength of feather, which 
 is commonly in November, but sooner or later in the month, 
 according to the season, the families, or broods, which till then 
 kept apart, mingle with each other, and flock in packs of 
 two or three families. They are then strong, and range to 
 greater distances, sometimes approaching the stubble-fields 
 of the upland farms ; but they are shy in proportion. But 
 even then they never remain long on the wing, but make 
 their journeys by short stages. Their flight is low and pecu- 
 liar, and apparently performed with considerable effort. It 
 is well expressed in the lines of Burns : 
 
 " The moorcock springs, on whirring wings, 
 Among the blooming heather." 
 
 When the winter is very severe, they descend in consider- 
 able flocks, and many of them remain, and breed rather 
 lower down the next season ; but in these cases they rather 
 avoid the plantations; and when they begin to pair, or 
 rather to fight for the females (for they are polygamous), which 
 is as early in the season as the snow will admit, the call of 
 the male bird, which is heard at a very early hour, and after- 
 wards all the night long, till the young are hatched, is 
 always heard from the open moor, and from the centres of 
 those detached tracks of heathy waste, which they continue 
 to haunt in the lowlands. 
 
 Their natural enemies, the birds of prey, for, like the 
 ptarmigan, they have not much to dread from quadrupeds, 
 the few of which that remain are in the brakes and copses, 
 have been much thinned ; the seasons have been rendered 
 milder in their haunts by the progress of cultivation in the 
 neighbouring parts ; the practice of burning the heather in 
 close-time, which, though forbidden, could not be altogether 
 
EED GKOUS. 39 
 
 prevented, has been given up ; and the throwing of much of 
 the country into sheep-walks, has given them more repose in 
 the central highlands, than when the lower glens abounded 
 more with cottages, and the upper with slieilings. But still, 
 their boundaries have been circumscribed, and the pasturage 
 of sheep tends both to destroy their favourite heather, and 
 to disturb them in close-time ; so that with more preservation 
 than formerly, it is probable that the numbers are consider- 
 ably diminished. The heather is the only good cover that 
 they have, both from the weather and from enemies ; it 
 defends the nests and sitting-birds from the rain and the 
 snow, showers of which are not uncommon in the early part 
 of the season } and its colour conceals them from their foes, 
 the most common, and therefore the most destructive, of 
 which is the hooded crow, which is very common in the 
 Scotch highlands. Havens are by no means common, and 
 even the carrion crow is not very abundant. It is possible 
 that the general introduction of sheep may have increased 
 the number of ravens. 
 
 The Welsh mountains, and the heights and moors in the 
 south of England, though bleak enough, are not well adapted 
 for grous, from the absence both of cover and food. The 
 hill bogs of Ireland are better ; but still they are too reten- 
 tive of noisture ; and the dry central mountains of Scotland 
 are thertfore the proper places. 
 
 It is probable that the superior juiciness, and even flavour 
 of the :ed grous, is owing to their having a greater propor- 
 tion of insect food than the ptarmigan, and their not feeding 
 in so himid places as the black game ; for insectivorous birds 
 are always sweeter than those that live on vegetable sub- 
 stance, and both insects and vegetables are better flavoured 
 in drr places than in moist. The difference of flavour thus 
 arishg is felt in differences of season, and appears in fishes 
 as veil as in birds. Grous, partridges, and all the gallina- 
 
40 GALLING. 
 
 ceous birds, are finer flavoured in dry seasons than in rainy 
 ones, though they fly earlier, are stronger on the wing, and 
 therefore more difficult to be procured. They also continue 
 longer sweet when the weather is dry.* 
 
 TOES BABE, OR NEARLY SO, BUT THE TAESI FEATHERED. 
 
 (Tetrad). 
 
 Of these there used to be formerly two species black 
 grous, black cock, or heath cock, and wood grous, cock of the 
 woods, or capercailzie ; the third name being merely a cor- 
 ruption of the Gaelic for the second. The last is now extinct 
 in the British islands, and has been so for the last seventy 
 years, though still abundant on some parts of continental 
 Europe. 
 
 These birds inhabit still further down than the red grous, 
 the feathery or downy foot being always characteristic of a 
 mountaineer, or inhabitant of cold climates, and exposed to 
 the violence of the atmosphere. The Bantam fowls might be 
 considered as an exception, if they were not natives of a 
 country which sets all the distinctions both of animals and of 
 plants, that are attempted to be founded on differences of 
 latitude, at complete defiance. They are from Japan, and 
 many of the natural productions of Japan are tropical in 
 their appearance, and yet can .bear the winter in cdd lati- 
 tudes better than even the native productions of those lati- 
 tudes j we must not, therefore, object to the rule, becaise one 
 of the Japanese gallinse is an exception. 
 
 Both of these species have the feet adapted for perching ; 
 and though the toes are not feathered, they are margined 
 or fringed on the sides, so that they enable the birds to walk 
 
 * It is a very remarkable circumstance that the red grous is peuliar 
 to the British Islands ; having never been met with on the Continent. 
 
 M. 
 
BLACK GROUS. 41 
 
 more easily in soft and miry places, and also to retain their 
 perch better on trees than the mountain birds. 
 
 Their general habits also more nearly resemble those of 
 common domestic poultry. The males are polygamous, each 
 of them procuring, often by desperate combats, in the early 
 part of the season, a number of females, to whom they are 
 not so attentive, in the time of incubation, as the formerly 
 noticed species. The male is also larger as compared with 
 the female, and has the plumage finer in proportion, and the 
 external feathers of the tail more developed ; and though, as 
 we descend the mountains, the birds become more shy of the 
 visits of man, they come more to his cultivated grounds and 
 his habitation. The only British species now is 
 
 BLACK GEOUS (Tetrao tetrix). 
 
 Black grous is a much larger bird than the former species, 
 though far inferior in size to the wood grous. It is nearly 
 two feet long, and three feet in the expanse of the wings ; 
 and the weight, when the bird is in good condition, is from 
 three to four pounds : these are the proportions of the male 
 bird, the female being considerably smaller. As the tail is 
 more produced, the length is greater in proportion than in 
 the red grous ; but the forms of the birds have (the tails 
 excepted) a considerable resemblance to each other, and the 
 weights bear the same proportion to the extent of the wings. 
 
 The bill is black, and so are the upper parts of the body 
 generally ; but they are finely varied with blue, purple, and 
 deep bronze-green reflections. The blue is brightest on the 
 nape of the neck, terminates at the scapulars, which are 
 black with purple, and appears again on the rump, passing 
 into purple, black, and a shade of green on the upper tail- 
 coverts and tail feathers. The lower part is pitch-black 
 without reflections, with the exception of the under tail- 
 coverts, which are pure white. A spot on the wrist-joint of 
 
42 GALLING. 
 
 the wing, the tip of the bastard wing, the roots of the 
 primary quills, with the exception of the first four, and the 
 tips of the secondaries, are also white the last marking the 
 closed wing with an oblique line of white, and the others with 
 two white spots. The toes and feathers on the tarsi, with 
 the exception of a portion at the upper joint, which is white, 
 are dusky; which is probably also the colour of the ear- 
 coverts and the necks of the primaries. There are two quills 
 more in the wings than in the red grous, and sixteen feathers 
 in the tail, the outer ones much produced and recurved, so 
 that the tail appears forked. The naked spot over the eye 
 is bright scarlet, granulated on its surface, and deeply fringed 
 along the upper edge. 
 
 The female is about two-thirds of the weight of the male, 
 and the dimensions are nearly in the same proportion, only 
 the length is less, the tail not being so much produced. The 
 colour is brown, of various shades, darkest on the back, and 
 everywhere very beautifully mottled with black. The tail is 
 a little forked, but it is short, and the external feathers are 
 not recurved. The scarlet patch over the eye is in the female 
 a mere line. 
 
 These birds inhabit the lowest slopes of the hills, lonely 
 heaths, and the banks of marshes ; but they come upon the 
 stubble fields in winter, when these are near their haunts. 
 They also frequent sequestered woods and coppices, perching 
 on trees during the night ; and in the cold weather living 
 upon the buds of such trees as have them of considerable 
 size, such as the pines and wild alders. In autumn they feed 
 much upon wild berries, and the seeds of wood and marsh 
 plants, though they cannot swim, and do not fly or wade for 
 the latter. 
 
 During the latter part of autumn and the winter the males 
 live together in flocks, and in a state of the most perfect 
 harmony ; but when the warmth of spring begins to be felt, 
 
BLACK GROUS. 43 
 
 and their plumage, which had become rather dull during the 
 winter, begins to shine in all the beauty of its glosses, they 
 separate from each other, fight stoutly for their females, and 
 when each has obtained his number, scatter themselves over 
 the waste. These operations begin at different times, accord- 
 ing as the place and the season are more or less early ; but it 
 is with us seldom earlier than March, or later than April. 
 
 They are then on the alert by early dawn, crowing, making 
 a harsh and grating sound, like the whetting of iron with a 
 rough stone ; and as the day dawns, showing off the beauties 
 of their plumage in a great variety of attitudes and gestures. 
 
 This pugnacity of the males, in the early part of the breed- 
 ing season, is common to all polygamous animals, whether 
 quadrupeds or birds ; and even among those that are not 
 hostile to each other, there is a tacit separation. The ten- 
 dency is a very essential one ; because, when they are occu- 
 pied with their young, they have less time for seeking their 
 food, and have the young either to feed in the nest, or lead 
 to the pastures. Hence each can the more easily provide for 
 itself, when the whole are distributed over the surface, in 
 proportion to its productiveness. The nest is always formed 
 with care, very nicely proportioned to the time that the 
 young are to use it as a habitation. It is a mere hatching- 
 place with gallinaceous birds, and therefore it is rude, and 
 placed where the female can easily find food during the time 
 of incubation. When the young have all come out of the 
 shell, the female leads them to new pastures, and returns no 
 more to the nest ; but gathers them under her wings in the 
 first shelter that presents itself, when the day becomes too 
 dark for their feeding. The number of eggs is less than that 
 of either of the former species, the average being about eight, 
 though sometimes more, and often fewer, especially in a 
 second brood, after the first has been destroyed by any 
 casualty. The female nestles on the ground, and never attempts 
 
44 GALLING. 
 
 to perch till the young be so far grown that they are able to 
 perch along with her ; and while they are immature the male 
 never quits the neighbourhood, but acts as a sentinel, watchful 
 for the safety of all his families, but occasionally perching for 
 that purpose. If the male is killed in the early part of the 
 season, the females join the packs of those whose cry they 
 can best hear ; but if the nest of the female is destroyed, she 
 only shifts her ground, continuing in the pack of the same 
 male. The differences of sex appear in the young birds when 
 they are about half grown ; and by that time the males are 
 generally beginning to flock together, until they are again 
 separated by the impulses of another year. 
 
 The black grous being a bird of lower situations than the 
 red, it is found in more places of the British islands, being 
 found wherever there are wilds of sufficient extent, with 
 heath or coppice, or tufts of grass and rushes, to afford cover ; 
 but it is not anywhere met with in such numbers as the red 
 grous are on the Scottish moors. 
 
 WITH THE TAKSI NAKED. 
 
 There are two genera of the British gallinse with the 
 tarsi naked of feathers, partridges (perdrix) and quails (cotur- 
 nix), the former resident birds, and the latter summer visi- 
 tants, though a few sometimes remain in certain warm 
 situations, near the shores of the Channel. 
 
 In the general form and attitudes of their bodies, and also 
 in the ground-colour of the greater part of their plumage, the 
 partridges and quails bear some resemblance to each other; 
 and they also so far correspond in their haunts and habits, as 
 to form a division of gallinaceous birds different from those 
 that have been mentioned; but still they are so different, 
 that the one can never be mistaken for the other. If we 
 except the pheasant, which, though abundant in many places, 
 is an imported bird, and which is the gallinaceous bird of 
 
PARTRIDGES AND QUAILS. 45 
 
 woods, coppices, and thick brakes, replacing in the lowlands 
 the cock of the woods which has become extinct in the high- 
 lands, the partridges and quails inhabit next to the black 
 grous. This grous inhabits down to the verge of cultivation, 
 and the partridge takes up its abode within that verge, seeks 
 its food where man cultivates, and inhabits so near his dwell- 
 ing, that it borders closely upon the domesticated poultry, 
 and sometimes mixes with them in their excursions. The 
 quail seeks its food in similar places, but it comes not quite so 
 near the habitations of man, is less generally distributed over 
 the country, and remains only for a season. 
 
 The general characters are : the bill short, strong, naked at 
 the base, the upper mandible curved, and the point extending 
 downwards over the under one, well adapted for pecking in 
 the ground. The opening of the nostrils naked of feathers; 
 but, as is the case in all birds that run among herbage, 
 lateral, and defended by a scale. The body compact, but 
 fusiform, or curved above, below, and laterally, tapering to 
 both extremities, borne horizontally in running, and thus 
 presenting the least resistance to the air, and gliding in the 
 easiest manner through the herbage. Feet with three toes 
 before, united by membrane as far as the first joint ; the hind 
 toe articulated farther up the tarsus than in grous; and the 
 whole foot better adapted for running upon soft ground. 
 The tarsus with tubercles in the partridge, and smooth in the 
 quail. Tail very short in both, somewhat square in the par- 
 tridge, but rounded in the quail, and containing four feathers 
 fewer. Wings different : those of the partridge concave and 
 rounded, with the fourth quill the longest; more extended 
 and pointed, with the first feather longest, in the quail; the 
 one fitted for short flights only, the other adapted for con- 
 siderable distances. The extent of the wings is double the 
 length of the body in the quail, and only one and a half times 
 in the partridge. 
 
46 GALLDLE. 
 
 PARTRIDGE (Perdrix). 
 
 There are two British species of partridges, the common, 
 or ash-coloured (cinerea), and the Guernsey, or red-legged 
 (rufa)') hut the latter is not abundant in the isles in the 
 Channel, and it is rare on the mainland, yet it is said to be 
 increasing in Sussex and Suffolk. 
 
 COMMON PARTRIDGE. 
 
 The common partridge is so well known, that description 
 is hardly necessary. Bill and naked parts, with the exception 
 of the spot behind the eye, which is red, bluish grey. Throat, 
 cheeks, and over the eyes, reddish orange. Neck and breast 
 silver grey, with fine zigzag black lines. The same colour 
 continued to the flanks ; but the markings larger and brown. 
 A large reddish brown horse-shoe spot on the belly. The 
 scapulars and coverts have the shafts bright yellowish brown, 
 and the webs darker and mottled, but lighter at the edges, 
 which gives their feathers a very distinct and neat appear- 
 ance. The quills are greyish black, leaved with brown. The 
 back, rump, and middle feathers of the tail, are mottled with 
 black lines and spots, the outer feathers are the same brown 
 as the others, but without mottling. There are twenty-three 
 quills in the wings, the fifth the longest ; and sixteen feathers 
 in the tail, of nearly equal length. The female bird is smaller, 
 has the orange brown on the throat pale, the feathers on the 
 head edged with white, the belly spot less defined, and the 
 back more minutely mottled. 
 
 As might be expected in a bird, which, although not 
 domesticated/ yet follows cultivation, and appears to depend 
 upon it, the partridge is more affected by local circumstances, 
 than those birds that avoid the neighbourhood of man. 
 Where cultivation is more successful, and the fields more 
 productive, partridges are most abundant, largest, and of the 
 
COMMON PARTRIDGE. 47 
 
 finest plumage ; and the difference between those which are 
 found in the rich agricultural counties, and in the moors, is so 
 great, that the latter has sometimes been considered as a 
 distinct species, or at least a variety, under the name of the 
 moor partridge. 
 
 This is partly to be accounted for by the large broods 
 which partridges rear; they are the most prolific of the wild 
 gallinidse, the eggs being often as many as twenty, and never 
 fewer than twelve. The nest is merely a hole scratched in 
 the dry mould, generally under the shelter of some bush or 
 tuft of grass; and during the incubation, which lasts three 
 weeks, the female sits remarkably close, and not only does 
 not rise when her nest is approached, but is not easily driven 
 from it. During this period, and more especially towards 
 the close of it, the bird offers a bold resistance to winged 
 foes, and will drive off crows, magpies, and other plunderers 
 of nests. On the other hand, if quietly approached, and 
 gently handled, the bird and her eggs may be removed, and 
 she will continue to sit and hatch her brood in confinement, 
 but depart with them to the fields as soon after as possible. 
 This is exactly the reverse of the domestic hen: she will 
 often retire to the coppice to perform her incubation, but 
 she leads her brood back to the farm-yard with an air of 
 triumph, as soon as they are able to follow her. They are 
 monogamous. 
 
 The male partridge takes no part in the labour of incu- 
 bation; but, as is the case with all birds that pair, he is 
 attentive to his mate, and joins with her in defending the 
 brood; he also practises many arts to entice visitors away 
 from the nest. The young can leave the nest the instant 
 that they break the shell, and generally do it the same day 
 At that time their legs are as strong in proportion to the 
 weight of the body, as in the mature bird, but the wings are 
 barely developed. There are few more interesting sights 
 
48 CALLING. 
 
 than a family of partridges. The young feed on small insects, 
 larvae, and insects' eggs; and the old ones lead them to the 
 places where these are deposited, and scrape away the mould. 
 An ant-hill in friable soil is a fat pasture, and myriads of the 
 eggs and larvae are eaten by the young partridges. In the 
 northern parts of the country, the large ant-hills which are 
 in the scattered plantations, more especially those of pines, 
 attract the partridges farther from the cultivated fields, than 
 they are found in places farther to the south; and though 
 those that are bred there, are small or " hill partridges," they 
 are superior in flavour to the more bulky ones ones obtained 
 on the rich lands. It seems to be a law of nature, to which 
 there are few exceptions, that the smaller any production 
 runs, it is, if equally perfect, always the most delicate. Hill 
 mutton, hill grain, and hill vegetables, are so many proofs, 
 and hill partridges are another. 
 
 Whether they are tending their young, or relieved of that, 
 and only mindful of their individual safety, the partridges 
 feed only in the morning and the evening. All the galli- 
 naceous birds feed by sight only. If they have the sense of 
 smelling it is weak, and does not appear to assist much in 
 guiding them to their food; and their bills are so hard, and 
 their feathers so close, that they can hardly be guided to the 
 place or the substance by any thing that we can call touch. 
 Hence they feed only in the daylight in the morning and 
 the evening; and they bask during the heat of the day, or 
 roll themselves in the dust to free their plumage from the 
 nirmides with which they are infested. When the brood is 
 very young they feed to a later period of the day, in order to 
 seize the eggs and larvae of the ants; but when the young 
 have begun to eat grains and seeds, the morning's feeding is 
 sooner over. The night worms and other small animals, 
 which are the food of some of the gallinidse, have mostly retired 
 into the earth before the partridges leave their "jugg," or 
 
COMMON PARTRIDGE. 49 
 
 sleeping place, in the centre of the field ; but there is a suc- 
 cession which comes with the sun, and retires when that 
 becomes strong, returning again when the evening begins to 
 cool, and the shadow begins to lengthen ; and to keep down 
 the redundancy of these is the business of the partridge and 
 their congeners. 
 
 All birds that feed upon the ground, live almost exclusively 
 upon insects, (it is to be understood that the word insect is 
 used in a popular sense for all animals which are not birds, 
 quadrupeds, reptiles or fishes, and we shall use it in that 
 sense, in order to avoid a number of technical names which 
 we are not called on now to explain,) when they are young, 
 and at all periods of their lives prefer insects to any other 
 food. Hence, if we had a good account of the diurnal and 
 seasonal appearances of those insects, we should be in pos- 
 session of a key to very many of the habits of birds, which 
 would, in very many instances, lead us to invite that which 
 we banish, and cherish that which, in our ignorance, we are 
 zealous to destroy.* 
 
 Among these, the partridge would, without doubt, be 
 found to hold a very conspicuous place. The partridge fol- 
 lows the march of cultivation ; it multiplies exceedingly ; and 
 no persecution can drive it into the wilderness. The covey 
 will rise, and wheel about, and alight, again and again ; but 
 thin them as you may by the gun, the remainder will con- 
 tinue in the same turnip-field, or on the same clover-matted 
 stubble, as pertinaciously as ever a mountain tribe of human 
 beings clung to their fastnesses in a war of extirpation. JSTatu- 
 
 * That the young of gallinaceous birds subsist largely upon insects is 
 true ; it is true also that the adults are partial to insects, but their sub- 
 stantial diet is grain, for the grinding of which their gizzard is especially 
 constructed. The ptarmigan and red grous live chiefly on berries, those 
 for example, of Empetrum nigrum, Vaccinium Vitis-id&a, Arbutus 
 alpina, and similar plants. They also crop the young shoots of the heath, 
 and pick up the seeds of various grasses. M. 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
SO GALLING. 
 
 rally speaking, the partridge is therefore part and parcel of 
 our agriculture ; and though the farmer may see it only as 
 an evil, in the portion of grain that it destroys, yet it must 
 have good in it, and that good must counterbalance the evil 
 must be a positive surplus for the advantage of a man. The 
 weevils, the cynips and the tipule, come along with cultivated 
 grain and cultivated vegetables and roots, in countless 
 myriads, to consume those surplus seeds and grains which, if 
 man did not take them for his use, would choke all else and 
 each other. But as man takes the produce of the vegetables, 
 the partridge and the other birds which frequent the culti- 
 vated fields, come and consume that which, but for them, 
 would deprive man of his produce, and do it in a way which 
 he could not prevent, or very materially check. It is true 
 that, when the insects have disappeared for the season, and 
 those seeds which the birds have been so instrumental in 
 preserving are matured, the birds take their share ; but, in 
 justice, why should they not ? they are the preservers of the 
 whole. 
 
 It is the same with the whole winged creation. The spar- 
 row does not follow man wherever he lives, and twitter 
 around the cottage for mere mischief; neither do the birds of 
 summer come from a far country, and carol from the groves, 
 or hunt in the garden, as the enemies of man. Even in wild 
 nature, man has no enemy ; and that which invariably 
 accompanies improvement, is, we may rely upon it, necessary 
 to improvement. If we could reckon up how many cater- 
 pillars two sparrows pick from the trees and buds in the 
 course of rearing one brood, we should deem the sparrow on 
 the house-top as much our servant, and as worthy of his little 
 reward, as the domestic under the roof. 
 
 No doubt we should be impartial, for even the caterpillar 
 has its use, within certain limits ; and it is only within cer- 
 tain limits that any creature or thing is useful. Our art in 
 
COMMON PARTRIDGE. 51 
 
 so far renders the labour of the bird less necessary than the 
 supply which its powers of increase can afford ; and there- 
 fore, if the surplus is useful to us, we may freely take and 
 use it. When the birds of the season have come to maturity, 
 they are far more than the winter could support. Many 
 would, in consequence, die of starvation ; therefore while they 
 are in season, go by all means to the field, inhale the bracing 
 air of autumn, to fortify yourself against the cold of winter, 
 and fire away. That is your direct use in the partridge ; 
 and though not half so important as the indirect one which 
 you do not see, still it is a delicious use ; so take it, and 
 enjoy it freely. But be a wise sportsman, and do not exter- 
 minate : the farmer who eats the seed corn gets no more 
 crops. Be an honest sportsman, and "bide your time." 
 From the time that the coveys pack, and you can with diffi- 
 culty get within shot of them, to that when the next brood 
 are on the wing, the birds are doing you nothing but good, 
 and you can do them nothing but harm. Man may not 
 observe you, and you may evade the punishment of those 
 laws which, whether wisely or not, he has enacted ; but do 
 not on that account both injure and degrade yourself. Take 
 your use with knowledge, but be not an ignorant or a wanton 
 plunderer of that store over which, for the greatest good of 
 all, the eye of Omniscience keeps watch. 
 
 Children, unless they have been schooled in the vice of 
 mere hoarding, always break or pull to pieces those toys of 
 which they know not the use ; but they are just as happy, 
 nay, far happier, in preserving those of which the use is 
 known : and we may all derive an important lesson from 
 that. We are, among the works of nature, what children are 
 in the toy-shop, only the things of which we know not the 
 use are more numerous in proportion. While ignorant, we 
 most destroy ; and we can destroy nothing that is natural 
 without injury to ourselves; so that to use we must first 
 
 E2 
 
52 GALLING. 
 
 know, but to know is to enjoy. That which, if it remained, 
 would injure the rest, is our legitimate portion ; and such is 
 the productiveness of nature, that it is in all cases not only 
 sufficient, but the maximum of what we can permanently 
 obtain. 
 
 In the case of those birds which are desirable as food, 
 whether they reside with us always, as the partridge does, or 
 tarry only for a season, nature points out when our portion 
 can be most safely and advantageously taken, with as much 
 certainty as it points out when the crop of the field may be 
 reaped, or the produce of the orchard gathered. The culm 
 and the twig bend to bring the ear and the apple within our 
 reach ; and the birds flock that we may use the net, and take 
 short and whirling flights, in order that we may use the gun. 
 They do so when they are in the very best season for our use, 
 and when the removal of the superabundance will tend most 
 to the preservation of that which is left. They do not so at 
 other seasons ; and therefore to attack them then is much the 
 same in principle and in profit as it would be to pull the 
 green ears in the field, or the half-grown fruit in the garden. 
 
 Partridges begin to pair in February, about which time 
 there are often fierce combats between the males, obviously 
 for the purpose of dispersing the pairs which have been con- 
 gregated during the winter. The eggs are not, in general, 
 dropped till toward the end of May ; and the young break 
 the shell about Midsummer. The time of dropping the eggs 
 is thus rather longer than that spent in incubation ; but the 
 times and the operations are both accelerated by heat and 
 drought, and both retarded by cold. The hill partridges in 
 the north are at least three weeks later than those of the rich 
 agricultural parts of the south. 
 
 Partridges are easily tamed, but do not breed in confine- 
 ment, though instances have been mentioned of females in 
 that state producing eggs. Addled eggs are, however, pro- 
 
QUAIL. 53 
 
 duced by many birds under circumstances where there is or 
 can be no progeny. In some places it is customary to collect 
 the eggs of partridges, hatch them under domestic hens, and 
 then turn the broods into preserves for the purpose of stock- 
 ing them. That method may in so far answer, and it is the 
 only one by which birds can be readily accumulated in places 
 where they are not native ; but in the case of partridges, it 
 is probable that the increase in the one place is not so great 
 as the decrease in the other. A stock may be good up to 
 a certain point, but an overstock must always be kept up at 
 a loss. 
 
 GUERNSEY PARTRIDGE. 
 
 The Guernsey partridge is stouter, heavier, and longer in 
 the wing than the common partridge : it has also two quills 
 more on each wing, which mark it as a distinct species. Its 
 colour is more red than that of the common sort, and its 
 gait bolder. It has been introduced into many preserves, 
 from which pairs have escaped or been driven; so that it is 
 becoming gradually more abundant in the open fields of the 
 southern counties. It differs from the common grey par- 
 tridge in some of its habits, as well as in its appearance ; as 
 for instance, it sometimes perches on trees. 
 
 QUAIL (Coturnix). 
 
 A figure of the common quail (Coturnix vulgaris) will be 
 found in the plate facing page 29. It is there represented at 
 one third of the lineal dimensions, or half as much diminished 
 in line as the ptarmigan. 
 
 Though quails are now both local and rare as British bird&, 
 yet it is probable that they are more numerous in some o 
 the southern counties than appears to common observation 
 Their extreme closeness during the day, appears to be the 
 principal cause of this. They are best known to the night 
 
54 GALLING. 
 
 poachers, who are well acquainted with their cries, and dex- 
 terous in catching them ; but, during the day, the birds are 
 as silent as they are still. Those which do migrate to Britain, 
 which are very few as compared with the continental migrants, 
 usually come about the end of April Their long flights are 
 understood to be performed during the night ; for though, like 
 the other gallinse, they feed in the morning and evening, they, 
 contrary to the practice of most of these, sleep at mid-day ; 
 indeed, during the greater part of the day. They squat at 
 these times, and do not " flush," or take wing, till a dog is 
 quite among them. The males are polygamous, and fight 
 desperately in the early part of tlie season, so much so that in 
 some countries they are trained in the same manner as game 
 cocks. The call-note of the male is a twice-repeated whistle, 
 and makes rather a pleasant variety among the many songs of 
 the active season. The response of the female is made use of 
 as a decoy-note in catching the males alive, though they will 
 come to the male call, as if it were a challenge to the fight. 
 Their nests, and the number of their eggs, are nearly the 
 same as those of partridges. Quails are very abundant on the 
 continent of Europe, and in most parts of Asia. In the 
 former, their summer migrations extend as far as Lapland ; 
 but in the latter, they do not reach the extreme north of 
 Siberia. They linger during the winter in more localities 
 than almost any other migratory birds ; but such is their pro- 
 ductiveness, that they return even to the north of Africa in 
 vast flocks, though very many of them are captured in the 
 places where they halt by the way. When at rest from 
 migrating, and not busied with the care of their broods, quails 
 get very fat, especially on pastures that afford them a plenti- 
 ful supply of oily seeds ; and when in good condition, they 
 are highly esteemed as food. Their straggling appearance, 
 however, and their short stay, render them less interesting to 
 ordinary observers of British birds, than those genera which 
 
VARIETIES OF PLUMAGE. 55 
 
 regularly summer and winter in the country, and are gene- 
 rally distributed over it. 
 
 DOMESTICATION AND CHANGE OF PLUMAGE. 
 
 Tf we leave out of the question the wood grous, which, as 
 a British bird, is extinct, and the quail, which is both rare 
 and local, we have, in our native gallinae, a regular suc- 
 cession of inhabitants, from the highest mountain top to the 
 close vicinity of the most warm and sheltered dwelling, all 
 mingling a little with each other on the confines, but still 
 each preserving its locality, while the character of that 
 locality remains unchanged, more decidedly perhaps than any 
 other birds. All birds straggle a little at times ; but still 
 it is rare to find ptarmigan anywhere but on the mountain, 
 grous anywhere but on the moor, black grous but in the wild 
 dell, or partridges but on or near the cultivated field. Thus 
 we know where to find any of these birds at all seasons j and, 
 according as we ourselves are situated, we can study their 
 habits with much certainty. 
 
 We find the ptarmigan on the height, changing by nature 
 with the seasons, and braving the very excess of the winter. 
 In the grous we have a bird in the dry cover of the heath, 
 which affords it shade and protection in the summer, and 
 shelter in the winter, while the short but firm stems support 
 the covering of its snow house, which, in many instances, 
 remains unmelted for half the year ; the tops of the same 
 heath, and the mosses and lichens which are growing under 
 it, despite the snow, serving the birds for food during the 
 time of their confinement. The heath thus serves to equalize 
 the temperature of the seasons to the grous, in the same way 
 that the transition from house to tent, and from tent to 
 house, equalizes them for the rude inhabitants of high lati- 
 tudes; and thus, the change in the colour of the plumage not 
 being necessary, that does not take place. 
 
56 GALLING. 
 
 The black-cock has the shelter of the bush when the naked 
 wind blows, and the thicket when the rain falls or the snow 
 drives; and as the places which it inhabits are more produc- 
 tive than those of the others, it can range more easily for its 
 food. The habitation of the partridge requires still less 
 shelter, as the winds are not so strong, or the snows so heavy. 
 The seeds on the fields also supply it with a greater abun- 
 dance of winter food ; and, when hard pushed, it comes to 
 the stack-yard for a meal. 
 
 It may seem singular that, while the natives of Asia, 
 Africa, and America are domesticated with us in so great 
 numbers, and so many varieties, our own native gallinidse 
 should be all still in the wild state, or domesticated, or rather 
 tamed, only in partial instances of the individual, but not in 
 any way in the race. But the difference between our climate 
 and the native climates of these foreign birds, is really the 
 cause why they have little or no tendency to go into the 
 wilds ; while the influences of season and climate, very little 
 different from those to which their natures when wild are 
 adapted, are constantly acting upon, and tending to lead back 
 to the state of nature, those individuals of our native genera 
 which are occasionally bred in confinement, or taken and 
 partially tamed. 
 
 In these birds we can trace- a sort of resemblance to the 
 general colour of the places which they inhabit, though we 
 know not well the cause of the colour in either case. The 
 ptarmigan is mossy rock in summer, hoar-frost in autumn, 
 and snow in winter. Grous are brown heather, black-game 
 are peat-bank and shingle, and partridges are clods and 
 withered stalks, all the year round. We do not mean to say 
 that these correspondences of colour with situation are in- 
 tended to hide the birds from their enemies, because, at 
 Nature's table, the gos-hawk is as free and as well provided 
 for as the grous, and the harrier as the partridge. Still, the 
 
VARIETIES OF PLUMAGE. 57 
 
 correspondence of colour shows a correspondence of cause, 
 whether we shall ever be able to find out that cause or not ; 
 and when, by domestication and change of circumstances, we 
 break the connexion, the colour falls into varieties, so that 
 we have various colours in the same brood. The regions 
 which ptarmigan inhabit vary the least in locality, and those 
 of the partridge vary the most. We find the same in the 
 colour of the birds. The ptarmigan has always some stage 
 of its own changing colour j the partridge varies much, being 
 found with the upper part brown without mottling, and also 
 with nearly the whole body white. But the individual ptar- 
 migan is subjected to far greater changes of temperature than 
 the partridge, and therefore the one has seasonal varieties of 
 colour, and the other few or none. 
 
 In many of the gallinse, the plumage of the male is much 
 finer than that of the female ; but the gaudy livery appears 
 brightest on that plumage which the male is to wear in 
 pairing time ; and the more sober plumage of the female, 
 which is of considerable service to her while she sits, remains 
 only so long as she retains the capacity of being a mother. 
 Common pullets, when they become barren, acquire part of 
 the plumage, and also the crowing note of the male bird ; 
 and in the plate opposite there is a figure, copied from nature, 
 of what is very inaccurately termed a " mule " pheasant. A 
 mule is a hybrid between two distinct species of the same 
 genus, incapable of continuing the mixed race, but readily 
 breeding back to the pure blood ; whereas the bird figured, 
 and many more of the same description, are females, in which 
 the peculiar functions have prematurely ceased; and cases 
 are mentioned in which some of these have changed so far as 
 to have one spur on the tarsus. 
 
 It was once supposed that these changes of plumage were 
 the consequences of old age, and that they would take place 
 in all females of the species in which they occasionally appear, 
 
5S GALLItf^E. 
 
 if these were allowed to be old enough ; but it has been satis- 
 factorily ascertained that age has nothing to do with them, 
 any further than as it may be one of the causes of sterility. 
 When that is in any way produced, the change of the 
 plumage is always a consequence; and the change is more 
 complete, in proportion as the sterility is more absolute. 
 
 The popular adage of the unprofitableness of " crowing 
 hens," might have at once led to the same conclusion which 
 has been arrived at by actual observation, as the adage would 
 not have gained currency, if the fact that the crowers did not 
 lay eggs, had not been one of common occurrence. But the 
 voice which the sterile female acquires is an unnatural voice, 
 wanting the vigour of that of the male, and having no meaning 
 as to time. The male calls the colony to their labours in the 
 morning, and also proclaims triumph when an enemy or a 
 rival has been driven away. 
 
 The sterile female, on the other hand, has no discrimination 
 of time or of purpose in her crowing, which is attempted 
 without any assignable cause. The following passage (Philo- 
 sophical Transactions, 1827) by Mr. Yarrell, the sagacity of 
 whose remarks is as valuable as the accuracy of his observa- 
 tions, is worthy of being quoted : " It is probable that they 
 (the barren females) do not live many years after the com- 
 mencement of the change, since so few are found to arrive at 
 any great degree of splendour. Of the many I have had 
 opportunities of examining, none possessed either the full- 
 sized broad scarlet patch round the eye, the fine blue zone at 
 the end of the red feathers of the breast, or much of the 
 bright straw-coloured mark on the scapulars and wing-coverts, 
 one specimen alone excepted ; nor have I seen a female phea- 
 sant with spurs ; and a bird belonging to Mr. Leadbeater, 
 (the one represented in the plate,) which is by many degrees 
 the finest I have ever seen, is also without any." The sub- 
 ject is one of much interest, and merits farther investigation. 
 
OEDEE II. 
 CUESOEES. 
 
 RUNNING BIRDS. 
 
 ALL the gallinse run, some of them very swiftly, and 
 many other birds are fleet-footed ; so that " running " is by 
 no means a very distinctive epithet. Eunning is, however, 
 the principle motion of this order; and there are some very 
 important species, such as the ostrich and the emu, that can- 
 not fly. Two species only can be at all considered as British 
 birds; these ure the bustards, the one resident, but exceed- 
 ingly confined in locality, and few in number; the other, one 
 of our rarest straggling visitants. 
 
 GREAT BUSTARD (OtlS tarda). 
 
 One is at a loss whether most to deplore the total extinc- 
 tion of the wood grous from the forests of Scotland, or the 
 impending, and as it seems, approaching disappearance of the 
 great bustard from the plains of England. It was once not 
 uncommon in various parts of the country ; and as it is a bird 
 of powerful wing, and can fly to considerable distances, not- 
 withstanding its great weight, it occasionally visited the 
 northern parts of the kingdom. One was shot on the low- 
 lands of Moray in 1803. 
 
 Ten years previous, I saw two birds in the parish of Car- 
 myllie, in Eorfarshire, (a place famous, by the way, for mi- 
 gratory birds, in their passage to Strathmore and the Gram- 
 
60 CURSOEES. 
 
 plans,) which I have no doubt in my own mind were bustards, 
 although from the little knowledge I then had of the names 
 even of these local birds, which were absolutely teazing me 
 to study their habits every day, and the length of time that 
 elapsed before I saw even a tolerable representation or 
 description of a bustard, I cannot venture to record my belief 
 as an authentic instance. The place consisted of a wide 
 extent of a very bleak and bare surface, half moor, half marsh, 
 but so constituted both ways, that neither could claim it 
 wholly. It was surrounded by "outfields" of barley, which 
 was choked in the shoot-blade, or oats, which seldom got 
 white till helped by the frost ; but at one place a dell, with a 
 succession of pools, formed a sort of drainage, and there the 
 sward was a little more kindly. I was on the one side of 
 these pools, and near the other was the termination of the 
 cropped land, fringing the summit in a way, but not coming 
 over it. The wind had been keen and hollow from the east 
 for some days (an east wind in such a place often makes May 
 cut up April and March) : but it had veered round, rain had 
 fallen, and all was beginning to be green. It might be the 
 end of May, or the beginning of June, and an hour or two 
 after sunrise. I saw two brown birds of great size, by the 
 edge of the cover, and very distinctly made out against the 
 sky. They might have been about a quarter of a mile dis- 
 tant, so that I could not see the markings or minute parts; 
 but they were certainly larger in size than any of the common 
 birds, more especially than any that appear in the summer. 
 The pools formed a perfect barrier, and I am not sure whether 
 then I should have approached to take a nearer view, even if 
 there had been no impediment in the way. After a little 
 while they stalked off out of sight, by descending the other 
 side among the corn, and I did not see them either alight or 
 take wing, so as to observe the wings suspended half-closer 1 
 for a time, which is one of the characters of the bustard when 
 
GREAT BUSTARD. 61 
 
 alighting, or rising undisturbed; neither did I again see them, 
 or any birds like them. 
 
 The bustard is really a splendid bird. The male, when 
 full grown, is four feet in length, and nine in the extent of 
 the wings; and the weight is from twenty-five to thirty 
 pounds. The bill is greyish; but the legs, which are not 
 feathered quite down to the tarsi, are black ; and the three 
 toes are all turned forward, but with an elastic pad as a heel. 
 In form, the foot does not differ much from that of the little 
 bustard, which is represented in the following figure : 
 
 Walking and Running Feet. 
 
 ^Ring-Dove. 
 
 Little Bustard. 
 
 The hinder toe is wanting, as in all the running birds, in 
 consequence of which the rest of the foot acts as a complete 
 and free spring, and projects them forward without any pause 
 or interruption, so that they acquire a momentum, and by 
 that means run fast with comparatively little exertion. 
 
 The plumage is strongly marked. The head is of an 
 ashen-grey, with the exception of a black streak along the 
 middle. The feathers on the chin are long and wiry, and at 
 the base of the lower mandible form a tuft on each side, 
 which hangs eight or nine inches down the neck. These 
 
62 CURSORES. 
 
 feathers in some attitudes conceal, and in others disclose, 
 naked spots of a violet colour on the sides of the neck. The 
 lower part of the neck passes into a fine reddish orange, 
 which is also the prevailing ground colour on the upper part 
 of the bird, but lighter on the scapulars, and inclining to 
 grey on the lesser wing coverts ; and there is a tuft of down 
 at the articulation of the neck inclining to grey. The greater 
 coverts and part of the secondaries are bluish, and the 
 primary quills brownish black with white shafts. The tail 
 feathers are white toward their bases, and generally also at 
 the tips ; but the other parts are brown with black lines, 
 which form a regular band across all the feathers. The tail 
 feathers can be spread out like a fan. All the upper part of 
 the body is finely barred and spotted with bkck, the lines in 
 general crescent-shaped, and sometimes with a narrow line of 
 the same colour running parallel to their convex side, or side 
 next the point of the feathers. On the fore part of the neck, 
 and having its opening under the tongue, there is a mem- 
 branous bag or pouch, capable of containing about half a 
 gallon, and covered externally with a bluish black naked skin, 
 of nearly the same colour as the legs. The use of that 
 pouch in the economy of the bird is not very well known. 
 
 The tarsi of the male bustard are about six inches in 
 length, and the other part of the legs are nearly one foot, so 
 that, when the bird stands up for observation or on the 
 watch, its total height is about four feet. Its walking gait 
 is erect and stately, and its running pace, in which it lowers 
 the head and partially rows with the wings, is exceedingly 
 swift. The female is not above half the size of the male, 
 wants the wiry mustaches and pouch, has the grey on the 
 head and upper part of the neck darker, the upper part more 
 uniformly mottled, and the mottling continued to the tail, 
 which is less produced than in the other sex, and without 
 the regular black bar. 
 
GREAT BUSTARD. 63 
 
 Like most of the gallinaceous birds, the bustard makes no 
 nest, but drops her eggs on the bare ground. These are only- 
 two in number, produced rather early in the season, and 
 requiring four -weeks' incubation. The young are of a pale 
 yellowish brown, mottled with darker and black, and follow 
 their parent as soon as they break the shell The female sits 
 dose during her incubation, and cannot be raised without 
 cLLfiiculty; the young ones also squat close down upon the 
 ground on the appearancfc of danger. 
 
 Independently altogether of its size, and the quality of its 
 flesh, which is highly prized, the bustard is a very interesting 
 bird. But unfortunately it is one of which the recorded 
 history is exceedingly fabulous, and it is now so rare, that it 
 is not easy to correct the errors and supply the defects. 
 
 The bustard does not come very accurately into any of the 
 orders into which systematists arrange the winged tribes. 
 It cannot, with any regard to natural character, be classed 
 with the grallse, because the bustard never wades, but 
 keeps the open and dry plains, and seldom drinks. As little 
 can it be classed with the cursores, or running birds, though 
 we have placed it there, for want of a more appropriate 
 niche. Its most powerful motion is not running, but flight, 
 for which, heavy as it is, its large wings well adapt it. That 
 it can walk well and run swiftly is true, but it combines 
 these with the power of flight in a degree much superior to 
 any other very large bird. The bustard combines so many 
 characters, that it stands alone, in structure as well as in 
 locality, different from any other genus. The circumscription 
 of its haunts, as a British bird, and the decrease of its 
 numbers in those haunts are, on that account, doubly to be 
 regretted. Though not, like the African ostrich, a bird of 
 the desert, it is naturally a bird of bleak and desolate places ; 
 and therefore a natural decay in its numbers may have been 
 occasioned by the different system of agriculture which has 
 
64 CURSOKES. 
 
 been introduced. That has been especially the case in those 
 sandy and dry tracts of Norfolk, where the remnant is still 
 to be found. Drill husbandry in general, and turnip culture 
 in particular, which bring so many people into the fields for 
 hoeing and other summer labour, disturb the female bustards 
 in their incubation. The eggs, too, are tempting to the 
 rustics ; and even if these are spared, the female, once raised 
 during the day, is shy of sitting again. Such is probably 
 the natural progress toward extermination. 
 
 But there have been other causes. The bustard, especially 
 the male bustard, was always a temptation to the sportsman, 
 who slew away for glory or for lucre (bustards, of course, 
 always sold dear), without considering how slowly these birds 
 breed, compared with any of the common game birds. Lat- 
 terly, those who are called "amateur naturalists," have 
 accelerated the extermination. One does not know whether 
 cupidity for the pot, or cupidity for the cabinet, be the vice 
 most destructive of the beauties of nature ; but it is certain 
 that those caterers for the museum, who go about shooting 
 every rare bird they see, do no small mischief to our orni- 
 thology. A stuffed skin is something without doubt, but it 
 is dearly purchased at the expense of a living race ; and now 
 that the bustards are become too rare for being objects of 
 regular pursuit by sportsmen, it will not redound much to 
 the credit of our prudence in matters of natural history, to 
 have the skins of a few native bustards perishing by the 
 worm in our museums, while we must go to other lands to 
 study the characters and habits of the living bird. 
 
 In other places of the country the more general pasturage 
 of sheep has no doubt had its effect in destroying the bus- 
 tards ; but in all cases the extermination has been hastened 
 by the desire of possessing the bird. It may be too, how- 
 ever, that cultivation has produced some climatal change 
 which is unfavourable to birds that affect dry and lonely 
 
GREAT BUSTARD. 65 
 
 "wastes. In that case there is no remedy : we might with 
 justice forego the rarity at the table, and the marvel in the 
 museum, for the sake of seeing so majestic a bird stalking 
 about at its ease and in safety ; but our desire of that ought 
 not to interfere with the rational progress of those arts on 
 which the people depend for bread. If the result is to be 
 turnips in place of charlock, or oats and rye in place of 
 thistles, by all means let the bustard go, only keep him as 
 long as possible. 
 
 The food of the bustard is, like that of the gallinse, very 
 miscellaneous. Insects and earthworms are the favourite 
 food, and the food of the young ; and the birds are early 
 astir, in order to capture the night worms before the light 
 and heat of the day drive these into the earth ; they also 
 eat reptiles, mice, small birds, and garbage, swallowing the 
 small animals alive. In addition to these, which may be 
 considered as dainties in the places which the bustard 
 chiefly frequents, it eats vegetables ; and, except at parti- 
 cular seasons, trefoils and other succulent leaves; and the 
 tops of green corn and the grasses are its principal depend- 
 ence. In the autumn it lives a good deal upon seeds, and in 
 the winter upon roots. Its stomach is membranous, and of 
 great capacity. 
 
 The pouch (which is wanting in the female, and opens 
 under the tongue in the male) has been conjectured to 
 answer many purposes, such as the reservoir of drink for the 
 bird that wears it, or for the female and the young ; or, 
 again, as a sort of water-engine which the bird discharges 
 against its foes. The fact of the bird not drinking, which 
 has been tolerably well ascertained, and the pouch being 
 found in the male only, are against the first of these con- 
 jectures, and the second is probably no better founded than 
 the old fable of the excellent sport that was procured by 
 coursing the young bustards with greyhounds, instead of 
 
 VOL. i. F 
 
66 CURSORES. 
 
 which, until they can fly, which is late in the season, the 
 young birds squat so close that it is not difficult to take them 
 with the hand. When plumed they take wing more easily 
 than many lighter birds. 
 
 In Norfolk, where only the birds are now found in England, 
 they frequent the large corn fields in summer, and the turnip 
 grounds in winter. If the winter is severe, they sometimes 
 migrate nearer the coast, at which times they appear in little 
 flocks ; but they are usually persecuted in their journey and 
 in their temporary abode. They are polygamous ; but not- 
 withstanding, it is said that there is a deficiency of male 
 birds. They are much more abundant in some parts of 
 France than in England, and in the dry wastes of the south 
 of Russia, toward the Black Sea, they are still more plentiful ; 
 but they are always found on the dry wastes, and never in 
 the marshes, or even where the surface is soft. The fact is, 
 the structure of their feet adapts them only to firm land, 
 and as they cannot perch, and are not well formed for 
 making their way among bushes, they are never found but in 
 the open country. The epithet tarda, or slow, which was 
 applied to the great bustard in the time of the Romans, and 
 now forms its specific name, is not used with reference to the 
 common motions of the bird, but to the pertinacity with 
 which the young and the female bird, when hatching, retain 
 their place on the ground. 
 
 THE LITTLE BUSTARD (OtlS tetrax). 
 
 The little bustard is a very rare straggler in Britain, and 
 when one does make its appearance, it is generally in the 
 autumn and winter. Above, it is beautifully mottled with 
 brown and black, with a tinge of pale rose colour on the 
 breast ; the under part is white with black spots. The full- 
 grown male has a black collar in the summer, which is 
 wanting in the female and the young male, and it is sup- 
 
LITTLE BUSTARD. 67 
 
 posed to disappear at the end of summer, and to be resumed 
 again in the pairing season. The bird is about one-third of 
 the length of the great bustard, with the wings rather 
 shorter in proportion ; but it is a thicker bird, and instead 
 of being one twenty-seventh of the great one, which one 
 third of the length would give in similar birds, it is about 
 one-twentieth ; the weight is about a pound and a half. The 
 haunts and habits resemble those of the former. When a 
 straggler does make its appearance in Britain, it is always 
 near the coast ; but it is one of those birds, in quest of 
 which it would be vain to set out. 
 
 As the bustards feed readily, and are very miscellaneous 
 in their feeding, they can be made to live in a state of 
 domestication, at least for some time ; but it does not appear 
 that they have ever bred in confinement, so that their do- 
 mestication as races is more to be desired than expected. 
 
68 
 
 ORDER III. 
 COLUMB^E. 
 
 COLUMBINE BIRDS PIGEONS OR DOVES, 
 
 THESE are birds which have, in all ages, claimed much of 
 the attention of mankind ; and the poets have chosen them 
 as the type of all that is gentle, amiable, and affectionate. 
 The mournful sound of their voices, the attachment of the 
 pair to each other and to their young, the form, gloss, and 
 colour of the birds, and the evolutions which they perform on 
 the wing, all give them an interest to the lover of nature ; 
 while the rapid rate at which they breed, and the flavour of 
 their flesh, have made them of consideration in an econo- 
 mical point of view. They are, however, very voracious 
 feeders, and while the ripe grain and pulse are on the ground, 
 probably destroy more than they are worth; but at other 
 seasons they are not without their uses. 
 
 The domesticated ones, of which there are many varieties, 
 though all agreeing in their general character, are usually 
 called pigeons, and the wild ones doves. It is with the latter 
 only that we are in the meantime concerned. 
 
 The characters of the orders are : the bill of moderate 
 length, covered at the base with a membrane in which the 
 nostrils are pierced, and the upper mandible curved at the 
 point ; the tail containing twelve feathers, and the feet 
 having three toes before and one behind, free their whole 
 length, and all articulated to the extremity of the tarsus, so 
 that they are equally adapted for walking on the ground, for 
 
COLUMBINE BIRDS. 69 
 
 perching, or for supporting the bird on tufts of vegetation, of 
 which it eats the seeds. Doves are much more elegant in 
 their forms than the gallinse ; and in all the British species 
 the prevailing colours are mixed tints, very softly blended, in 
 which blue, green, and red predominate, excepting in the 
 quill-covers and tail feathers, and these are more or less 
 black. They are strictly monogamous, and pair for the 
 season even in their wild state; but it is of course not true 
 that in any of the species the survivor mourns in singleness 
 in case of casualty to its mate, for when the season comes 
 round the widowed bird pairs the same as ever ; and the note, 
 though plaintive to our ears, is a love-song and not a song of 
 lamentation in the bird. Birds never sing in sorrow. They 
 scream when in fear or in pain, and those that are in the 
 habit of watching have a peculiar warning cry ; but there is 
 this much of charm in the songs of birds, independently of 
 their music, that they are always songs of pleasure. 
 
 The doves are much more exclusively vegetable in their 
 feeding than the gallinae, or indeed than almost any other 
 order of birds. Seeds, and other vegetable substances that 
 are farinaceous or succulent, are their favourite food. They 
 join in the labours of the field ; and while the rooks follow 
 the plough, picking up the larvae of cockchafers and other 
 insects, the pigeons are just as busy in eating the couch- 
 grass and other creeping roots. 
 
 They do not even feed their young with insects, as many 
 birds do, while they themselves live more (at least at some 
 seasons) on vegetables ; and nature has provided them with 
 the means of adapting that food to the tender stomachs and 
 weak digestion of their fledglings. 
 
 All birds that feed much on vegetable matter, have an 
 expansible portion of the gullet which can be enlarged into a 
 sack capable of holding a considerable quantity of food, which 
 passes gradually into the gizzard or true stomach, after the 
 
70 COLUMBjE. 
 
 bird has ceased to take in a supply by the bill. That 
 dilatable portion is called the craw or " crop," and bears some 
 resemblance to the paunch or first stomach in ruminating 
 quadrupeds. It is probable that the food of all birds, when 
 requiring such a preparation, is moistened and macerated 
 there before it passes into the stomach. But in the columbse, 
 there is a peculiar change in the organ for the feeding of the 
 young, a change which has some resemblance to the produc- 
 tion of milk in the mammalia, only it takes place in both the 
 parent birds. At that time the inner coat becomes covered 
 with small glands, which secrete a peculiar fluid which 
 acquires a consistency resembling that of soft curd. When 
 the young first break the shell, they are fed upon that sub- 
 stance, wholly or nearly in a pure state ; but as they grow, it 
 gradually mingles with more and more of the food of the 
 parent bird, which it reduces to a sort of pulp ; and when 
 the young are able to feed themselves, the secretion disap- 
 pears, and the glands that produced it are inactive until they 
 again are required for the feeding of another progeny. 
 
 The food which the pigeons thus prepare for their young, 
 whether it be the curdy secretion of their own bodies, or food 
 which they have picked up and prepared, is not given to the 
 young by the bill, in the way in which the majority of birds 
 feed their young. The old one puts its bill half-opened, 
 fairly into that of the young one, and the food is brought up 
 and delivered to it by a peculiar action of the gullet. 
 
 That habit, approaching more nearly to maternal tenderness 
 than perhaps any other in birds, the fact that they are only 
 two young in a brood, and that these are generally a male and 
 female ; the attachment of the pair which, notwithstanding 
 the disposition which pigeons have to flock (and in some 
 countries they flock in countless millions), we have reason to 
 believe they preserve through life : and their apparent fondness 
 for each other, to which there is no parallel instance in the whole 
 
COLUMBINE BIRDS. 71 
 
 animal creation ; * these circumstances, taken in combination 
 with the beauty of the birds, and the gracefulness of their 
 motion on the wing, justify that interest which they never fail 
 to command ; and so to command as that, unless it be for the 
 purposes of the fancier of tame pigeons, there is no need of 
 describing the birds, for everybody learns to know a pigeon 
 almost as soon as to know anything. 
 
 But though the pigeons live more on vegetable food than 
 most of the feathered tribes, they do not live exclusively on 
 it. They eat various kinds of snails, generally shell and all ; 
 and they do so not only when seeds have become scarce in 
 the winter, and they are reduced to beech-mast and other 
 capsuled seeds, which they are unable to break with their 
 bills, but also at the time when they have young. Nor, 
 though they cannot be so well observed then, is there any 
 doubt that the wood species, at the time of the hatching of 
 their spring broods especially, when vegetable food adapted 
 to them is not so abundant, pick up numbers of insects in the 
 woods. The rock species, again, inhabit in vast numbers 
 places where there is little vegetable food. They may be 
 seen alighting in multitudes, and walking about the beaches 
 at low water, ever and anon picking at something ; and 
 though all the species are fond of salt, the probability is that 
 animal food is the chief object sought on the beach. No 
 bird that feeds exclusively on land vegetables takes up its 
 abode on the rocks on the sea-shore, as thereby it would be 
 cutting off half its pasture. 
 
 There are four species of doves found in a wild state in the 
 British islands, though in different localities, and with differ- 
 ences of habit. Two of these, the ring-dove, and the stock- 
 dove, are resident inhabitants of the woods ; one, the rock- 
 dove, is a tenant of the rocks ; and the remaining one is a 
 summer visitant of the woods in certain places only. 
 * Surely this assertion ought to be qualified. M. 
 
72 COLUMB^E. 
 
 KING-DOVE (Coluinba palumbus). 
 
 The ring-dove, if not the most abundant in numbers, is 
 the most generally distributed over the country ; and it is 
 everywhere a favourite, even with those farmers in the 
 neighbourhood of woods, upon whose crops, their peas espe- 
 cially, it commits considerable ravages. It has in conse- 
 quence many local or provincial names the Wood-pigeon, 
 the Quest, the Cushat, the Cusha-doo, and many others, all of 
 which are favourite words in their localities. 
 
 The ring-dove is, indeed, one of the most ornamental birds 
 in the British woods. It is considerably the largest (British) 
 bird of the order ; and it is the most elegant in its form, if 
 we except the turtle, which is much smaller, and a very local 
 as well as a migatory bird. The ring-dove is about eighteen 
 inches long, and thirty in the extent of the wings. It weighs 
 about a pound and a quarter. The other species should, from 
 their length (about thirteen inches and a half), weigh not 
 more than ten ounces, if of the same proportions ; but they 
 weigh eleven, or more. They are more bunchy and less 
 graceful at the shoulders than the ring-dove. The whole out- 
 line of the bird is fine, combining symmetry and vigour in 
 an eminent degree. 
 
 The colours are also beautiful, and remarkably constant in 
 the individuals. The bill is orange, the membranous portion 
 at the base covered with a white mealy powder, similar to 
 that found under the wings of most pigeons. The head, 
 cheeks, and neck, are of a very peculiar changing grey, which 
 inclines more to black or blue, according to the light in which 
 it is seen ; and there are obscure darker bars on the back 
 part. The pale yellow irides of the eyes contrast beautifully 
 with the general colour of the head and neck. Two spots of 
 white, one on each side of the neck, near its insertion, almost 
 
RING-DOVE. 73 
 
 meet behind, forming a collar or ring which occasions the 
 name. The breast and belly are a purplish red with pris- 
 matic reflections, varying from green to deep purple. The 
 lower part of the back, the rump, and tail coverts, are the 
 same colour as the head, barred with darker, and passing into 
 a purplish tinge on the coverts. The upper part of the back 
 and the wing coverts are deeper grey, but of the same mixed 
 and varying character. The quills are twenty-four in num- 
 ber : the first ten black, edged with white. The tail feathers 
 are blackish, and edged with bluish grey, but they have very 
 faint purple or bronze reflections. The tarsi and toes are 
 pale red, and the claws black. In general, however, the 
 colours pass so gently into each other, and reflect so many 
 hues with so slight shades of difference, that few birds are 
 more difficult to describe by colours ; and these can be seen 
 to perfection only upon the living bird when it turns itself 
 about in the sunshine. 
 
 The notes of the ring-dove, for there are four of them, 
 two produced by modulation and two by difference of time, 
 are soft and plaintive, but not melancholy ; far superior to the 
 monotonous croak (it is nothing better) of the domesticated 
 pigeon. It of course varies with the season, but February is 
 the month in which its song begins ; and it gives the prefer- 
 ence to pine plantations, especially when they are not too 
 tall. As it repeats its notes in the early part of the season, 
 and is itself unseen while it does so, there is much interest 
 about it ; and the young ornithologists often listen much and 
 wander far in the coppice, and come home, after all, without 
 seeing the cushat. 
 
 The nest is very rude, consisting of a few twigs laid care- 
 lessly together, and generally at a place where some of the 
 branches are nearly horizontal ; for as the bird has feet 
 adapted for walking as well as for perching, it can perch only 
 across the twig, and awkwardly if that twig incline much. 
 
74 COLUMB.E. 
 
 Hence, when there is a choice, the ring-dove always both 
 Builds and perches for the night in trees of which the branches 
 set off at large angles. The upright poplar, the mountain- 
 ash, and the willow, unless when the latter is pollarded, are 
 no favourites with it. During the breeding season, which, 
 as there are generally two, and often three broods in the 
 course of the year, lasts the greater part of the summer, the 
 ring-dove never perches high, or builds in tall forests where 
 the trees have long branchless boughs ; but in autumn and 
 the early part of winter, when the birds collect from the 
 places over which they were dispersed during the summer, 
 and have nothing to do but find their own food, which they 
 at that time find in abundance, and are high in flesh and 
 flavour, they perch for the night in lofty trees. 
 
 A figure of the ring-dove's foot is given on page 61, along 
 with that of the little bustard, to show the difference between 
 a foot adapted only for walking on dry and hard ground, and 
 one adapted for walking on softer ground, and also for perch- 
 ing crosswise on a horizontal twig. 
 
 The ring-dove is a bird of very fine wing. As the second 
 feather is the longest, it hovers neatly, and it sometimes dis- 
 plays curious gambols of ascent and descent. It dashes its 
 wings upward with so much force, that they strike against 
 each other with an audible noise ; and the bird drops down 
 so far, as if it were to fall to the ground ; but a downward 
 stroke, given with equal force, sends it up again. It displays 
 these motions most frequently in the pairing seasons ; but 
 they are also useful to it in its short excursions for food among 
 the trees ; and when these are scattered, it may be seen leap- 
 ing over them like a horse over hedges on a steeple-chase, 
 only it takes it leaps from the air as a fulcrum, as well as in 
 it. But volumes might be written on the ring-dove, and still 
 there would remain abundant matrials for a fresh volume. 
 The bird will not live in a domestic state, unless by force ; 
 
THE ROCK-DOVE. 75 
 
 but in 1834, a pair built a nest in the Zoological Gardens, 
 and two eggs were produced. 
 
 THE STOCK-DOVE (Columba (Enas). 
 
 That is a smaller species than the ring-dove, and in Eng- 
 land it is rare, excepting in the midland counties. The 
 southern parts of Europe are its principal haunts ; but it is a 
 roaming bird, and migrates in large flocks. It is a percher, 
 and always nestles in holes of trees, or in tall bushes, which 
 might have convinced authors that it could not well be the 
 parent stock of those numerous varieties which live in pigeon- 
 holes, and never perch or build in trees, though the pigeon- 
 houses are in the middle of woods. If the domestic pigeon 
 had been derived from the stock-dove (or the " bush-dove," as 
 it is sometimes called with more propriety), we should cer- 
 tainly have found it resting upon, or moaning its note from 
 the trees of the garden rather than the roof of the house. 
 The only note of the stock-dove is a hollow grunt. The same 
 pair build for years in the same place. This bird has no 
 white on the rump, no bars on the wings ; it is thicker at the 
 shoulders and on the breast than the domestic pigeon. The 
 legs and feet are not so strong, the former are not so much 
 feathered, and the claws are not so well armed on their under- 
 sides with pads and tubercles. 
 
 THE ROCK-DOVE (Columba lima). 
 
 That is the true "stock-dove" from which the domestic 
 ones are descended, whether those that were first kept in 
 pigeon-houses in this country were natives of the country or 
 imported. These birds do not of course build pigeon-houses, 
 but they choose high cliffs, the acclivity of which may pro- 
 tect them from enemies ; they nestle in the holes of those 
 cliffs j they sit on the points and little ledges of the rocks, 
 
76 COLUME^. 
 
 and never perch on trees. If a pigeon-house is built in a dis- 
 trict where pigeon-houses are numerous, or near the native 
 locality of rock-doves, it is soon stocked without exertion on 
 the part of the owner ; and if it be whitewashed, it is stocked 
 the sooner. Hence the proverb, " Whiten the pigeon-house, 
 and the pigeons will come," which is applied metaphorically, 
 in order to show that, by neatness and regularity, friends will 
 be most certainly procured. In the case of the pigeons, it is 
 the utility and not the beauty of the whitened house that is 
 the attraction. The females never hatch fewer than three 
 broods in the year, and sometimes as many as twelve. The 
 shells of so many eggs require a great deal of carbonate of 
 lime ; the lime on the whitened pigeon-house attracts the 
 females, and as the rock-doves are constantly paired, the males 
 of course accompany them. So decided is that attraction to 
 them, that a whitened pigeon-house will entice the stock from 
 those that are neglected, thus making the proverb a literal 
 fact. 
 
 It is probably a similar instinct which leads the pigeons 
 to cliffs on the sea-shore, in preference to inland ones. The 
 shells on the beach furnish them with an abundant supply of 
 lime. No doubt, the comparative uniformity of temperature 
 during the year in the sea cliffs, is a farther inducement ; and 
 brings the habit of the bird of the rocks still nearer to that 
 of the house bird. Indeed, the habits of common field 
 pigeons are so little changed, and the change is so exclusively 
 an act of their own, that they cannot be said to be in a state 
 of domestication. They are rock pigeons still, only they are 
 lodged better, and more conveniently for their food. 
 
 Whether on the rock or in the pigeon-house, they are gre- 
 garious all the year round ; and, whatever may be the dis- 
 tance to which they may range during the day, they uniformly 
 return at night. The certainty with which they return, not- 
 withstanding the height at which they often fly, their pas- 
 
THE ROCK-DOVE. 77 
 
 sages at sea, where there are no marks to guide them, and 
 the turning which they must make in cross winds, is one of 
 those instincts which we must admire but cannot understand. 
 That they do in so far depend on sight, would appear from 
 the fact that they are often bewildered in fogs ; but still sight, 
 in so far as we can judge of it, is not sufficient to explain the 
 whole. We get to a place by experimental knowledge of the 
 intermediate space, or by information which answers the same 
 purpose; but pigeons, and indeed many animals, have, at 
 least to the extent of their usual journeyings, an instinctive 
 knowledge of the place of their abode, without any reference 
 to the space that lies between. There are authenticated 
 instances of dogs and of donkeys returning on foot for hundreds 
 of miles, though the former had been removed in a close car- 
 riage, and the other had been on board a vessel which was 
 wrecked. I knew an instance of a bullock that was driven 
 west and south at least forty miles to a fair, sold there, and 
 taken to his new pasture, fifteen miles from the old one, and 
 with a wide and deep estuary of a river between. His new 
 companions, as is very often the case with cattle for a time, 
 shunned him, or rather combined to expel him. The pasture 
 was on the shore of the estuary : he stood there some time 
 nosing the wind ; then dashed into the tide, although the 
 ripple was high, swam gallantly though, and trotted off to 
 his former pasture and companions, lowing as he went. 
 Sight could do nothing in that case, because there were high 
 grounds on the opposite side of the estuary, which limited the 
 view to not more than one mile out of fifteen. When these 
 things happen with quadrupeds, we may cease to wonder at 1 
 though we must on that account admire the more, the feats 
 that are performed by carrier pigeons; and which are often at 
 least sixty miles an hour. What messengers the swift-winged 
 migratory birds would be, if we knew how to press them into 
 our service! A discovery made in Central Africa, might be 
 
78 COLUMB^E. 
 
 printed in London, and sent by post on the very next 
 evening. 
 
 The white rump, and the two dark bars on the closed wings, 
 which are never wholly obliterated, even when the general 
 colour is almost white, are strong indications of the de- 
 scendant of the rock pigeon. The stronger foot, too, and 
 especially the more spreading toes, so that the outer and inner 
 act nearly against each other, and crosswise to the other two, 
 cannot be mistaken. Farther, the perchers, the ring, and 
 stock-doves, may be confined as individuals but cannot be 
 tamed as races ; the rock-dove needs no taming. 
 
 Domestic pigeons are a tame study ; but there is something 
 more stirring in the observation of the rock-dove in nature's 
 pigeon-house, especially among the cliffs and caves of the 
 Hebrides. On some glittering day, when the meridian sun 
 lulls birds and breezes into repose, you row swiftly but 
 silently into the portal of some giant cave, the entablature of 
 which reaches the mid heaven : and, while you are contem- 
 plating silent nature, the rowers, by a concentrated motion of 
 which you were kept ignorant, lift their oars, and simulta- 
 neously dash them against the sides of the boat. The echo 
 is loud, but the sound of the wings which it wakens into action, 
 is louder. It is as if the hollowed and craggy isle were falling 
 to pieces about you, and the wide Atlantic were heaving and 
 vibrating to its most distant shore. But we dare not begin 
 the description, from the length, and the pain of leaving off. 
 Those who can, should go there, if it were but to see how far 
 nature exceeds and beggars all description. 
 
 THE TURTLE-DOVE (Columba turtur). 
 
 The turtle is the smallest British species ; and in Britain 
 it is a summer migrant, and as such, visits only the south- 
 eastern parts of the island, more especially Kent, the thick 
 coppices of which afford it that depth of shade, and the rich 
 
THE TUETLE-DOVE. 79 
 
 fields that abundance of food which it requires. On the con- 
 tinent it ranges into much larger latitudes, although not to 
 the extreme north or even within the Arctic circle. 
 
 When the winds of autumn blow from the north-east or 
 east, which is always the case when the rains fall heavy on 
 the countries south of the Baltic, the migrating birds, which 
 range farther north on the continent than with us, are fre- 
 quently drifted to our eastern shores, not in straggling indi- 
 viduals, but in flocks, in the case of birds which are grega- 
 rious in their migrations. These form a sort of involuntary 
 autumnal migrants ; and as both the time and the exertion 
 spent in contending with the cross wind, are probably as great 
 as would have carried them to their journey's end with 
 favourable weather, they alight on our shores in a state of 
 great fatigue. They must, in consequence, remain for some 
 time to recruit themselves ; and if they reach the coast far to 
 the southward, and the season become very mild, some of them 
 may linger for the winter and even survive it. Before we 
 conclude, from the appearance of a specimen, or even of a 
 flock in the autumn, that a bird is a permanent resident in 
 any part of the country, we must consider the range and the 
 time of its migration on the continent, and the kind of wea- 
 ther that preceded its appearance. Our constant sojourners 
 are best seen in the winter, because then they collect from the 
 woods and wilds, and come in flocks near our habitations. 
 
 The turtles do not come before the latter end of April, or, 
 if the season be cold, the beginning of May. But though it 
 is general among birds, that the male is the first to feel the 
 genial influence of the season, yet turtles are, in this country 
 at least, first seen in pairs. The turtles betake themselves to 
 the thick groves, build the nest, which, like that of all the 
 order, is slight and rude, hatch the two young, nurse them 
 till they are nearly fledged, and are more frequently heard than 
 seen, till the pods on the leguminous plants begin to swell. 
 
80 COLUMB.E. 
 
 When that takes place, they come in little flocks to claim the 
 reward of that sweet, though plaintive and even mournful 
 melody, with which they have soothed the labours of their 
 mates during the season of leaves and blooms. In August 
 they collect in larger flocks, on the open places near the 
 coasts of the channel, and soon after they disappear, except 
 they happen to be brought by the wind in the manner that 
 has been stated. 
 
 The turtle is a light and slender bird compared with the 
 other species. It is only about two inches shorter, and two 
 inches narrower in the wings, than the rock dove ; and yet it 
 is only about half the weight, being from five to six ounces, 
 while the rock dove is from ten to twelve. 
 
 The colours vary a good deal with age, but in general the 
 prevailing colours are brown, grey, reddish orange, and 
 black, with the belly and tips of the outer tail feathers white ; 
 and in the male, some white on the forehead, and white 
 margins to a patch of black feathers on each side of the 
 neck ; the breast, in the male, is tinted with purplish red ; 
 and the same colour blends very softly with the other colours 
 of the neck, as they pass from the soft grey of the cheeks to 
 the black and orange of the scapulars. The dusky black 
 fading off through brown to bright orange, at the margins, 
 renders the feathers on the upper part of the turtle much 
 more distinct than those of any other of the doves. The 
 patch of dull red under, behind, and partially round the orange 
 iris is another distinction. The young birds are browner 
 than the old ones, and want the ornamental patch on each 
 side of the neck. 
 
 The bird is as mild in its manners as any of the others, and 
 as assiduous in the care of its young. The constancy, and 
 the mourning for its mate, for which the poets have given it 
 credit, are qualities for which there is of course only the poet's 
 license. Though retired, timid, and shy, to perhaps a greater 
 
THE TURTLE-DOVE. 81 
 
 degree than any of the other doves, the turtle when caught is 
 far more easily tamed than either the ring-dove or the stock- 
 dove. 
 
 The note of the turtle is a very soft and mournful coo, 
 often delivered when the bird is on the ground \ and when it 
 is in a close thicket it may be very closely approached. 
 
 The species 'now enumerated comprise all the native 
 pigeons of the British islands, whether resident or migrant. 
 With the exception of the turtle, they are all resident in 
 nearly the same localities throughout the year, but the habits 
 of some of the foreign species are very different, though not 
 so much so in Europe as in other parts of the world. The 
 grand places for them are between the Oriental Archipelago 
 and New Holland, and between the northern and central 
 parts of America. The multitudes that migrate in those 
 localities are absolutely countless ; and the species which fre- 
 quent the former are numerous, and some of them equal in 
 the colours of their plumage to the very finest of the parrots. 
 The Ajuerican ones, as they migrate en masse, and are conti- 
 nental at both ends of their journey, are more numerous in 
 the flock than those of the east and south. Their migration 
 is different from the general migration of birds, as they move 
 polarly in the autumn, when the wild berries are ripe. They 
 find ample supplies in that Ultima Thule sort of country 
 which lies to the northward of the great American lakes, and 
 also in Canada; but as the polar sea is approached, there is 
 less food for them, and they are not so numerous. They are 
 thus not sufficiently far to the north for being in the line of 
 the north-west winds, and consequently they do not come so 
 often to the British shores as their abundance would lead us 
 to conclude. But notwithstanding the great difference of 
 longitude, it appears that the principal species, the passenger 
 pigeon (Coluinba migratoria), does sometimes stray across 
 the Atlantic, for one was shot in Fifeshire on the last day of 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 CCLUMB.E. 
 
 1825, and it evidently retained its social instinct, as it found 
 its way to a part of the island where pigeon houses abound, 
 and was shot while perched on the wall of one. 
 
 The particular history of the several varieties of fancy 
 pigeons which are known to the curious in these birds, does 
 not come within the scope of these pages, as those varieties 
 are not met with in a wild state. They are, however, pro- 
 bably al] bred out of the same stock as the common pigeons, 
 as they are all " house " pigeons and not perchers. The 
 principal ones are the Barbary, the Biset, the Carrier, the 
 Crested, the Helmet, the Horseman, the Jacobine, the Laced, 
 the Norway, the Rough-footed, the Shakers, broad-tailed and 
 narrow-tailed, the Smiter, the Spot, the Tumbler, the Turbit, 
 and the Turner, besides the countless number of mixed 
 breeds. 
 
83 
 
 ORDER IV. 
 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 RAPACIOUS BIRDS, AND BIRDS OF PREY. 
 
 WE are now to notice birds of very different habits from 
 those of the preceding orders. They, though some of them 
 are courageous in their combats with each other, and most of 
 them are bold in defence of their young, are peaceable toward 
 the rest of the warm-blooded creation, whether living bird or 
 quadruped. Instances have occurred of some of them killing 
 mice, and even small birds, and the greater part of them will 
 eat any animal garbage, or offal; but they are killed in many 
 more instances than they kill; and the flesh of all of them is 
 not only eaten, but highly prized for its wholesomeness and 
 flavour. 
 
 The birds of prey are, on the other hand, of no use to man 
 as food, and they live by rapine and plunder, for the perpe- 
 tration of which they are very powerfully armed by nature. 
 They never use their weapons for mere purposes of gallantry 
 and mastery, as is the case with many of the males among 
 the gallinaceous birds. They attack that they may kill; and 
 kill for no other purpose than that of eating the slain. In a 
 natural point of view, we cannot call them cruel ; for it is no 
 more cruel in an eagle to eat hares, than it is in a hare to 
 eat green leaves; and no more cruel in a hawk to eat pigeons 
 than it is in a pigeon to eat pease. All the creatures which 
 nature produces, obey equally the laws which nature has 
 
 G2 
 
84 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 implanted in them; and for the purposes of nature, the 
 fiercest bird of prey is as important as the gentlest warbler 
 that sings in the grove. All work beautifully together and 
 support one another, so as to produce and continue that glo- 
 rious system which we see around us. The plant collects the 
 first elements of organic life from the earth, the air, and the 
 waters ; and tempers them to the palates of the phytivorous 
 animals, from the smallest creature that curls or discolours a 
 leaf, to the tall giraffe and the stately elephant. Other races 
 consume those. Some birds take the eggs of the insects, 
 some the caterpillars, some the full grown insects ; then follow 
 the races which plunder the nests of birds, and feed upon 
 their unfledged young; and lastly, come the birds of prey, 
 feeding not merely on the other birds, but on the smaller 
 quadrupeds and the inhabitants of the sea. 
 
 It may happen that the birds of prey interfere with our 
 plans, though it is probable that in their case, as well as in 
 that of many other birds, we know the evil but not the 
 good; and consequently, in our eagerness to destroy the evil, 
 we destroy the good along with it, and in the end lose much 
 more than our. labour. We set a price on the brush of a fox, 
 or the talons of an eagle, but it is open to every man's obser- 
 vation, that those places in which foxes are not hunted or 
 eagles shot, are not more impoverished than those in which 
 both are destroyed with the utmost vigilance. Nature never 
 sends any animal to inhabit a district unless there be food 
 and the other circumstances which suit that animal in that 
 district ; and when the food ceases or the circumstances are 
 changed, the animal disappears, as fast probably as is neces- 
 sary to the best interests and perfection even of our artificial 
 system. The kite would doubtless be a plunderer in the 
 poultry-yard, the osprey in the fish-pond, or the eagle in the 
 rabbit-warren; and the owner might claim their lives. If 
 we actually use any portion of the earth, then that portion is 
 
GENERAL CHARACTERS. 85 
 
 ours, and we may do with the wild creatures as we deem 
 best. But we should not play the tyrant with that which is 
 not ours. If we can show that it will be useful for us 
 to destroy the kite in the wild moor which we neglect, and 
 the eagle in the mountain ravine, which we can neither stock 
 nor cultivate, then we may plead our privilege as lords of the 
 nether world and slaughter them ; but if we cannot, we are 
 interfering with, and most probably marring, that which we 
 do not understand, acting much in the same manner as the 
 owner of an estate, who should cut down the forests, when 
 he could neither use nor sell the timber, nor yet cultivate 
 any other crop on the land which it occupied. 
 
 The birds of prey are not merely a part of the system of 
 nature, but one of the most interesting parts of it ; and there 
 are no birds, the haunts or the habits of which are more 
 calculated to impart information and afford pleasure. In 
 strength, in swiftness, in bold daring, in patient endurance, 
 in attachment to each other and to their young, and in the 
 utmost perfection of observing power and muscular strength, 
 there are no birds equal to the birds of prey. Drive the 
 eagle from the mountain, and half its sublimity would be 
 gone ; chase the owl from the ivied ruin or the hollow tree, 
 and half its fascinations, even to the unobservant rustics, 
 would be destroyed. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERS AND DIVISIONS OF THE BIRDS OF 
 PREY. 
 
 The characters in which all rapacious birds agree, and by 
 which, if any one is well known, all others may be deter- 
 mined, are peculiar and striking. The bill is short, strong, 
 rather compressed at the sides, often bending for its whole 
 length, and hooked at the extremity of the upper mandible. 
 The limbs very strong and muscular, with the toes, three 
 before and one behind, free, or only partially united by 
 
86 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 elastic membrane, their extremities armed with sharp crooked 
 claws, generally retractile, and of firmer consistency than any 
 horny productions, except the claws of those carnivorous 
 beasts which catch or kill their prey with the paws. The 
 bills are usually called beaks, and the claws talons. Sight 
 keen and piercing, in some adapted to bear the strongest 
 light of the sun, and in others to see in the twilight, or to 
 our observation, nearly in the dark. They are capable of 
 enduring hunger longer than any other of the feathered 
 tribes, and they rarely drink. They are strictly monogamous, 
 the pair associating for life, and probably better deserving 
 that praise for constancy which poetic fancy has awarded to 
 the turtle. They never congregate in flocks ; and the more 
 powerful ones drive their progeny to a distance, obviously 
 from an instinct having a purpose similar to that which 
 makes the males of the wild gallinse fight and separate at the 
 commencement of the breeding time. The female is larger 
 than the male, sometimes much larger, and very different in 
 colour. The young birds also are generally different in 
 plumage, and some of them retain the difference so long that 
 they have been described as distinct species. 
 
 As in the case with beasts of prey, and generally with all 
 animals whose nature it is to kill and destroy, the most pow- 
 erful are found in the wildest places; but while the powerful 
 beast lurks in the shade of the forest or the jungle, the pow- 
 erful bird braves the elements, and is found in the cold 
 latitudes, or if warm latitudes, in those wild places which are 
 cold and bleak from elevation. 
 
 The following are sketches of the beaks of three of the 
 order, in their gradation from those that strip their prey 
 entirely of its feathers, to those that swallow it entire, and 
 return the indigestible parts in balls called " castings." 
 
GENERAL CHARACTERS. 87 
 
 RAPACIOUS BEAKS. 
 Hawk. 
 
 Owl. 
 
 Eagle. 
 
 The most obvious natural division is into preyers by day 
 (diurna), and preyers by night (nocturnes). The former are 
 falcons, known by different names, according to their struc- 
 ture, habits, and haunts; the latter are owls. The plumage 
 of the diurnal birds is firm, strong in the individual feathers, 
 and fitted for contending with the elements in ' bold and 
 daring flight; that of the nocturnal ones is "fined off" at the 
 extremities, into very delicate and almost invisible margins, 
 so that they steal through the air without any noise. The 
 former are free and elastic, and make the air rustle to the 
 torrent of their course, and ring to the dash of their wings ; 
 the latter glide along as if they were muffled, and come upon 
 even quick-eared prey before it is aware. 
 
 There are about seventeen diurnal species enumerated as 
 British, and eight nocturnal ones. Of the falcons, four or 
 five are understood to be occasional visitants, and the others 
 to reside permanently in some part of the British islands ; 
 but some are rare and confined to particular districts, while 
 others are common. Six of the owls are inhabitants of the 
 moorland; and two ; which are arctic birds, and the most 
 
88 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 powerful of the whole, are found only in the extreme north, 
 or in other parts of the country as mere stragglers. 
 
 FALCONS (Falco). 
 
 The old division of nolle and ignoble hawks, which was so 
 well understood when falconry was a general field sport, is 
 still of considerable use in distinguishing the species and also 
 the habits of birds of prey. The noble hawks are long- 
 winged, and have the second quill the longest, but it is sup- 
 ported to nearly its tip by the first, so that the point of the 
 wing is peculiarly strong. These may be considered as the 
 perfection of mechanism in birds, more powerful in the air 
 than any others ; and the daring of the larger ones is equal 
 to the means with which they are provided for putting that 
 daring into execution. The ignoble hawks have the wings 
 differently formed. They are, in general, shorter, and the 
 third or fourth feather is the longest. As British birds they 
 are more numerous and varied than the former ; and com- 
 prehend, among others, the eagles, which, though less gallant 
 on the wing, are, all things considered, the most powerful of 
 birds. 
 
 The popular distinctions are, however, better for simple 
 description, and certainly not worse for scientific purposes. 
 According to it the divisions are, FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, 
 KITES, HARRIERS, and BUZZARDS, all easily distinguishable 
 from each other by their forms, their modes of flight, and 
 many of their habits. 
 
 FALCONS. 
 
 The beak of the Falcon is short, very thick, and strong, 
 the upper mandible bent from the base, and with a prominent 
 tooth toward the tops, which fit into a notch in the under 
 mandible. The tarsi are short, and they and the toes are 
 
THE JER-FALCON. 89 
 
 very strong. The talons are much hooked and exceedingly 
 sharp, and flat or grooved on the under sides. 
 
 Their command of the air is truly wonderful. A few 
 strokes of their powerful wings will send them up till they 
 are hardly visible ; or bring them from the top of their flight 
 to within a short distance of the ground. At times they will 
 ride motionless, as if they were anchored in the sky; and 
 anon, with hardly any perceptible motion of the wings, they 
 will shoot with the rapidity of a meteor and the certainty of 
 an arrow, aye, more certainly, and at a farther range than 
 ever shaft that human archer set on the string. The collision 
 of their pounce is terribly effective. It is seldom the mere 
 difference of velocity; for their habit is to rise above their 
 quarry, and press their weight into the service of their wings 
 by an oblique descent ; but still that is no mean force which 
 can break a wing, strike off a head, or burst a bird asunder, 
 when it is not merely suspended in the air only, but in rapid 
 motion away from the striker. If the falcon misses, we need 
 not wonder that the quarry escapes before it can again rally; 
 and if the falcon comes upon the bayonet charge of the 
 quarry, as is sometimes the case when it stoops at the heron, 
 we need not wonder that it is transfixed. The balistic pen- 
 dulum used in experimental gunnery, though suspended on 
 hinges, gives way to the cannon shot ; what then shall we 
 say of the stroke of the falcon, which breaks bones flying 
 away in the air, and defended by feathers ! The keen point 
 of the claw of that terrible claw on the hinder toe, which 
 concentrates the whole momentum of the bird, and always 
 strikes perpendicularly and penetrates is the main instru- 
 ment of the effect. 
 
 THE JER-FALCON, OR ICELAND FALCON (FalcO Icelandic^). 
 
 If, in command of the air, the falcons take the lead of all 
 the feathered tribes, the jer-falcon unquestionably takes the 
 
90 'ACCIPITRES. 
 
 lead of all the falcons. It is bred in the crags of the polar 
 rocks, and is tempered to the fitful and furious blasts which 
 rage occasionally in countries near the ice, and its native 
 pastures are but thinly stocked ; but a partridge on a warm 
 and sheltered farm, or a pheasant in a judiciously situated 
 preserve, is not better adapted for finding its food, than the 
 jer-falcon is in the wastes of Iceland. 
 
 It has not been positively ascertained that the jer-falcon 
 breeds in any part of the British islands, neither can the fact 
 of its so breeding be denied, because, in all places, its nest is 
 situated so high among the crags of the rocks, that it is 
 difficult to be seen, and still more difficult to be reached. 
 But if it does not breed there, it pays occasional visits to the 
 northern and western isles, more especially to those places of 
 them that abound with rock-doves ; and few sights can be 
 finer than that of the jer-falcon driving through a flock of 
 these. When the falcon comes within sight of her prey, she 
 bounds upwards, every stroke of the wings producing a per- 
 pendicular leap, as if she were climbing those giant stairs into 
 which nature moulds the basaltic rocks ; and when she has 
 "got the sky" of her prey to a sufficient height for gaining 
 the necessary impetus, her wings shiver for a moment as she 
 works herself into perfect command and poise, and to the 
 full extent of her energy. Then, prone she dashes, with so 
 much velocity, that the impression of her path remains on 
 the eye, in the same manner as that of the shooting meteor 
 or the flashing lightning, and you fancy that there is a 
 torrent of falcon rushing for fathoms through the air. The 
 stroke is as unerring as the motion is fleet. If it take effect 
 in the body, the bird is trussed and the hunt is over ; but if 
 a wing only is broken, the maimed bird is allowed to flutter 
 to the earth, and another is marked out for the collision of 
 death. It sometimes happens that the mountain crow comes 
 in for the wounded game ; but in order to do so, it must 
 
THE PEKEGRINE FALCON. 91 
 
 proceed stealthily along the ground, for woe betide it if it 
 rises on the wing, and meets the glance of the falcon. The 
 raven himself never scoops out another eye, if he rises to 
 tempt that one ; and it is by no means improbable that, in 
 the early season, in those cold northern countries, when the 
 lambs are young and the flocks weak, and the crows and 
 ravens prowl about blinding and torturing, the jer-falcon 
 may be of considerable service to the shepherd. 
 
 Though the distance from Iceland to those parts of Scot- 
 land and the isles where the jer-falcon is seen be about five 
 hundred miles, that is merely a morning journey for the 
 bird, from which it can easily return the same evening. Its 
 flight on long journeys is not so well ascertained, and pro- 
 bably not so swift, as that of the peregrine ; but still it is 
 certainly more than one hundred miles an hour ; so that the 
 bird can easily leave Iceland in the morning, dine and take 
 its siesta in Sutherland or Ross, and return to Iceland before 
 night. 
 
 Like the golden eagle, the jer-falcon is found only in the 
 wilds, and therefore its habits in a state of nature are much 
 less known than those of many of the tribe. In those parts 
 of Scotland where it is most likely to be seen, it is difficult to 
 say whether you would have longer to wait for a fair day or 
 a jer-falcon. * 
 
 * Mr. Thompson, in his Contributions to the Natural History of 
 Ireland, thus writes : " The following note appears under the head of 
 Jer-Falcon, in the MS. of the late John Teinpleton, Esq.* In 1803 
 1 received the skin of a bird of this species, which had been shot near 
 Eandalstown, (Country Antrim.)' In a letter from John P. Stewart, 
 Esq., dated Rockhill, Letterkenny, Feb. 3, 1837, it is mentioned that 
 there is in his collection a jer-talcon which was killed in a rabbit- 
 warren, close to Duiifanaghy, when on the wing. It is said to exhibit 
 the mature plumage of the mule, which sex it proved to be on dissection ; 
 as described by Teinminck, the only point of difference being that the 
 specimen in question has the bluish cere and tarsi of his young bird/* 
 (Mag. Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. p. 51.) M. 
 
92 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 The jer-falcon is a large, strong, and rather weighty bird? 
 very close and thick in its plumage, and altogether perhaps 
 the most compact of the birds of prey. It length is about 
 twenty inches, the stretch of its wings nearly four feet, and 
 its weight at least two pounds. The colour is very much 
 like that of the lichens on its native rocks white, dull grey, 
 and dusky. The neck, breast, belly, and long feathers on the 
 legs are white, with dusky lines on the neck and breast, and 
 similar lines, interspersed with arrow-point spots, on the 
 other parts below. The back and wings are dusky, the 
 feathers margined with greyish white, and having large spots 
 of the same colour. The tail, which consists of twelve 
 round-pointed feathers, and is rather long, is darker grey, 
 with black shafts to the feathers, and- about twelve regular 
 dusky bars. The feet, cere, and naked space round the eyes 
 are bluish yellow in the mature bird, and inclining to blue in 
 the young. The bill, which has the tooth less prominent 
 than most of the falcons, and a sort of double, is bluish ; but 
 the tip is black, and so are the claws, and the shafts of the 
 more strong and decided feathers. The young are more 
 dusky than the old, and have the naked parts so much more 
 blue, that they have sometimes been considered different 
 species. The eggs are two or four in number. Birds that 
 pair uniformly, generally lay their eggs in even numbers, 
 though there are, of course, casual exceptions. 
 
 The jer-falcon can live in any climate ; and from its 
 strength, its daring, and the certainty of its stroke, it is more 
 prized in falconry than any other, but it is very difficult to 
 train ; and therefore, in the days of falconry, it brought a 
 very high price. 
 
 It is possible that the jer-falcon which abounds in Norway, 
 and the Iceland one, are different species : the latter paler in 
 colour, and more powerful. 
 
THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 93 
 
 THE PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus). 
 
 On the opposite plate there is a figure of the peregrine 
 falcon (female), one-sixth of the lineal dimensions. 
 
 It is much less than the jer-falcon, but more gracefully 
 formed ; and though less terrible and more docile than that, 
 it is withal a very bold and powerful bird. The full-grown 
 female is sometimes seventeen inches long, and more than 
 three feet and a half in the extent of the wings. The male is 
 two or three inches shorter, and narrower in proportion. 
 
 The head, nape, a patch under the eye, and the whole 
 upper part of the bird, are dusk, inclining to grey in some 
 part, and to brown in others ; the bends of the wings, and 
 edges of some of the feathers, relieved by greyish white. 
 The rump and tail coverts rather paler and bluer than the 
 rest of the upper part. The tail feathers with rather obscure 
 dusky lines, the one at the point the broadest. The throat, 
 sides of the neck, and all the under parts white, passing into 
 cream-colour on the breast, and into light grey on the long 
 feathers of the legs, marked with bars and arrow-head spots 
 of dusky. The quills are dusky j and the first one having 
 very little outer web towards its tip, gives the point of the 
 wing great firmness. The male wants the cream colour on 
 the breast, and the upper plumage is more inclining to brown. 
 Naked skin yellow, and irides dark brown ; bill bluish, the 
 tip, and the claws, which are very sharp, black. Bill strong, 
 and tooth in it very prominent. 
 
 Among rapacious birds, the peregrine falcon more emi- 
 nently deserves the name of the "poulterer;" because, though 
 it flies at other game, it seems to be placed as the natural 
 regulator of the numbers of these. It inhabits the wilds 
 next in latitude and loneliness of situation to the jer-falcon, 
 and seldom nestles in the low countries, and never in the 
 marshy ones. But it is not so fortified against the cold as 
 
94 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 the jer-falcon, and therefore its nest is usually found on the 
 sunny side of the mountains. Insulated rocks near the 
 margin of the rich country, and even near the sea, are much 
 more favourite retreats with the peregrine than the fastness 
 of the mountains. Accordingly, we do not meet with it 
 beating the summit ridges of the Grampians, but it is very 
 frequently met with on those secondary slopes where grous 
 are most abundant ; and it will sometimes take a dash over 
 the farm, and levy its contribution upon the rabbit warren, 
 or even the poultry-yard. 
 
 The peregrine falcon is one of those birds that appear to be 
 less numerous than they really are. It nestles in wild places; 
 and as the powerful birds of prey are as remarkable for their 
 repose when not preying, as for their boldness and activity 
 when they are, it spends much of its time in quiet, and spends 
 the more, the more abundant that prey is in its neighbour- 
 hood. Hence it lives the most in retirement in those places 
 which are the best adapted for it ; and, as the smaller hawks 
 and kites are not very fond of it as a neighbour, it keeps its 
 preserve in a great measure to itself.* 
 
 * " It may be stated/' says Mr. Thompson, " in general terms, that 
 the peregrine falcon occurs in suitable localities throughout Ireland. In 
 the four maritime counties of Ulster it has many eyries ; and in Antrim, 
 whose basaltic precipices are favourable for this purpose, seven at least 
 might be enumerated ; of these only one is inland. At the Gohbins 
 regularly frequented by a pair, there were two nests, in one year within 
 an extent of rock considerably less than a mile. This is the only instance 
 known to me, of so close an approximation on the part of the peregrine 
 falcon. Even at the Horn in Donegal, where the extent of precipices is 
 very great and continuous, we met with but a pair of these birds, and 
 were informed that they contain only one other eyrie." 
 
 We have known this species breed near the Needles in the Isle of 
 Wight, the sea-fowl there affording it abundance of food. 
 
 This species is distinct from the great-footed falcon of North America, 
 (Falco Anatum, Bonap.) with which, till very recently, it has been con- 
 founded. Both, however, agree in changing their hunting-grounds with 
 the season. In the northern parts of the continent the peregrine falcon 
 
THE PEREGRINE FALCOX. 95 
 
 Its onward flight, from the length of which it gets its 
 name, is exceedingly rapid. Montagu says, as much as 150 
 miles in the hour ; and probably that is not an over-estimate ; 
 for there is no high-flying bird, of anything approaching to 
 its size, that gets so soon beyond the range of the eye as the 
 peregrine falcon. Its pointed wings, too, enable it to turn 
 and double with much ease ; so that escape from it by any 
 bird on the wing is exceedingly difficult. The peregrine fal- 
 con strikes with the beak as well as the talons, though not so 
 generally as the smaller hawks ; and it also strikes birds as 
 well as small quadrupeds upon the ground ; but its common 
 habit is to strike them on the wing, and it often gives chase 
 at very long distances. Its proper game, the gallinse, from 
 the heaviness of their flight, and the difficulty they have in 
 turning, are soon dispatched, and the chase seldom lasts a 
 minute : but with pigeons and ducks, and other birds that 
 have much command of themselves in the air, it is generally 
 of longer duration, and has been known to extend, including 
 doublings, to nine or ten miles, performed, including the 
 turns, at the rate of about a mile in a minute, and at double 
 that velocity, or more, upon the stretches. The heron is the 
 hardest game for the falcon, because of the height at which 
 the heron flies, the consequent difficulty of the falcon getting 
 above him, and the small power which it has over any bird 
 that is not lower than itself. The heron strains hard to keep 
 the sky of its enemy, because, while it can do so, it is per- 
 fectly safe ; and when it is mastered in that, it has still the 
 resource of charging by doubling back the neck, and project- 
 ing its sharp-pointed bill upwards behind the wing. That 
 
 passes southward and eastward on the approach of winter; and Risso 
 states that it appears in the south of Europe in autumn, and departs in 
 spring. In the British islands this bird appears to be only partially 
 migratory. Mr. Thompson observes, that in autumn and winter, he has 
 met with it in Ireland very far remote from any of its native rocks. 
 
 M. 
 
96 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 serves a double purpose, preserving the head and neck from 
 the stroke of the falcon, and also presenting a point upon 
 which, if the falcon should come, she would be transfixed, 
 and the heron escape in safety. In these cases, the falcon 
 strikes at the wing ; and if the stroke takes effect, and the 
 bird descends, the falcon follows, and strikes again at the 
 head or neck, and soon brings the heron lifeless to the ground. 
 The rush of the peregrine is perhaps not so tempestuous as 
 that of the jer-falcon, which has altogether more of the habits 
 of the eagle ; but its style of flight, especially when on the 
 chase, is much finer. There are many instances recorded of 
 the amazing power of flight in falcons ; one of the most 
 remarkable is that of one belonging to Henry IY. of France, 
 which was found in Malta, 1350 miles from Fontainbleau, 
 within twenty-four hours after quitting the latter place. 
 
 The peregrine, as possessing the greatest courage, power, 
 and tractability jointly, is the falcon par excellence of the fal- 
 coners. The falcon always means the female, and the male is 
 called the tercel. When one year old, and before the plumage 
 acquires the grey that characterises the mature bird, the 
 female is called a red falcon, and the male a red tercel. 
 When fully plumed and trained (and she has not her full 
 superiority over the male till in her mature plumage), the 
 female is the gentil, or gentil falcon, so called, partly from 
 her docility, and partly because she never turns " down the 
 wind," or stoops to ignoble game, as some of the other hawks, 
 and even the tercel peregrine, are apt to do. The name 
 yentil, which is the opposite of "low" or "vulgar," was, how- 
 ever, applied to all good hawks, even to some of the short- 
 winged ones, such as the gos-hawk. 
 
 Most of the hawks, especially those in which there is much 
 difference between the colours of the young and the full- 
 grown bird, are liable to considerable variations in the general 
 tint and marking of the mature plumage. 
 
THE LANXER. 97 
 
 The peregrine is exceedingly bold and daring, and so little 
 afraid of men and dogs, that it will sometimes join the 
 hunters in the lower moors, and if no shots are fired, strike 
 and cany off a portion of the game. It was, in all proba- 
 bility, that habit which first led to the training of it ; and 
 those who are fond of field sports must, in these cases, regret 
 that the falcon is not, as in the olden time, their servant, and 
 not their rival. As to the mere slaughtering of birds, the 
 gun (with a tolerable shot) probably kills more in one day 
 than the falcon would in a week ; but the falcon kills the 
 birds when they are stronger on the wing, and in better con- 
 dition and the sport, from the beautiful action of the falcon, 
 is much finer. One regrets, therefore, that it has become 
 unfashionable in the real sports of the field. To let birds fly 
 from the hand, in order that they may be pounced by the 
 falcon, is probably cruel, and certainly vulgar, just as it is to 
 turn out a tame buck to the hounds, or let the birds from the 
 trap, at that most ignoble of all killing sports, a pigeon- 
 match ; but when the birds fly strong and the falcon is sure 
 and true, in wild nature it is indeed glorious sport ; though 
 sport which those who are grinding the flesh of a lamb that 
 feil by the butcher's knife feelingly designate as cruel. 
 
 THE LANNER (Falco lanariiis) 
 
 Bears some resemblance to the peregrine, but it is smaller. 
 It is said to be abundant on the southern slopes of the Carpa- 
 thian mountains ; but its appearance in Britain, even as a 
 straggler, is rather doubtful. 
 
 THE HOBBY 
 
 The hobby is a bold and beautiful little bird, the pere- 
 grine falcon in miniature, in form and habits, only more 
 deeply tinted and rich in its plumage. In wing, it is pro- 
 portionally even more powerful than the peregrine, the wings 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 being a little longer in proportion, and when closed extend- 
 ing beyond the tail. Its length is about a foot, its breadth 
 two feet three, and its weight less than half a pound. 
 
 The naked parts of the hobby are yellow, the bill a blacker 
 blue than that of the peregrine, and the irides reddish orange, 
 which gives the eyes a more fiery expression an expression 
 more resembling the eyes of the jer-falcon, than the brown 
 irides of the falcon. The upper part of the bird is greyish 
 black, the feathers relieved by a higher shade at the margins, 
 and having a sort of bronzy gloss. The chin and throat are 
 white, and the white is broken on the sides of the neck. The 
 belly is dull orange, and that and the breast are, in the male 
 bird, marked with pretty large dark spots, often crescent or 
 arrow-head shaped, as is common in the markings on the 
 under sides in all the hawks. The thighs and under tail- 
 coverts are buff-orange ; the tail feathers are greyish black, 
 with bronze spots on their inner webs ; and the quills are 
 dusky black. As is the case in the peregrine, the middle toe 
 is very long and strong, and acts immediately against the 
 hinder one. 
 
 The hobby is a summer bird of passage, and it is the only 
 British bird of prey that is so. It arrives in April, and soon 
 after begins to build its nest, which it does in lofty trees ; 
 but it sometimes avails itself of the deserted nest of some 
 resident bird that builds earlier, such as the crow or the mag- 
 pie. The eggs are from two to four, which appears to be the 
 average minimum and maximum of the whole tribe. The 
 young, which have more reddish orange or bronze in the 
 back than the old birds, are fully feathered by the begin- 
 ning of September, and in October the whole depart to 
 warmer climes. 
 
 The hobby is a local bird with us, being confined to Eng- 
 land, and seldom reaching northward of the central heights 
 of that part of the island. It is the contrast of the peregrine 
 
THE HOBBY. 99 
 
 falcon in its favourite haunts, and is as strictly a bird of the 
 cultivated land, as that is of the open wilds. It nestles in 
 the wood, indeed, and often in the depth of the forest, if not 
 very extensive ; but it haunts in the fields, and though one 
 would be apt to suppose that, as it comes with the summer 
 birds of passage, it would feed on them, yet its favourite 
 game is the lark, which it assails even at its greatest height 
 in the sky. That height is, indeed, often so considerable, 
 and the one bird so intent on capturing, and the other on 
 escaping, that their manoeuvres can be better seen than most 
 chaces by birds of prey. The hobby has to keep the lark 
 both up and down ; for if there is good cover on the ground, 
 the lark can drop like a stone, and be safe ; and if the lark 
 can keep above the hobby, it is pretty safe also. On walking 
 across a tufted field, or by the side of a common, one may 
 sometimes observe a lark falling as if shot, only there is no 
 turning, and no flutter of the feathers ; and when it does so 
 fall, although at a very little distance (and one would be 
 inclined to think that it falls near a person or an animal 
 grazing, in order that these may scare the pursuer), it cannot 
 easily be seen ; and if it is, it has squatted so close, and is in 
 a state of such violent palpitation, that it may be taken with 
 the hand. If a lark is found acting thus, there is very 
 generally a hobby to be seen, darting off in that indignant 
 manner which birds of prey show when they lose their game. 
 At pairing time, the larks drop in a similar manner; but 
 that is earlier than the arrival of the hobby : and when they 
 alight they may be seen running along, or heard " churring" 
 an end of their exhilarating stave. 
 
 When the hobby so far gets command of the lark as to 
 keep it to his height (and that is generally the case) the 
 chace is often rather a protracted one. The lark is not, in 
 proportion, so well winged as the hobby ; for the lark has 
 wings only for one-tenth the weight of that bird, and its 
 
 H2 
 
100 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 weight is about a fifth ; but still the krk is a bird of no 
 mean flight. On a stretch, it would soon be overtaken ; but 
 it wheels and doubles, and often throws the pursuer out to a 
 considerable distance. But the hobby has an excellent eye, 
 and not only makes up rapidly, but actually turns the wheel- 
 ings of the lark to account, by crossing to meet it on the 
 return ; and as fear and exertion together wear out the lark, 
 the hobby dashes in by a desperate effort, and the lark is no 
 more. 
 
 The hobby also flies at snipes, young partridges, and many 
 other birds. It is bold, can continue a long time on the 
 wing, and, though light, it acquires no small force from the 
 rapidity of its motions. The hobby was one of the noble 
 hawks, and for small game a very favourite one. 
 
 THE MERLIN (Falco (BSdlon). 
 
 The merlin is another of the small falcons, but, like the 
 hobby, very bold and rapid on the wing : and it is more 
 remarkable for the difference in colour between the two 
 sexes, than any of those already noticed. The prevailing 
 colour of the male on the upper parts is greyish blue, with 
 black markings, and the shafts of the feathers black. On 
 the under side it is white on the breast, passing into salmon 
 colour toward the sides of the neck, and on the belly and 
 long feathers of the legs marked with lines, arrow-head spots, 
 and lines of dusky. The lines are most conspicuous on the 
 under sides of the quills, the spots on the flanks and belly, 
 and the sides of the neck. Tips of the tail feathers white ; 
 about an inch within that, dusky black ; the rest of the 
 feathers bluish grey, with dusky bars on the inner webs. 
 The bars vary considerably in number, and, indeed, the 
 colour of the whole plumage is subject to considerable 
 variations. That might be expected from the difference that 
 there is between the colour of the young and the mature 
 
THE MERLIN. 101 
 
 bird ; for when that is the case, the male plumage sometimes 
 stops at one of the intermediate stages, and has often led to 
 an unnecessary multiplication of the species. 
 
 The female merlin is quite a lady's hawk, and would 
 remain so, if the dames of England were again to temper 
 their beauty in the autumnal winds, and so secure the full 
 life-rent of it, undisturbed. It is a little and a light bird, 
 and for spirit there is no comparison. The naked parts are 
 lemon yellow, irides hazel, and the bill, which is beautifully 
 shaped, dark blue, head mottled brown, with a white patch 
 round the eye, divided by a longitudinal dusky line, which 
 makes the upper part of the white appear like an eyebrow. 
 The white on the neck nearly forms a collar, lined in front, 
 and dropped on the sides with brown. The under parts 
 white, brown, and grey, with dusky spots, the markings 
 continued under the wings. The upper part grey-brown and 
 dusky, finely mottled. The tail, which is peculiarly hand- 
 some, contains one dusky feather in the middle \ those at the 
 sides brown, with white tips, and very regular bars of very 
 pale reddish brown. When the wings are half raised,' and 
 the tail partially spread, the merlin falcon is perhaps the 
 handsomest of all hawks. The whole length is nearly the 
 same as that of the hobby, but the spread of the wings is 
 two inches less ; the tail is, however, more than an inch 
 longer, so that, weight for weight, the merlin is the better 
 winged bird of the two. The weight is not six ounces ; that 
 of the hobby is about seven. 
 
 The merlin is a resident bird, and described as being rather 
 rare, though probably it is more abundant than is generally 
 supposed ; its habits and its small size tend to make it less 
 generally seen than many other birds, which, though they 
 come more into sight, are really less abundant. In the 
 breeding season, the merlin frequents the bleak moor, and 
 constructs its nest in stony places, and sometimes, though 
 
102 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 rarely, in a bush. Its eggs are more numerous than those of 
 the larger falcons, being sometimes as many as six. The 
 birds are not, however, numerous in proportion to the eggs ; 
 and hence it is supposed that, in the absence of the female 
 bird, they are sometimes destroyed by crows, and probably 
 by weasels. The stony moors in the south of Scotland and 
 north of England, with some parts of the Welsh mountains, 
 where small birds are more plentiful than in more elevated 
 and remote places, appear to be the favourite haunts of the 
 merlin. But the time when the merlin is on the moors is 
 the time when they are little frequented, except by the 
 shepherds, and they, though generally shrewd observers of 
 the weather, do not pay much attention to natural history. 
 By the time that autumnal sporting commences, the little 
 birds have mostly flocked, and come down either to winter 
 in warmer and more abundant pastures, or preparatory to 
 their departure from the country. The merlins accompany 
 them as far as the southern parts of England, and probably, 
 in many instances across the channel; but they preserve 
 their retired habits. As both prey and preyer fly rapidly 
 at that season, the merlin is not very often seen, and as it 
 gives chase in long flight, and does not beat like the short- 
 winged birds of prey, it vanishes almost as soon as it is got 
 sight of.* 
 
 THE KESTREL (Falco tinnunculus). 
 
 The kestrel, though much less bold and noble in its hunting 
 than the merlin, is a very beautiful bird ; and it is one of the 
 most common of all our birds of prey. It is also little, if 
 
 * The merlin is indigenous is Ireland, breeding in the mountains of 
 the counties of Londonderry, of Down, of Antrim, Tipperary, &c. In 
 the winter these birds descend to the low grounds, and to the shore, 
 where they give chace to dunlins (Tringa variabilis) and similar waders. 
 
 M. 
 
THE KESTREL. 103 
 
 at all, destructive of game, unless when they are in a very 
 young state, so that its manners do not so much expose it to 
 persecution, except that general persecution which it receives 
 on account of being a hawk. 
 
 The kestrel is of the same weight as the hobby, and has 
 the same extent of wing, but it is two inches longer, and 
 altogether a more slender bird, and weaker in the beak and 
 the talons. The female, which is the finer and larger bird, 
 is reddish brown on the whole of the upper part, with arrow- 
 head, dusky spots on the head, back, and wing-coverts, and 
 dusky bars on the tail, the last one broad, and the tips of the 
 feathers margined with cream colour. The quills, which 
 are twenty-two in number, are dusky, relieved by white 
 margins. The under part is reddish cream-colour with in- 
 distinct dusky lines. The male, after the first year, during 
 which it very much resembles the female, has the head and 
 tail grey, the back brighter red and with fewer spots, and 
 the under part redder, and the spots more distinct. It also 
 has the feathers on the chin more produced, and a black 
 stripe proceeding from the gape, which gives the light grey 
 above the eye the appearance of an eye-brow. 
 
 The eye of the kestrel is peculiarly brilliant; the irides are 
 rich brown, which contrasts well with the dark stripe and 
 the pale feathers at the base of the bill and over the eye. 
 The bill is very short, and the notch nearly obliterated, and 
 there are two rows of small teeth pointing downwards upon 
 the palate, not unlike those with which the tongues of the 
 beasts of prey are beset. The whole structure of the bird 
 indicates that it is less adapted for pursuing winged game, 
 pulling feathers, and tearing flesh, than the other long-winged 
 hawks, and its habits correspond with these differences of 
 structure. 
 
 Popular names are often much more expressive of the 
 habits of animals than those which have been adopted for 
 
104 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 scientific purposes, and that is peculiarly the case with the 
 kestrel. Two of its popular synonymes are, the " stannel " 
 and the " wind-hover ;" and these, which by the way have 
 nearly the same meaning, are remarkably descriptive of the 
 action of the bird in the air. " Stannel," or " stand-gall," 
 as it is sometimes pronounced, is " stand-gale," and " wind- 
 hover " is " hoverer in the wind," both of which express that 
 wonderful power of poising or anchoring itself over a par- 
 ticular spot, despite the wind, which the kestrel possesses in 
 greater perfection than any other hawk. 
 
 The kestrel is, altogether, an intermediate sort of bird; 
 and though it flies moderately high, and of course generally 
 in the daylight, it has some of the habits of the owls. It is, 
 therefore, more worthy of the attention of those who wish 
 thoroughly to understand the characters of birds than some 
 of the more powerful and daring hawks. In onward flight 
 it has not the dash and rapidity of these; but its power of 
 hovering over the same spot, in defiance of the wind, is much 
 greater; and, when that is necessary, it comes down in beau- 
 tiful style. While it is hovering, the motions of the wings, 
 when they do move, are exceedingly rapid, and the head 
 is bent downwards and turned to one side, so that the eye 
 commands a considerable circle of ground, over the centre of 
 which it is hovering. We have no reason to suppose that 
 the range of its vision is equal to that of the eagle, because 
 it does not fly nearly so high, or command nearly so wide an 
 extent of horizon; but it is so acute that not a mouse can 
 stir within its range, without the kestrel being down upon 
 it, and pouncing it with the most unerring certainty. Mice 
 and unfledged birds, but especially the former, are the chief prey 
 at which it stoops. It swallows them entire, and thus "casts" 
 more than those hawks which pull feathers and tear flesh. 
 
 The kestrel continues its hunting to a later hour than 
 those hawks which feed principally upon birds ; and in the 
 
THE KESTREL. 105 
 
 bright twilights, especially those that break up after showers, 
 when the light is given back again by the clear drops upon 
 the leaves, and the larger beetles are numerous on the wing, 
 the kestrel may often be observed not hovering to stoop to 
 the earth, but hawking on the wing. Selby, whose self- 
 observed facts are always worthy of confidence, was among 
 the first to mention its exploits in thinning the numbers of 
 that arch enemy of the lawn and the meadow, the cock- 
 chafer; but it preys equally upon all the larger twilight 
 beetles and on some of the moths, which it clutches with the 
 foot, and conveys to the bill without pausing in its flight. 
 The smallness and distance of its general prey, require a 
 wonderful power and certainty of eye in the kestrel, and as 
 it preys chiefly upon those animals only which man considers 
 as nuisances, and is anxious to destroy, it is less deserving of 
 persecution than any of the other hawks, even from those 
 who are most inconsiderately prone to persecute the whole 
 race. The brightness of its colours, too, and more especially 
 the gracefulness of its motions, render the kestrel a very 
 interesting bird, and the one which of all birds of prey it is 
 perhaps the most pleasant, and certainly the easiest to study. 
 One would be almost tempted to believe that the birds of 
 prey have an instinctive knowledge when, in the pursuit of 
 their prey, they trench on the province of man. The eagle 
 and the jer-falcon never come near human habitations, the 
 peregrine comes rarely, and even the hobby and the merlin 
 are comparatively solitary birds : but the kestrel will come 
 near the dwelling, and if violence be not offered to it, it will 
 hawk about over the lawn or the garden, and assist in the 
 keeping of these. Nature is, indeed, altogether so beautifully 
 arranged, that each creature comes only where it is wanted 
 in order to contribute the most to the harmony and perfection 
 of the whole. 
 
 The LITTLE GREY KESTREL, or red-legged falcon (F. rujipes), 
 
106 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 | 
 
 which is a bird of eastern countries, and very discursive in 
 its habits, has, of late years, been occasionally shot in Norfolk. 
 The male has the back deep ashen grey, and the belly and 
 thighs red: the female has the back grey with black spots, 
 and all the under part reddish.* 
 
 HAWKS. 
 
 The hawks are shorter winged than the falcons, and have 
 the longest feather farther into the wing the fourth being 
 the longest and the first very short, and the wings, when 
 closed, seldom reaching beyond the middle of the tail. They 
 are not therefore capable of such prolonged flight or graceful 
 turning in the air as the falcons; but their direct flight is 
 very rapid, though fluttering: they are bold and courageous; 
 and they strike their prey upon the wing. Though not so 
 far-sighted as the falcons, they see more perfectly within 
 their reach, and their habit requires it, as they see their prey 
 against the ground (which often resembles the prey in colour), 
 while the falcons see theirs more against the sky. Their 
 claws are much hooked and very sharp, and the middle toe is 
 very long, as compared with the inner and outer ones ; but 
 the tarsi are, at least in some species, long and slender, and 
 the whole body is less indicative of power than that of the 
 falcons. They nestle more in trees, and frequent wooded 
 places more than the falcons; but some also build in rocks. 
 The notch in the hawk is not so conspicuous ; but the beak is 
 more used as a prehensile instrument. 
 
 THE GOS-HAWK (Ihlco palwnbarius) . 
 The gos-hawk is an exceedingly bold and powerful bird, 
 
 * A specimen of this bird was shot in the county of Wicklow, in the 
 summer of 1832. This species, which is closely allied to the hobby, is 
 common in Russia, Poland, and Austria. M. 
 
THE GOS-HAWK. 107 
 
 and in the days of falconry it was much used for flying at 
 " low game/' that is, game which remains on the ground, or 
 does not rise very high above it, such as hares, rabbits, wild 
 ducks, and the wild gallinae. 
 
 The gos-hawk is a longer bird than even the jer-falcon, but 
 the superior length is in the tail feathers rather than in the 
 body, and it is shorter in the wings and altogether less com- 
 pact and powerful, while it is not nearly so elegant as the 
 peregrine; but still it is a very fine bird, and justly entitled 
 to be considered as the model of the short-winged or low- 
 flighted hawks. In the full grown female the general colour 
 of the whole upper parts, the ear coverts, and a streak con- 
 tinued thence to the shoulder, is blackish brown, the back 
 mottled, the edges of the ear coverts relieved, and the quills 
 and tail feathers margined with light tints of reddish brown. 
 Between the nostril and the eye is grey, and the rest of the 
 under part white, with numerous arrow-head spots and lines 
 of brown, which are very delicate on the long feathers of the 
 legs, and obscure or wanting on the vent and under tail- 
 coverts. The tail and tail feathers are obtuse-pointed, and 
 tipped with white. The colours, though not showy, are well 
 contrasted. The naked parts are yellow, the irides grey, and 
 the eye very quick and penetrating. The male has the top 
 of the head and the neck much lighter, and a reddish tinge 
 over the greater part of the body. The spots on the under 
 part are also fewer, much paler, and generally of an oval 
 shape. The male is not above two-thirds of the length of 
 the female, is not nearly so well shouldered or winged, and 
 altogether a very inferior bird. The gos-hawk is not so pro- 
 lific as the fe smaller falcons and hawks, the eggs seldom if ever 
 exceeding four. The young are much more of a red or rusty 
 colour, especially on the under parts, than the mature birds. 
 They pass through several tints of plumage, and as is the 
 case with most birds which do that, the permanent colour 
 
108 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 which they at last take is not uniform. Sometimes they are 
 (the males especially) nearly white, and at other times the 
 same sex is tawny with few markings. 
 
 The favourite dwellings of the gos-hawk are the extensive 
 wooded dells of the mountains or the wild cliffs on the sea 
 shore, where it can nestle undisturbed and yet be within 
 reach of places abounding with the large birds and small 
 quadrupeds on which it feeds. But it is one of those birds 
 that flit before the progress of cultivation, and hence it never 
 builds and is rarely seen in the Lowlands of Scotland, and 
 more rarely in England. In inland places it builds in the 
 forests, and is generally found near these, because krge birds 
 are much more abundant there than on the open wastes. 
 The remains of the natural pine forests, on the east part of 
 the Grampians between the Dee and the Spey, in Strathglass, 
 and in some of the glens that open into the line of the Cale- 
 donian canal, are the favourite inland haunts of the gos- 
 hawk. It is probable, also, that the extensive artificial 
 plantations in Athol, Moray, and other places, may have 
 brought it back, though not in great numbers. Where the 
 gos-hawk abounds, it is very destructive to mountain game, 
 especially in close-time, when it kills the old birds, and the 
 broods perish. The gos-hawk is docile, and not difficult to 
 train. It was on this account called a "gentil" falcon, at 
 least in some of its plumages. Though its action is not so 
 grand as that of the falcon, there is a great deal of stir and 
 energy about it, and it is nowise inferior as a "pot-fowler" if 
 the ground for it be judiciously chosen. The gos-hawk is 
 found in the wild parts of most countries, with the exception 
 of low marshy ones. 
 
 THE SPARROW-HAWK (FalcO 
 
 Though this hawk is bold and daring enough to come near 
 the house for the purpose of killing sparrows, yet sparrows 
 
THE SPARROW-HAWK. 109 
 
 are not its only or even its favourite game. It is a very 
 general and successful destroyer; and, in the female especially, 
 by no means destitute of power. 
 
 The difference in size between the sexes is not quite so 
 great as in the gos-hawk the male being only one-fifth less 
 than the female, the length of which is about fifteen inches. 
 The female is, however, a far more compact and powerful 
 bird, and her additional weight is much more than in pro- 
 portion to the length. 
 
 There is some resemblance to the gos-hawk in the general 
 shape and air of the body, as well as in the general colour 
 and markings of the plumage, and in the male being redder 
 on the under part than the female. The upper part of the 
 full-grown female is blackish-grey, barred with darker, and 
 mixed with brown on the back and shoulders; the ear-coverts 
 and sides of the neck brownish, with a mottled white band 
 passing from the forehead over the orbit of each eye (which 
 is very prominent), and nearly meeting on the neck. The 
 under part is white, tinged with brownish on the belly, and 
 marked with transverse brownish bars. The irides are bright 
 yellow, and the naked parts pale, the tarsi being very long 
 and comparatively slender. The male is nearly similar on 
 the upper part, but wants the white on the head and neck. 
 They build in thick bushes and low trees, sometimes forming 
 a rude structure of twigs for themselves, and sometimes 
 making use of the nest of some bird that breeds earlier. 
 The crow tribe, and those other birds that agree with them 
 in the habit of plundering nests, are among the earliest 
 breeders, and have their young about the time that the 
 generality of birds are laying their eggs. Birds that prey 
 upon other birds breed later, and when they nestle in the 
 same places as they hunt, as is in so far the case with the 
 sparrow-hawk, they often occupy the deserted nests of the 
 egg-stealers. 
 
110 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 Sparrow-hawks, from their general distribution, their 
 daring, and the voracity of their young, kill a vast number 
 of birds, probably more than any other birds of prey; and 
 these not merely little birds, but birds of large size and 
 powerful wing, such as the lapwing, the snipe, and the 
 pigeon. While the gos-hawk keeps to the large and lonely 
 wood, the sparrow-hawk is the plunderer of the coppice, the 
 hedge-row, and the corn-field ; and it is more incessantly on 
 the wing than any other bird of prey, and perhaps strikes 
 more forcibly in proportion to its size and weight. 
 
 Both species of hawks are very indiscriminate in their 
 slaughtering, and do not, it is said, spare even the weaker 
 ones of their own species ; for that reason, it is difficult to 
 rear males and females in the same cage, as the latter are 
 very apt to kill and eat the former. 
 
 The hawks resemble the falcons in many of their cha- 
 racters, and also in generally pouncing upon their prey on 
 the wing ; but they differ in their lower flight, their shorter 
 and rounder wings, their bill not curving so sharply at the 
 base, and being without the prominent tooth of the falcons. 
 They differ little in activity, or if they do, the hawks are 
 probably on the whole more active than the falcons. 
 
 There are two other divisions of rapacious birds, which 
 agree with each other in their very low flight, and in striking 
 their prey upon the ground, but differ essentially in many 
 parts of their characters. These are Harriers and Buzzards. 
 
 HARRIERS. 
 
 The harriers are birds of considerable size, power, and 
 extent of wing, very indefatigable in their hunting, and 
 highly destructive of the feathered tribes, and also of rabbits. 
 They have not the grandeur of the falcons, neither have they 
 quite the vigour of the hawks; and they are not so power- 
 fully armed as either of these. Their beaks and feet are 
 
HARRISES. Ill 
 
 more feeble, and their claws smaller ; they fly very low, and 
 strike their prey on the ground, that prey consisting more of 
 young birds and of females when they are sitting, than that 
 of the hawks, as the prey of the hawks consists of less power- 
 fully winged birds than that of the falcons. 
 
 It is from this habit that they get the name of " harriers," 
 which is synonymous with that of plunderers. They are 
 also sometimes called "harpies;" and as they often beat the 
 bushes so low that their feet touch, it is possible that they 
 may have given rise to some of the fabulous accounts of 
 griffins, one of the characters of which was supposed to be a 
 combination of the functions of walking and flying. The 
 harriers do not combine these; but they fly so near the 
 ground, and have their feet so ready for assisting in the 
 capture of any prey they may spy, that they often appear as 
 if the feet were concerned in assisting their motion. 
 
 It was mentioned that the kestrel, which often pounces 
 upon its prey on the ground, has more power in turning the 
 head so as to take in a horizon all round it than those birds 
 which strike in the air; and as the harriers fly lower than 
 the kestrel, and consequently take in a smaller horizon, they 
 are still better furnished with the means of narrowly scruti- 
 nizing that horizon. 
 
 The majority of the diurnal birds of prey have the eyes 
 placed so far backwards laterally that they cannot see the 
 same object with both eyes, unless it is at a very considerable 
 distance ; and cannot see right before them without turning 
 the head. As their prey is also rather under them than 
 otherwise, their eyes are, in consequence of the projection of 
 the upper part of the orbit, better adapted for looking down 
 than looking up. But in the harriers the eyes are placed so 
 near each other, that both can be directed forwards; and they 
 are provided with a concha, or circle of feathers radiating 
 from the orbit, less produced and perfect than the same is in 
 
112 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 the owls, but something similar in structure and use. These 
 appendages are most conspicuous in the hen harrier, which is 
 the one that beats most about the furze, and other close and 
 tangled bushes in which so many birds nestle and conceal 
 themselves. The harriers have the wings and tail more 
 produced than the hawks, the wings more pointed, and the 
 tail rounded. There are at least three of them ; but some of 
 them are at times called buzzards, though they are far more 
 active in their habits than these birds. 
 
 THE HEN HARRIER. (FalcO CyaneUS). 
 
 The sexes in this species differ so much, both in size and 
 in plumage, that they have often been described as different 
 birds, and some astonishment has been expressed that the 
 female and nest of the grey one (which is the male) could 
 never be found. Even in the same sex, the colours are not a 
 little perplexing ; for in all birds where there are remarkable 
 differences of plumage in the sexes, and a passage from the 
 plumage of the one to that of the other with the progress to 
 maturity, as there generally is, there are not only always 
 individuals in some of the intermediate stages of the plumage, 
 but there are individuals in which the change never com- 
 pletely takes place, and others in which the plumage of the 
 other sex is partly assumed. Colours vary also with dif- 
 ference of age, situation, and season ; so that difference of 
 colour is never a sufficient foundation for difference of species. 
 Similarity of situation and habits are much more to be de- 
 pended upon. There is, at least in some parts of the country, 
 a further perplexity about these birds, arising from the fact 
 that the ash-coloured harriers, though smaller birds, different 
 in the general tint of their plumage, and local as compared 
 with the hen harriers, have yet similar differences of appear- 
 ance in the sexes. 
 - The full-grown female hen harrier is about twenty inches 
 
THE HEN HARRIER. 113 
 
 long, and three feet and a half in the extent of the wings. 
 The naked yarts are yellow, and the irides dark brown. Brown 
 and dusky white are the prevailing colours of the whole bird. 
 The head is mottled brown on the upper part, and the concha 
 round the eye is brown, immediately surrounding that organ, 
 but terminates on a white eyebrow which reaches to the cere 
 of the beak, and it is white below, but terminates in a brown 
 border. That appendage gives enforcement and expression to 
 the eye, perfectly distinct from any other of the tribe. The 
 feathers below are brown, with pale margins, and pass into 
 white at the tail coverts ; the upper part is brown, lightest 
 on the scapulars and lesser coverts, and the margins of the 
 feathers are lighter. The tail is brown, with dusky bars, and 
 the quills of the wings very deep brown, inclining to black. 
 
 In the male, the breast, head, and all the upper part, are 
 of a fine grey, lighter on those parts of the concha which are 
 white in the female, and also where the brown is lighter in 
 the upper part of that sex. The remainder of the under part 
 is white, with very faint markings ; indeed all the markings 
 on the male bird are obscure and faint j but, notwithstanding 
 this, and the difference of size and expression of the eyes (the 
 irides are yellow in the male, and brown in the female), the 
 shape and air of the birds correspond exactly. 
 
 Though the hen harriers fly low, their flight is very swift, 
 and at the same time smooth and graceful ; and they admit 
 of a nearer approach, and can be better seen, than most of 
 the birds of prey. They are not very numerous in any one 
 locality, neither are they very prolific ; but they are pretty 
 generally distributed over the country, on the edges of the 
 moors, where they may be seen beating the bushes with much 
 assiduity*: They pounce indiscriminately upon birds, reptiles, 
 and small quadrupeds. They are very destructive in pre- 
 serves, when these contain bushes in which it can nestle. 
 They even pay visits to the poultry-yard, and pounce upon 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 and carry off the chickens. The nest is on the ground, 
 generally at the base of a furze bush, and it is rude, formed 
 of a few sticks ; the eggs are without markings, often four in 
 number, but seldom six. 
 
 THE ASH-COLOURED HARRIER (Falco cineraceus). 
 
 The ash-coloured harrier has been observed only on the 
 edges of the dry bleak moors in the southern counties of 
 England. It is of the same length as the hen harrier, but 
 has each wing about two inches longer, and is only about 
 three-fourths of the weight. It is thus a bird capable of 
 very powerful flight, and may be a summer migrant. The 
 male is ash-coloured, with a tinge of brown on the upper 
 part, and white below, with an orange-brown streak on the 
 middle of each feather. Primary quills dull black, secon- 
 daries ash-colour, with obscure dusky bars ; tail ash-colour, 
 with the exception of the two middle feathers, which are 
 brown. The female is deep chocolate colour above, with pale 
 rusty margins to the feathers, and a white spot on the neck j 
 below, it is darker than the male, but the rump and tail 
 coverts are white. Eggs not exceeding four, of a pure white, 
 and deposited in rude nests under bushes. The young are 
 similar in plumage to the female ; but the sexes differ in 
 size. Like the hen harrier, it is subject to varieties of 
 colour. It is said to prey more on small birds, and to be 
 less destructive of game.* Whatever its colour may be, it is 
 easily distinguished from the other harriers by the closed 
 wings extending beyond the point of the tail, while about a 
 third of the tail projects beyond the wings in the hen harrier, 
 and about a fourth in 
 
 * Mr. Selby states that he has taken this species in Northumberland, 
 where it breeds upon the moors and open lands. M. 
 
THE MARSH HARRIER. 115 
 
 THE MARSH HARRIER (FalcO Tufus). 
 
 This is the largest and most powerful of the harriers. The 
 female is sometimes about two feet in length, and nearly four 
 and a half in the extent of the wings, weighing, when of that 
 size, at least a pound and a half. The upper plumage is rich 
 brown, with rust-coloured margins ; the head, neck, and 
 under part yellowish white, with rusty markings more or 
 less obscure. It is subject to considerable variations of 
 colour, the head and under parts being sometimes nearly 
 pure white. The male is smaller than the female, lighter in 
 the colours, and when old it often turns grey, which does not 
 appear to be the case in the female. Nest generally on the 
 ground, and the eggs pure white. These birds are not un- 
 common near extensive marshes ; but the pairs live apart 
 from each other, except sometimes during severe storms, 
 when they resort to the sandy wastes along the sea-shore. 
 They fly very low over the marshes, and, from the great 
 length of their wings, they appear much larger than they 
 really are. They prey on water birds, on the grallse, on water 
 rats and mice, on frogs, and even on fish, when they can 
 pounce upon them in the shallows. They will sometimes 
 take a turn round houses, if situated near their haunts, and 
 carry off chickens or tame ducks. They also eat carrion, 
 especially the bodies of sheep that perish in the marshes. 
 They are often found beating over rabbit warrens, when these 
 are near marshes or the shores of the sea ; and they choose 
 the mornings and the evenings after rain, when the rabbits 
 come out, at which time they kill great numbers of both old 
 and young. Their flight is rapid, however, and as the marsh 
 is more easily beat than the brake, they are not so often 
 seen, or seen so long at a time as the hen harriers. The 
 mornings, at, and a little before sunrise, when the grallaB 
 leave their nests to feed on worms before these get into the 
 
 i2 
 
116 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 earth from the sun, are the best times for observing the 
 habits of the marsh harriers. They are provincially known 
 by many names, such as duck-hawks, moor-buzzards, harpies, 
 and others. They seldom beat over dry places, and are 
 never found at very great elevations. 
 
 BUZZARDS. 
 
 The buzzards have some resemblance to the harriers, but 
 they are easily distinguished, both by their appearance and 
 their habits. They want the concha of feathers round the 
 eyes ; they have no tooth in the upper mandible ; their claws 
 are short, and less hooked than those of any of the other 
 sections ; they have the feathers on the legs very long, and 
 the tarsi much shorter than the harriers ; and their whole 
 frame seems loose and feeble; though t ne y ar ^ bold and 
 powerful birds. There are three buzzards mentioned as 
 British birds ; the common buzzard, which is abundant in 
 wooded districts ; the rough-legged buzzard, which is a native 
 of colder climates, and comes rarely to Britain as a straggler 
 in the winter j and the honey-buzzard, which also is by no 
 means common ; and though it breeds in some places, is, in 
 all probability, only a summer visitant j indeed, as it seems 
 to feed much, if not exclusively, upon winged insects, provi- 
 sions for it in the winter are but scarce. 
 
 THE COMMON BUZZARD (FalcO 
 
 The common buzzard is a large bird, more than twenty 
 inches in length, and four feet in the stretch of the wings ; 
 but the wings are neither so well formed nor so fit for rapid 
 flight as those of the marsh harrier. The bird weighs about 
 two pounds ; but it looks clumsy. 
 
 It builds in trees, the eggs being large, and seldom if ever 
 exceeding four in number. As the places that it frequents 
 abound in game, the buzzard finds its food with less labour 
 than any other of the diurnal birds of prey. It continues 
 
THE COMMON BUZZARD. 117 
 
 perched on some hollow tree, and waits till the prey comes 
 within its reach, and then it leaps down to secure and dis- 
 patch it. It is, in fact, the only diurnal rapacious bird that 
 preys in the thick of the forests and on the ground in these j 
 and though when we compare it with those hawks which 
 drive through the air or beat the bushes or the waste, it 
 seems an indolent creature, yet vigilance is its habit, and the 
 only one that is well adapted to the places which it frequents. 
 To beat a forest of tall trees by flying over it, would answer 
 very little purpose, and to beat through the branches would 
 be impossible for a day bird that depended on the light of 
 the sun. The habit of the buzzard, therefore, though differ- 
 ent from that of any of the other diurnal birds of prey, is 
 just as finely adapted to the places which it frequents as that 
 of any of the others ; and the peregrine for all its speed, and 
 the harrier for all its diligence, would find but a small supply 
 in those places where the buzzard fares abundantly. The 
 prey which it takes, too, is so situated that man could not 
 easily take it ; and therefore there would be a blank in 
 nature, a want of something to preserve the balance between 
 animals and their food, if the woodland were despoiled of its 
 buzzards. But when the wood is cut down, and the animals 
 over which the buzzard is set as a sort of regulator are dis- 
 persed or betake themselves to open localities, they meet with 
 new regulators, and the buzzard disappears. 
 
 Buzzards vary a good deal in colour, but the prevailing 
 tints are : rich brown edged with yellowish brown on the 
 upper part, white on the throat, and yellowish white on the 
 belly, the former marked with streaks, and the latter with 
 arrow-point spots of brown, the quills and tail feathers barred 
 with blackish brown. 
 
 Besides the general rest and quiet of the buzzard, there is 
 another circumstance recorded of it, which points out the 
 general effect that plenty of food acquirable without much 
 
118 ACCIPITKES. 
 
 labour has on the habits of birds. The young buzzards are 
 said to remain in company with the old ones for a consider- 
 able time after they have left the nest, and are able to shift 
 for themselves ; whereas most of the other birds of prey soon 
 desert their young, and many drive them away. In conse- 
 quence of this social habit, the buzzard can be tamed, and, in 
 France, it is said to have been trained to bring up chickens. 
 
 THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD (Falco 
 
 The rough-legged buzzard is a much smaller bird than the 
 common one, lighter in the colours, and with the tarsi 
 feathered down to the toes. It inhabits the pine forests of 
 the north of Europe, and preys chiefly upon small quadru- 
 peds and reptiles. It rarely visits Britain, and then only the 
 eastern parts of the country, to which it appears to be driven 
 by the winds, in the course of its continental migrations. It 
 has not been noticed in Scotland, the coast of that part of 
 the island being so far west, as to be out of the line of its 
 passage.* 
 
 THE HONEY BUZZARD (FalcO O/pWOTUs). 
 
 seems also to be a mere straggling visitant ; comes only in 
 the summer, and is found (when found at all) in the southern 
 parts of the island. Its native habitat appears to be chiefly 
 in the eastern parts of the continent, where there are thick 
 and extensive forests, interspersed with pools and streams of 
 water, and abounding with the larger insects. It is more 
 handsome than the common buzzard, with the wings rather 
 
 * In the winter of 1815, Northumberland was visited by some of these 
 birds, and both living and dead specimens came under the observation of 
 Mr. Selby. Sir W. Jardine, in his edition of Wilson's American Orni- 
 thology, mentions several that have been killed in East Lothian and other 
 southern districts of Scotland. Mr. Selby states that a fine specimen, 
 shot near Alnwick in March 1828, was sent to him. Scarcely a year 
 passes without the appearance of this bird upon the rabbit-warrens in 
 Norfolk. M. 
 
KITES. 119 
 
 longer in proportion, and its habits are a little more active. 
 It preys upon smaller game, bees, wasps, beetles, dragon- 
 flies, frogs, lizards, and" occasionally small birds. Its motion 
 when hawking for its food, especially for dragon-flies near 
 the pools and streams, is very light and gliding ; and it slides 
 through the branches of trees with more apparent ease than 
 could be expected in a bird of so large a size. It migrates on 
 the continent, and in all probability passes the Mediterra- 
 nean towards winter. Its nest has been seen in some of the 
 forests of the south of England.* 
 
 The buzzards are all woodland birds, and although they 
 are adapted for and inhabit different latitudes, there is so 
 much similarity and family likeness among them, that one 
 who has seen the common buzzard, can be at no loss in 
 knowing the others, if by rare accident they should come in 
 
 his way. 
 
 KITES. 
 
 There is but one species of kite met with in the British 
 islands, the common kite, or glead (Falco milvus), but it is by 
 no means uncommon ; and its form, the style of its flight, 
 and the depredations which it commits, all tend to bring it 
 into notice. 
 
 The lineal dimensions of the kite are very considerable; 
 the wings of the female extend five feet and a half, and the 
 
 * A male specimen of the honey-buzzard was shot, September 1829, 
 in Thrunton Wood, Northumberland ; and a beautiful variety, with a 
 white head and neck, was killed in October 1831, at Cheswick, near 
 Berwick-upoii-Tweed. 
 
 On the llth of June, 1833, a fine male specimen (seen in company with 
 another, the female most probably) was shot by Robert G. Bomford, Esq., 
 in his demesne of Annan dale, in the vicinity of Belfast. The stomach 
 was full of larvae, of fragments of coleopterous insects, of whitish hairy 
 coloured caterpillars, of the pupae of a butterfly, and of fragments of the 
 pupa of the six-spot burnet-moth, together with some pieces of grass, 
 taken in, no doubt, with the pupae of the moth. (See Mag. Nat. Hist , 
 1833, vol. v. p. 447.) M. 
 
120 ACOIPITRES. 
 
 length is nearly two feet and a half, but a considerable por- 
 tion of that is occupied by the tail, the outside feathers being 
 more than a foot long ; the tail is also very broad and much 
 forked. The weight is about two pounds and three quarters, 
 which is less for the extent of the bird than that of any other 
 of the predatory tribes. The male is considerably less than 
 the female. 
 
 The feathers on the head are dull white, with dusky streaks, 
 which give it a grizzled appearance, and that is heightened by 
 the feathers of the neck being pointed. The feathers above 
 are brown, passing into reddish orange and buff toward the 
 edges ; the under parts are reddish orange, with dusk-brown 
 stripes on the belly and thighs. Upper side of the tail reddish 
 orange, with white tips ; under side reddish white, with 
 obscure brown bars. The female has the general tint of the 
 plumage more inclining to orange, and in some specimens 
 it is even greyish ; so that in some parts of the country, the 
 male is called the "red glead," and the female the "grey 
 glead." 
 
 The kite builds in trees, the nest being concealed in a fork. 
 It is a more carefully constructed fabric than that of most 
 other predatory birds, being closely formed of sticks and the 
 interior lined with wool or other soft materials. The nest is 
 not very often seen, even in those places* where the bird is 
 most common. The eggs are of considerable size, and sel- 
 dom exceed two or three. The young remain a long time in 
 the nest. 
 
 It is doubtful whether the kites are as constant in their 
 pairing as many of the other birds of prey. In the early part 
 of the season, males are not unfrequently seen in desperate 
 combat, though combat of no very dignified kind, but rather 
 a sort of scrambling and scratching ; and as it is not the habit 
 of the kite to attack any living creature nearly as large as 
 itself, or indeed any creature that can show fight, it is not to 
 
KITES. 121 
 
 be supposed that hunger is the cause of these combats ; but 
 that, however ungallant they may be in the style in which 
 they are conducted, gallantry is the principle from which they 
 proceed. 
 
 The kite has, from the extent of its wings and its tail, very 
 great command of the atmosphere and possession of itself in 
 that element. It does not beat along in straight lines, but 
 wheels in curves, which it is constantly opening and closing, 
 and always in a smooth and graceful manner, without any 
 jerks ; and if it were possible to trace a day's path of a kite, 
 it would be a very fine specimen of looped curves. The kite 
 can hover for a long time over the same spot, with very little 
 exertion of the wings and though there is a fresh breeze ; 
 and there are times (probably when it has lost sight of some 
 prize on the ground, or discovered that the prize over which 
 it was hovering was no prize at all), at which it will " give 
 itself to the wind," and drift to leeward in very beautiful 
 style, and apparently with complete self-possession. Crows 
 often do the same, especially upon the elevated moors, where 
 prey is but scanty, and they have been long contending with 
 the wind. Kites will also sometimes turn down the wind to 
 escape the more powerful falcons, which though they do not 
 attack the kite, often frighten it, and make it lose its prey ; 
 and as going down the wind is not a habit of the falcons, the 
 kite gets away from them by the manoeuvre. That manoeuvre, 
 though held in great contempt by the falcon, is by no means 
 an ungraceful or uninteresting one ; the bird rides lightly on 
 the wind, but retains its self-command, so that it can take a 
 new direction whenever it pleases. The axis of its body is 
 placed at an angle to the wind, which is smaller in proportion 
 as that is stronger ; and the windward wing is elevated, so 
 that the wind takes the under side at an angle, and tends to 
 raise the bird obliquely upward, while its weight presses 
 downward and counteracts. When looked at, the bird always 
 
122 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 has in these cases the appearance of descending as it drifts. 
 But that is an optical deception ; for all things that are higher 
 than the eye, appear to descend as they recede, even though 
 they are rising ; and the kite may often be observed to have 
 gained height, while thus appearing to float downwards. If 
 on those occasions an alarm is given, the bird hauls closer to 
 the wind, and makes off. 
 
 A kite overtaken by a whirlwind, though not an every-day 
 sight, is by no means an uninteresting one. The kite feels 
 the first action of the revolving air as if it were a breeze, 
 trims to it, and is borne upward in a spiral which gradually 
 expands as it becomes elevated, till at last the bird escapes to 
 straight flight, and takes its departure as if not quite certain 
 what may be the matter. 
 
 Though kites nestle in woods, they beat about in open 
 places, and generally places where there is not much herbage 
 on the ground. They are seldom seen over corn-fields, or 
 places which are very thickly tangled with bushes, though 
 they often hover on the margins of the brakes, to pounce upon 
 mice, and also upon young birds when these first venture from 
 the nest. The cold swards by the sides of the upland streams, 
 and the upland farms, where the pastures are thin and bare, 
 and any thing stirring on the ground can be easily discerned 
 from the height at which the kite flies, are the places at which 
 it is most frequently to be met with. In those situations, it 
 is very destructive to the young of domestic poultry ; and so 
 intent is it upon that species of depredation, that it will very 
 frequently carry off a chicken in spite of the good woman of 
 the cottage and her broom, and plenty of clamour to boot. 
 But though the kite, after it has come in contact with its 
 prey, is not easily drawn off, and instances have occurred in 
 which it has been knocked on the head, yet it will not face a 
 brood hen, or even, as is said, a partridge, when excited in 
 defence of her young. It is an adventurous and greedy thief, 
 
KITES. 123 
 
 but as for courage, it must take its place among the " passive 
 stout," that display their prowess more by suffering than by 
 doing. 
 
 A country in what may be called a half-cultivated state, 
 where the fields alternate with naked and cold wastes, and 
 the portions out of crop are covered with scanty natural 
 grasses, or in that state of slovenly and unprofitable fallow 
 which rivals the intended pastures in verdure where rag- 
 weed and mountain-daisies form tufts, equally forbidding to 
 the nose and the palate of the cattle, though these have been 
 so anatomised by storms and starvation that every bone in 
 them may be counted, and the crow and the less frequent 
 raven come hopping about as if they already scented carrion, 
 these are the places for the kite. If there are woods in the 
 vicinity, kites will nestle there ; and if there are not, they 
 will come from a considerable distance to the pasture. Kites 
 used to be exceedingly numerous in those inland parts of 
 Angus, Kincardine, and Aberdeen, where the land is cold and 
 bare, and the cottages were arranged along the sides of the 
 moors, the owners paying so many pullets as parts of their 
 rent. The pullets, with their broods, roamed freely over the 
 cultivated patch of land, where the crop never entirely con- 
 cealed the clods ; and the kite was so common a visitor that 
 some of the children were generally posted on the watch to 
 " sheu the glead," sometimes armed with a watchman's rattle 
 to assist them in their vocation j and when by any chance the 
 marauder was caught, he was forthwith nailed upon the most 
 conspicuous part of the hut, in terrorem of all forky-tailed 
 hawks that might in future have the lawless audacity to dimi- 
 nish the sacred and rigidly demanded tale of " the laird's kain 
 hens;" and many times has the dame " o' gentil bluid" prayed 
 inward maledictions upon the kite, as she sat tugging and 
 planting tooth-ache in both jaws, over the matron pullet of 
 twenty broods, which, in consequence of the alleged havoc of 
 
ACCIP1TRES. 
 
 the plunderer, had been slipped into the laird's kain basket to 
 make out the tale. But those days have gone by ; the lands 
 are better cropped; the uplands are under cattle and sheep ; 
 the laird resides at a distance, and wants not hens, but 
 money ; the " latcher-steds" of the cottages are but so many 
 marks, a little greener, on the moor : there are no chickens 
 now, and scarcely a mouse ; so exit milvus the kite is com- 
 paratively a rare bird. 
 
 And yet, one who has been familiar with such a place in its 
 better days (our young feelings bring finer weather on their 
 wings than summer suns and south-west zephyrs), feels that 
 there is a blank produced by the absence of the kite and the 
 cottages ; the more so that the country people are no more 
 redolent of pullets for their own use, than when the kite and 
 the laird were equally eager for chickens. The sight of a kite 
 quite at its ease, or at its labour if you will, on a fine clear 
 day, and when there is not a spot in the blue dome of heaven 
 but itself, is really a very fine one. It appears as if it had 
 charmed the atmosphere to move it as it lists, and without any 
 effort. The wings and tail are expanded, and yet they appear 
 hardly to move, as the bird ascends and descends, and wheels 
 and turns, now in wide and sweeping circles, and anon, drop- 
 ping lower down, it turns fairly round on the point of the wing 
 as a pivot. After it has long beat over one portion of pasture 
 without success, and there is a hill, a wood, or any place not 
 adapted to its habits, to be passed over before it reaches the 
 nest, the beauty and the easy smoothness with which it gets 
 up are unrivalled. It climbs eagle-height, and without eagle 
 effort, and from the very top of heaven surveys the land; 
 then shoots away to some distant place, that may appear 
 better adapted for its purpose. 
 
 The kite feeds not only upon young birds, and small qua- 
 drupeds and reptiles, but upon carrion and garbage of all sorts, 
 in order to obtain which it will dare much when hungry. 
 
EAGLES. 125 
 
 From the ease with, which the kite can keep the wing for a 
 great length of time, it obviously could perform long flights ; 
 and though we have not accounts of the excursions of kites 
 in this country, a straggler sometimes makes its appearance, 
 and indicates a journey across the Atlantic, as one at least 
 that which is nearly white, with black wings and tail comes 
 from America, and probably migrates there from Carolina to 
 Brazil.* The resident kite is subject to some variations of 
 colour, though less so than those species in which the sexes in 
 their mature plumage differ more from each other. 
 
 EAGLES. 
 
 Eagles have in every age been the most celebrated of rapa- 
 cious birds ; and in so far as power, strength, daring, and 
 grandeur of situation are concerned, they deserve their cele- 
 brity. They are in all respects the birds of the greatest ele- 
 vation. They frequent more lonely and secluded places than 
 any of the others; they nestle in more elevated, wild, and 
 inaccessible rocks; they rise much higher, and range much 
 farther; and their stoop, when they come down on their prey 
 from a great elevation, is perhaps the grandest display in the 
 whole action of animated nature. They are much larger than 
 any of the others; and though all birds are formed of nearly 
 the same materials, these seem consolidated in a peculiar 
 manner in every part of the eagles. Their bones are more 
 solid and specifically heavy ; and though, like the bones of all 
 birds, they are hollow for the free admission of air, yet they 
 are fortified by cross pieces extending from side to side of the 
 tubes, so as to offer complete resistance to every strain of the 
 
 * Tins, a beautiful species, the fork- tailed kite (JElanus furcatus, Sav. 
 Falcofurcatus, Linn.) indigenous in Brazil, Peru, and the southern Statt s 
 of North Ameriea, has been twice taken in our island. One was killed 
 in 1772, at Ballachoalish, in Argyleshire ; the other was captured alive 
 in Shaw-Gill, near Hawes, Wonsley Dale, Yorkshire, in September 18Uo. 
 These were mere accidental stragglers. M. 
 
126 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 naturally violent motions of the birds, and also to any casual- 
 ties to which in the course of their daring lives they may be 
 exposed. Their muscles are as firm as pieces of cable, and 
 their tendons almost as rigid as dried catgut. Their very 
 feathers have a firmness and strength in them that alone 
 would tell the daring and enduring character of the birds. 
 Those winds which cleave the oak, and rend up the mountain- 
 pine by the roots, do not ruffle the plumage of the mountain 
 eagle, or drive her from her perch on the ledge of the rock. 
 Firmly rooted in the powerful clutch of her feet, and de- 
 fended by the plated mail of her stiff though elastic feathers, 
 she defies the topmost bent of the elements, and, from the 
 " munition of the rocks," looks down unconcerned upon the 
 tempest which is sweeping the world below her with terror 
 and devastation. The range of her eye is truly wonderful. 
 Floating hundreds of feet above the summits of our highest 
 mountains, and she always soars aloft even there, her 
 horizon commands a hundred dells and valleys ; and she spies 
 a grous or a mountain hare from a distance at which the 
 human eye could hardly discern an elephant. But as she 
 dwells in power she also dwells in peace. There is no tumult 
 or clamour in the eyrie of the eagle; she merely seeks food 
 for herself and her young, and when that has been obtained 
 she is at rest; and all under her dominion are safe, for even 
 the boldest and swiftest-winged hawks keep at a distance 
 from the retreat of the eagle, and when her shadow passes 
 over the valley, not a wing moves but her own. 
 
 There are three British species of eagles, all differing in 
 their haunts and habits, but all agreeing in their general cha- 
 racters of these powerful birds. They are pretty widely scat- 
 tered, but they are nowhere numerous; and it is probable, 
 nay it is certain, that independently of the price which is set 
 on their heads, by those very considerate persons who would 
 rather have ten sickly sheep punched and tortured to death 
 
EAGLES. 127 
 
 by the crow than one lamb killed on the instant and borne 
 off by the eagle, the numbers are everywhere on the decline. 
 
 One, the most powerful and the model of the race, dwells 
 only in the wilds, and never visits the inhabited country, 
 except it borders on those. It is very rare ; and they who 
 would enjoy the luxury of seeing it dashing away in pure 
 nature (and it is a luxury) must pay the price in a very 
 fatiguing, but at the same time a health-inspiring journey. 
 That is the mountaineer; and like all mountaineers, it quits 
 not its abode, but remains in the same haunt for life, and a 
 long life it is, and it resists all invasion, even by its own 
 species. 
 
 Another, which is rather smaller, not so powerful, and 
 more generally distributed and more frequently seen, is either 
 for the land or water, hunting or fishing as the one or the 
 other promises to be most successful ; not inhabiting so wild 
 places, nor quite so chary in its food as the former, but in the 
 absence of the mountain eagle, withal a powerful and even a 
 splendid bird. 
 
 The third more affects the waters, the banks of large rivers 
 and lakes, and the shores of the sea, especially when they are 
 wild and rocky, and distant from human habitations. It is 
 considerably smaller than either of the others, but it is at the 
 same time a bird of great power, and one of which the habits 
 and action are well worth studying. 
 
 The tomia, or cutting edges of the beaks of eagles, form 
 a sort of waving line, so that they can hold firmly; but they 
 have not the prominent tooth which distinguishes the falcons 
 and renders their beak so very efficient an instrument. The 
 feet and claws are, on the other hand, more powerful in the 
 eagles, and are, generally speaking, the only instruments they 
 use in the capture and killing of their prey, the beak not 
 being brought into action until the prey has ceased to throb 
 under the terrible clutch of the talons. The following figures 
 
128 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 represent a foot of the mountain eagle and one of the fishing 
 eagle. 
 
 CLUTCHING FEET. 
 
 m 
 
 Golden Eagle. Osprey. 
 
 The first of these is adapted for striking prey to the 
 ground, and for griping it there till it be dead. The second, 
 for grasping fish in the water, and lifting them out of that 
 element as the bird rises. For the latter purpose, the outer 
 toe, which in the repose of the bird is turned forwards, 
 admits of a reverse motion, so that two toes can act against 
 two, and thus take a better lifting hold of the prey. The 
 feet are also differently feathered, according to the difference 
 of habit in the birds. In the mountain eagle, the feet of 
 which are, from its habit, not much exposed to wet, but 
 have often to endure a temperature far below of the common 
 thermometer, they have the tarsi feathered down to the toes, 
 by which means the powerful machinery by which these 
 are moved is not stiffened by the frosts. The fishing eagle, 
 which is not exposed to so intense cold, but must have the 
 under part of the body frequently immersed in water, has 
 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 129 
 
 the tarsi bare of feathers for the greater part of their length ; 
 and the one which preys indiscriminately on land and in the 
 water, has them bare to an intermediate height. 
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLE (FalcO 
 
 On the frontispiece there is a figure of the female golden 
 eagle, in the attitude which it assumes when apparently 
 exulting over the prey which it has captured, and in the act 
 of clutching to death. The figure is about one-eighth of 
 the lineal dimensions of nature ; and it will give some idea 
 of the attitude, though it is not possible to give the expres- 
 sion on so small a scale, or indeed on any scale. The spirit 
 of an excited eagle can be felt only by those who are familar 
 with the birds (such familiarity as man can have with eagles) 
 in their native haunts ; and even then it must be imagined, 
 for it cannot be accurately seen, or satisfactorily described. 
 It is very difficult indeed to obtain even a tolerable portrait 
 of one of these birds ; for, in order to get the eagle in per- 
 fection into an aviary, we should require to bring the moun- 
 tain crag and the mountain glen along with her. The bird 
 lives, no doubt, for it is a bird not easily killed; but its 
 plumage is dull, and its spirit more so. The rich browns, 
 with their peculiar metallic lustre, and the pointed feathers 
 on the neck, shaded off till they arrive at the rich orange at 
 the points, and stand up when the bird is excited, as if they 
 were so many scales margined with gold, are not to be 
 obtained, unless where the bird has the free and unrestrained 
 range of all its powers, can climb the pure air till it touch 
 on the region of perpetual frost, and there dash along over 
 a wide extent of country. Their feathers are tinted and 
 tempered in the fury of the blast ; and they acquire not 
 their full depth and lustre till they have borne that for four 
 successive winters ; and so it would be vain to hope that we 
 could either obtain or preserve them in confinement. 
 
 VOL. i. K 
 
130 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 The length of the full-grown female is upwards of three 
 feet, and the extent of the wings between seven and eight 
 feet. Specimens have been mentioned that measured as 
 much as eleven feet, though the accounts of these may be 
 a little exaggerated. It is very probable, however, that the 
 ultimate size to which the birds attain depends, in a con- 
 siderable degree, on the supply of food they receive when 
 young, and it may be partially also on the climate. Hence, 
 when the golden eagle had haunts more southerly, and in 
 richer pastures than any which it now frequents in this 
 country, it may have grown to a larger size. 
 
 The popular natural history of the eagles is more obscure 
 than that of many less noticed and less interesting birds. 
 All very large birds of prey that are seen flying at great 
 elevations are regarded not only as eagles, but as the golden 
 eagle itself; and, on the other hand, those who place the 
 chief distinction in colour, have multiplied the golden eagle 
 into different species. 
 
 The bird with which the golden eagle has sometimes been 
 confounded is the white-tailed, or sea eagle, which is of much 
 more frequent occurrence ; and though the brown is not 
 nearly so rich, or the points of the neck-feathers so well made 
 out, and the bird seems altogether of a laxer and looser 
 make when they are seen together, yet the general colours 
 are so much alike, especially when the golden eagle is young, 
 and has white in the tail, that, to casual observation, the 
 one may pass for the other. But, upon comparison, the 
 looser form of the head, the pale beak, the naked tarsi, and 
 a comparative want of firmness and decision in all the 
 feathers, and of compactness in the body, show at once that 
 the bird, however large it may be, is not the golden eagle. 
 On the other hand, while the golden eagle is in the young 
 plumage, and the feathers of the tail are partly white, 
 forming what has been called the " ring-tail," the bill, the 
 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 131 
 
 down on the tarsi, and the deep brown bar on the end of the 
 tail, together with the whole air of the bird, point out at 
 once that it is the golden eagle. Give it but its form and 
 expression, and no ntatter though the colour were white, 
 black, or even green, the golden eagle would never be mis- 
 taken for any other bird, any more than a friend, of whose 
 person, air, and gait we had a complete knowledge, would 
 be lost to our recollection, or changed to another person by 
 merely putting on a dress of a different colour. 
 
 The golden eagle is now rare in England, if, indeed, it be 
 found there at all ; and even in the highlands of Scotland it 
 is by no means common, and its eyrie at least is confined to 
 the most wild and inaccessible places of the mountains, and 
 only in those places that are cliffy and precipitous. I have 
 seen eagles beating about in the higher glens of the rivers 
 that rise on the south-east side of the Grampians. I know 
 that one pair, at least, nestle somewhere in the high cliff 
 called Wallace's Crag, on the north side of Lochlee, and 
 another somewhere in Craig Muskeldie, on the south side of 
 the same. I have observed the four all in the sky at one 
 time ; and I for some time wrote with a quill which dropped 
 from one of their wings in the autumn of 1819. An intel- 
 ligent farmer, who had resided all his days on the spot, 
 assured me that the Wallace Crag eagles had been known in 
 the days of his grandfather (the people there are rather 
 famed for longevity, though the sun does not shine on the 
 lake for several weeks at mid- winter) ; but those on the 
 south side were not such old settlers, and they were con- 
 jectured to be descendants of the former, although driven off 
 by their parents, according to the general habits of the birds. 
 I have seen them in Strathspey and Badenoch, in Strath- 
 errick, and in the moor between Kiltarlity and Strathglass ; 
 and I once saw one over Culloden Moor, not far from the 
 scene of the battle, though some of the land in the inter- 
 
 K2 
 
132 ACCIPITKES. 
 
 mediate neighbourhood was under crop. Indeed, when the 
 weather is very clear, and the eagles fly high, they continue 
 their course in perfect indifference to anything that may be 
 happening on the ground ; and I have been told, though I 
 do not .vouch for the fact, that they sometimes stoop down 
 and carry off hens, and even cats, from the very doors of the 
 cottages. I found, however, that eagles had been a sort of 
 "lions" with wandering tourists, and that any number of 
 stories of their achievements might be had cheap. I never 
 saw the golden eagle near the west coast or in the islands 
 (though that is no proof of its not being there), but I have 
 seen the sea eagle and the osprey. 
 
 From what I have noticed of their habits, I am inclined 
 to believe that eagles in general choose those rocks, where 
 with an elevation and wildness which gives them the seclusion 
 that they seem to like in their retreats, they have the com- 
 mand of a double pasture ; a hill one, which they beat with 
 a lower flight when the weather is dusky, and a lower and 
 richer one, which they beat at a great elevation when the 
 weather is clear; at all events I have seen them on the 
 upper moors flying low on dusky days ; and again sailing 
 majestically over the lower and richer valleys when the day 
 was fine. 
 
 The eyrie of those magnificent birds, which is a dwelling 
 as well as a cradle for their broods, is placed on some ledge 
 of the rock, and rarely on a tree, unless when the tangled 
 roots spring from the cliff, and offer a broad space which can 
 be covered with sticks. The place is generally slippery with 
 the refuse of their prey ; and when the young are there, it is 
 usually well stored with provisions, which consist indiscrimi- 
 nately of quadrupeds and birds. The eggs are seldom more 
 than two, though some say that there are occasionally three, 
 and that in such broods there are two females, one of which 
 becomes an " odd eagle," and lives solitary, growing to a very 
 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 133 
 
 large size, being very ferocious, and dropping addled eggs 
 occasionally on the mountain tops ; but the tale wants verifi- 
 cation. 
 
 The eagle generally strikes her prey upon the ground, and 
 the stoop is almost instantly fatal to any animal on which 
 she pounces. The mere fall of a body of twelve or even 
 eighteen pounds in weight, from an elevation of 1500 or 
 2000 feet would be powerful; but the eagle shoots down 
 with a great initial velocity, and as she delivers the whole 
 of her momentum with the claw, she not only dashes the 
 animal to the earth, but plunges the claw into its body up 
 to the toe, dislocating the spine or breaking the skull of the 
 feebler quadrupeds, such as hares; and the death of grous 
 and black-game, which form a very large portion of the prey, 
 is instantaneous. The view upon which the eagle proceeds 
 must be a steady one, for on the ground she seldom misses 
 her pounce, though she often does when she attempts to hawk 
 on the wing, as her broad wings and forward rush are both 
 unfavourable to turning so as to follow the motions of the 
 bird. If the prey is small, she has the power of slackening 
 her speed as she descends, so as to temper the ultimate effect 
 to the necessity there is for it ; otherwise, strong as she is, 
 she might be injured by the collision with the ground. An 
 unrestrained stoop from her greatest height would be suffi- 
 cient to dash even an eagle to pieces. If the pounce is not 
 fatal, the clutch instantly follows, in the giving of which the 
 whole weight of the bird in the utmost excitement, with 
 the head elevated, the neck stiff, the feathers of the head and 
 neck erected, and the wings shivering so as to keep the 
 pressure on the instruments of death is upon the claws. 
 With small animals, even when they show signs of life after 
 the pounce, the clutch is given with one foot only, and the 
 bird is less excited; but in no case is the prey touched with 
 the beak, or even looked at, until all motion in it has ceased. 
 
134 ACCIPITRE9. 
 
 When the eye has guided the descent, and the talons have 
 taken effect, the office of the eye is at an end, and the work 
 of death is committed to instruments admirably fitted for 
 carrying it into effect. In general the prey is borne off, but 
 in some cases it is devoured on the spot, that taking place 
 of course at those times when the bird has only herself to 
 provide for. 
 
 In winter, when her pastures are covered with feet or even 
 with fathoms of snow, the eagle is often for weeks together 
 without food. This may be one of the causes (for all pheno- 
 mena, whether of birds or of anything else, have causes) why 
 she drives the young not only from the eyrie but from her 
 haunt generally before the intensity*of winter sets in ; and it 
 is said that she drives them lower down the country, where 
 the chances of food are more numerous. 
 
 Thus the instinct which we are apt to regard as an unkind 
 one, is the very best adapted for the preservation of all ; and 
 the eagle is, in her way, just as tender a mother as any other 
 animal. As it is necessary for her brood to grow fast and 
 get strong before the inclement season sets in, she is most 
 indefatigable and most successful in supplying them with 
 food, and equally daring in the defence of them against any 
 intruders that may have the temerity to invade an eagle's 
 nest; and when they are so far matured that they can kill 
 prey for themselves, she drives them down where prey is 
 more easily obtained, while she herself remains to brave the 
 winter at the very throne of its dominion. Herein we may 
 see a beautiful instance of that balance and reaction which 
 can be traced through all the works and operations of nature. 
 Population and cultivation narrow the bounds and diminish 
 the number of eagles ; but as there is a constant tendency in 
 the eagles to spread and extend their territory and their 
 numbers, that tendency instantly acts upon the withdrawal 
 of the restraint ; so that when the eagle becomes necessary 
 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 135 
 
 in order to maintain the balance of races, and the perfection 
 of the whole of nature, she returns by as unerring a law of 
 nature as that which guides her to her prey. 
 
 Her strength of endurance also enables her to keep her 
 footing and preserve her existence, under circumstances to 
 which the powers and the life of almost any other animal 
 would be obliged to yield. The same elastic ligament which, 
 of its own nature, and without effort from the bird, com- 
 presses her toes in clutching, enables her to cling to the 
 pinnacle of the rock, and to cling the more firmly the ruder 
 the blast. The claws are not used in those cases, as that 
 would injure their points and unfit them for their proper 
 functions; but the pads and tubercles hold on upon places 
 where the foot of all else would give way; and the eagle sits 
 with closed wings and close plumage, as if part of the rock 
 itself, while the wind roars and the snow drives, tearing the 
 bushes from their roots, sending them rolling over the preci- 
 pices, and literally scourging the wilderness with ruin. The 
 strength of the hill ox, the fleetness of the mountain deer, 
 and the resources of the mountain traveller, are often 
 unavailing; and when the storm breaks, the signal of the 
 raven and the crow points out the place of their bones ; but 
 the bones of the eagle are not thus given by nature to be 
 tugged at by ignoble birds. Queen of the tempest, she rides 
 as secure amid its fury, as when, on a cloudless and breezeless 
 day, she floats down the valley with easy and almost motion- 
 less wing. 
 
 Her endurance of hunger is as remarkable as her power in 
 the storm. In confinement she is said to have lived five 
 weeks without food; and yet, as she was then taken with 
 dead bait, to which she does not resort except in extremity, 
 she must have been hungry when taken ; so that, in her 
 native freedom, and with the cold dry wind around her, 
 which diminishes the waste of the animal system, she may 
 
136 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 possibly be able to fast for a longer period; and the one 
 mentioned was killed, and did not die of hunger. But I 
 must leave her to her haunts, apologizing to the reader that 
 I am obliged to confine my notice to a few desultory pages, 
 which is as much out of nature as cooping up the living bird 
 in a cage. In nature, the eagle requires a mountain, and if 
 ever it be my good fortune to afford her a volume of descrip- 
 tion, she shall spread her wings.* 
 
 * The golden eagle is far from being uncommon in the wild mountain 
 districts of Ireland ; one or two pairs breed annually on the crags of the 
 island of Achill, off the coast of Mayo. Everywhere their eyrie is placed 
 In situations either utterly inaccessible, or not to be attained to without 
 great difficulty and danger. They are very destructive among sheep, 
 lambs, young pigs, hares, rabbits, ducks, fowls and grous. They are often 
 taken in traps, baited with living prey. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the golden eagle is indocile. Mr. Selby 
 had two in his possession which, indeed, never lost their fierceness ; on the 
 contrary, " Richard Langtry, Esq., of Fortwilliam, near Belfast," writes 
 Mr. Thompson in 1838, " has at present a bird of this species which is 
 extremely docile and tractable ; it was taken last summer from a nest in 
 Inverness-shire, and came into his possession about the end of September. 
 The bird at once became attached to its owner, who, after having it about 
 a month, ventured to give it its liberty, a privilege which was not, on the 
 eagle's part, abused, as it came to the lure whenever called. It not only 
 permits itself to be handled in any way, but seems to derive pleasure from 
 the application of the hand to its legs and plumage. This eagle was 
 hooded after the manner of the hunting hawks for some time, but the 
 practice was abandoned ; and although it may yet be requisite if the bird 
 be trained for the chase, hooding is otherwise unnecessary, as it remains 
 quiet and contented for any length of time, and no matter how far car- 
 ried. . . . When this eagle is at large, my friend has only to hold 
 out his arm towards it, which, as soon as perceived, even from a distance, 
 it flies to, and perches on/' 
 
 It must be remembered that this eagle was captured while a nestling 
 it is doubtful whether a captured adult would ever be reclaimed. 
 
 Mr. Thompson says : " The golden eagle is generally represented as 
 exceeding the sea-eagle in magnitude ; but such specimens of the latter 
 as I have examined were invariably superior in size to the former ; and I 
 speak from comparison of adult individuals of the same sex." We agree 
 with Mr. Thompson, and may add that our opportunities of comparison 
 have been abundant. But the golden eagle is more compactly built. 
 
 M. 
 
THE SEA-EAGLE. 137 
 
 THE SEA-EAGLE (FalcO albicillo). 
 
 This is the "erne" or " bog eagle" of the Scotch, in whose 
 country, especially the parts of it in which there are wide 
 morasses, it is still not rare. Like the former it is fond of 
 wild, retired, and mountainous places ; but it is far more 
 discursive, and often ranges into England, and breeds in 
 some of the wilder places of that country, where it is probably 
 the only eagle that is now to be met with in a state of nature. 
 It is most abundant on the rocky islands and rugged coast 
 towards the north ; and though it is sometimes seen consi- 
 derably in advance over the cultivated grounds, it does not 
 nestle there, neither does it get so far up the mountains as 
 the golden eagle. It is, however, the species which is most 
 generally seen. Hence it is probable that it is " the eagle " 
 of ordinary conversation in both ends of the island, and in 
 all parts of the country, save those which only the others 
 frequent; and that consequently many of the anecdotes that 
 are told of the golden eagle really belong to the present 
 species. 
 
 It nestles in rocks, and also in trees, or on the ground in 
 thick bushes, and the number of its brood is nearly the same 
 as that of the other. The eyrie, however, is less a dwelling 
 for life than that of the golden eagle, because the bird is 
 more a wanderer, and in all probability nestles in different 
 places during successive years : that will, however, depend a 
 good deal on the nature of the locality ; if there is a sufficient 
 supply of food, from field, marsh, and flood, upon all of which 
 it levies contributions, the cause of migration is diminished, 
 and the migration itself becomes the less necessary. It is 
 upon the same account less necessary for the sea-eagle to 
 drive its young away from any particular haunt, inasmuch as 
 the old ones may change theirs. No doubt some of these 
 birds continue for years many years, in the same places; 
 
138 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 but that does not establish a general habit in the race, for 
 there have been instances of individual animals that belong 
 to the most roving kinds attaching themselves both to persons 
 and to places. 
 
 The roaming disposition of these birds, more especially 
 before they arrive at their maturity of plumage, tended much 
 to establish the old opinion, that the old and the young were 
 different species. The general colour of the young is umber 
 brown, with the margins of the feathers lighter, especially on 
 the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts, the margins of the 
 former being of a reddish straw-colour, as is also the chin 
 and upper part of the throat ; and a number of spots on the 
 under part of the bird, among which there are patches of 
 white. The tail, at that age, is dark brown, as dark at the 
 points of the feathers as the deepest brown of the golden 
 eagle, but mottled with lighter brown on the other parts. 
 The bill in that stage is bluish, though not so deep in the 
 colour as the bill of the golden eagle. It is also larger in 
 proportion to the size of the bird, but softer and weaker, less 
 uniformly curved from the base, and more completely without 
 a tooth and notch. 
 
 As this bird advances towards its permanent or mature 
 plumage, the changes which it undergoes are, in some respects, 
 the reverse of those of the golden eagle. The feathers on the 
 head and upper part of the neck become lighter, the bill 
 changes from bluish to straw-colour, the yellow of the cere 
 and the brown of the irides acquire a tinge of red, the brown 
 on the principal parts become more uniform, and the tail- 
 coverts and tail become white. There is, in fact, so much 
 metamorphosis in the colour of the bird, that, until the 
 change of the plumage had been actually watched, or the 
 similarity of habits more closely observed than it is very easy 
 to do in the case of eagles in a wild state, one cannot blame 
 those who, being without the proofs, concluded that they 
 
THE SEA-EAGLE. 139 
 
 were different. The young is often described as the ossifrage 
 or " bone breaker/' or the sea eagle, and the mature bird as 
 the cinereous eagle, or white tailed eagle. 
 
 In the breeding season both old and young (for it is pro- 
 bable that all birds which take three or four years before 
 they arrive at their mature plumage breed before then,) are 
 found in wild situations, chiefly on rocky places near the sea 
 or the larger inland waters. Whenever the shores are broken, 
 bold, and rocky, and at the same time thinly inhabited, these 
 eagles may be found as breeders, and often as general resi- 
 dents. They are seldom seen on the low shores of the agri- 
 cultural parts of Scotland, though it is said that, in the south, 
 they have been observed near St. Abb's Head. On the east 
 coast they are not met with again, till the wild shore and 
 equally wild adjoining district between Stonehaven and 
 Aberdeen, is arrived at. Thence to the Ord of Caithness 
 they are few; but they are common there, and also around 
 the whole of the rocky and indented coast on the north and 
 west, and in both the northern and the western isles. 
 
 In the western part of Ross, about Lochbroon and Loch 
 Maree, they are very abundant, the country being as well 
 adapted to their habits, as the bold cliffs of the eastern 
 Grampians are to the habits of the golden eagle. 
 
 The aspect of the country there is as wild as can well be 
 imagined. Dreary black morasses on the heights, which pre- 
 sent little save peat earth and pools of water; precipitous 
 rocks, rifted into all manner of shapes, and often rising into 
 sublime precipices and peaks; a shore, embayed and torn by 
 the sea, till it seems an absolute fringe ; arms of the sea full 
 of jutting head-lands; lakes studded with the most pic- 
 turesque islets; a sky, which is either dripping or pouring 
 almost all the days of the year, so that the people are abso- 
 lutely aquatic, and are said to catch cold whenever they 
 come so far eastward as to get dry ; a temperature as vari- 
 
140 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 able as the weather, but one which is never long severely 
 cold ; and a soil which is continually turned and ploughed by 
 rains and floods, but which is never for any length of time 
 deeply buried beneath thick snow. The consequence is, an 
 exuberance of vegetable action, which those who have not 
 personally seen it, would not expect in so northern and 
 remote a place. The green on the little swards is lovely ; the 
 verdure of the copses luxuriant ; and some of the old trees, 
 especially about Loch Maree, would do honour to the finest 
 park in the richest county of England. 
 
 The law is, in fact, there demonstrated, that " where the 
 waters are busy, neither vegetables nor animals can remain 
 idle." Life is in constant bustle, the podded plants, the 
 mountain berries, the tops of the ever-growing mosses and 
 heaths, furnish food for innumerable birds; and the soil, 
 always moist, and never very cold or very warm, is the nur- 
 sery of slugs and worms. It has been observed, that where 
 there is the greatest production of these animals on the land, 
 there is a similar abundance of the corresponding ones in the 
 sea. The rain and floods wash the land ones by myriads 
 into the lakes and streams ; the rivers roll them onward to 
 the sea; and the tide casts them on the banks, or drops 
 them in the eddies, mingled with other myriads of its own 
 production. 
 
 The consequences are, that the waters teem with fish, and 
 the land abounds with all manner of living creatures to 
 which so moist a climate is at all congenial. Salmon, trout, 
 herrings, cod, all the more valuable of the finny tenants of 
 the lake, the river, and the sea, abound, to a degree of wealth 
 which, if it were fully appreciated and won, would be very 
 great ; and if the people, who are every season leaving some 
 part of that country and going to Canada, because they 
 cannot dry oats in the rain, or ripen barley in the mist, would 
 go to their wild shores, catch fish, plant potatoes, and breed 
 
THE SEA-EAGLE. 141 
 
 ducks and pigs, they would have more than a Canadian 
 reward, with nothing of Canadian peril or Canadian labour. 
 
 " Where the carcasses are, there will the eagles be gathered 
 together ;" wherever there is grass, there will be browzing ; 
 wherever there is prey, there will be predatory animals; and 
 among those of the district alluded to, the sea eagle is one of 
 the most conspicuous. She strikes on the ground, she hawks, 
 she fishes, and in short labours, and labours most indus- 
 triously, by all the arts that an eagle can ply, to keep those 
 classes of the population of which her natural instincts give 
 her the charge, within the limits of their supply of food, 
 with more than Malthusian assiduity. Seated on some rock 
 that overlooks the waters, she views the salmon attempting 
 to get over the shallow, or the salt-water fish showing its 
 back near the shore, and down she rushes, pressing the fish 
 to the ground till her long claws are buried in it up to the 
 toes, and then she rises and sails off in triumph, to eat her 
 dinner or to feed her brood. If grous, sea-bird, or any large 
 bird comes within the range of her telescopic eye, she speeds 
 with equal alacrity, and though she is not by any means so 
 expert on the wing as the falcons or hawks, she fails not in 
 obtaining abundant prey. 
 
 Here we may remark, that the talons of the sea eagle, 
 which are proportionably larger in size, are better adapted for 
 lifting, though less so for laceration, than those of the golden 
 eagle. Those of the golden eagle, and indeed of all that kill 
 exclusively on dry land in daylight, are grooved on the under 
 sides with two sharp cutting ridges, so that as they clutch 
 they tear and lacerate ; but in the sea eagle the ridges are 
 not so sharp, and thus not quite so killing, though as 
 clutching. 
 
 In the lambing season, which under that dripping sky is a 
 hard one for the flocks, she beats over the sheep pastures, 
 destructive both of lambs and of weakly and disabled sheep, 
 
142 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 and also of fawns in those parts of the country where there 
 are wild deer. The extent of these excursions is not known, 
 but certainly, although the straight-forward, or journey flight 
 of eagles is not probably nearly so swift as that of the jer- 
 falcon or the peregrine, from the Scotch Highlands to the 
 border of England and back again would not probably be too 
 much for a day. 
 
 As the sea eagle, in her miscellaneous feeding, the form of 
 her beak, and the looseness of her body, as compared with 
 the golden eagle, has a slight leaning toward the characters 
 of the vulture, it is probable that she may also have a trace of 
 that wonderful power of scent which guides the vulture to its 
 prey. The season, and consequent diminution of food in her 
 northern haunt, may be partly the cause ; but it has been 
 observed, that the sea eagle comes farther to the south and 
 more inland, in those inclement seasons, when, from cold and 
 deficiency of food, the deer in parks and forests, the hares in 
 preserves, and the rabbits in warrens, are weakly. On those 
 occasions she avoids the cultivated and warm lands, and 
 resorts chiefly to those places which have most the character 
 of her native haunts. 
 
 The climate of Ireland is much more in accordance with 
 the habits of the sea-eagle than of the golden ; and therefore 
 it is probable that the eagles in Kerry, and other wild and 
 rocky counties, of which so many stories are told, with pretty 
 copious embellishments, are sea eagles, as those that are met 
 with in the Hebrides generally, if not exclusively, are. The 
 deeds of eagles, if there were a Macpherson to collect, arrange, 
 dovetail, and build them up, with as much enthusiasm and 
 labour, and as copious supplies of stucco, would make as 
 interestingly romantic a book as the poems of the son of 
 Fingal ; but, as is the case with these, we never should be 
 able to find out the real historical character to whom the 
 exploits belonged. 
 
THE FISHING EAGLE. 143 
 
 THE FISHING EAGLE (FalcO JiaU(Setus). 
 
 This is the species which is properly the sea or rather the 
 water eagle of Britain, as the other preys more on land than 
 in water, and when in water only in the shallows ; but the 
 name has been appropriated to the other, and the change of 
 it is not worth attempting. 
 
 The fishing eagle partakes of the characters both of the 
 eagles and the falcons. It agrees with, or at least approaches 
 the eagles, in size and in the habit of stooping on its prey ; 
 and with the hawks in the form of the beak and structure of 
 the wings. But it has so many peculiar characters that, in a 
 strictly scientific point of view, it belongs to neither. 
 
 The length is about two feet, and the extent of the wings 
 five feet and a half, so that it is larger winged in proportion 
 to its length than even the peregrine falcon ; and if the 
 weight of the birds be estimated as the cubes of the lengths, 
 the structures pretty nearly correspond the weight of the 
 fishing eagle being often as much as five pounds. 
 
 This bird is often called the osprey, the fishing hawk, the 
 fishing buzzard ; and, from the white on the head and nape, 
 the bald buzzard. Its flight sometimes resembles that of the 
 buzzard, but that is almost the only character that they have 
 in common ; and the osprey can, when necessary, fly very 
 differently. No bird of prey is better furnished than the 
 fishing eagle. Its eye is remarkably keen, though it wants 
 the suborbital bones. Its beak is of the most powerful form, 
 with a partial tooth, very much hooked at the point, and of 
 that dark colour which belongs to all very powerful beaks. 
 The tarsi are also very short and strong, free from feathers, 
 but covered with scales ; the under parts remarkably tuber- 
 culated, and the claws, more especially that on the outer toe, 
 very large and strong j but all completely rounded on the 
 under sides, and adapted for clutching, not for tearing. 
 
144 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 The general colours are : the naked parts, the cere, tarsi, 
 and toes, greyish blue ; the irides, yellow ; the prevailing 
 colour on the upper parts, with the exception of the back of 
 the head and nape, blackish brown ; and that on the under 
 parts, with the exception of the breast, which is marked with 
 light brown, white, passing into dull grey toward the vent 
 and tail. There is a streak of deep brown down each side of 
 the neck, and the chin and front of the neck are marked by 
 longitudinal spots of the same colour. The quills darker 
 brown than the coverts ; and the margins of the feathers in 
 the latter are sometimes relieved by a lighter brown, which, 
 however, wants the warm tint of the other eagles. The 
 three middle feathers of the tail are wholly brown, and the 
 others have white bars on their inner webs, the outer webs of 
 the exterior ones, and also of the first feathers of the wings, 
 being very narrow and stiff. The feathers upon all the under 
 parts, including the under coverts of the wings, are remark- 
 ably smooth and closely set, resembling those on the under 
 sides of water-fowl ; indeed, the very shape of that part of 
 the body has some resemblance to that of a swimming bird. 
 The feathers on the legs, which just clothe the upper joints 
 of the tarsi, are pure white, and resemble fine straight hairs 
 as much as ordinary feathers. The feathers on the upper 
 parts are more those of a land bird ; but they are not so 
 decidedly so as the feathers of the other eagles. 
 
 The young birds are more varied in their plumage than the 
 old ones. The brown on the back becomes uniform, or nearly 
 so, in the mature plumage ; and the brown and grey disap- 
 pear from the under parts, leaving these pure white! 
 
 The feathering of the under part, the edges of the wings, 
 and the tail, are all admirably adapted to the habits of the 
 bird. Usually an inhabitant of the air, and of the air in 
 places that are rather warm (for it is more abundant in the 
 south of England and Ireland than in the central parts, and 
 
THE FISHING EAGLE. 145 
 
 scarce in the north), and finding its food by sudden plunges 
 into the water, at all natural temperatures above that of 
 freezing, the under part of the osprey is exposed to more 
 sudden changes of temperature, and also of element, than that 
 of most other birds, whether of the water or the land. The 
 sea-birds that plunge from the air into the water, generally 
 plunge head-foremost, and seize their prey with their bill, so 
 that they meet the cold, and also the resistance of the water, 
 on both sides equally : but the osprey plunges down on the 
 under part only, and seizes with the talons, the head being 
 generally above water all the time. No doubt the wings, 
 and also the tail, in part soften the dash, and the under sides 
 of them are well formed for resisting the water, but still 
 both the resistance and the change of temperature come upon 
 the under side of the body, the shape and the texture of the 
 feathers defending it against the shock ; and the downy com- 
 pactness and white colour resisting the cold, as the bird is 
 again in the air before the effect of the water can be trans- 
 mitted through so close a covering of a substance which is so 
 slow a conductor. 
 
 That texture and colour of the feathers are more neces- 
 sary in the osprey than they are in a sea-bird, even if were to 
 suppose their habits the same ; for the fresh water of the 
 lakes and rivers, in which chiefly the bird fishes, is subject to 
 much more seasonable variation than the salt water of the 
 ocean. The scales upon the tarsi are reticulated, like those 
 on birds which actually wade into the water in search of their 
 food. 
 
 Nor is the arming and general structure of the bird less 
 admirably adapted to its modes of life. Fishes are less sen- 
 sible of pain in any part, save the head, than land animals ; 
 and from the transverse separations of the flakes or fasciculi 
 of their muscles, they can exert their powers of swimming, 
 even though a considerable part of the flesh is cut through, if 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 the spine be not injured. Hence it is much more difficult to 
 kill a fish in the water than a bird in the air, or a quadruped 
 on the surface of the earth ; and thus, the talons of the sea 
 eagle and the osprey (those of the latter especially) are fitted 
 for lifting rather than killing their finny prey. The weight 
 taken off by the buoyancy of the bird also diminishes the 
 effect of its stroke, and to compensate for that, the outer claw 
 can be reversed, so that they act two against two, which is 
 the most effective position in clutching. 
 
 But if that toe had been prematurely turned backward, it 
 would not have answered so well upon other occasions. The 
 osprey has to sit upon craggy points, from which it can com- 
 mand the fishing ground ; and as the fish come most to the 
 surface when the rocks are rather slippery, their prey being 
 then most abundant and best seen, it is necessary that its foot 
 should be firm ; and, from the structure of its toes, it is 
 equally well adapted for perching and for clutching. 
 
 The difference between the osprey and those birds of the 
 same order, which live chiefly upon warm-blooded animals, 
 affords a very remarkable instance of that wisdom of design 
 which pervades all nature. Over its finny prey this bird is 
 all-powerful ; but its powers are for self-preservation, not for 
 destruction. There is not, indeed, any destruction in nature ; 
 or rather, all nature's destructions are preservations. Man 
 has broken the law ; but the benediction of the Creator is 
 still upon all the rest they are " very good." There is no 
 wanton war but by man. The osprey is feeble in confine- 
 ment where she cannot use her " stoop :" one at the Zoolo- 
 gical Society's garden, was lately attacked and killed by an 
 American red-tailed buzzard, which among land-birds of prey 
 is far from one of the most powerful. 
 
 When the osprey is merely passing from one place to 
 another, its flight has sometimes the heavy motion of the 
 buzzard, and at other times, when it flies higher, a very pecu- 
 
THE FISHING EAGLE. 147 
 
 liar slanting or gliding motion, in which the wings take few 
 strokes, compared with the progress made. But it is over 
 the fishing ground, especially when of considerable extent, 
 that the motions of this bird are seen to the greatest advan- 
 tage. Its manoeuvres in the air are alternate wheelings and 
 hoverings, the former to find where there is prey, and the 
 latter to watch till that prey comes within reach. Whilst 
 it hovers, it keeps the wings constantly in that rapid motion 
 which all birds of prey give them when preparing to stoop 
 upon prey which is not on the wing ; so that, when over the 
 proper spot, it is always ready. The wheelings are performed 
 with apparent little effort, the hovering motion enabling it to 
 shoot away, in a manner something similar to that in which a 
 stone is shot from a sling. 
 
 The short time that the fishes remain at the surface when 
 they leap requires this activity. If the fish is a small one, 
 and leaps instantly, the bird comes down with much swift- 
 ness, but checks itself near the surface, and either twitches 
 out the fish with little more splash than the fish itself makes, 
 or if it is too late, it abandons, wheels round and round for a 
 turn or two, as if to wait till any alarm that it had occasioned 
 is over, and then it hovers anew, probably over the very 
 same spot. When it stoops in this manner for small fishes, 
 it is never from any very great height ; but if it come from 
 a greater height, which it does only for better game, the 
 exertion is more grand. The large fishes come less frequently 
 to the surface to feed than the small ones ; but when they do 
 come they feed more determinedly, though more warily ; and 
 therefore they are longer near the surface. When the osprey 
 has discovered one of these, which may be judged of from 
 her perfect stillness in place, and the increased vibratory 
 motion of her wings, she dashes down more perpendicularly, 
 and not less rapidly than the jer-falcon or the golden eagle. 
 The rushing of her descent may be heard at a considerable 
 
 L2 
 
148 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 distance, and the dash in the water is as if the lightning 
 had smitten a cliff, and the fragment fallen from it in the 
 lake. If, indeed, you have not observed her till the dash 
 catches your ear, you are at a loss to know what is in the 
 water, for the splash and spray hide the bird till the clutch 
 of the talons is secure. But no sooner is that accomplished 
 than she rises from the water, dashing the drops from her 
 ample wings, and soaring majestically with her prey to the 
 rock. If she misses in these her desperate efforts, she flies 
 off (sulkily, as one would say), either to a different part of 
 the lake, or from it altogether. The lifting of herself, loaded 
 as she is, and obliged to use her wings, not only near the 
 water, but actually on it, is a vast effort, and could not be at 
 all accomplished, if the under sides of the wings especially had 
 not the waterproof properties of the aquatic birds. When 
 the talons once clutch, they do not quit their hold easily; so 
 that if the wings were easily wetted, the bird would certainly 
 be drowned, as is sometimes the case with the sea-eagle, 
 when he strikes large fishes in deep water. The sea-eagle 
 is not, however, weight for weight, so powerfully winged, 
 and her wings have the waterproof property in a very inferior 
 degree. 
 
 Though fishes are the chief prey of the fishing eagle, it 
 also stoops at and often catches water-fowl. But these, 
 though clutched with certainty, are not so easily borne off as 
 the fishes. The mere fact of being lifted out of the water 
 soon puts an end to the struggles of the fish, so that it is 
 carried off as so much mere weight, into the solid of which 
 the talons are struck. On the other hand, there is nothing 
 to hurt the bird but the clutch of the talons ; this is weakened 
 by the thick plumage, and may be inflicted so as not to 
 do serious injury, and when that is the case, the bird may 
 struggle and disentangle itself. Instances are mentioned of 
 birds so disentangling themselves, and being retaken in 
 
OWLS. 149 
 
 their fall by the osprey, or borne off by other rapacious 
 birds. 
 
 As a lake or river to fish in is the chief attraction for the 
 osprey, the nest is chosen where it may be the most con- 
 venient for that. If the fishing is in a mountain lake, or a 
 river that has worn a channel deep into the strata, the nest is 
 placed in the rocks, but always as near the water as may suit 
 the purpose of concealment. If the fishing place is a lake in 
 the moors, or a river that runs slowly between fenny flats, 
 then the nest is concealed in the reeds ; and if the water pass 
 through, or be situated among trees, the nest is constructed 
 in one of these. In all situations it is a rude fabric of sticks, 
 and rather a sort of platform than a hollow nest. The eggs, 
 which are yellowish-white with brown spots, are understood 
 never to exceed four. 
 
 It has been already hinted that the osprey is more fre- 
 quently observed in the southern than the northern parts of 
 the country. It is also subject to winter migration, more 
 especially in those places where the waters are liable to be 
 frozen over, at which times it of course cannot fish. On 
 these occasions, it sometimes betakes itself to the sea; but it 
 more frequently passes into warmer latitudes, as the cold 
 keeps down even the sea fish to a greater depth than that at 
 which they swim in warm weather. Of course it is more a 
 migrant on the continent of Europe than with us : as the 
 summer is warmer, and the winter colder, it ranges over a 
 much greater range of latitude, especially in the central and 
 eastern parts. 
 
 
 
 NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY OWLS (Strix). 
 
 Some of the predatory birds of which short notices have 
 been already given, seek their prey in different degrees of 
 light. The common buzzard ; for instance, watches in the 
 twilight shade of thick trees, and feeds, in part, on those 
 
150 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 animals which are the chief prey of the owls : the kestrel, 
 which is usually classed with the falcons, hawks for beetles 
 and large moths after sunset ; and the osprey, and the sea- 
 eagle (when it fishes) are constrained either to fish in the 
 twilight, or, at some seasons, to fare but scantily ; and though 
 they, more especially the latter, can endure hunger for a long 
 time, they at all times prefer food to fasting, if food can be 
 obtained. The eye of the buzzard is protected from side- 
 lights by the concha of feathers round the eye, in order that 
 these may not interfere with and confine the fainter light 
 which comes from those shady places in which the prey is 
 found, just in the same manner that the projecting upper part 
 of the orbit in the sky-hunting birds protects their vision 
 from the direct rays of the sun, and enables them to see 
 better below them. The eyebrow in man answers a similar 
 purpose ; and, indeed, there is no animal which hunts in the 
 clear light of the sun, in which the eye is not more or less 
 defended by some such contrivance. The sea-eagle, again, 
 can bring over the eye a peculiar membrane, which acts as a 
 sort of curtain, in excluding the level light of the twilight 
 sky, and allowing the full power of the organ to the dimmer 
 light from below ; and that instrument of twilight vision was 
 regarded by Aristotle as a means of blindness. He is not to 
 be blamed, or even wondered at, because the principles of 
 optics were little known in his time ; but those moderns who 
 have repeated the assertion, are not so excusable. 
 
 The nocturnal birds of prey have the eye with a more ample 
 and complete concha, and also the iris much more susceptible 
 of motion than the day-birds so much so, indeed, that a 
 strong light appears to shut the pupil altogether, and the 
 bird becomes bewildered, and cannot see its way. The sen- 
 sibility will abate, however, under circumstances which render 
 such an abatement necessary to the comfort of the bird. 
 There have been instances of tamed owls (and owls are easily 
 
OWLS. 151 
 
 tamed, and docile when they are tamed) which, when kept in 
 places where the air was confined, chose the window in pre- 
 ference to any darker part of the room, as a perching-place, 
 though even in that state they did not like the direct beams 
 of the sun. 
 
 That delicate sensibility of the iris is necessary, in order 
 that the eye may adjust itself to the variable degrees of light 
 which they meet with in their nocturnal excursions. But 
 still, there is not, either from analogy or from fact, the slight- 
 est reason to believe that any owl can see in black midnight, 
 although even the blackest of that is far short of absolute 
 darkness. The small quadrupeds, upon which chiefly the owls 
 prey, have equally bright and sensitive eyes as their preyers, 
 as it is while they are out of their holes and feeding that the 
 owls capture them ; but the action of their eyes is not so well 
 seen as that of the eyes of the owls, partly because the eyes 
 of the owls are so much larger, and partly because of the 
 powerful motion of the nictitating membrane which the owl 
 is always bringing to lubricate its eyes, when the light proves 
 too strong for them. 
 
 Owls are remarkable for the softness of their feathers, and 
 the great proportion which these form of the apparent bulk of 
 their bodies. An owl, in its plumage, looks a thick, stout, 
 and even clumsy bird ; but strip off the feathers, and it is 
 really nothing. The great owl (Strix bubo), the size of which 
 has been compared to that of the eagle, is not one-fourth of 
 the weight. 
 
 The very name of the owl is a name of lamentation, 
 expressive of the sound of its note, which is one of the most 
 melancholy love-songs in the whole chorus of nature. Super- 
 stition has accordingly laid hold of the bird, as one of the 
 instruments by means of which to bind the ignorant in the 
 fetters of fear ; and the circumstances attendant upon the 
 owl, although they admit of being turned to better and even 
 
152 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 very delightful purposes, have certainly an aptitude to be so 
 perverted. 
 
 Deep shady groves, hollow trees, crumbling ruins clad with 
 ivy, steeples and churches with their associations of graves 
 and ghosts, all that seems dim to human reason, all that 
 stands monumental of the works of nature, or of man and his 
 works, is linked to the owl by the closest and the most 
 general associations. The owls, in such places, often heard, 
 but seldom seen : when heard, heard in the gloom and still- 
 ness of the night ; r and when seen, appearing with something 
 of judge-like solemnity, made them very readily convertible 
 into a sort of " doom-birds." 
 
 The times of their appearance gave farther colour to the 
 superstition. Gloomy days, when the congregated clouds 
 hung low in the sky, but were kept up by the strong resist- 
 ance of the warm earth and the breezeless stillness of the sum- 
 mer air ; murky days, when the sun " was sick to doomsday 
 with eclipse ;" all occasions when the heavens looked black 
 upon the earth, but produced stillness rather than storm, 
 borrowed the attributes of twilight, and so brought out the 
 owl, brought it out by perfectly natural, and, according 'to 
 the laws of its being, necessary causes, but causes which were 
 not understood ; and the event being striking and myste- 
 rious, was remembered, all concomitant mishap was remem- 
 bered along with it ; so that the owl, which came out simply 
 to see if there was " a mouse stirring," got the blame of the 
 whole. 
 
 But, notwithstanding, owls are interesting birds, and the 
 sounds which they utter, though deep and monotonous, have 
 music for a well-tuned ear. The part which they act in cita- 
 tion is, moreover, an important part ; and from the numbers 
 of vermin which they destroy, there are few birds more wor- 
 thy of protection in an agricultural country than the owls. 
 The Athenians made them sacred to their patron goddess, for 
 
THE EAGLE-OWL. 153 
 
 defending the labours of the loom ; and if we cherished them 
 about our farm-houses, they would do yeomen service in 
 defence of the labours of the plough. 
 
 Nor is the superstitious dread of them wholly without its 
 use, or would the abolition of it be unmixed gain. Mankind 
 are all the better for some checks upon them at those times 
 when they are not watched by their fellows ; and the actual 
 presence of the owl may have sometimes restrained the mid- 
 night plunderer from his purpose, as effectually as the mere 
 thought of rural wisdom enwigged with office. If so, and 
 there is little doubt of it, the owl was a cheap policeman, 
 keeping back one set of marauders, and exacting, as his fee, 
 the destruction of another. 
 
 Of the many species of owls which are more or less fre- 
 quently seen or heard in Britain, our notice must be very 
 brief, far more so than we could have wished, and we shall 
 take them as one genus, without regarding the more nume- 
 rous and, it may be, more accurate divisions. We may remark 
 in passing, that there are four that have produced feathers on 
 the sides of the head, and are thence called " horned " owls ; 
 and four without these feathers, which are called " smooth- 
 headed." The " horns" are not horns, however, in any other 
 sense of the word, than their being, like all feathers, composed 
 of nearly the same substance as horn, and their growing on 
 parts of the head, something analogous to those on which the 
 horns of ruminating animals are produced. As little are they 
 "ears," as they are sometimes called, probably from their 
 fancied resemblance to the ears of cats ; they are " tufts," and 
 such we shall call them. The ears of owls, which are as deli- 
 cately sensitive as their eyes, are under these, and covered by 
 the feathers of the concha. 
 
 THE GKEAT-TUFTED OWL, OE EAGLE-OWL (Strix 
 
 A representation of this bird is given on the plate at page 
 
154 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 93, immediately under the peregrine falcon, and on the same 
 scale with that, namely, one-sixth of the lineal dimensions, or 
 one thirty-sixth of the surface. 
 
 It is a very powerful bird, and, from its preying on the 
 young of deer and sheep, and upon grous and other large 
 birds, it merits the epithet of eagle. It is doubtful if it ever 
 bred, even in the remotest parts of the British islands, though 
 it sometimes, but very rarely, pays a visit to the Orkneys, and 
 also to the north coast of Scotland. On the continent it is 
 distributed over a wider range of latitude, in a general or 
 partial state of residence : and it also migrates, especially in 
 the central and eastern parts. As, from the vast mass of 
 light feathers with which it is invested, it must make more 
 lee-way than most other migratory birds, the east winds some- 
 times bring it to the shores of England, especially those to 
 the north of Flamborough Head, and the south of the Thames, 
 which are the most remarkable for the occasional appearance 
 of continental migratory birds. It builds, in rocks or in lofty 
 trees, a nest often three feet in diameter, but rarely contain- 
 ing more than two eggs. It prefers rocks, however, both for 
 nestling and for perching ; and, sallying forth from these in 
 the grey dawn, or the twilight, or on dark days, in the 
 northern regions all the night long, it commits terrible havoc, 
 especially among the grous, and more particularly when it has 
 young, which, as is the case with all the owls, remain long 
 in the nest, and require a vast quantity of food. Its flying 
 note is peculiarly deep and doleful, and the hissing sound 
 which it utters when alarmed or irritated is just as harsh and 
 grating. The sound which many nocturnal birds of prey 
 make when they fly, may possibly answer the same purpose 
 as the roaring of the lion and other carnivorous beasts, namely 
 that of alarming the prey, and making it thereby reveal its 
 hiding-place to the keen ear of the preyer. 
 
 When it beats for prey, it flies very low, and often, by its 
 
THE LONG-TUFTED OWL. 155 
 
 large size and singular appearance, attracts the attention of 
 kites, crows, and other birds, which follow after it with 
 apparent astonishment. Hence it is sometimes made use of 
 to draw down the kite in her high flight, so that a falcon 
 may get above her, and despatch her. It is also sometimes 
 used in a cage, or otherwise confined, but visible, to attract 
 and enable the keepers to destroy those birds which plunder 
 the nests, and eat the young in pheasant preserves. Its 
 migration flight is high, and not much inferior to that of 
 the eagle, several of the characters of which it combines with 
 those of the more common owls. 
 
 It is highly probable that many of those dismal sounds 
 which have been reported as at times issuing from rocks or 
 caves, or moaning along the solitary wastes, and which terror 
 has imputed to supernatural agents, have been nothing more 
 than the flight-cries of eagle-owls, which came and departed 
 (or died) unseen, but which were not silent or unoccupied 
 during the time of their sojourn. About thirty years ago, 
 there was an unwonted and very dismal sound heard occa- 
 sionally on a wide and wild moor on the east of Scotland, to 
 the total suspension of all walking by night the more so, 
 that the place bore the impress of ancient camps and battles, 
 and contained the bones of some modern suicides, which then 
 and there were not allowed churchyard burial, though the 
 ground is not consecrated, and there is no burial service. 
 But if we could keep these birds when they do come, dismal 
 as their sounds are, they would make a most interesting 
 addition to our ornithology. In Norway, where they abound, 
 they are guardian angels from the countless thousands of 
 lemmings, which they destroy in the desolating marches of 
 those destructive creatures. 
 
 THE LONG-TUFTED OWL (StriX 
 
 That is unquestionably the finest of our resident owls ; and 
 
156 . ACCIPITRES. 
 
 though not so plentiful as some of the others, it is pretty 
 generally distributed over our islands, wherever the trees are 
 thick enough to afford it that depth of shade in which it 
 delights. It wants shade and shelter all the year round ; 
 and therefore it prefers the evergreen forest to the deciduous 
 one, and the dark and thickly-clustering spruce to the more 
 open branches and light foliage of the pine ; but it is a bird 
 of the champaign country rather than of the wild j and 
 hence it is not met with at very great elevations. 
 
 It is a bird of considerable size, the female measuring 
 about fifteen inches in length, and forty in extent of the 
 wings ; and weighing about ten ounces. The male is smaller. 
 The weight is in tolerably fair proportion to the dimensions, 
 as compared with more formidable birds of prey, but it is 
 small as compared with the bulk ; and hence the bird steals 
 as silently through the air as if it were altogether a bundle 
 of soft feathers. 
 
 The plumage is rich in its ground-colours, and finely and 
 elaborately marked. The ground-colour of the upper part 
 is orange, and that of the under part buff. The upper is 
 marked with bkck streaks, and finely and minutely sprinkled 
 with white, grey, and black, lighter at the margins of the 
 feathers, so as to give them distinctness and relief, but ex- 
 quisitely marbled toward the shafts. The markings on the 
 under parts are lines and arrow-head spots. The quills are 
 orange brown, barred with blackish brown ; and the tail- 
 feathers greyish orange, barred and spotted with black The 
 feathers on the tarsi and toes, which are without markings, 
 are nearly the same colour as the tail. The irides are bright 
 reddish orange, and give the eyes a very fiery expression, 
 surrounded as they are by radiated conchas, marked with 
 white, grey, and black, the black contrasting with white at 
 at the inner angle, and giving an appearance of depth and 
 enforcement to the eye. The ear-tufts, or horns, which the 
 
THE GREAT WHITE OWL. 157 
 
 bird can move at pleasure, are about an inch in length, the 
 feathers well defined, varying in number, but generally six 
 or eight, sometimes ten, and black toward the shafts, with 
 the margins grey and white. 
 
 The long-horned owl generally takes possession of the 
 deserted nest of some other bird, such as one of the crow 
 tribe, which nestle earlier, and thus have their broods out of 
 the nest by the time that the owl lays. The eggs are seldom, 
 if ever, more than six ; white, and rather round in shape. 
 The young are covered with very close white down ; and as 
 they have much plumage to acquire, they remain four weeks 
 in the nest, the parents feeding them largely, and with much 
 assiduity all the time. They even feed them longer ; for the 
 young birds " branch" for some time before they take wing 
 and hunt for themselves ; so that when they have disap- 
 peared from the nest, they may for a time be detected in the 
 twilight, moaning for their food from some neighbouring tree. 
 They very early show fight, by hissing and snapping with 
 their beaks ; and the old ones, if wounded, do the same, 
 throwing themselves on their backs, and fighting determinedly 
 with their claws. 
 
 The old ones are usually still during the day, or if necessity 
 force them to hunt, it is in the depth of the shade ; but 
 they are active in the twilight, being voracious feeders, and 
 though they prefer mice, they also prey on small birds', 
 which they are said to clutch on their perches. The prey is 
 taken with the talons, but the beak is used in breaking the 
 bones, the only preparation which owls of any species are 
 understood to give their food previous to swallowing it : that 
 may be one of the reasons why mice are preferred to birds, 
 the feathers being more untractable than the fur, both in 
 swallowing, and in casting in pellets or quids. 
 
158 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 THE SHORT-TUFTED OWL (Strix Irachyotus). 
 
 This bird is of smaller dimensions, but stronger and heavier 
 than the former, inhabits more exposed places, and in the 
 course of the year undergoes greater fatigue. It breeds in 
 the north, with us chiefly in the Orkneys, in so far as has 
 been hitherto discovered, but it ranges southward over the 
 greater part of the main land. During their migrations, 
 these owls are partially gregarious, roosting in small flocks, 
 though they hawk singly over the fields ; but in the breeding 
 season they disperse themselves in pairs. Mice are their 
 principal food ; but they also swallow small birds ; and when 
 the weather is dusky, and they hawk during the day, they 
 pursue, if they do not capture, larger birds, such as grous, 
 partridges, and even pigeons. The feathers on their heads 
 generally (as well as the eye-tufts) are much shorter than 
 those of most other owls, so that the beak and shape of the 
 head are better seen. Hence they are sometimes called 
 " hawk-owls." The tufts are moveable as well as those in 
 the former species. When in a state of repose they are 
 barely visible ; and in the dead bird they are laid flat, and 
 do not appear. Their prevailing colours are orange and dull 
 yellow, with brown marking. The irides are yellow, the 
 bill bluish, and ,the claws black ; the latter much hooked and 
 very sharp. It is a bold and resolute bird, and defends itself 
 with spirit equal to, or greater than that of the former. 
 The short-eared owl does not frequent the woods, but keeps 
 the open fields. In its breeding places it nestles in heath, or 
 tufts of grass, the eggs being understood to be rarely more 
 than two ; and when it ranges over the main land, its hiding- 
 places are similar. When disturbed, it flies only to a short 
 distance, where it eyes its disturber with a peculiar mixture 
 of wonder and wisdom.* 
 
 * "This species," observes Mr. Thompson, "is one of our regular 
 
THE GREAT WHITE OWL. 159 
 
 THE SCOPS-TUFTED OWL (StriX SCOps). 
 
 This is the smallest of the British tufted owls, measuring 
 only about half as long as the last mentioned species. Its 
 tufts form a sort of coronet across the head, marked by 
 nearly a straight line on the under part, and most produced 
 at the sides on the top. The colours are finely marked, and 
 the form is more light and slender than that of most of the 
 owls. Its tarsi and toes are bare, which shows it to belong 
 properly to warmer climes. It is indeed of so rare occur- 
 rence in England, as a straggler, that, though it is interesting 
 to collectors, it can hardly be considered a British bird ; and 
 it certainly is one which common observers have not much 
 chance of seeing. 
 
 THE GREAT WHITE, OR SNOWY OWL (Strix nyctea). 
 
 This species is by much the largest of the smooth-headed 
 or tuftless owls, being two feet in length, and nearly four feet 
 and a half in the extent of the wings. Its mature plumage 
 is altogether snow-white: but the young birds and females 
 are marked with brown or dusky spots and bars. The tarsi 
 and toes are very closely covered with long feathers, which 
 partially conceal the claws; the claws are strong, sharp, and 
 much hooked, and they and the bill are black, the latter with 
 a tinge of blue. The conchse around the eyes are very close 
 and well formed ; and the upper parts, which meet at a well 
 
 winter visitants in the north of Ireland : October 13th is the earliest 
 date of its occurrence to me. It has been added to the birds of Donegal 
 by Mr. Stewart; and its migration to the mountains of Wexford in 
 winter, has been communicated to me. I have several times met with 
 and shot this owl in the neighbourhood of Belfast, but invariably in wet 
 and boggy places, where snipes might be expected." On one occasion 
 Mr. Thompson found the legs of a purre (Tringa variabilis) in the 
 stomach of a specimen. M. 
 
160 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 defined angle over the beak, are directed outwards, and form 
 a very close shade to the eyes. 
 
 The whole plumage is more compact and smooth than that 
 of any other British species, and particularly more so than 
 those which inhabit woods, and have the shelter of them in 
 the inclement weather. Their covering is generally so con- 
 structed as that they may glide through the sprays, yielding 
 to these as they pass, and thus pursue a noiseless course in 
 places where many of even the small birds would occasion a 
 rustling. The snowy owl, on the other hand, is tempered to 
 the storm, and perhaps better defended against the cold than 
 any other bird. The only parts of it that are exposed are 
 the tip of the beak, the points of the claws, and the eyes. 
 Eyes do not feel cold, in consequence of the texture of the 
 external parts, and the inferior conducting power of the sub- 
 stance of which they are composed ; and the same may be 
 said of the beak and claws. Every part of the owl that 
 could feel cold, or have its power of motion benumbed, is 
 completely muffled up in plumage, the colour, the texture, 
 and the abundance of which all contribute to enable it to 
 live, and not to live merely, but to seek its food safely and 
 successfully in the utmost violence of those snow-storms with 
 which winter sets in on the Arctic lands. 
 
 It is chiefly found in those dismal countries, and performs 
 not an unimportant part in nature's operations there. The 
 long summer days, the rapidity with which vegetation pro- 
 ceeds under the continual action of a never-setting sun, and 
 the vast production of insects and mountain berries which 
 are the result, enable different species of grous to rear their 
 broods more abundantly and more certainly than they do in 
 climates farther to the south. Those products of the Arctic 
 season which supply food to the broods of these birds would 
 be lost if the birds were not so abundant ; and it is a law in 
 nature that nothing shall be lost. But the grous could not 
 
THE GREAT WHITE OWL. 161 
 
 all, or nearly all, be supported during the long winter ; and if 
 they were not taken by the owl, the jer-falcon, and other 
 predatory birds, they again would be lost. So, when the 
 wind beats, and the snow drives, so that they would sweep 
 the birds to destruction, out comes the snowy owl, clad in his 
 armour of impenetrable fur, and riding on the wing of the 
 tempest, keeps holiday amid the wildest turmoil of nature. 
 Mountain hares and other small quadrupeds would meet with 
 the same fate from the weather; and therefore they also 
 become the prey of the owl. The number of those birds 
 is, of course, tempered to the necessity that there is for 
 them; and therefore the quantity of birds of which they 
 make prey tend rather to preserve than to exterminate the 
 species. 
 
 The time of day is a matter of indifference to the snowy 
 owl during the storms or the fogs. When the sun is hot, it 
 takes shelter under some ledge of those wild rocks, in the 
 fastnesses of which it nestles, and annually rears its brood of 
 a single pair. But when the snow drives it is dim twilight 
 all day long, and not very different during the fogs. At 
 these times the snowy owl flies low, after the manner of the 
 eagle-owl, and the prey which it captures is so abundant, 
 that it not only waxes fat during the storms, but retains its 
 fatness when drifted by the winds to the distance of a thou- 
 sand miles. It is found in the Orkney and Shetland isles, 
 especially the latter, though not very abundantly, and gene- 
 rally in such obscure places that the nest is not often seen. 
 Its principal food is birds, upon the moors of those islands, 
 and rabbits on the sandy banks by the margin of the sea. 
 Countries in which snow dims the eyes, or fogs cloud the 
 vision of those animals on which it preys, appear to be the 
 most congenial to this interesting bird. Accordingly it very 
 rarely comes to the mainland of Britain ; and when it does it 
 is always during violent snow-storms from the north, which 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 also bring the northern birds not generally visitants of our 
 shores. When it conies, it perches on the top of a wreath, 
 or on some stick or other point jutting out of the snow, and 
 as it is not very unlike a lump of snow itself, it causes but 
 little alarm in the birds, and so captures them with ease. It 
 feeds indiscriminately on game which it kills, and on carrion ; 
 and as those storms which bring the snowy owl into places 
 where it is not usually found, in general prove fatal to num- 
 bers of birds and small quadrupeds, one of the functions 
 which it performs is that of scavenger, 
 
 THE LITTLE OWL (Strix passerino). 
 
 A figure of thisjowl is given on the plate at page 93, imme- 
 mediately under that of the great-eared owl, and on twice as 
 large a scale in the lineal dimensions, that is, on a scale of 
 one third of the natural size in line. 
 
 The little owl is only about seven inches long and fourteen 
 in the stretch of the wing. It is rarely seen in England, and 
 if it breeds in the country its nest has not hitherto been met 
 with. When seen, it is generally in the autumn, so that it 
 may be blown across in the course of its autumnal migration, 
 but it is worthy of remark, that it is not confined to the 
 mere verge of the eastern sea, as European birds generally 
 are when they drift, but has been noticed also on the west 
 and south-west. The little owl resorts to the vicinity of 
 human dwellings, and nestles, and generally hides itself for 
 the day, in holes of old walls. It is an industrious and suc- 
 cessful mouser, and though its wings are not very long, it is 
 more quick in the use of them than some of the larger 
 species. Its flight is not confined to the twilight, for though 
 that be the time at which it is most successful in mousing, it 
 hawks especially on dark and cloudy days, during which it 
 may be seen in pursuit of swallows, opposing a direct flight 
 
THE SCREECH-OWL. 163 
 
 to their wheeling one, and endeavouring to meet them as 
 they come .round. 
 
 THE FEATHERY FOOTED LITTLE OWL (Stri 
 
 Occurs in the south of England. It is rather larger than 
 the former; brown with white spots, paler, and the spots 
 larger on the under part; tarsi feathered; found in the 
 woods.* 
 
 SCREECH-OWL, TAWNY OWL, OR BROWN OWL (StriX Stridula). 
 
 This is one of the most sage-looking of the owls, an aspect 
 it owes partly to the much-produced feathers round the face, 
 partly to the bluish-black irides, which make the eyes seem 
 very large, and partly to the subdued tone of colour in its 
 plumage. It is a large, and rather a powerful bird. The 
 female sometimes measures one foot three, by two feet eight, 
 and weighs nearly a pound; the male is much smaller and 
 lighter. The prevailing colours are tawny brown above, and 
 tawny orange below, but minutely, and when closely in- 
 spected, beautifully mottled with brown, and spotted with 
 white. The feathers round the eyes, which form a complete 
 mask to the chin, and meet over the beak (which is straw 
 colour) at a very acute angle, are white, finely radiated with 
 brown and grey, and having narrow irregular wings of brown 
 on their margins. The tarsi are short and strong, and they 
 and the toes and claws are brownish orange. The tint of 
 the male bird inclines more to yellow, that of the female 
 more to red. 
 
 The tawny owl is a bird of retirement, frequenting the 
 
 * This species (Noctua Tengmalmi, Selby) has been killed near Mor- 
 peth in Northumberland, and other instances have elsewhere occurred of 
 a like nature. In Europe it is widely distributed, being found in Swe- 
 den, Norway, Russia, and parts of Germany, where thick and extensive 
 pine woods afford it a congenial abode. M. 
 
 M2 
 
164 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 depths of forests or groves, and nestling in the hollows of 
 old trees. It will sometimes take up its abode in a single 
 close tree near the house, in the ivy which covers old walls, 
 or sometimes in a barn or in an out-house ; but these latter 
 places are not quite natural to it, and it is attracted to them 
 chiefly by the abundance of game which their vicinity 
 affords. 
 
 In the barn it is a most excellent mouser, but it is just as 
 destructive in the pigeon-house, where, if it can find access, it 
 commits great devastation. It is also very destructive to the 
 young of rabbits, hares, and partridges. It seizes its prey 
 with great boldness, skinning the mice before it eats them, 
 and tearing the larger game in pieces. 
 
 It is more strictly a night owl than many of the others, the 
 light concha and the prominent eyes probably admitting too 
 much side-light into the eyes, or obliging it to close the 
 pupil, by which means its vision is confused, so that it can 
 with difficulty see its way ; and when overpowered in the 
 sunshine, it may be struck down with a stick. There is no 
 doubt that the feathers around the eyes of owls, which are in 
 general capable of partial erection, serve to collect and con- 
 centrate the light on which they fly as well as to exclude the 
 side-lights ; and the eyes of this one, not being so deeply 
 enfonced as those of most of the others, are not able to bear 
 the solar light when collected by their own reflectors, and by 
 the very convex external surface of the aqueous humour. 
 People with prominent eyes are least able to bear strong 
 light. 
 
 The tawny owl, though not very numerous in any part of 
 the country, is very generally diffused in all wooded places, 
 which are in the neighbourhood of an adequate supply of 
 food. It is most partial to rank soils overrun with vegeta- 
 tion, and containing decaying trees, tangled ivies, and un- 
 pruned bushes ; because there it can find a resting-place 
 
THE BAKN OWL. 165 
 
 hidden to its heart's content, and also a more abundant 
 supply of food, than in places which are either more open or 
 better kept in order. " The screech owl shall lodge there," 
 is no bad expression for the desolation and neglect of a place 
 once carefully attended to ; as, before it takes up its abode, 
 the place must not only be in ruins, but vegetation must 
 have made so much progress as to half veil the ruins from the 
 day ; and afford cover to those murine quadrupeds on which 
 the screech owl preys. 
 
 Accordingly, it is the screech owl which, above all others, 
 superstition has converted into a bird of horror and of evil 
 omen. Its hooting, which is accompanied by a remarkable 
 inflation of the throat, is deep and dismal, though solemn and 
 impressive ; and when the attributes of place and time are 
 taken into the account, the effect which it produces upon the 
 untutored mind is hardly to be wondered at. 
 
 BARN OWL, OB WHITE OWL (Strix flammea). 
 
 This is the most common, the most familiar, the most 
 useful, and in its plumage perhaps the most beautiful of all 
 the British owls. Instead of spurning the society of man, it 
 courts the neighbourhood of his dwelling ; and while it is 
 more destructive of mice, in all their species, barn, field, and 
 bank, than any of the other owls, it stands not accused of 
 destroying any sort of game, even in the young state, though 
 it sometimes does pursue small birds. It does not skin its 
 mice, but breaks the bones, and returns these and other in- 
 digestible parts in pellets or castings, the quantity of which, 
 in a hollow tree or other cavity, which has for some time 
 been the abode of owls, is very considerable. 
 
 The barn owl, though it has not the destructive habits of 
 the tawny owl, and though the fact of its hooting like that 
 and the snowy owl rests on the single testimony of Sir Wm. 
 Jardine, yet merits the encouragement and protection of 
 
166 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 mankind ; and in fact wants nothing but not to be perse- 
 cuted, in order to make it both familiar and useful. The 
 amiable, eloquent, and enterprising Mr. Waterton, of Walton 
 Hall, has taken a colony of owls under his protection ; and 
 his paper on the subject in No. 23 of Loudon's Magazine of 
 Natural History, is equally curious in its facts, and delightful 
 in its spirit and naivete. About 1814, despite the alarms of 
 the old housekeeper, he founded a colony of owls over the 
 ancient gateway ; for, whatever might be the fear of others, 
 it is not to be supposed that he who (vide his most romantic 
 Wanderings) in the wilds of Guiana, and to the admiration of 
 men of all colours, rode triumphantly ashore on the back of 
 a cayman, bridling the formidable reptile with its fore paws, 
 would be timid of owls at his own threshold in England. 
 
 The owls have multiplied in a truly patriarchal manner, 
 nestling not only in the original ivy, but in the neighbouring 
 trees ; and so familiar, without being either tamed or trained, 
 that all their habits can be studied with the utmost ease; and 
 those habits are evidently much more their natural ones than 
 when they hide themselves on the approach of man. They 
 admit of being visited in their nests and perching places, 
 upon which latter they repose in an erect posture. They 
 utter their stridulous cry, morning, evening, and all night 
 long, whatever be the state of the moon ; but up to the pub- 
 lication of his paper (January 1832) Mr. Waterton's owls 
 had not hooted, though like others they hiss and snap with 
 their beaks when violence is offered to them. The snoring 
 noise is the complaint of the young for food ; and the hearing 
 of it in winter led Mr. W. to the discovery that owls have 
 very late broods. It used to be repeated from one to another 
 that owls snored in their sleep, but the structure of the 
 breathing apparatus in birds is against this hypothesis, and 
 corroborative of Mr. Waterton's observation. 
 
 These owls, as is the case with domestic birds, do not 
 
THE BARN OWL. 167 
 
 breed only at one particular season, but all the season over, 
 as late as December; and many of them, no doubt, have two 
 broods. 
 
 The number of mice that a colony of owls could thus 
 destroy would be immense. A mouse every twelve or fifteen 
 minutes, Mr. Waterton says, is the allowance brought to the 
 young ; and the (pair ?) in the old gateway cast up a bushel 
 of pellets in sixteen months, each pellet containing the skele- 
 tons of from four to seven mice. Thus, if owls were esta- 
 blished at every farm, the caterwauling of cats, which is more 
 unmusical than any other sound of animal, would be less 
 necessary, the houses would be cleared of mice, and probably 
 eaten up by black-beetles. 
 
 It may be further noticed on the score of the hooting, that 
 the utterance of such a sound would be rather against the 
 barn-owl in its mousing. The hooting, except in so far as it 
 may be a love-note, must be calculated to stir the game, and 
 therefore applicable only to birds on the perch or lying close, 
 which, when they stir, stir into notice, and not to mice, which 
 when alarmed, stir out of both notice and danger. The 
 familiarity of these owls is proved by one picking up a rat in 
 sight of Mr. Waterton, not long after he had fired a shot ; 
 and he records some fresh instances of their fishing. 
 
 The barn-owl is about the same dimensions and weight as 
 the tawny owl, only a little longer in the wings, as birds that 
 fly in the free air are generally longer winged than those 
 which inhabit forests. Its general colour on the upper part 
 is yellowish brown, and on the under part white. The upper 
 part is streaked, spotted, and sprinkled with white, grey, and 
 dusky ; and the conchse are dusky round the eye, but passing 
 into white at the margins. The sexes are equal in size ; but 
 the male has more grey above, and more buff on the under 
 part. They are well defined ; and as the dark line at their 
 junction extends almost to the beak, the two when seen in 
 
168 ACCIPITRES. 
 
 front have something the aspect of a pair of large spectacles, 
 while the single one looks a little like the cup of a con- 
 volvulus with a dark eye at the bottom. 
 
 Owls are supposed to be of use about dams and mill-ponds, 
 by capturing the rats and shrews which bore into the banks. 
 They are of use in churches, and other places which are only 
 occasionally frequented ; for though " church mice " are pro- 
 verbially lean, they are on that account the more apt to 
 attack and destroy whatever may either by accident or 
 design be left in their way. 
 
 
 VULTUKES. 
 
 Vultures being birds which prey almost exclusively upon 
 animals in a state of putrefaction, or upon those which have 
 the weakness of disease and the "scent of death" upon them, 
 are not birds adapted either to the course of nature, or to the 
 state of the arts in Britain. They are found in wild places, 
 where undomesticated animals perish by the casualties of the 
 weather; on the margins of great rivers, where animals are 
 drowned, and left by the subsiding floods; and generally in 
 tropical, or at least warm countries, where the taint of their 
 food can be borne far by the air. But as there is one which 
 comes occasionally, though rarely, as a straggler, a mere 
 notice of that one may be given. 
 
 THE ALPINE VULTURE (Vultur percnopterus). 
 
 This vulture measures about two feet and a half in length, 
 and, in the largest specimens, between seven and eight in the 
 stretch of the wings. The full-grown male is nearly white ; 
 the female brownish, with the wing feathers very dark 
 brown, margined with grey. The beak is long and narrow, 
 the face naked, and the whole bird of an uncouth and ragged 
 appearance. 
 
 They come farthest when the weather is very hot and dry, 
 
THE ALPINE VULTURE. 169 
 
 because then the scent is not only the strongest, but the 
 wild animals get sickly or perish through the failure of the 
 pastures. They very rarely visit England, though a pair was 
 seen near Bridge water in 1826. They are light in proportion 
 to their wings, and thus they are long-flighted birds. They 
 appear to be perfectly inoffensive to living animals, and are, 
 no doubt, of great use in helping to keep pure the air on the 
 margin of the great desert which extends from the west of 
 Africa far into the east of Asia. That is their proper locality ; 
 and though to us they are rather repulsive, they are, in their 
 own proper place, very serviceable birds. 
 
 Such are short notices of the whole, or nearly thenSSiole, 
 of the British birds of prey, the best defined as an order, and A " 
 on many accounts the most interesting of all birds. Resident 
 or visitant, they are adapted to all situations, all seasons, aiSK 
 all hours of the day. Those that feed upon animals which 
 are valuable to man, court the desert and the depth of the 
 wood, shun the dwelling of man, and flee at his approach. 
 Others, such as the barn-owl, which destroy only those 
 animals that are noxious to man, court his society, probably 
 multiply as improvement and cultivation spread, are easily 
 tamed, and if once tamed, show no disposition to wander 
 when left at liberty to do so, but will even return to the 
 house after being driven away. They in fact need no taming; 
 for Mr. Waterton simply placed a stone upon which they 
 could sit, planted an ivy in which they could find shelter, 
 and forbade the molesting of the birds, and the destruction 
 of their eggs, and they remained and multiplied, became 
 familiar without being troublesome, and were diligent servants 
 without expense. 
 
170 
 
 ORDER V. 
 OMNIYOR^E, OR OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 
 
 THE CROW TRIBE, AND BIRDS OF SIMILAR HABITS. 
 
 OMNIVOROUS is a vague, and not a very applicable expres- 
 sion; for there is not, of course, any bird or other animal 
 that can eat " everything," neither is there any species of bird 
 that has not some favourite description of food, of which, 
 when it can be had, the bird is fonder than of anything else. 
 Most birds, too, are somewhat miscellaneous in their feeding; 
 and there are probably none which cannot, when compelled 
 by hunger, subsist upon food which they reject when they 
 have abundance of that which they like better. 
 
 But after the orders that have been already noticed, it is 
 not very easy to select names descriptive of those particulars 
 in which tribes of birds resemble each other too slightly, 
 and with too many variations for allowing them to be 
 included in the same genus, and yet having so much simi- 
 larity that the description of one serves partly for that of 
 the others. This is the practical use of forming birds into 
 orders ; and if the name can be made expressive of some very 
 general and obvious property, such as that of killing prey in 
 the rapacious birds, it is so much the better; but when that 
 cannot be done, a more vague term must be used, and ren- 
 dered as definite as possible by definition. 
 
 It is in this sense that the term omnivorous must be taken. 
 These birds are more miscellaneous in their feeding than any 
 
CHARACTERS OF THE OMNIVOR^. 171 
 
 of the others. They eat most animal substances, carrion, 
 insects, seeds, and other farinaceous and pulpy vegetable 
 substances, and some of them prey upon living animals, 
 though generally weak ones, or when they are in an enfeebled 
 state ; and most, if not all of them, plunder the nests of 
 other birds, eating indiscriminately the eggs or the callow 
 young. 
 
 CHARACTERS OF THE OMNIVOR^E. 
 
 Plumage close, firm, and glossy : the feathers being of 
 hard and compact texture on all the exposed parts, with the 
 exception of the head, which has sometimes loose feathers or 
 a sort of crest. Colours strong and pure, uniform or with 
 bold contrasts. Prevailing colour of those which are most 
 decidedly British, black, with green, blue, purple, or bronze 
 reflections of metallic lustre. Other colours, grey, white, 
 blue, and green, rarely brown, and never red or yellow in 
 any species resident in Britain, or regularly appearing as a 
 visitant ; though many foreign ones are very gay. 
 
 Bill of mean length, coulter-shaped, strong, ridged, pointed 
 at the tip, and fitted for punching or digging, convex on the 
 upper side, and often with a margin. The feet, formed for 
 walking or for perching, having three toes before and one 
 behind ; they walk firmly, and many of them also hop with 
 the assistance of the wings. The wings are of average length, 
 firm in the feathers, and pointed at the tips. 
 
 Nestle in the tops of trees, in thick brakes and bushes, in 
 the clefts of rocks, and in old buildings, or buildings that are 
 elevated above ordinary reach, or in the hollows of old trees. 
 They are all monogamous, but many of them live in large 
 societies, even during the breeding time ; and the more 
 solitary ones also hold occasional assemblies. They range to 
 considerable distances for their food, which they seek only 
 during the day. They are rather noisy, but their noise is 
 harsh and unmusical. Many of them frequent cultivated 
 
172 OMNIVOILE. 
 
 places, and are highly useful to man. Their flesh is hard, 
 black, and bitter, though the young of some are eaten, being 
 skinned before they are dressed. 
 
 The omnivorse, partly no doubt from the ease with which, 
 in consequence of their miscellaneous and ready appetite, 
 they can be fed, are all easily tamed ; and in that state they 
 are capable of very considerable attachment, both to places 
 and to persons. They can also be taught to articulate words ; 
 and it is a curious fact in ornithology, that the birds which 
 are the most easily taught to do that, are also the most 
 remarkable for the roughness and harshness of their voices, 
 and the absence of anything that can be considered as natural 
 song. 
 
 There are two divisions of them, the Crows, properly so 
 called, whose characters are well defined ; and the other 
 genera, to which no common name can with propriety be 
 given, as they vary so much both in their appearance and 
 their habits. 
 
 CROWS (Corvus). 
 
 Colour generally uniform ; prevailing hue dark, generally 
 black, of different shades and with numerous reflections. Bill 
 very strong, upper mandible slightly bent at the tip. Tail 
 of moderate length and rounded. Very numerous, found in 
 all situations from the mountain top to the sea shore ; but 
 some prefer cultivated places, and others the wilds. The 
 former are, generally speaking, the more social in their 
 habits; the latter partake more of the characters of predatory 
 birds. 
 
 THE BOOK (Corvus frugilegus). 
 
 Every body knows the rook ; the dark, the noisy, and 
 sometimes the nest-plundering, or in the early fields, the 
 contribution-levying rook ; but still, notwithstanding, the 
 
THE ROOK. 173 
 
 cheerful, the orderly, the industrious, the discreet, the bene- 
 ficent rook. There, in the aged and stately trees, he builds 
 his wicker castle, chants his rude and monotonous cry the 
 while, dwells among his brethren and his kindred, and looks 
 down on the lord of the manor with as much self-possession 
 as if it were he who suffered the wingless rustic to toil with 
 heavy steps through the sticks that fall from the nest of his 
 superior. 
 
 Nor does he loiter away his time in the manorial bower. 
 He looks after the estate, and gives a very broad and at the 
 same time pointed hint to others, if they would take it. 
 
 When the frost is severe, and the snow lies thick, off he 
 flies to the sea beach or the river side, and inter alia, inspects 
 the embankments, weirs and dams, to notice if the teredo 
 has bored into the posts, or any other injury has been done 
 by small enemies, that can be productive of damage when the 
 thaw and the flood come. Or he comes nearer the house, and 
 examines the compost, in order to see that when you apply it 
 to enrich the fields, you do not at the same time scatter in- 
 sects which will eat up your young plants, and deprive you 
 of your crop. 
 
 When the thaw comes, he hurries to the meadow, and 
 examines the debris which has been cast there by the swollen 
 stream ; and if he finds in it the germ of any noxious thing 
 he pulls it out, so that the blessing of the hill may come 
 upon the valley, pure, wholesome, and without offensive addi- 
 tion. Next he goes to the autumn-sown wheat, and, by a 
 curious instinct, knowing those plants that are sickly, he 
 delves down, and extracts the larva of the cockchaffer, or 
 whatever earth-caterpillar it may be which is only waiting for 
 a few gleams of a warmer sun, in order to render your labour 
 abortive, and compel you to plough and sow that field anew. 
 Again, he is over the pasture, and every stool of grass and 
 plant of clover undergoes a like patient and well-directed 
 
174 OMNI VOILE. 
 
 scrutiny ; and, by the time that " the day is done," he returns 
 to his perch, cawing to inform you that the labour is accom- 
 plished, and the labourer paid, in less time than you would take 
 in considering how to do either the one or the other. 
 
 The great additional labour of the rooks is the preparing 
 of their nests, and the rearing of those families which are to 
 continue the society, and watch over the state of the fields, 
 after age or casualty shall have given their own feathers to 
 the winds and their flesh to the raven ; and their early rising, 
 their constant labour, and the order and police which they 
 maintain, are all very curious. Their time of commencement 
 is the first of March, a little earlier or a little later, accord- 
 ing to the season ; and, as the building of the nest and the 
 instinct by means of which that nest is to be stocked come to 
 maturity together ; so, if the lapwing-storm, which, raging 
 on the shores, and in the low country, helps to drive these 
 beautiful birds to the moors, be long and protracted, the nest- 
 building is suspended till it blows over, and the rook con- 
 tents himself in the interim with watching the safety of those 
 sticks that are already placed. 
 
 But if the season goes cheerily on, and there is no inter- 
 ruption, the cawing and the bustle begin at the greyest dawn ; 
 and that man is most industrious that can get to his work 
 before the rook. " Ask the beasts, and they shall tell j the 
 birds and they shall instruct." It is good, at that season, to 
 be near a rookery. There is no lullaby in their cawing ; you 
 cannot sleep ; and they will not allow you to be dozing and 
 "losing thought" in bed. Rise you must, or suffer for it. 
 But they do not annoy you at nights : " Early to bed and early 
 to rise" is the rooks' maxim, and if you follow them as far as 
 that, the rest will follow of necessary consequence. 
 
 But their admonition does not stop there. The farmer's 
 busy time is their busy time ; they feel that he is as necessary 
 to their present profit as they are to his future ; or they act 
 
THE ROOK. 175 
 
 as if they so felt, which in effect comes to the same thing. If 
 he will not bring out his teams, turn the soil, and expose the 
 worms and the grubs ; they caw over his fields, and make the 
 same sort of lamentation that a hungry man does when he 
 knows that there is meat in the house, but the careless ser- 
 vant has lost the key of the larder. 
 
 But if the teams are all a-field betimes, slicing the sward or 
 the stubble, and turning up the fresh and fragrant earth to 
 be mellowed by the action of the sun, there is not a com- 
 plaining note among all the fieldward rooks. Gallantly they 
 strut and incessantly they pick up the larvae and the worms, 
 so that the returning plough cannot bury and so preserve in 
 the soil a single destructive thing. And you would think 
 that the memory of gratitude was strong in them, and that they 
 know upon whose territory they depended, when their own 
 was locked up in the snow and the frost. At that time, he 
 resorted to the shores of the sea, and fed on the pastures of 
 the gull ; and now that it is his time for superabundance, the 
 gull comes for a share, and the rook, instead of offering any 
 resistance, mixes with the stranger on the most friendly 
 terms. Even the pigeon comes from the cote or the wood, 
 and the very poultry and ducks come from the farm-yard, and 
 mingle in peace with the wild tribes, such charms has the 
 timely labouring of the ground. 
 
 The plentiful supply of food which, in the course of a few 
 hours, the rooks obtain at this season, enables the one-half of 
 them to be always, and the greater part of them to be some- 
 times at work in the rookeries. It has been said, though 
 after a good deal of observation I cannot verify it, that the 
 strong sometimes help the weak in the construction of their 
 nests ; but it is certain that those which have been detected 
 in niching sticks from the nests of others, are punished, not 
 merely by the parties they have plundered, but by others. 
 The attachment of the pair during the nestling time is the 
 
176 OMNI VOILE. 
 
 strongest of their attachments ; but there is a feeling towards 
 the society, and even the place ; for if part of the trees are 
 cut down, the rooks will accommodate each other upon the 
 remaining ones, often so thickly as to contain two nests in 
 the same fork, without any signs of hostility between either 
 the old birds or the broods. In close time the male does not 
 take turn in sitting, and when the action of the eggs has 
 begun, the female is never long absent from the nest ; but 
 the male certainly does bring food to her, and appears as 
 willing to* bestow as she is grateful to receive. After the 
 young are of such an age as they can be left, both parents 
 assist in feeding them ; and as the working of the land goes 
 on during the time, or if not, the larvae come near the surface 
 of the pastures, an abundance of food for the numerous broods 
 (the average is five) is obtained without much difficulty. The 
 feeding continues after the birds leave the nest, and " branch ;" 
 and when there are several broods on the same tree, each 
 parent appears to know its young, and each of the young its 
 parent, with as much certainty as the ewes and lambs of a 
 flock know each other, though the ewes are browsing and the 
 lambs sporting indiscriminately over the pasture. The pairing 
 attachment weakens, if it does not altogether cease, as soon 
 as the young birds are able to shift for themselves ; but the 
 social instinct, which is the bond of union of the rookery, 
 continues not only for life, but through as many generations 
 as the trees continue ; and if these are cut down en masse, 
 the birds remove en masse to a new locality, generally as near 
 the old one as they can. 
 
 The treatment of orphan broods, and the disposal of 
 widowed rooks, are curious points in the domestic history 
 of a rookery ; but they are points upon which, from the 
 similarity of one rook to another, it is very difficult to get 
 accurate information. There is little doubt, however, that 
 when any casualty happens to the parents after the brood 
 
THE EOOK. 177 
 
 are of such an age as that they can complain, the others do 
 relieve their wants. Indeed, it is very possible that all 
 species of birds contribute at times to the support of orphan 
 broods of their own species ; otherwise, from the casualties to 
 which the parent birds are subject, we should meet with 
 many more instances of young that had died in the nest. As 
 for the widowed ones, there is no doubt that they pair again 
 the next year, so that there is never more than one odd bird 
 in a rookery ; and it has been asserted that one of the ways 
 in which new rookeries are formed, is the pairing of the odd 
 birds from existing ones. During the pairing season, one 
 may often observe a rook flying about in a hurried manner, 
 and cawing in a sharper and more anxious key, without 
 carrying sticks, or taking any share in the business of nidi- 
 fication ; but whether they are odd ones it is not easy to say. 
 Couriers sometimes pass and repass between the different 
 rookeries, upon terms that are evidently amicable, but the 
 messages which they carry are known only to the rooks 
 themselves. There is no doubt, however, that all birds which 
 live in societies have some signals by which they recognise 
 each other ; for when the rooks of different rookeries feed 
 together during the day, but go home at night, each party 
 takes its proper course, though occasionally one or two will 
 follow the wrong leader for a time before they discover their 
 mistake. Rooks have a history which is neither brief nor 
 void of interest ; and they are so numerous, and found in so 
 many places, that any one may study it. 
 
 It need hardly be added, that the rook is of a fine glossy 
 black, of almost the only tint of that colour which is lively ; 
 that the sides of the head and neck are glossed with very 
 rich blue, of which there are traces, but deeper and less per- 
 ceptible, on the coverts. The beak is straight in the gape, 
 with nearly equally similar outlines to both mandibles. The 
 skin at the base, which is light grey, is covered with black 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
1 OMNIVOILE. 
 
 feathers extending over the nostrils in the young bird, but 
 these are wanting in the old. The common opinion is, that 
 it wears them off in digging, which is not very likely, as 
 much more laborious spade-work does not injure the fur of 
 moles, or the feathers of some other birds. There is a power 
 of reproduction in the bill, and if necessary there would be 
 one also in the feathers which the young bird has at its base. 
 The replacing of the feathers by scales, rather indicates a 
 natural habit in the bird. The natural dimensions of a full- 
 grown rook are, about nineteen inches long, and thirty-eight 
 in the wings ; and the weight is about nineteen ounces. 
 
 THE HOODED OR KOYSTON CKOW (OoTVUS COTUIX). 
 
 This bird is larger than the rook, being an inch longer, an 
 inch broader, and about three ounces heavier. Its head, 
 wings, and tail are black, but less bright than that of the 
 rook, though there are some blue and green reflections to- 
 ward the sides of the neck ; the rest of the body is of a dull 
 smoke-grey. It is a stronger bird, but less handsome and 
 less interesting in its manners. Its principal food consists of 
 eggs, young birds, and carrion ; and it may be described as a 
 prowling and gross-feeding bird, plundering all that it can 
 find, killing all that its cowardly nature will allow it to 
 master, and feeding greedily upon any garbage that comes in 
 its way. Other birds seem to know and dislike it, for even 
 the small ones fly about it, and beat it with their wings. 
 
 In England, the hooded crow is only a winter migrant, 
 appearing in the month of October, and taking its depar- 
 ture about the first of April. During that time it is also 
 most abundant in the richest districts of the Scotch low- 
 lands, in which it seldom breeds ; but as the latitude, and 
 also the cold from elevation, increase, the birds are found 
 more numerous, and in the high districts, and the Orkney 
 and Shetland Isles, the hooded crow, or simply "hoody," as it 
 
THE HOODED CROW. 179 
 
 is called, is the crow, and the rook and carrion crow are but 
 little known. 
 
 When in the south, the hooded crows usually appear in 
 small flocks, and come not only to the corn-fields but to the 
 neighbourhood of villages and even of towns, gather any 
 garbage that they can find, and play the scavenger in the 
 kennels and at the laystalls. On the sea-shore they are not 
 uncommon, where they pick up dead fish and birds, or any 
 sort of animal substance, no matter how decayed or putrid, 
 that may have been left grounded by the tide. They are 
 also said to be adroit in opening muscles and cockles, and in 
 twitching limpets off the rocks, or even in boring or hewing 
 through the shells of such as -they cannot detach. It is also 
 said that the large limpets sometimes close upon their bills, till 
 they are retained and drowned, which may be true, as the 
 limpets hold on with the cloak, and not the shell ; and there 
 are limpets so large, that the adhesion is equal to a force of 
 from twenty to thirty pounds. 
 
 They also prowl about the preserves, warrens, and pas- 
 tures, and if they find any animal in a disabled or weakly 
 state, they punch out its eyes ; and if they are not able to 
 kill it on the spot, leave it to perish, and return to the carrion 
 at their leisure. In the north, they carry on similar depre- 
 dations during the whole summer. The number of eggs and 
 young birds of grous, and other species, which they destroy 
 is very great ; and in some places of the Highlands and the 
 northern isles, and especially in the Faroe Islands, they rob 
 the ground of the seed corn and seed potatoes. 
 
 During their breeding time they disperse, because the up- 
 lands, where they have their nests, could not support a large 
 colony of birds so voracious ; but they do not pass immedi- 
 ately to the breeding places. They get back as they may, 
 according to their powers of flight, and meet at some ren- 
 dezvous j in all probability, near the place where they were 
 
1 80 OMXIVOILE. 
 
 hatched. There they assemble, and remain for some time in 
 solemn deliberation (as some say) upon the conduct of the 
 campaign, and make a solemn inquest into the southern 
 "foray," with grave judges, brawling counsel, anxious clients, 
 and all the paraphernalia of a court of justice, with the 
 exception of witnesses, and of these even Landt maketh no 
 mention. Some also are left for execution no, left executed ; 
 for the dead bodies are left on the place of meeting, as food 
 for any creatures which may be fouler feeders than them- 
 selves. 
 
 But all this execution of the law for one campaign, and 
 enacting of it for another, is, in truth, nothing more than the 
 simple and natural operation -of pairing, in the course of 
 which, though they are strictly monogamous and constant, 
 there is some rivalry, duelling, and bloodshed at the outset. 
 The grave judges are, in reality, desponding lovers, rejected 
 swains, and unwooed damsels, whose heads are weighed down, 
 not with wisdom, but with woe ; the wranglers are rivals, 
 settling their affairs of gallantry ; the anxious lookers-on are 
 the females, who are to fall to the lot of the conquerors ; 
 and the dead bodies are the remains of those who have, not 
 ignobly, bled for all-conquering love. 
 
 When all is settled, the pairs wend their several ways over 
 the wild, nestling in the rocks or trees as the one or the other 
 may be most convenient, building the external part of their 
 nests with sticks, after the manner of the rooks, but, contrary 
 to the custom of these, lining it with wool or hair, which they 
 do not hesitate to pull from the back of a sheep or other 
 animal ; and if he be weak, lame, or laired (stuck in the 
 mire), they punch out his eyes into the bargain, and take note 
 of his carcass, as a substantial addition to the larder. 
 
 When one first meets them in scores upon a Highland 
 moor, on a foggy day, having been previously familar with 
 the rooks of a less savage land, one imagines that the crows 
 
THE CARRION-CROW. 181 
 
 have been snowed on till they have become hoarse, their 
 croak is so " inward " and laborious ; but they have also a 
 sharper sort of crowing note a kind of note that seems to 
 belong, in some degree, to most birds that fight for possession 
 of their females. The eggs are about five, which is indeed 
 the usual number with all the crow tribe. As the season 
 becomes cold, they migrate, or come down to the low country 
 to pass the winter; and if that is more than usually severe, 
 the grey upon them changes almost to white. When the 
 snow falls heavy, they resort to the margin of the sea, and 
 the very doors of the cottages; but occasionally take an 
 excursion to see if any creature has perished, or is perishing, 
 in the snow; and if so, and the body be considerable, they 
 soon come in a flock.* 
 
 THE CARRION-CROW (CoTVUS COTOne). 
 
 The carrion-crow, though smaller in size, (about eighteen 
 inches by thirty-six, and eighteen ounces in 'weight,) and dif- 
 ferent in colour, being wholly black, except some greenish 
 reflections on a few of the feathers, has so nearly the habits 
 of the hooded crow, that doubts have arisen whether they 
 ought not to be considered as varieties of the same species, 
 produced by climate, the hooded one being whitened by the 
 cold. That the hooded crow becomes whiter by exposure to 
 intense cold, is one argument, and the production of a mixed 
 breed between them, is another, and would be decisive, if 
 that breed were fertile in itself, and without any return 
 towards the pure blood of either; but this has not been 
 ascertained, and thus the mixed breed may be merely a 
 mule, the same as that produced between the goldfinch and 
 canary. 
 
 Independently of that question, which, being one of science 
 and system, we are not called upon to discuss, there are, 
 
 * In Norway the hooded crow is very abundant, especially along the 
 sea coast, where it breeds on the cliffs of the rocks. M. 
 
182 OMNIVORvE. 
 
 besides the mere size and colour, sufficient differences of 
 appearance and habit to form a popular distinction. The 
 carrion-crow has much more the air of the raven than the 
 hooded crow; it is heavier in proportion to its length; it is 
 firmer and bolder; it frequents different situations; and even 
 when they are together for a time, the one race go one way, 
 and the other another. 
 
 They nestle in high trees, but they prefer the neighbour- 
 hood of rich countries, and hence they are not found in the 
 Highlands and northern isles. They prowl about even to 
 the doors of the houses, and into the poultry yards, and are 
 voracious devourers of eggs, young poultry, young rabbits, 
 and young game, even more so than the regular birds of 
 prey. They punch out the eyes of weak animals, hawk at 
 birds on the wing, open shelled-mollusca on the sea-shore; 
 and there are modern instances in corroboration of the story 
 of the ancient philosopher who was killed by a crow mis- 
 taking his head for a stone, and dropping an oyster on it in 
 order to break the shell. One of these was seen by the cele- 
 brated Watt. A crow caught up a crab, rose with it to a 
 considerable height, dropped it, not on the head of a modern 
 philosopher, or he might not have come more safely off 
 than the ancient one but on a stone, and descended to her 
 feast. 
 
 Though not a very long winged bird, the carrion crow 
 rises to a considerable height, higher than that at which the 
 hooded crow is seen ; and in defence of her brood she beats 
 off the smaller hawks, the kite, and the raven. The brood 
 remain with the parent birds till next breeding time ; and 
 though these crows collect in small flocks during the winter, 
 they seem to do so rather from an accidental meeting in 
 quest of food than from any principle or instinct of a social 
 nature. During the breeding season, each pair keep within 
 their own territory, which is of considerable extent, though 
 at other times they associate during the night. When the 
 
THE RAVEN. 183 
 
 spring begins to be felt, they separate: the hooded crows 
 migrate, and the rooks collect together. These are, at least, 
 distinctions of habit. 
 
 THE RAVEN (CoTVUS 
 
 The raven, though in appearance and also in many of its 
 habits very similar to the carrion crow, is much more a bird 
 of prey. As is the case with the birds of prey, the female is 
 larger than the male; whereas in all the other species of 
 crows the male is larger than the female. 
 
 The raven is a powerful bird. It is rather more than two 
 feet long, four feet in the extent of the wings, and more than 
 two pounds in weight. Its colour is black, glossed with blue 
 on the upper part ; and it is one of those birds which inhabit 
 almost all latitudes, and have their plumage unchanged by 
 varieties of seasons or of climate. Under the line, and near 
 the poles, in the northern hemisphere and in the southern, 
 under burning sun and amid chilling cold, it is still the same 
 dark, forbidding, and hoarsely-croaking raven. 
 
 The disposition of the raven is very similar to that of the 
 carrion crow, only as it is much more powerful it carries 
 matters with a higher hand. But as nature tempers and 
 regulates her productions to each other with a degree and 
 even a kind of perfection which man cannot imitate, the 
 raven is much more a bird of the wilderness than any other 
 of the crow tribe. It inhabits wild hilly districts, generally 
 those that are between the low lands and the higher moun- 
 tains; and though it can well endure the weather, it gives 
 the preference to a southern aspect. Its nest is concealed in 
 a thick tree, or in a cleft of a rock, but it gives preferer^e to 
 the latter. The nest is something after the fashion of that 
 of the carrion crow, but larger; the eggs are five; but as the 
 young are exceedingly voracious and restless for their food, 
 that number is seldom reared, as some generally fall out of 
 
184 OMNIVOILE. 
 
 the nests. In some places, where a long range of precipice 
 stands on the southern brow of a hill, in a district covered in 
 many places with brakes, and abounding with birds and wild 
 game, the ravens dwell in peace; but people occasionally 
 gather up the young which they find croaking in the bushes 
 under the precipice. When taken they strike with their 
 bills, but the only taming that they require is being fed ; and 
 they make excellent warders, as few dogs, unless they have 
 been trained, will go in upon a raven. The stroke is very 
 powerful, and given not by the mere motion of the neck, but 
 with the neck stiff, and the whole weight of the body thrown 
 by a simultaneous movement of the legs and wings ; and the 
 bird comes on as if the whole of it were a sharp, feathered, 
 and self-directed dart. 
 
 The hop of the raven suits his purpose well when he beats 
 the long grass and bushes for eggs, young birds, and leverets. 
 He flings himself into the air with wonderful ease; and 
 when he has cleared the bush he lets himself down with 
 equal softness, so that the feet slide to the ground but do not 
 touch it. The raven thus comes more stealthily upon his 
 prey than almost any other predatory bird ; and though he 
 does not repeat his hoarse and dismal croak till he discovers 
 something stir the vegetation, in the act of hiding itself 
 more closely, he comes upon it hopping, and before it is 
 aware. 
 
 He moves from place to place on the wing, and a bold 
 and strong wing it is, less easily hurt by the storm than 
 most others; but he does not beat so much while flying. 
 He gains some high point, and there he sits surveying the 
 whole horizon which it commands, till something promising 
 appears. Then, away he wings, low and stealthy, and lets 
 himself down softly before he arrives at it. Thence he 
 hops, in a spiral or zig-zag, always appearing as if he were to 
 pass in an oblique direction, but nearing his object at every 
 hop. 
 
THE RAVEN. 185 
 
 One often wonders where lie can come from ; for you may 
 walk the wild for hours without stirring a wing, more espe- 
 cially a black one; but if you lie down, especially if you lie 
 on your back, the raven will be close upon you in a moment, 
 examining if you are ready for him. He appears to know 
 instinctively that the position of the lifeless or helpless body 
 is on the back, with the eyes exposed to the punch of his bill, 
 and therefore he comes more readily and resolutely upon the 
 body in that position than in any other. 
 
 It may be that the position which the dead body assumes, 
 generally on the back (on the side in quadrupeds), and always 
 with the eyes open and exposed, is partly assumed to accom- 
 modate the raven ; for it is a law of nature to reclaim to 
 other use the materials of everything after it has ceased to 
 be useful itself ; and in those countries where there are no 
 vultures the raven is the consumer-general of those carcases 
 which would poison the air of the wild. 
 
 To lie down on your back, and lie still for some time, on an 
 exposed part of the hill, is the best way to see and watch the 
 motions of the raven, or to shoot him, if you are so armed 
 and inclined. He is shy of man and of all large animals in 
 motion; because though glad to find others carrion, or to 
 make carrion of them if he can do it with impunity, he takes 
 good care that none shall make carrion of him. If you are 
 even sitting in any posture that indicates life he will not 
 alight near you, though he may reconnoitre you on the wing. 
 But if you lie on your back, he will come you know not 
 whence, and, hovering round you on slow wing, examine 
 you from all points. If you do not stir, he will drop down 
 at a little distance, and begin to hop in an echellon fashion, 
 bringing his shoulders forward alternately after a few hops 
 on each line of the zig-zag. Sometimes he will utter his 
 " cruck, cruck," and pause to see if that makes you stir, and 
 if it does not he will accelerate his advance. If you allow 
 
186 OMNI VOILE. 
 
 him to come sufficiently near, his first salutation would be to 
 dash himself at your eye ; but if you have a gun you can 
 make sure of him long before that; only " beware the beak," 
 if he is merely winged or otherwise slightly wounded. Not- 
 withstanding, if you take him home, feed him well, and heal 
 his wound, he will not only forgive you, but become a faithful 
 servant. 
 
 When the raven has young, his excursions are not carried 
 on to such a distance over the wastes ; and in very severe 
 weather he comes farther down, prowling under the hedges, 
 and even near the houses, and if he finds any animal in a 
 weakly state, he helps it on its way. Rabbits find no quar- 
 ter ; and even the spiked armour of the hedgehog is not 
 proof against the thrust of the raven's bill, which is in some 
 respects more formidable than the beaks of the rapacious 
 birds, inasmuch as it stabs to death, and then cuts up the 
 slain like a pair of great shears. 
 
 When there is " death on the hill," which there generally 
 is at the time of the spring and the midsummer rains, of 
 birds that are weak from long flights, or want of food during 
 the first of these, and of nestlings unable to fly during the 
 second, it is high feast with the raven; and while all else are 
 driven to shelter, you may find him daring the storm, and 
 beating about for his victims. 
 
 The extending of cultivation, and the greater attention 
 that is now paid to the condition of the stock, both cattle 
 and sheep, during the winter, have diminished the food, and 
 consequently thinned the number of the ravens. In the 
 olden time, when the cattle went first to the hill, there were 
 many of them so weak that they were unable to rise without 
 assistance, so that part of the early morning's occupation for 
 the people was to go round and lift the weakly cattle. The 
 sheep did not absolutely need lifting on the level ground, but 
 if they happened by any chance to get into even a shallow 
 
THE JACK-DAW. 187 
 
 rut on their backs, they were unable to recover themselves; 
 and both sheep and cattle stuck fast in places which stock in 
 better condition could pass with ease. These were days of 
 plenty with the raven, whose morning's work was to go 
 round and punch out eyes ; and then, though the animals 
 were found, only the skin was useful to man ; and so the 
 raven, who generally sat at no great distance during the 
 operation, soon came and claimed the carcase. In the im- 
 mediate destruction of that, the raven was of service ; because 
 no browsing animal will feed near the carrion of its own 
 species; and that he was able to begin the work, proved 
 either that the pastures were on the whole overstocked, or 
 that they were injudiciously managed. Indeed, the havoc 
 committed by a predatory animal will always, if duly studied, 
 be found to involve an admonition, which, properly acted on, 
 will cure the evil produced by that animal, and produce a 
 considerable reward for the labour it may require in addi- 
 tional and positive good. In those hilly districts where 
 ravens are still to be found, animals are subject to more 
 casualties than they are in the plains, or on the level moors : 
 so that the ravens still have their use there, and the wanton 
 destruction of them is, at all events, a matter deserving con- 
 sideration. 
 
 THE JACK-DAW (Corvus monedula). 
 
 The jack-daw is the only, other British bird that strictly 
 belongs to the crow tribe. It is a frequenter of the haunts 
 of man, active, noisy, and familiar, almost to impudence; but 
 it is a lively bird; and though at times it may take a little 
 grain, that is far more than compensated by the number of 
 insects and worms that it destroys in the course of the year. 
 
 The jack-daw is the smallest of the tribe, being only about 
 half the weight of the rook; but the wings are larger in pro- 
 portion. It is about fourteen niches long, twenty-nine broad, 
 
188 OMNIVORJE. 
 
 and weighs between nine and ten ounces. The bill, feet, top 
 of the head, and wing-coverts and secondary quills are black. 
 The back of the head and nape smoke-grey, and the irides 
 the same but much lighter. The remaining parts black, with 
 a greyish tinge on the upper side, and a bluish on the under. 
 The black is variously glossed with blue and violet reflections. 
 These are the ordinary colours ; but like all birds that inhabit 
 cultivated lands, and are of course affected by the differences 
 to which cultivation gives rise, jack-daws vary considerably 
 in colour, partly from age, partly not ; sometimes the grey is 
 nearly white, at other times the bird is black all over and 
 there are many slighter and intermediate variations. 
 
 Holes and chinks are the immediate places in which jack- 
 daws nestle ; but these must be elevated above the level 
 ground, and the higher they are the bird likes them the 
 better. It is probable that the original instinct is the pro- 
 tection of its eggs and young from the weasels. Rocks, the 
 edges of neglected quarries, the projecting parapets of bridges, 
 towers, steeples, ruins, the earth where it forms a very steep 
 and crumbling bank, are all resorted to by the jack-daws ; 
 and one would imagine that the birds are fonder of the 
 society of man than of having the locality to themselves. 
 But the fact is, that these birds court the vicinity of human 
 dwellings for the same reason as the house-swallows, because 
 insects are most abundant there. Fifty towers might be built 
 in an insectless wilderness, and never a jack-daw would come 
 to nestle in them. 
 
 In the winter months, the jack -daws and rooks flock 
 together, and collect their food on the same fields, and of 
 the same kind, without any hostility; but in the spring, 
 when the rooks return to the rookery or the trees, the jack- 
 daws collect about the rocks and towers. Their habits are, 
 indeed, very similar to those of the rooks, with the exception 
 of the places in which they nestle, and the materials of the 
 
THE JACK-DAW. 189 
 
 nest; both are generally of sticks, but the jack-daw uses a 
 lining of softer matters. The difference of their notes easily 
 distinguishes the two species, even when they are so blended 
 and distant that the sight cannot. The Scotch names, "craa" 
 and " kae," are perhaps as expressive of their sounds as names 
 can well be. 
 
 In some places, one would think that there is more in their 
 winter associating than merely accidental meeting on the 
 same pastures. In the latter part of the season, when the 
 rooks from one of the most extensive rookeries in Britain 
 made daily excursions of about six miles, to the warm grounds 
 by the sea-side, and in their flight passed over a deep ravine 
 in the rocky sides (or rather side, for they inhabited the 
 sunny one) on which there were many jack-daws, I have 
 observed that when the cawing of the rooks on their morning 
 flight was heard at the ravine, the jack-daws, which had 
 previously been still and quiet, instantly raised their shriller 
 notes, and flew out to join the rooks, both parties clamouring 
 loudly as if welcoming each other; and that, on the return, 
 the time of which was no bad augury of the weather of the 
 succeeding day, the daws accompanied the rooks a little past 
 the ravine; then both cawed their farewell, and departed. 
 What is more singular, I have seen, too frequently for its 
 being merely accidental, a daw return for a short time to the 
 rooks, a rook to the daws, or one from each race meet 
 between, and be noisy together for a space after the bands 
 had separated. With the reason I do not interfere, not 
 being in the secrets of either party ; but the fact is as certain 
 as it is curious. In order that any one who pleases may 
 investigate the matter, I may mention that the rooks were 
 from the woods of Panmure, the daws from the den of 
 Pitairley, and the feeding-ground was the low part of the 
 parishes of Monifeith and Barry, all in the county of Angus. 
 
 From the ease with which jack-daws can be observed, there 
 
190 OMNI VOILE. 
 
 are many stories of them, and also of the perils to which 
 boys expose themselves in plundering their nests. One of 
 the most extraordinary of the latter, is that of Murray, the 
 Dundee barber. The battlement of the old tower there is 
 about 150 feet above the pavement at the base. Murray 
 (when a boy) went through one of the holes in the parapet, 
 hung by one hand to a Scotch bonnet which another boy 
 held from within, and with his other hand drew the eggs and 
 young birds from the nests, and put them in the bonnet. 
 While thus employed, he kept warning his companion " If 
 you let go ,the bonnet, I'll give you none of the spoil." The 
 jack-daw is easily tamed, and long remembers those who 
 have paid attention to it indeed it is almost tame in its 
 natural state; but it is noisy and impudent, and not very 
 honest. 
 
 OMNIVOROUS BIRDS NOT CROWS. 
 
 There are two divisions of these, one with the tail long 
 and terminating in the form of a wedge, the other with it 
 squared over. There is but one species of the former the 
 magpie a resident. There are three species of the second 
 that reside in Britain, and a good many that visit occasion- 
 ally. All these birds are remarkable for the beauty of their 
 plumage, and the ease with which they can be tamed, and 
 taught to articulate. On these there is still no red or 
 yellow, or even brown, in the plumage, though there is russet 
 in the spots of the starling, and in the general plumage on 
 the body of the jay, and red in the bill and claws of the 
 chough. 
 
 THE MAGPIE (Pica melanoleucd). 
 
 Magpies are familiar birds, so well known to everybody, 
 that much description of them is not necessary. They asso- 
 ciate in pairs, and are more prolific than the crows, the 
 
THE MAGPIE. 191 
 
 number of their eggs being sometimes eight. They do not 
 choose the very highest trees for their nests, but they always, 
 when there is a choice, select thick and bushy ones; and 
 it has been remarked, that the tree which contains a mag- 
 pie's nest, is seldom uprooted by the winds, even in the 
 violence of the winter, and when the birds are in a more 
 sheltered habitation. By parity of reasoning, that house on 
 the top of which the magpie perches, is in no danger of 
 falling ; but woe be to the beast on whose back it perches, 
 for the magpie perches on dead beasts, and consequently, 
 when it perches on living ones, it wishes, prophesies, and 
 even dooms them dead ! The magpie is thus a bird which 
 excites very mingled and opposite sensations : it is a bird 
 of hope and confidence, and of fear and despair ; but the 
 feeling towards it leans upon the whole to the suspicious; 
 and one set of the ignorant spare the magpies and their 
 nests for the same reason that another class never mention 
 the name of the devil except in under tone, and with 
 much respect, lest they should come by some heavy or 
 bodily harm! And the magpie filches away money and 
 other little matters, and when they are again found, they 
 have much of the peril of witches' money ! ISTay, more ; the 
 magpies actually take counsel together, conspire, and club 
 their wits, for weal or for woe, as it may turn out. If there 
 is an even number, and all are cheerily met, then happy 
 times to the matrons, high hopes to the maids, and health 
 and long life to all the family or the parish, if the place of 
 meeting is in or near the churchyard ! but woe be to that 
 house before which there is an assemblage, with an odd 
 magpie sitting sulkily apart ; and tenfold woe, if that sight 
 crosses a lover on his path, or a party on their way to the 
 altar ! A black pig crossing the door of a fisherman's hut, 
 or even a dead hare detected in his boat when at sea, is not 
 more perilous not half so much so ; for neither lord of the 
 
192 OMNIVOR.E. 
 
 manor, parson of the parish, nor (where these are effective) 
 " bell, book, and candle," can cast out the evil spirit of the 
 odd magpie ! 
 
 These circumstances are not mentioned with a view to 
 propagate superstition, and far less with a view to ridicule 
 it ; for ridicule is the hammer with which, as a nail in a sure 
 place, it is driven home and rivetted. These superstitions 
 are weeds ; but in every field of nature, weeds are the sure 
 sign of fertility, and the certain guarantee that culture shall 
 produce a crop valuable in proportion as the weeds are rank. 
 The magpie is a very active and a very clever bird, having 
 instincts which are very readily affected by changes of cir- 
 cumstances too minute for ordinary human observation ; and 
 therefore there is no question that, properly studied, the 
 magpie would be a capital index to many of the phenomena 
 of nature a philosophical instrument, more delicate and 
 more varied in its uses than any that man can construct ; 
 and if people knew but how to consult their magpies (and it 
 is a result within the legitimate province of observation), 
 they would find these better guides to the weather, the 
 heat, the moisture, and the motions of the air, and the 
 effects of these upon the earth, than any apparatus formed 
 of dead matter. There is nothing so susceptible as life, and 
 the magpie is probably one of the most susceptible of its 
 winged forms. 
 
 It chooses the thick tree, because that can best support 
 and conceal its large nest, just as the eagle and the raven 
 choose the cleft and ledge of the rock. 
 
 Most birds, by the way, nestle above their food ; and 
 though the magpie does not build so high as the rook, it 
 builds higher than any of those birds whose nests it gene- 
 rally plunders. The magpie is one of the most villanous 
 plunderers of nests, not hesitating to invade those of do- 
 mestic poultry, especially when it has young. It seizes the 
 
THE MAGPIE. 193 
 
 eggs in the same way as the rest of the tribe, that is, by 
 thrusting the bill into them, and carrying them off. Boys 
 sometimes play it a trick, by filling the shell of an egg with 
 bird-lime, and leaving it as a bait for Mag. Mag thrusts the 
 bill into it, and it goes up to the very bottom of the gape, 
 and further, so that Mag cannot see, but flies, bumping 
 against the twigs, till she is fortunate enough to hit against 
 one which breaks the shell, and then there is no small labour 
 in clearing the bird-lime from the feathers at the base. 
 
 A thick-branched tree is also a firmly-rooted one ; and so 
 the tree is stable, not because the magpie chooses it, but 
 because stability is a concomitant of that property in the 
 upper part of the tree which suits the magpie. The nest is 
 large, much larger than is necessary for the eggs, because it 
 is walled and roofed, and the magpie must have room for its 
 long tail while it sits, and facility of reaching all the young 
 to give them their food ; and hence the whole extent of it is 
 much greater than that which is lined with grass or other 
 soft matters. The nest is tolerably well concealed, and it is 
 strongly built, and the eggs at such a distance from the door 
 by which the bird enters, that they are safe from all spoilers 
 except man. 
 
 Where these are but few, and no casualty occurs, the pair 
 build for years in the same tree ; but when they are nume- 
 rous, there must be marriage parties in the spring, as well 
 of the young ones, as of those that have been left single by 
 casualty. The meetings are for these purposes : the odd one 
 is of course unpaired ; and the rustic may very likely have 
 brought the terror of it upon fdmself by killing its mate. 
 
 As to the houses, it will, I suspect, be found that magpies 
 sit most frequently upon those that smell the most of "mag- 
 pie's food." With beasts it is much the same. The magpie 
 has many of the habits of the raven and the crow, and the 
 whole race come most about sickly beasts, allured, no doubt, 
 
 VOL. i. o 
 
194 OMNI VOILE. 
 
 by the peculiar scent, though that scent may not be percep- 
 tible to man. It is certain that when, from bad food and 
 improper treatment, murrain or any other general disease falls 
 upon cattle, crows and magpies are as certainly attracted 
 toward them as vultures are to a field of the slain, and no 
 doubt by a similar cause. In this matter, again, people 
 might profit by observing and studying the magpie ; and it 
 is an interesting bird to study neat in its form, beautiful in 
 its colours, elegant in its attitudes, and smart and lively, but 
 at the same time shrewd and cautious in its manners. Even 
 the chatter of the magpie, though a note of alarm to the 
 little birds when they have nests, is a social note : in a wild 
 country, you may generally look for a cottage if you hear a 
 magpie. The female magpie is rather smaller than the 
 male, but the markings are similar. There are many pleasing 
 stories of magpies, but we still want a good history of the 
 bird, in combination with the circumstances about it, from 
 the actual observation of one who is well skilled in the plain 
 common-sense philosophy of these circumstances in their 
 connection. It is the same with all familiar birds : we know 
 them and we know them not. 
 
 THE JAY ( Garrulus glandarius). 
 
 The jay, though not so handsome in its form, so familiar, 
 or perhaps so interesting in its manners, as the magpie, is 
 one of the most beautiful of our resident birds. It is distri- 
 buted over most parts of the country where there are groves 
 and coppices, and especially where there are bits of thick and 
 close plantation ; but it does not occur in very great numbers 
 in any one locality. 
 
 A figure, one-sixth of the lineal dimensions, is given at the 
 bottom of the plate opposite, from which a general notion of 
 the form and colour of the bird may be obtained. The 
 feathers on the head are, however, generally looser than it is 
 
THE JAY. 195 
 
 easy to represent them in so small a figure : the white roots 
 appear between the blue and black in the coverts ; the bluish 
 tinge is sometimes wanting in the forehead ; and the upper 
 part of the bird varies from brownish-purple to purplish- 
 brown. When it is in a state of excitement, both the tail 
 and the feathers on the crest are erected j and the pale grey 
 iris of the eye, contrasting with the deep mustaches, gives it 
 a ferocious, or at least an unsettled aspect. 
 
 The jay, though a showy bird, is much more frequently 
 heard than seen, and it is not one of which it is easy to get 
 a sight upon compulsion, as the more you follow it, it plunges 
 the deeper into the thick of the coppice. The best place for 
 observing it well, is where there are peas or cherries near its 
 haunts, as it feeds greedily upon these, and may then be 
 watched for a longer time than its wary habits will admit 
 of under most circumstances. 
 
 Jays do not flock, neither have they meetings similar to 
 those of the magpies and some of those crows that breed 
 apart from each other ; nor, though it has been observed in 
 some instances, has it been fully established that the young 
 remain with the old birds after they are fully fledged, and 
 capable of finding their own food. That is rather against 
 the general analogy of their natures, for they are much more 
 predatory than the magpies, although considerably smaller. 
 They are equally, if not more, destructive of the eggs of 
 small birds ; they catch mice, and they occasionally pounce 
 upon birds, and kill and devour them. 
 
 One of their most remarkable qualities is the volubility of 
 their sounds, and the readiness with which, when tamed, they 
 can be made to articulate. Its alarm note, which it utters 
 upon the appearance of anything that is dangerous, or even 
 strange in its haunts, is peculiarly harsh; but it has a love- 
 note in the early part of the season, which is not only soft, 
 but so low and apparently cautious, that it seems whispering 
 
 o2 
 
196 OMNIVOR.E. 
 
 to its mate, as if to hide their affections and their labours 
 from the other tenants of the grove. Even there it is very 
 imitative, and though it does not attempt the songs of the 
 warblers, it is very adroit at bleating, screaming, neighing, 
 and, in short, imitating all the harsher sounds. What purpose 
 these may answer, whether to scare or invite, or mislead 
 other birds, is not known. The soft note is, in the warmer 
 parts of the country, often heard again toward the latter part 
 of the season, because there the jays have often two broods 
 in the year; and it seems to be in such places only that the 
 family keep together during winter. 
 
 The first incubation is toward the end of May, the nest 
 being begun about the first of that month. It is better built 
 than that of the rook, but less carefully lined than the crow's, 
 or generally than the magpie's, and it has no walls and roof 
 like the latter. The platform is of sticks, and the immediate 
 receptacle for the eggs, which is shallow, is of grass and 
 roots. The eggs are about the same in number as those of 
 the magpie; the incubation lasts about two weeks, and the 
 young acquire their plumage in July. 
 
 The jay is, for its size, remarkable for the rapacity of its 
 appetite and the wideness of its swallow, and eats acorns, 
 nuts, and chesnuts entire; but there are other substances of 
 which it makes more of a bonne louche. It is very partial to 
 the flowers of the cruciferse, which it pulls slowly and care- 
 fully, petal by petal. It is a restless and inquisitive bird, and 
 sometimes gets itself torn, or jammed between branches, in 
 its ramblings. When nests, and fruits on and under the 
 trees fail it, it hunts among the fallen leaves, and often plun- 
 ders the hoards of small quadrupeds ; but as it does not come 
 far from the woods, even in the coldest weather, it must be 
 subject to many casualties, which accounts for the limited 
 numbers compared with the fecundity of the birds. 
 
 Words in which the letter r occurs, are soonest learned, not 
 
THE CHOUGH. 197 
 
 only by the jay, but by most birds that can be taught to 
 articulate. That is easily accounted for by the unyielding 
 nature of the mandible, which forces the air to come out 
 between the upper part of the tongue and the palate, on which 
 that trills. A man cannot easily pronounce the r in any but 
 Northumberland fashion, if he grins the while: and those 
 who use the tongue simpering and softly, merely touch, but 
 do not pronounce it. 
 
 THE CHOUGH (Pyrrkocorax graculus). 
 
 The chough is as much a bird of the breeze as the jay is 
 of the shade and shelter of the woods; and their different 
 plumages are well adapted to the differences of their modes 
 of life. The loose and comparatively downy plumage of the 
 jay enables it to glide between trees, and softens its collision 
 with branches, while the firm plumage of the chough enables 
 it to bear the storm, when beating against the rocks in which 
 it takes up its abode. 
 
 The chough is about seventeen inches long, thirty-four in 
 the stretch of the wings, and thirteen ounces in weight : the 
 female is smaller. The colour is all over black, but with finely- 
 glossed reflections of blue and violet ; the eye lively, with a 
 light brown iris; and the bill and feet red the former long, 
 bent a little from the base, and very tapering; the latter with 
 strong black claws, sharp and considerably curved. It is a 
 handsome and lively bird, very active on the wing and utters 
 a shrill and wailing cry. It can be tamed, but it is restless 
 and mischievous. 
 
 On the continent choughs migrate, but in Britain they re- 
 main in the same haunts all the year round. Their haunts 
 are mostly confined to the southern and western coasts, on 
 rocky shores, and where the surface of the adjoining land is 
 irregular. They also nestle in ruined buildings, but not near 
 the habitations of man, unless protected by a great elevation 
 
198 OMNI VOILE. 
 
 of cliff ; their nests are in the most inaccessible places, and 
 the eggs are four or five in number. They eat grain, and 
 sometimes visit the fields for that purpose ; but their prin- 
 cipal food is found among the rocks and in the wilds, and it 
 consists of meat, or of seeds and berries, as may happen. It 
 is probable that they also pick some substance from the rocks, 
 because in bad weather they stay more closely there than 
 appears to be consistent with the wariness of their feeding at 
 other times! They come abroad only in fine weather, and fly 
 high on their journey, but seek their food on foot, the form of 
 their bills being well fitted for picking insects out of very 
 small crevices. It is not true that their flying far and feed- 
 ing late, in itself portends the breaking of the weather ; but 
 it proves that they have scoured all the nearer pastures, till 
 they have ceased to be very productive, which is saying, in 
 other words, that there has been a long period of dry weather, 
 the end of which must be change, more violent, and gene- 
 rally nearer in proportion, as the drought has lasted long ; and 
 as pastures do not recover their insects any more than their 
 vegetation while the drought continues, the choughs must 
 extend their journeys more and more, till the rain comes ; and 
 thus they are necessarily further from home, and later on the 
 wing, just before the weather breaks, but without any par- 
 ticular foreknowledge of the weather. 
 
 A change which is yet to happen in the atmosphere, can no 
 more affect the present habits of a bird, than a gun which is 
 ^yet to be loaded and fired, can at present shoot a partridge ; 
 but the present state of the weather, and the past state also, 
 as being the antecedent of the present, do affect the habits of 
 birds, and to these observation can always apply, and must, 
 when rightly applied, be useful. 
 
 Those birds which, like choughs or rooks, live in societies, 
 and go in bands to their pastures, must, in the nature of 
 things, consume the produce where they feed ; and whether 
 
THE CHOUGH. 199 
 
 their food be animal or vegetable, they must be driven to 
 greater distances when drought (which, generally speaking, 
 lessens the production of both) is of long continuance. As 
 their journeys become longer, and their food less easy to be 
 found (for the abundance of food in the vicinity, though not 
 the only element, always is an element in their choice of 
 situation), they must be later in getting home, until the 
 change of weather comes. But that change, especially after 
 long drought, often affects the earth, and the smaller living 
 creatures, before rain begins to fall, or even before the sky is 
 clouded ; and thus those incipient changes which are not pal- 
 pable to our observation, not only may, but often do, bring 
 out the earth insects and earth worms ; so that the birds 
 which feed on them fare abundantly, and return earlier than 
 before the change began. It is not meant to be said that such 
 is always the case, but it is so frequent that any one who 
 chooses may observe it. And it is a wise and beautiful pro- 
 vision of nature. All Nature's provisions are wise and beau- 
 tiful : the tempest which is to break in the night may confine 
 the birds for days to their shelters without food j they want 
 that, in order to recover from the fatigue of finding their food 
 in the extreme of drought ; and the very resistance which 
 the dry earth offers, finds them a hearty meal at the close of 
 their severe labours, so that they can comfortably rest in their 
 shelters and on their perches till the storm is over, and they 
 can again come forth to enjoy plenty in their own neighbour- 
 hoods. Thus, when studied aright, the time and manner of 
 the flight of birds, instead of being an idle augury serviceable 
 only to the purposes of superstition, is fraught with practical 
 information of the most useful kind ; and is more to be relied 
 on as indicating natural changes, than the feelings or the con- 
 jectures of man, in an artificial state. 
 
200 OMNIVOILE. 
 
 THE STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris). 
 
 The starling is the smallest of all our resident birds allied 
 to the crow tribe, and is one of the least rapacious, confining 
 itself to insects and seeds (chiefly the former), like the chough, 
 and never killing other birds, or probably robbing any nest. 
 It has been accused of breaking the eggs of pigeons when it 
 takes shelter in the pigeon-house from very severe weather ; 
 but as that would be a violation of the laws of hospitality, as 
 well as the customs of the starling, the friends of the bird 
 very properly repel it as a calumny. 
 
 The starling is between eight and nine inches long, about 
 sixteen broad, and it weighs from three to four ounces. The 
 ground colour is black, with rich reflections, varying from 
 golden green to deep purple ; the whole beautifully dropped 
 with [triangular spots like little stars, white on the under 
 part, and passing into cream-colour on the back. The quills 
 and tail-feathers are greyish black, with reddish brown mar- 
 gins. The young of the first year are uniformly coloured of 
 nearly the same brown as the margins of the quills in the 
 mature bird, only lighter, and inclining a little to yellow on 
 the breast ; but after the first moult, they are more speckled 
 than the old birds. The bill is lemon yellow, bluish at the 
 base, and the legs are sometimes brown, and sometimes 
 inclining to yellow : the bill of the male becomes yellow the 
 first spring ; that of the female, after two years. The spots, 
 being on the extremities of the feathers, are sometimes to a 
 considerable extent obliterated : hence old birds, as well as 
 young ones, are sometimes mistaken for different species. 
 
 Like its congeners, the starling is not difficult to tame, 
 or to teach to articulate ; and Sterne chose the captive star- 
 ling in a cage, with its " I can't get out," in order to depict 
 pathetically the bitterness of slavery. The thought was not 
 a bad one ; for at certain seasons of the year, the starlings 
 
THE STARLING. 201 
 
 are among the most social of birds, and they also make great 
 use of their liberty in ranging from place to place. They 
 are found abundantly in all the lower parts of Britain, and 
 in the most northerly of the islands ; they mingle freely 
 with most flocking birds, and do not hesitate to alight in 
 numbers among domestic animals in the meadows and other 
 pastures. They are partial to humid places, and do not 
 much frequent the elevated and arid moors ; and in the 
 cold season they migrate in vast numbers to the low and 
 warm countries, and to the shores of the sea. They are, 
 at all seasons, very lively birds, whistling, chattering, and 
 gliding about on the wing, which they generally do in 
 curves, and with a smooth motion. On the ground they 
 walk neatly, and with considerable velocity, but do not hop. 
 Walking and hopping seem to depend a good deal on the 
 kind of food which birds seek on the ground. If the food 
 is large, and so visible at a greater distance, the birds hop, as 
 in the case of ravens and magpies, and of thrushes, which 
 feed on snails and slugs ; but if the food is insects and their 
 larvae, and worms, as in the case of the rook and the starling, 
 then the walk is smooth. When the weather is fine, star- 
 lings often hawk about on the wing in pursuit of insects, for 
 hours together, but generally in the evenings. 
 
 Many birds fight at the pairing time, but the starlings are 
 all play and good-humour ; and after they have settled the 
 preliminaries, they resort to the hollows of trees, holes in 
 rocks, ruins, and walls, and there construct their nests, which 
 are artlessly formed of dried grass. The eggs are never 
 more than five ; but it is possible, nay, probable, from the 
 vast numbers of the birds, that they may, in favourable 
 circumstances, have two broods in the year. All our resident 
 birds that renew their song in the autumn have probably 
 broods at that time, although in districts where the winter 
 comes soon and suddenly, many of the later broods must 
 
202 OMNIVOR.E. 
 
 perish. If the starlings can fly, they are exempt from many 
 of the casualties to which birds that winter doggedly in 
 their summer haunts are subject ; they whisk away to places 
 where there is plenty of food, while the lingering tribes perish 
 of want. 
 
 When they are in the low districts, and in large collections, 
 a flock of starlings preparing to lodge themselves in the tufts 
 for the night, puts one something in mind of a dog preparing 
 to lie down in a place to which he is not accustomed. They 
 wheel round and round, first in the circumference of a circle, 
 but that circle narrows, and the whole mass is revolving round 
 a centre within itself, before it drops and disappears for the 
 night. 
 
 Starlings not only associate with other birds, but imitate 
 their cries chattering with jackdaws, whistling with plovers, 
 and screaming with sea-fowl. Their double voice causes 
 them to be more frequently deprived of their liberty, their 
 articulation being plain, and their whistle easily modulated 
 into music.* 
 
 OCCASIONAL VISITANTS, OF ANALOGOUS GENERA. 
 
 There are at least five of these, of which specimens have 
 been seen in some part or other of Britain, and they may be 
 more frequent than has been ascertained ; but still they are 
 
 * The starling does not belong to the crow family, or Corvidce, to 
 which the author applies the title of " Order Omnivorae." 
 
 The genus Sturnus may be regarded as the type of a family termed 
 by ornithologists Sturnida, a family the members of which are uni- 
 versally distributed, America claiming a large proportion of them, and 
 those too of no ordinary beauty. 
 
 With respect to the " Order Omnivorse," no zoologist will for a moment 
 hesitate to reject it. It was proposed by Temminck, and contains 
 species or genera which are widely separated from each other, not only 
 as to form, but habits also. 
 
 The crows simply constitute a family under the title Corvidce. M. 
 
THE WAX-WING. 203 
 
 so little open to common observation, that we need do little 
 more than mention the bare names. 
 
 THE ROLLER (Coracias garrulus). 
 
 About the size of a jay, beautifully marked with black, 
 blue, green, and chesnut. Nestles in woods. Habits re- 
 semble those of the magpie and rook jointly. Common in 
 the eastern and southern part of the continent ; very rare in 
 Britain, and only seen in individual specimens. (See the 
 cut at page 7.)* 
 
 THE WAX-WING (Bombycivora garrula.) 
 
 A very beautiful bird, rather shorter than the starling, but 
 of very graceful form and delicate plumage. Beak short and 
 black, as are the eyes, a portion round them, the chin (ex- 
 cept a white line under the gape), and the principal parts of 
 the wing and tail feathers. Upper part and crest (which is 
 long, silky, and handsome) of an indescribable colour, which 
 is grey, brown, and purple, and yet neither of them ; under 
 part passing into a soft grey on the upper part, with reddish 
 orange below. Coverts of the primarie stipped with white ; 
 tail feathers and primaries with yellow. Secondaries tipped 
 with white, ending (in the mature male chiefly) in bright 
 vermilion spines. Comes in small flocks toward the close of 
 winter, but only occasionally ; and while here, feeds on wild 
 berries. Its nestling places and habits are little known, t 
 
 * The roller is remote from the crows, and belongs to a family termed 
 by Bonaparte Coraciadce. It builds in the holes of decayed trees, and 
 lays five or seven eggs of a clear bluish white. Insects constitute its 
 principal food. It is fierce, restless, and clamorous. M. 
 
 f The wax- wing belongs to the family Ampelidce. 
 
 In England, France, and Italy, the wax-wing is of rare occurrence, 
 but Norway, Russia, and the adjacent parts of Asia, are visited regularly 
 every winter by immense flocks, taking a southern direction. It also 
 visits Germany and Bohemia. Temminck supposes its summer residence 
 
204 OMNIVOILE. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ORIOLE (OrioluS galbulo). 
 
 Rather larger than the wax-wing, and less elegant in form, 
 but a beautiful bird. Male golden yellow, with the wings and 
 tail black ; the margins white in the wings, and the tips, 
 with the exception of the middle feathers, yellow in the tail. 
 Female olive green above, grey below, with traces of yellow 
 in both. A summer migrant on the continent, but merely a 
 rare straggler in Britain. The Orioles, with the analogous 
 genus of American bird, Icterus (of which the colour also is 
 yellow in the males, and greenish yellow in the females and 
 young birds), exert more labour and show more neatness in 
 the structure of their nests, than perhaps any other of the 
 feathered tribes. * 
 
 ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR, OR ROSE OUZEL (Pastor TOSeus). 
 
 This is another very rare straggler, about the size of the 
 starling, but more compact. The head (which has a large 
 crest), neck, wings, and tail of the male are black, and the 
 rest of a pale rose colour, inclining to salmon colour, or nearly 
 peach-blossom, with the least possible " feeling" of orange in 
 it. The black of the head, crest, and neck is intense and 
 
 to be within the arctic circle, but Bonaparte suggests that the extensive 
 and elevated table land of central Asia is its principal rendezvous. In 
 America it frequents the high northern regions, and is common on the 
 Athabasca River, near the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Richardson observed 
 it at Great Bear Lake, in lat. 65. 
 
 Two other species are known, viz., the cedar bird (Bombicilla Caro- 
 linensis) of North America, well described by Wilson and Audubon, and 
 the Japanese wax-wing (J?. PhcBnicoptera) from the Japanese islands. 
 In this species the wax-like appendages to the secondary quill feathers 
 are wanting. M. 
 
 * Selby places the genus Oriolus within the family of thrushes, 
 Merulidce, as does Bonaparte in his " Birds of Europe and North America," 
 making it the type of a sub-family. But in his " Conspectus," the lattrr 
 zoologist places the orioles as a sub-family, in his family Paradiseidce, just 
 before the Sturnida. M. 
 
THE NUT-CRACKER. 205 
 
 velvety, with exquisite, though rather obscure reflections of 
 green and violet. The female has a shorter crest, and the 
 body more inclining to grey or brown. The young are 
 brown all over, mixed with grey, especially on the throat ; 
 they want the crest, and are somewhat like young starlings; 
 but more round and compact. The legs are dull brown, 
 whereas those of the old birds are dull red. In Britain they 
 are very rare stragglers, seen chiefly toward autumn ; they 
 are, indeed, only summer migrants in the south of Europe. 
 In the countries which they do visit in summer, they and 
 the orioles are of vast service in destroying the larvse of 
 insects.* 
 
 THE NUT-CRACKER (Nucifmga caryocatactes) 
 
 is also an exceedingly rare straggler in Britain, though 
 abundant in many parts of the continent, even the cold ones. 
 It is about the size of a magpie, of a rusty brown colour, 
 palest on the sides of the head and neck ; and is, especially 
 on the scapulars, spotted with white, the spots larger and 
 longer than those on the starling. It lives on wi]d berries, 
 and kernels, and pips, the latter of which it digs out of their 
 shells and cores with its powerful cultrated bill. It also 
 lives upon insects, and digs them out of the holes of trees, 
 upon which it can support itself in a manner similar to that 
 of the wood-peckers. It has, indeed, something of the air, 
 as well as the manners, of those birds ; but it wants their 
 peculiarly distinguishing characters. t 
 
 These four species are all so handsome, so peculiar in their 
 
 * The genus Pastor is placed by Mr. Selby within the family 
 Sturnidce, which we consider to be its true situation. The rose-coloured 
 pastor is a native of the warmer parts of Asia and Africa, and periodically 
 visits Spain, Italy, and southern France. It makes its nest in the holes 
 of trees and the crevices of old walls. The young differ greatly in their 
 nestling plumage from the adult, and greatly resemble the young of the 
 common starling. M. 
 
 f An allied species (N. Tiemispliila) is a native of the forests of the 
 Himalaya range. This genus belongs to the family Corvidce. M. 
 
206 OMNIVORJE. 
 
 habits, and so different from our common British birds, that 
 one regrets that they cannot be at least have not been 
 enlisted among the dwellers in our woodlands. Our climate 
 would preclude some of them, but not the nut-cracker or the 
 roller, which are as common in the forests of Germany as the 
 jay is in our groves and coppices. 
 
 BIRDS CLASSED FROM THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR TOES. 
 
 The old order, Passeres, " little birds," or birds of " the 
 sparrow kind," contained so very many genera of different 
 characters, that it was vague, and conveyed so little informa- 
 tion, that it was nearly useless. The term Scansores, or 
 " climbers," applied to certain descriptions of birds, of which 
 there are but few British genera, and not very many species, 
 was not much more definite, because those are not the only 
 birds that climb they only climb in a particular way, or by 
 means of a peculiar structure of feet ; and therefore the use 
 of the word " climbing," as applied to them, was making a 
 term, which is quite general and clear in itself, stand for one 
 of its own peculiar meanings, in the same way as if the word 
 " motion" were applied to express some particular kind of 
 motion that required a particular epithet, such as "flying" or 
 " swimming." 
 
 The more judicious ornithologists have therefore founded 
 the name on the organ itself, and not on the function of that 
 organ; and as the organ is a substance, and the function 
 only an act, the method is far more clear and satisfactory. 
 
 Of the birds already noticed, there are many that can 
 perch on a stick, branch, or twig, or even on a blunt point ; 
 and they can walk, by stepping from stick to stick, or from 
 point to point, without assistance from their wings. They 
 can also walk along a round pole, if it be a thick one ; but 
 they cannot move lengthways on a slender one, in any other 
 way than by shuffling sidelong, or hold their balance on it, 
 unless they perch across. As little can they walk up or 
 
BIRDS CLASSED FROM THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR TOES. 207 
 
 down a stick when nearly perpendicular, and especially not 
 on the under side of one leaning over. 
 
 But there is food, and abundant food, for birds, that can 
 be had only by perching and walking in the manner to which 
 the birds noticed are not fitted. There are insects in the 
 crevices of the boles and branches of trees adequate to the 
 supply of many birds ; and insects, too, which would do 
 serious mischief to the trees, if there were not birds to thin 
 their numbers. These birds require a peculiar structure of 
 feet ; and though they have other peculiarities for enabling 
 them to filch the insects out of their lurking-places, yet the 
 feet which enable them to get to those places, and remain at 
 them till they catch the insects, are their proper distinguish- 
 ing characters. 
 
 We have to do only with the mere external appearances of 
 these feet ; but they are wonderful pieces of mechanism, and 
 show with how apparently little difference from that which 
 answers one purpose, a very different purpose may be effected. 
 
 There are two distinct forms of these feet, the one called 
 zygodactylic, or " yoke-toed," and the other anisodactylic, or 
 " unequal-toed ;" and on these are founded two orders of 
 birds which agree in several of their habits, but differ in so 
 many others, as to warrant the distinction. The following 
 cut will illustrate both : 
 
 Wood-pecker. Nuthatch. 
 
208 OMNIVOR.E. 
 
 The first or wood-pecker's foot is zygodactylic, or " yoked," 
 two of the toes being turned back, and two forward, and the 
 two front ones are joined together at their bases. As that 
 foot has two bearings in the front and two behind, it enables 
 the bird to perch or to walk lengthwise on a branch ; and, 
 with the feet alternately holding on, and the tail bearing as a 
 prop, to walk up the trunk of a tree, or even to move side- 
 wise round it, though slowly. The legs are placed behind the 
 centre of gravity, so that the weight of the bird both assists 
 in compressing the claws into the fissures of the bark, and 
 presses the tail against the tree under them ; and while the 
 centre of gravity remains higher than the feet, the bird is 
 stable, without that exertion of the body which would prevent 
 the use of the beak and of the wings, if these should be neces- 
 sary. But if the head were turned downwards, or the body 
 even much out of the upward position, the principle of stability 
 would be changed into a means of falling. Hence, though 
 these birds can run upwards, they come down only backwards, 
 and that rather slowly and awkwardly ; and they can get 
 round only in an ascending spiral : hence they beat and hunt 
 the trees from the roots upwards. There are some very 
 curious modifications of these feet, but as they belong not to 
 British birds, they do not come within our province. 
 
 The second foot (that of the nuthatch) is anisodactytic, or 
 " unequally yoked," and is by far the more curious foot of the 
 two, though at a cursory glance it seems not to differ much 
 from a common foot with three toes before and one behind. 
 It has, in fact, the power of two feet, and of two feet com- 
 bined ; so that the bird keeps its hold better with one foot 
 than other birds can do with two, and with the two, better 
 than other birds could do if they had even four. The middle 
 and exterior toes are united together at their bases, and admit 
 of a position half reversed, or midway between the other two ; 
 the hinder toe is long and strong, and all the toes have strong 
 
BIRDS CLASSED FROM THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR TOES. 209 
 
 claws. Thus the foot can adapt itself to any kind of surface, 
 and the bird possessing it can run upon the trunk or branch 
 of a tree in any direction upward, downward, across, or 
 obliquely. 
 
 The habits of the birds correspond. The British yoke-toed 
 ones generally remain at places where there are insects, punch 
 holes in the trees with their bills, and draw out the insects 
 with their tongues, which can be far protruded, and are armed 
 for the purpose. The British birds of the other order run 
 over the bark with wonderful celerity, and pick out the 
 smaller insects with their bills. The habits of both are 
 exceedingly interesting. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
210 
 
 ORDER VI. 
 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 YOKE-TOED. 
 
 THE foreign, especially the tropical, birds of this order are 
 exceedingly numerous, and comprise the most curious and 
 showy of the feathered tribes the toucans, the parrots, the 
 parroquets, the maccaws, and many others, which swarm in 
 the forests, and hang on the trees like gorgeous flowers in 
 colour. The British ones are but few the wood-peckers, 
 the wryneck, and the cuckoo : the last has a peculiarity in 
 the structure of its feet, as well as in its mode of life. Three 
 species of wood-peckers are resident in Britain, and some 
 others come occasionally as stragglers. There is but one 
 British wryneck and one cuckoo, which are both regular 
 summer visitants, but not equally distributed over the 
 country. The wood-peckers are, the green, the greater spotted, 
 and the lesser spotted. 
 
 THE GREEN WOOD-PECKER (PlCUS Viridis). 
 
 The lowest figure on the plate opposite, which is one-sixth 
 of the lineal dimensions, will give an idea of the form and 
 colours of the bird, and also of its attitude when in a state of 
 repose. It will be seen that the upper tail-coverts are very 
 thick, and that the tail feathers are pointed at the ends; 
 they are also very firm and stiff both in the shafts and the 
 
THE GREEN WOOD-PECKER.. 211 
 
 webs; and one of them, or at least two, can support the 
 weight of the bird without bending. 
 
 The wood-pecker is especially a bird of the ancient forests. 
 You do not find it in the hedge or the coppice, where so 
 many of the little birds, especially the summer migrants, 
 build their nests, and spend their mid-days, when the reflec- 
 tions of the sun come bright on all sides of the foliage, in 
 picking the soft caterpillars from the leaves, or capturing the 
 insects that resort thither for the purpose of depositing fresh 
 myriads; and when they have thus secured the shelter and 
 beauty of their habitation, farewell the evening, and again 
 hail the morning, with their joyous songs: the aged tree is 
 all to the wood-pecker, and the wood-pecker is much to the 
 aged tree. 
 
 Whenever any thing that once had life dies exposed to an 
 atmosphere which is not in the extreme of heat to torrefy or 
 in the extreme of cold to burn, creatures come, true to the 
 grand purpose, to win back the materials for new uses. The 
 mosses and lichens insinuate their roots into the decaying 
 bark, and the larvae of countless beetles and flies mine into 
 the lagging cumberer, where it lingers in life, and loses the 
 acerbity of high health, or they drill through and through 
 the dead and decaying wood. Of these, as well as of all 
 things that nature produces, there is a surplus to meet extra- 
 ordinary contingencies when they occur; and if there were 
 not something to keep down that surplus on ordinary occa- 
 sions, the old trees would speedily be destroyed, the races that 
 prey on them would perish, and the place would be one step 
 nearer to desolation. 
 
 But nature has appointed the wood-peckers conservators 
 of the wood of old trees, furnished them admirably for their 
 office, and so formed their habits that an old tree is an Eden 
 to them, fraught with safety, and redolent of plenty and fat- 
 ness. So exquisitely are they fitted for their office, that the 
 
 p2 
 
212 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 several wood-peckers vary in tint with the general colours of 
 the trees which they select. If it is an alternation of green 
 moss, yellow lichen, and ruby-tinted cups, with here and 
 there a spot of black, then the green wood-pecker conies in 
 charge ; but if it is the black and white lichens of the alpine 
 forest or the harsh-juiced tree, then we may look for the 
 spotted race upon the bark. 
 
 The tree is all to the woodpecker; it is a castle, a pasture, 
 a larder, a nursery, an alarm-drum, and a lute. When the 
 renovation of the spring begins to be felt through all nature, 
 and the fluids both of animals and of vegetables receive new 
 action and new energy from that light and heat which the 
 sun of the young year dispenses, the wood-pecker in the large 
 hole of the tree, and the egg or the larvae in the little one, 
 partake of the renovation ; and the wood-pecker creeps out, 
 and tries till he comes to a place which is hollow, and upon 
 that he beats the drum in loud and rolling taps, but yet 
 without in the least perforating the tree. The instrument 
 and the sound are rude, but the bird contrives to make the 
 latter merry, and in some degree musical. The sound swells 
 and sinks, and hurries and lingers alternately, so that at a 
 distance it resembles the sound of rustic glee heard through 
 the woodland : and if the wood-pecker's mate catches the 
 sound, she answers to it, and the bargain is concluded, and 
 the labour of the season begun ; if not, the male glides on to 
 another tree, uttering his short cry, plu-i, plu-i, upon which 
 he again resumes his serenade ; and if there happens to be an 
 odd bird in the wood, this call of love may occasionally be 
 heard, till the ardour of the summer sun has evaporated that 
 energy which his coming in the spring inspired. 
 
 The sound is a rude one, and one which we would suppose 
 but little suited for awakening the tender passion. But 
 many of the love-calls of birds are harsh; and yet the croak 
 of the raven, and the caw of the rook, answer the purpose of 
 
THE GKEEN WOOD-PECKER. 213 
 
 nature as well as the murmur of the dove, or the song of the 
 nightingale. The subject is one of veiy nice investigation, 
 and dangerous for theorizing; but really it seems that there 
 are in the love-sounds of birds (and of all animals) some 
 implications of promised assistance, or implied capacitv for 
 the rearing and defending of the young. The crowing 01 the 
 male gallinae, which is their love-note, is also the song of 
 victory, by which they make proclamation from the top of 
 the dunghill, or a hillock in the field, that they have van- 
 quished a rival, and so secured the pastures for their own 
 females and their broods. Many other instances will occur 
 to the reader in which the love-note is also the expression of 
 exultation at abundance; and the drumming of the wood- 
 pecker on the hollow tree is an expression of the very same 
 operation, by which a nest (if need be) is to be formed, and 
 food is to be found. Indeed, we may rest assured that 
 though the songs of the birds are delightful to us, that is not 
 their use in nature, but that they are understood by the 
 parties for and to whom they are poured forth, and that they 
 are heard by these with understanding, or an inspiration of 
 confidence ; and further, that they have some very direct 
 and palpable relation to the economy of the bird, which by 
 careful observation we could find out. 
 
 If the tree affords no natural hole fit for the purpose of 
 nidification, the wood-peckers set about excavating one with 
 their bills. They do that by turns, and they do it with 
 wonderful expedition, their bills, while they are at work, 
 going so fast that the strokes cannot be counted either by 
 the eye or the ear. They know the tree by the sound ; and 
 though they will cut through a few layers of perfect wood, 
 they never mine into a tree unless it has begun to decay in 
 the interior. Such a choice would be inconsistent for two 
 reasons; first, the great labour of making the nest, and 
 secondly, the comparatively smaller quantity of food they 
 
214 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 would find on a healthy tree. Nature guides them to those 
 trees where their labour is light, and they have plenty to 
 eat. 
 
 They do not work with their bills as if these were pincers 
 to tear, or chisels to detach pieces ; they proceed in the same 
 manner as a mason does when he perforates a block of granite 
 with a pointed pick ; they thump away with so much rapidity 
 and force, that the timber is ground to powder ; and they 
 Jv^prk in a circle no larger than will admit themselves. "They 
 *" generally burrow so deep that no spoiler can reach their eggs 
 in their absence ; and farther security is afforded by the 
 opening being in some hidden part of the tree. The sound, 
 which bears some resemblance to that made by the grinding 
 of a tlpcl^ 'piece of steel on a rather smooth stone, may be 
 heard 'Ot' a considerable distance; but though one proceed to 
 the sound, it is not easy to see the birds. This arises partly 
 from the uncertainty of the direction of sounds in forests 
 (which, by the way, prevents animals from being betrayed by 
 their own notes, either into danger or out of their prey), and 
 partly from the ease with which the wood-pecker can glide 
 spirally round and gradually ascend, always keeping on the 
 side of the tree opposite to the observer. 
 
 There are seldom any materials carried in for the nest. If 
 it is wholly made, it is made of the form and size wanted, 
 and rendered soft by a part of the powder of the tree ; and 
 if there is a chink downward, that is filled up; but if there 
 is one upward, which admits the rain, the nest is excavated in 
 a lateral direction till the drip is escaped, or if that be impos- 
 sible, the place is abandoned for another. The eggs are four 
 or five, and the young come out, and ascend the trunk and 
 branches, and feed there a considerable time before they 
 can fly. 
 
 The wood-pecker digs its way to the insects which are in 
 the tree with its beak, but it uses the tongue in extracting 
 
THE GREEN WOOD-PECKER. 215 
 
 them. This organ is extensible, barbed with reflected bristles, 
 and also supplied with a glutinous fluid at the tip, so that, 
 whenever it can reach the prey, it draws out the larger as 
 with a hook, and catches the smaller as with birdlime. The 
 surface insects it captures with the tongue only: and the 
 number of those that it does catch, and the rapidity with 
 which they are taken, are both truly wonderful. The number 
 of ants that inhabit forests, especially pine forests in dry^ 
 places, are very great; and these supply abundant food to 
 the wood-peckers, not only when the ants are hunting for 
 their prey on the trees, but when they are on the ground, 
 especially on those beaten paths which they form in the 
 neighbourhood of large ant-hills. 
 
 The wood-pecker does not subsist wholly upon insects. 
 When the wood is ripening in the fall of the year, there is & 
 pause in nature generally; and during that pause, most of 
 the tree-eating insects are in the egg-state or gone. At that 
 time the wood-pecker follows the same law as all our locally- 
 resident birds that feed chiefly upon insects during the 
 summer, and betakes itself to vegetables to nuts, and other 
 farinaceous and oily endowed kernels, which the structure of 
 its bill enables it to get easily out of the toughest husks or the 
 hardest shells. 
 
 In the miscellaneous plantations of the low country, the 
 wood-pecker is fond of particular trees the poplars, for 
 instance, are favourites, because they are easily bored on 
 account of their softness, and especially because they are 
 overrun with insects. It is also fond of oaks, because of the 
 natural holes that are in them, and the number of lepi- 
 dopterous larvae that are found about them. It is also fond 
 of trees that are apt to contain numerous aphides, not for 
 those creatures themselves, but for the ants which swarm 
 thickly about them. Wood-peckers afford striking proofs of 
 the effect which the quality of the soil has upon birds. 
 
216 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 They are much more plentiful on the clay to the north of 
 London, where the trees grow rapidly and have soft wood, 
 than in Surrey, where the soil is lighter and the wood more 
 close grained and firmer. 
 
 The green wood-pecker has been called the "rain-bird," as 
 have several other birds that are very active, or that utter 
 their cries before rain; and as, in the summer, all birds 
 either eat insects or other animals that do, the term might 
 be extended to all the tribes. Tame poultry and geese so far 
 retain their natural instincts, as to feel that state of the 
 weather which brings out their natural food, and also to 
 express their feelings by louder, and apparently less causeless 
 cries than they utter at other times. Now, if birds which 
 feed on earth insects, feel that impulse, much more must 
 birds that feed on tree insects. The trees are wholly in that 
 air which rests merely on the surface of the earth ; and when 
 the drought begins to soften, and the larvae can come nearer 
 to the cambium of the wood, or otherwise feed without too 
 great a pinching of their tender bodies by the drying wind, 
 we might as a matter of course expect redoubled activity on 
 the part of all the grove and forest birds. 
 
 When in May, the wind blows long, cold, hollow, and dry, 
 from the east, and the evaporation produces cold till the 
 remaining moisture is congealed into hoar-frost during the 
 night and dissipated during the day, leaving the infant leaves 
 black, and the more advanced ones sapless and shrivelled 
 when the sap stagnates in the vessels of the trees, and curdles 
 and becomes sugary, as if a premature autumn had set in, to 
 produce the fall (no, not the fall, but the adhesion) of the 
 blossoms instead of the fruit, and the congregation cater- 
 pillars, with which the birds do not much meddle, bring 
 out their millions, spin their habitations of silk, and strip 
 every leaf from orchard, coppice, and hedge, the birds be- 
 come mute in the mournful groves. Many a weary wing is 
 
THE GREEN WOOD-PECKER. 217 
 
 fluttered in vain ; many a mother sits hungry over those eggs, 
 the young of which, if they shall be produced at all, must 
 perish of want ; and many a nest is abandoned in despair, 
 and the builders drop down among the arid clods, to seek the 
 preservation of their own lives in that description of food 
 to which they are fain to betake themselves in the rigours of 
 winter. "The famine is" indeed "sore in the land;" and 
 Sahara hangs suspended over the erewhile green pasture and 
 gay grove. 
 
 But on some day, before there is a cloud in which the 
 bow of hope can limn its hues, the white flag of truce and 
 mercy is hung out in the higher heaven, streaming in easy 
 flexures from the south-west, in testimony of victory over 
 the desolating east. And as the day declines, the little clouds 
 flit joyously on varied winds, as if they were fetching the 
 pitchers of heaven from the four corners of the sky, to refresh 
 the weary earth, and renew the waning creatures. The sealed 
 spring trickles out; the echo softens and mellows its tone; 
 and the whole earth is tuned as an instrument by a skilful 
 hand. Then, as the evening closes, the insects and the 
 worms come out ; the birds feed ; new life returns ; the tuned 
 instrument is soon in use ; the groves are in song the live- 
 long night : and that song ceases not even when the thunder 
 peals and the rain pours, until the delivered tribes have 
 expressed their gratitude. Such is another instance of the 
 augury of birds, and a very general one. 
 
 The female of the green wood-pecker has the head much 
 paler, the mustaches black, and the general colour of the 
 body inclining to brown and grey where that of the male is 
 red and yellow. The young are also greyish, spotted on the 
 breast, and have only a few red feathers on the head. 
 
 THE GREAT SPOTTED WOOD-PECKER (PlCUS major). 
 
 The word "major" is not very happily applied to this 
 
218 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 species ; for although it is the largest of the spotted ones, it 
 is so far from being the largest of British wood-peckers, that 
 it is not half the size of the green one. The spotted wood- 
 pecker is about nine inches long, twelve in the extent of the 
 wings, and three ounces in weight. The green one is four 
 inches longer, nine more in the wings, and weighs seven 
 ounces. The spotted is therefore the least adapted for long 
 flights, and accordingly it is not so generally distributed, 
 being found only in the woods, and chiefly in the wild and 
 lonely ones of the north, where the decaying pine is its fa- 
 vourite tree. But, with allowance for difference of situation, 
 the habits of all the wood-peckers are the same, so that one 
 description answers for the whole. The forehead, cheeks, 
 ear-coverts, scapulars, a patch on each, the neck, part of the 
 coverts of the wings, the throat, breast, and belly, of the 
 great spotted wood-pecker, are white ; and there are white 
 spots on the quills and tail feathers, except the two middle 
 ones. The hind head is deep, the vent greyish red, and all 
 the rest black, with the exception of the tarsi and toes, 
 which are blackish grey. The female wants the red on the 
 head. The young have the crown of the head red and the 
 hind head black ; and as these colours are reversed in the 
 mature bird, the old and young have sometimes been called 
 different species. 
 
 THE LESSER SPOTTED WOOD-PECKER (PlCUS minor). 
 
 This is a very little bird, only six inches long and twelve 
 broad, and less than one ounce in weight. It inhabits the 
 opposite parts of the country to the last species, being found 
 only in the west and south of England. Its prevailing colour 
 on the upper part is black, with dull red on the hind head 
 and partially on the crown, white markings on the head, 
 similar to those of the former species, white spots on the 
 wings and back, and the outside feathers at the tail white, 
 
THE WRYNECK. 219 
 
 with black spots. Its form and habits at once show that it 
 is a wood-pecker, and its diminutive size distinguishes it from 
 the larger spotted one. Its habits are the same as those of 
 the other wood-peckers. 
 
 Another species, the large black wood -pecker, with a 
 scarlet head, about one-half larger than the green, is met 
 with in Britain, but it is as rare as the spotted ones.* 
 
 THE WRYNECK ( TuUX 
 
 The wryneck is a very beautiful summer migrant, which 
 comes regularly a little before the cuckoo, and distributes 
 itself, though not abundantly, through all the south-east of 
 England; but it rarely if ever passes the central heights, 
 unless in single specimens as a straggler. 
 
 . In its general shape, the wryneck has some resemblance to 
 the wood-pecker ; and it also a little resembles the smallest 
 British one in the markings, though not in the tints of its 
 colours. It is also just a little larger than that bird, though 
 not quite so long in the wings. The ground colour above is 
 yellowish brown, beautifully variegated with spots of brown 
 and arrow-head hues of black, and a very distinct mural line 
 of brown from the nape of the neck down the back. The 
 under parts are greyish white, with arrow-head dark spots, 
 that form bars. The quills are brown, bound with black ; 
 and the tail feathers, which are long, but have not the 
 
 * The great black wood-pecker, Picus martius, is a native of the forests 
 of Northern and Eastern Europe, extending its range as far as Siberia. 
 With respect to the lesser spotted wood-pecker, Mr. Gould says, " In 
 England it is far more abundant than is generally supposed ; we have 
 seldom sought for it in vain, wherever large trees, particularly the elm, 
 grow in sufficient numbers to invite its abode. Its security from sight is 
 to be attributed to its habit of frequenting the topmost branches, rather 
 than to its rarity. Near London it is very common, and may be seen by 
 an attentive observer in Kensington Gardens, and in any of the parks 
 in the neighbourhood." Its spring-call closely resembles that of the 
 wryneck. M. 
 
220 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 stiffness of those of the wood-pecker, are mottled brown, 
 also bound with black. The bill is more pointed, and not 
 so strong as that of the wood-pecker. 
 
 The wryneck builds in the holes of trees, after the same 
 manner as the wood-peckers ; but it does not, like them, 
 excavate a hole, though it enlarges, or otherwise adapts to 
 its purpose, a ready found one. It seeks for one fit for its 
 purposes, and then, almost without any preparation, deposits 
 its eggs, which are nine or ten in number ; so that, if it has 
 not so much labour to undergo in building as the wood- 
 pecker, it has a larger family to bring up. Neither its bill 
 nor its tail, indeed, fit it for performing the same labour as 
 the wood-peckers ; the former not having strength for pick- 
 ing, and the latter not being stiff enough for propping up 
 the bird, during a long labour. But the more flexible tail 
 suits better as an auxiliary in moving about on the bark. 
 
 But the adaptation of the structure of the wryneck to its 
 habits, is not inferior to that of the wood-pecker, or indeed 
 of any other bird. Those warm, lowland, and, compared 
 with the north and west of the country, dry regions to 
 which it comes, abound with the minuter insects, especially 
 with aphides, and the smaller tribes of ants. These last are 
 continually careering about on the boles and branches of 
 the trees ; and it is to them especially that the attention 
 of the wryneck is directed, so much as to have merited 
 and obtained the provincial name of the " emmet hunter." 
 These ants the wryneck catches with the tongue, an organ 
 which it can protrude at least an inch, and retract again 
 with the rapidity of lightning, so that when the ants are 
 coursing about they are picked up, one by one, without the 
 capture producing any alarm, or even being noticed by the 
 rest. They are captured, not only on the stems of trees, 
 but on the ground, and they are even picked from their 
 dens and hills, especially at those times when they are 
 
THE WEYNECK. 221 
 
 busy in bringing out the larvae to the sun and air. Dis- 
 turbing their dwelling readily brings out the ants at any 
 time if the weather is dry, and the wryneck uses both its 
 bill and the horny point of its tongue for that purpose ; and 
 when the little warriors mount the breach to reconnoitre 
 and try if they can repel the enemy, the wryneck picks 
 them up, soldier after soldier, till none are left. When it 
 is engaged over an abundant supply of its favourite food, 
 whether on the trunk of a tree or on the ground, the body 
 is motionless, but the head is continually moving from side to 
 side, and the dark mesial line on the back twining like a 
 serpent, the joints of the neck have so much motion that the 
 posture of the head can be recovered. At those times the 
 motions of the tongue are so quick, that they can hardly be 
 observed. Indeed, the bird is altogether so shy and retiring 
 in its habits, that it is difficult to be got sight ofj unless one 
 come softly upon it, at those times when it is basking on or 
 near the ant-hills, while the ants are taking their siesta, 
 which most of them do, though at different times, according 
 to the variety. 
 
 The ants which the wryneck finds in those localities which 
 it frequents, are exceedingly numerous when the weather is 
 favourable ; but they are rather uncertain, from their 
 extreme sensibility, and the great degree in which the 
 maturing of their eggs depends on the state of the atmo- 
 sphere. Hence, though the wryneck continues with us only 
 during those months that the ants are above the surface, and 
 in a state of activity, it is often put to great straits ; and 
 that may account for the limited number of the birds as 
 compared with the eggs in each nest. They remain too 
 short a time in this country, however, for producing second 
 broods ; and they are probably as liable to suffer from con- 
 tingencies in their winter retreats beyond seas, as they are 
 with us during the summer. It is not ascertained that the 
 
222 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 wryneck ever has recourse to vegetable food, or indeed to any 
 sort of insects save ants ; and when the variable nature of 
 our climate is considered, we can easily see that the fate of a 
 bird which is, in a great measure, if not entirely, dependent 
 on our summer production, and that production very much 
 under the influence of the weather, must be often reduced to 
 extremities. 
 
 Wrynecks are very abundant in many parts of Surrey. 
 They are sociable in the early part of the season, and 
 assemble at the call note, " peup-peup," by imitating which, 
 with a sort of mouth whistle, the London bird-catchers 
 obtain numbers of them; they climb in the same style as 
 wood-peckers, but not so often, though they often leap spor- 
 tively after each other up the boles of the trees. When a 
 wounded one is taken in the hand, it raises the feathers 
 of the crown, flattens those of the neck, writhes that 
 part slowly like a snake, and occasionally hisses. These 
 birds, if captured, show signs of pugnacity, or perhaps of 
 fear ; but their motions are slow and twining. They can be 
 partially tamed, but do not live long in confinement. They 
 usually appear in the southern counties in the first week of 
 April, and retire in October. They are very noisy in the 
 early part of the season, but become silent toward the 
 latter. 
 
 THE CUCKOO (Cuculus canorus). 
 
 Why the people of Scotland should have chosen their 
 name for the cuckoo \gowJc) as a synonyme for a fool, it is not 
 easy to say, for there is more cunning about the cuckoo than 
 about most birds ; though its history, notwithstanding all 
 that has been seen and imagined, and printed and spoken, 
 about it, is still as obscure as it is singular. 
 
 Everybody has heard the note of the cuckoo, or the imita- 
 tion of it by a Dutch clock, though domesticated in the 
 most birdless part of the city ; and in the summer, it is 
 
THE CUCKOO. 223 
 
 difficult to be in any part of the country without hearing the 
 cuckoo, and even seeing the bird, as it flies hurriedly, and to 
 all appearance heavily, from one tree to another, with gene- 
 rally a few of the smaller birds in its train. The cuckoo is 
 about the size of the kestrel, only more bulky in the feathers, 
 and about a fourth less in weight. The feathers of the belly 
 and thighs are very loose and pendant, and the tail is large. 
 The general colour is bluish grey, and the wings and tail 
 black, with some white bars on the exterior feathers. The 
 lower part is greyish white, with transverse black bars, and 
 the vent cream colour, with lighter bars of dusky. The feet 
 and toes are feeble ; and though the latter are yoked, the 
 outer toe is reversible, so that there are occasionally three to 
 the front and one behind. They are fit only for perching, 
 not for climbing, and not very well for walking. The bill 
 resembles that of the birds which live upon insects, but do 
 not catch them on the wing. The bird has something the air 
 of a hawk, but none of the powers, and it does not seem to 
 have much of the disposition. Its food is insects, and their 
 larvae, especially the larvae of caterpillars of the lepidoptera ; 
 and, as many of these are highly injurious to trees, it is 
 probable that the cuckoo is of great service, as it is with us 
 at the very seasons when, if not thinned, these caterpillars 
 would commit their depredations. It beats for its food in 
 the trees, and it is probable that its peculiar feet, its long 
 wings and great tail, and its soft plumage, enable it to hunt 
 among the leaves, especially on the under sides of them, in 
 places which the smaller insect-hunting birds cannot reach. 
 
 Analogy leads to the conclusion, that the cuckoo is a most 
 ravenous feeder. We have the example of the owls as com- 
 pared with the other rapacious birds, to show that it requires 
 more nourishment to supply feathers than flesh ; and it 
 requires more labour from the foster-birds in whose nests 
 these are found to feed one young cuckoo, than other birds of 
 
224 ZYGODACTYLES. 
 
 the same species require to raise a brood of five or six of their 
 own species. 
 
 Considering the general distribution and the numbers of 
 cuckoos, the eggs and young have been very seldom seen, 
 probably not one to a million of the birds. When found, it 
 has always been in the nests of other birds, at least in all 
 those of the recorded instances that are received as properly 
 authenticated ; and little birds, pipits and others, have been 
 observed most industriously feeding cuckoos after these had 
 acquired their young or hair-brown plumage, and could fly. 
 But before the habit can be considered as general, there must 
 be numbers of young observed, bearing some nearer propor- 
 tion to the abundance of the old birds, than have yet been 
 found, although the cases that are recorded appear to be too 
 many to be considered accidental ; and the accident, too, is 
 of a kind that rarely happens in the case of any other wild 
 birds that is, birds in a state of nature. The disproval of 
 the old theory, that the bones of the under part of the female 
 cuckoo were such that it could not hatch, throws at least a 
 doubt on the universality of the habit, which would demand 
 some additional proof on the other side, more than three or 
 four isolated cases in the season ; and that is, perhaps, 
 nearly the usual number of young cuckoos that are seen in 
 the nest. 
 
 Still, we may safely conclude that the absolvment of the 
 cuckoo from nest-building and rearing young, which are the 
 severest labours of other birds, is meant to answer, and does 
 answer, some very important purpose in the economy of 
 nature ; and that purpose can be accomplished only by 
 employing in some other way that portion of time in the 
 cuckoo, which, in other birds, is devoted to nidification and 
 nursing. That is the grand point to be ascertained : it can 
 be ascertained only by observation of the most careful nature ; 
 and till it is ascertained, the history of the cuckoo, unques- 
 
THE CUCKOO. 225 
 
 tionably the most curious bird that visits the island, must 
 remain imperfect and mysterious ; as such, we shall not enter 
 farther upon it. Conjectures, in any quantity, may be had 
 in the books.* 
 
 * The habit of depositing its eggs in the nests of other birds is not 
 peculiar to the European cuckoo, but to other species also, as the gilded 
 cuckoo of Caffraria; nor is this habit confined to the true cuckoos, it is 
 that also of the cow-troopial (Molothrus pecoris) of North America, one 
 of the starling family. This bird makes no nest, but deposits her eggs in 
 the nests of other species. 
 
 The stomach of the cuckoo has been often observed to be densely 
 coated internally with hairs, which are borrowed, as microscopic exami- 
 nation proves, from the larvse of the tiger-moth, Aratia caja. M. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
226 
 
 ORDEE VII. 
 ANISODACTYLES. 
 
 UNEQUAL-TOED. 
 
 THE birds belonging to this order (of which the general 
 character or peculiarity has been already noticed) are all 
 small, and the British species are still fewer than those of the 
 last ; but some of the foreign, and especially the tropical ones, 
 among which are included the brilliant and truly wonderful 
 family of the humming-birds, are equally remarkable for their 
 beauty and their habits. There is little song among them, 
 their voices being in general harsh, and in some instances 
 absolutely grating, but loud in proportion to the size of the 
 birds. There are three, or perhaps four, British species, all 
 of different genera ; one generally distributed and resident, 
 one locally resident, and one a rare summer visitant. 
 
 THE COMMON CREEPER (Certhia familiar is). 
 
 The creeper is a most interesting little creature. With 
 the exception of the golden-crested wren, it is the smallest of 
 the British birds, weighing not more than a quarter of an 
 ounce, being about five inches in length, and seven and a half 
 in the stretch of wings. 
 
 A figure is given of it on the plate at page 210, along with 
 the green wood-pecker and the kingfisher ; the creeper one- 
 third of the lineal dimensions, the kingfisher on the same 
 scale, and the wood-pecker on half the scale, or one-sixth in 
 
THE COMMON CREEPER. 227 
 
 line. The figure will show the colours and markings better 
 than any description, as they are minute and delicate ; it also 
 shows the junction of the two outer toes at their base, and 
 the length and strength of the claw on the hinder toe. It 
 will also be seen, on comparing it with the wood-pecker, that 
 the feet are placed farther forward, so that the centre of gra- 
 vity is nearly in the centre of the base which they form. 
 That may always be ascertained from the attitude of a bird : 
 if the axis is nearly level, the bird is balanced on its centre, 
 and can walk or run well ; but if the head is inclined 
 upwards, the bird is never a good walker, unless the eleva- 
 tion of the head is produced by the motion of the neck, and 
 the body remains nearly horizontal. Thus any one can dis- 
 cover that the kingfisher is by no means so good a walker as 
 the creeper. The tail feathers of the creeper, which are twelve 
 in number, are stiff and pointed, and adapted for acting as a 
 prop, like those in the wood-pecker's. 
 
 Thus formed, and so light, the creeper runs over the boles 
 and branches of trees in all directions, and with incredible 
 celerity. It is most abundant in the forests, even in the 
 depth of them, and far to the north ; and it runs not only 
 upwards, downwards, and across the perpendicular trunks, 
 but with its back undermost, on the lower sides of the 
 branches. Its object is to pick out of the smaller crevices of 
 the bark those insects and their eggs which, though not 
 observed by the larger birds, would, were they suffered to 
 remain, do incredible damage to the trees. The bird is so 
 small, that the most slender twig will bear it ; so that it 
 clears the terminal buds on the young branches when they 
 are only partially formed. 
 
 It is so active and so generally distributed, that trees of all 
 descriptions, and in all places, fall under its care. Woods, 
 copses, hedge-rows, shrubberies, orchards, gardens, all places 
 are visited by the little active creeper ; and many a perfect 
 
228 ANISODACTYLES." 
 
 flower, sound fruit, and vigorous shoot do we see, which, but 
 for that little thing, would have been ugly and unpleasant in 
 itself, and spread canker over the plant on which it grew. It 
 has no song, but merely a monotonous note, much resembling 
 that of the golden-crested wren ; but it amply repays the 
 observer by the quickness and variety of its motions. It 
 seems to feel that it is quite safe in its own resources ; for, 
 while you sit or stand under an apple tree, it will take a run 
 over the whole, and clear it for yon, and never be disturbed, 
 though it should be only at the distance of a few feet. As it 
 picks up those eggs of insects which are glued to the bark or 
 the buds, or inserted just below the surface, it removes an 
 incredible number of destructive creatures before they can 
 have done any mischief; and as it looks after all trees, old 
 and young, it is probably of more service to woody vegetation 
 than any other bird. 
 
 The only contribution which it levies on the trees in return, 
 is to make its nest in some hole, and pick up decayed bark 
 for the external fabric ; and when it cannot obtain that, it 
 uses dried grass, finishing the interior, in all instances, with 
 feathers. The eggs vary, but nine is about the average 
 number ; they are white, speckled with reddish brown. 
 Altogether the creeper is a lively little bird, and has a pretty 
 little nest, the plundering of which is absolutely treason 
 against the majesty of nature in the wild woods. 
 
 It is understood that there is, at least in the southern 
 counties of England, another species of creeper ; and indeed 
 we want not a little research before the positive number of 
 our woodland birds is decided.* 
 
 * The creeper is the only European species of the restricted gonus 
 Certhia. It does not descend the boles of trees, hut having spirally 
 wound its way upwards, and finished its scrutiny, it flits off to an adja- 
 cent tree, and there repeats its operations. M. 
 
THE NUTHATCH. 229 
 
 THE NUTHATCH (Sitta 
 
 The nuthatch, like the wryneck, is confined to the southern 
 parts of England, but it is a resident bird ; and as like the 
 creeper, it visits trees in the garden, and even close to the 
 house, it is as interesting to see, as it is easy to be seen. 
 
 It is about three times as heavy as the creeper, but only an 
 inch longer, and the wings, and especially the tail, are shorter 
 in proportion. It is a stronger looking bird than the creeper ; 
 has a good deal of the shape, and also the beak of the wood- 
 peckers ; but the tail feathers are short and flexible. 
 
 The colours are, the upper mandible and whole upper side 
 of the bird bluish grey, the base of the lower mandible and 
 the throat white, breast and belly pale buff orange, sides and 
 thighs brown orange, and vent and under tail-coverts reddish 
 brown ; quills blackish grey ; two middle tail feathers grey ; 
 the others black with a white spot and ash-grey tips. A 
 black streak from the eye across the ear-covert to the neck. 
 The feet strong, and the hind toe and claw very much pro- 
 duced. 
 
 During winter, the nuthatch, like the green wood-pecker, 
 feeds at least partly upon vegetables. Nuts, it fixes in chinks, 
 and hews the shell to pieces by its bill ; and it seems to know 
 at what places the shell is most easily broken, for it will turn 
 the nut round after it has tried and failed. In ordinary cases 
 the stroke is given after the manner of that of the wood- 
 pecker, by moving only the neck ; but as the nuthatch does 
 not require the wood-pecker's stiff position of the body and 
 tail in order to keep its perch, it can, in the case of a very 
 stubborn shell, swing on the feet, and give the blow all the 
 advantage of the weight of its body. It sometimes plunders 
 the hoards of mice and other small grain-eating quadrupeds ; 
 and the evidence, though not absolutely conclusive, is rather 
 in favour of its hoarding. 
 
230 ANISODACTYLES. 
 
 It nestles in trees, and feeds on them ; but it does not, 
 like the wood-pecker, drum the tree when serenading its 
 mate. Its love-song is a sort of whistle, rather loud con- 
 sidering the size of the bird. 
 
 The nest is made in a natural hole of a tree, the deserted 
 nest of a wood-pecker, or in a hole excavated by the birds 
 themselves ; in which case they make the entrance so small, 
 that it will not admit any larger bird. If they choose a 
 ready-made place, they build up a wall of clay till the en- 
 trance is reduced to the requisite size ; and should that be 
 injured during the incubation, they instantly repair it. The 
 interior of the nest is formed of dead leaves, those that are 
 the most readily obtained, and the least decayed. The eggs 
 are not more than seven, and the incubation takes place in 
 May, the female being a very resolute sitter, hissing like a 
 serpent, and striking furiously, both with her bill and wings, 
 at any one who offers to intrude. Even if her defence be 
 disregarded, she will not desert her charge, but rather allow 
 herself to be taken captive in their defence.* 
 
 THE HOOPOE ( ITpivpa epops). 
 
 The hoopoe is a singularly formed, but very beautiful bird, 
 not uncommon in France, and plentiful in the warmer parts 
 of Europe, as a summer migrant from Africa, where many of 
 the summer visitants of Europe spend their winter, or rather 
 their " other summer," for many of them pass beyond the 
 equator. The hoopoe only comes straggling to Britain, driven, 
 probably, by the east winds; but it comes occasionally to all 
 parts of the country, even to the Orkney Islands, and some- 
 
 * The nuthatch is not known in Ireland, nor in the county of Corn- 
 wall ; neither is it seen further north than the banks of the Wear and 
 Tyne. It is not, however, confined to the southern parts of England, 
 for we have met with it in considerable abundance in Cheshire. M. 
 
THE HOOPOE. 231 
 
 times continues and breeds, but disappears at the end of 
 summer. One was shot in Cornwall, in December 1834. 
 
 The length and slenderness of its bill indicate that it does 
 not find its food in the same places as the creeper and the 
 nuthatch. It picks up tadpoles, beetles, and other prey in 
 moist and marshy places ; but it builds in the holes of trees 
 or of rocks. They are said to perch low, on the twigs of osiers 
 and other shrubs that grow in marshy places ; but in this 
 country they are seldom seen on the perch. They have three 
 calls, poon, slowly drawn out, and thrice repeated when they 
 perch ; boo, repeated the same number of times, is the love 
 note of the male ; and they have a sharp, half-hissing, half- 
 grating cry when they are alarmed or irritated. Five is 
 about the greatest number of eggs, though there are seldom 
 so many in their northern broods ; but they are said to breed 
 again once, and even twice, in the south. The young are 
 very voracious ; and as the substances on which they are fed 
 are very liable to putrefaction, the nests are most offensive to 
 the smell. That very circumstance shows, however, the value 
 of the birds in keeping the air pure, especially in the hot 
 countries, where they are so abundant. 
 
 The length of the hoopoe is more than a foot, the extent of 
 the wings more than a foot and a half, and the weight about 
 three ounces. The most remarkable external characteristic of 
 the bird is its crest, consisting of two rows of orange feathers 
 tipped with black, extending backwards along the head, and 
 capable of being elevated or depressed. The head, neck, and 
 breast are brownish red, the upper part of the back greyish 
 brown, and the hinder part barred with black and white ; 
 the under parts of the birds are white, with longitudinal 
 streaks of brown. The wings and tail are black, the former 
 with fine regular white bars on each, and the latter with a 
 chevron of white, the angle directed to the body of the bird. 
 
 The hoopoe walks well, and has the strut of some of the 
 
232 ANISODACTYLES. 
 
 domestic gallinae, and when dismayed, it erects its chest, and 
 spreads its tail like a fan in the manner of the turkey-cock. 
 Its flight through the air is by leaps, or undulatory, and, to 
 appearance, performed with considerable labour; but from 
 the migrations which it makes, it must be capable of long 
 continuance.* 
 
 * The hoopoe ( Upupa) is the type of a family Upupidce, between the 
 promerops and the hornbill families. M. 
 
233 
 
 ORDER VIII. 
 ALCYONES. 
 
 HALCYONS, OK KINGFISHER BIRDS. 
 
 THERE are only two British birds of that order, the one a 
 resident, but by no means a common one, the other only a 
 straggling visitant, though of late years more frequent, or 
 more observed than formerly. They are birds of close and 
 finely-coloured plumage, of powerful wing, and generally very 
 graceful flight; but they are very ill adapted for walking, 
 and thus prey on the wing. One of the peculiarities of their 
 structure is the union of all the three front toes at the base, 
 which makes one of the least powerful feet among all the 
 varieties possessed by birds. The resident one is 
 
 THE KINGFISHER (Alcedo is 
 
 The figure, one third the lineal dimensions, on the plate at 
 page 210, will give an idea of the form, colours, and attitude 
 of this singularly shaped and exquisitely tinted little bird, 
 when reposing with closed wings. It is an inhabitant of 
 holes or burrows on the banks of streams, lives by fishing, 
 and spends much of its time in the air near the waters, or 
 perched on the bushes along the banks. Its food is not con- 
 fined to fish, for it also catches dragon-flies and other water 
 insects ; and whatever prey it catches, it swallows entire, 
 casting up the indigestible parts in pellets, after the manner 
 of the owls. 
 
234 ALCYONES. 
 
 Its ordinary motion is so rapid, and its colours so bright, 
 that when it passes, it is like a gleani of a broken rainbow 
 darting along near the surface of the waters. There are few 
 sights in quiet nature more novel and pleasing, or that one 
 wishes more to have repeated, than the first glance one gets 
 of a kingfisher, darting along some reach of a clear but placid 
 stream, which glides between soft banks, fringed with reeds 
 and bushes. If one is not tolerably well acquainted with it 
 from description, both in its hues and its habits, one is at a 
 loss whether to think it a meteor or a bird. It passes so fast, 
 and the rapid motion of the gay wings gives them so much 
 the appearance of vapour, that it is rather a puzzle ; and it 
 is said, and may be true, that its rich hues when it hovers, 
 which it often does after the manner of the hawks, attract 
 the small fishes to the surface, in the same manner as the 
 lighted torch in "burning the water," attracts the large 
 ones ; and while they are, as it were, fascinated, it darts 
 down like an arrow, and makes a certain capture, though 
 the colours can be seen from below only when the bird 
 twitches round. "When seen as it perches on some slender 
 twig overhanging the water, it has the appearance of the gay 
 flower of some rare and curious water plant ; and the bird, 
 as if conscious of the power of instant escape which is in his 
 wings which appears to be felt by most birds so furnished 
 will allow you to approach tolerably near ; and if you are 
 quiet, and do not offer violence or make a noise (for it is 
 silence that the kingfisher loves, more than seclusion), you 
 may see its mode of doing business on the surface of the brook. 
 
 Its flight is rather low, and straight forward, but its eye 
 must be remarkably keen, because it will, in the most rapid 
 flight, halt, hover for a time, and then dart down, seize a 
 little fish, a leech, or even a worm or slug by the bank, and 
 instantly land with it. As it thus not only fishes wholly by 
 the sight, but from the comparative smallness of its prey ; 
 
THE KINGFISHEK. 235 
 
 requires to see very clearly, it is only at particular spots, and 
 in particular states of the weather, that its operations can be 
 successfully carried on. The water must be clear, and the 
 surface smooth ; and that is the reason why it is not found 
 upon turbulent or brawling streams, or when wind curls, rain 
 dimples, or mud darkens the waters. The days when 
 evaporation has ceased, and a storm is impending, are those 
 on which the atmosphere is most transparent, and the sur- 
 face of the water most glassy. They are, consequently, the 
 days which, above all others, are fitted for the successful 
 operations of the kingfisher ; and so are the clear blinks 
 that break out, still, warm, and shiny, when the weather is 
 unsettled, and the process of evaporation is suspended. 
 These are genuine "halcyon days;" days on which the 
 kingfisher is out and active : but the bird has, of course, no 
 more to do with the producing of them, or of the storm 
 which generally follows, than a Lapland witch has to do with 
 the producing of that fair wind which she sells to the 
 credulous mariner ; and if the delivery of which did not 
 often follow the sale, her trade would soon be at an end. 
 Her experience leads her, from present appearances, to infer 
 what is to come next, and therein the certainty of her 
 success depends on the soundness and length of her expe- 
 rience. The kingfisher, on the other hand, comes on the 
 water, because that and the atmosphere are in a certain 
 state at the time, and the Creator of the bird has made that 
 state the stimulus of the bird's instinct. The same state is 
 that which precedes rain ; but as the gay bird is more 
 easily seen than all the circumstances of the weather that 
 bring him out, the bird, which is merely one of the signs of 
 the present state of the weather, is put for that state itself, 
 and made the antecedent, or cause for the future. But 
 where kingfishers are, the prognostic drawn from them is, 
 from the very nature of their habits, a good one ; and there- 
 
236 ALCYONES. 
 
 fore we need hardly wonder at the superstition, or at the 
 extension of it to other matters, against which much ridicule 
 has sometimes been directed. But it cannot be too often 
 . repeated, that that ridicule is actually more injurious than 
 the superstition itself. A natural superstition is merely a 
 false application of a striking natural fact ; and the business 
 of true wisdom is to find out that fact, and apply it pro- 
 perly. The kingfisher is, in all senses of the word, a very 
 "beautiful" subject. 
 
 The kingfisher not only nestles, but generally reposes, in 
 some hole in the bank ; and as its feet, and even its bill 
 (which is a fishing-spear), does not adapt it very well for 
 being an excavator, it generally selects one that is ready 
 made ; but whether, as has sometimes been said, it ejects the 
 water rats, is not ascertained by any recorded witnessing of 
 the actual ejectment, though the objection of the water rat 
 eating the eggs and young, which is also conjectural, has 
 nothing in it. A crow would eat the eggs or young of the 
 eagle ; but if Aquila should catch him in the fact, his doom 
 would be as black as his feathers. 
 
 As it is only on particular days, and at particular hours, 
 that the kingfisher can fish to advantage, he feeds abundantly 
 at those times, and his gullet and stomach are ample in 
 proportion. If the prey is very small and soft, he bolts it 
 on the wing ; but if it is larger, he goes ashore ; and if it is 
 large and lively, he beats it against a stone, and after swal- 
 lowing it, returns to his fishing : nor is it till after he has 
 been gorged to the very throat, or the fishing tide is at an 
 end, that he retires to his hole. There he digests and dozes, 
 and often remains for days before he again sallies forth ; and 
 when all the soluble matter is separated, he ejects the bones 
 in those castings which are found in his den, and which, as 
 they contain nothing but that which is capable of resisting 
 the gastric juice of the bird, do not decompose in the air, so 
 
THE KINGFISHEK. 237 
 
 as to occasion the least unpleasant smell. As the attachment 
 of the kingfisher to its hole is a permanent one, and not 
 limited to the breeding time, the plundering of the nest does 
 not drive it away, any more than the annual shooting of the 
 young on the branches drives the rooks from a rookery. 
 
 As the habitation of the kingfisher always opens toward 
 the stream, and generally under some projection, and where 
 there is not a path between it and fhe water, even in low 
 states of that, as it flies low and near the surface, and can 
 glide in without being observed, and further, as it spends 
 much of its time in that habitation, its nest is rarely seen, in 
 proportion to the number that actually exists. People find it 
 fishing in lonely places, and thence they are apt to conclude 
 that it dwells in places still more lonely, whereas it most 
 likely has its hole not far from their own dwelling. Where 
 a clear stream crosses the line of a hedge, and the gap, with 
 high banks on each side, is secured by paling, is a good place 
 to search for the nests of kingfishers, if the birds are observed 
 upon any neighbouring part of the stream. 
 
 The nest, whether made for or by the bird, slopes upwards, 
 as indeed all the nests which are made in banks by land 
 animals do, otherwise, if they should ever by accident be 
 filled with water, they would not easily get dry again ; for the 
 creatures that inhabit them, and especially birds, though they 
 can move solid substances, are by no means qualified for 
 baling out liquids : hence the offensive condition of those 
 nests in which the droppings of the young are liquid. The 
 eggs are from six to eight, and the young continue a con- 
 siderable time in the nest (they would, indeed, be helpless 
 out of it till they are capable of flying), and as they have 
 their plumage to get, they are very clamorous for food, and 
 consume a great quantity. The old ones feed them from the 
 gullet j in all probability, from the stomach, and, most 
 likely, in the early state, with food that has been partly 
 
238 ALCYONES. 
 
 digested in the stomachs of the parent birds ; indeed, so 
 long as the young are fed from the gullet of the old birds 
 their food must not only be partially changed, but also, to a 
 certain degree, mixed with the gastric juice of these, which 
 may assist the digestion of the young ; and that will account 
 for the difficulty of rearing them artificially. 
 
 THE BEE%!ATER (l^Lerops ctpiaster). 
 
 This is another beautiful bank-inhabiting bird, though it 
 preys on bees and other winged insects, and not on fish. 
 The forehead is yellowish white, passing into pale bluish 
 green on the top of the head ; back of the head and neck 
 rich brown, passing through orange into dull yellow on the 
 rump and tail-coverts. The greater wing-coverts of the 
 same orange as the corresponding tints of the back ; but the 
 lesser coverts bright grass-green. Quills bright blue, with a 
 slight trace of green ; feathers of the tail pale olive green ; 
 the two middle feathers about an inch longer than the rest, 
 and pointed. Bill long, and slightly tapering and black, 
 with a black line from the gape across the eye and ear-coverts, 
 to a narrow collar of black round the neck. The throat 
 above the collar very bright yellow, and the rest of the under 
 part greenish blue. Irides red, which, with the contrast of 
 the black, brown, and yellow, gives the eye a very brilliant 
 appearance. The bird is, in fact, quite tropical in the texture 
 of its plumage and the richness of its colours. It is a 
 common summer migrant in the eastern part of the Conti- 
 nent ; but, as the birds fly easily as well as gracefully, a few 
 of them occasionally straggle to Britain. They are about 
 the size of thrushes, that is, ten inches long and seventeen 
 broad. As is the case with most finely-coloured birds, their 
 cry is harsh. They excavate holes for their own nest, and 
 line them with moss. Excepting perhaps the kingfisher 
 
THE BEE-EATER. 239 
 
 and the roller, they have finer plumage than any British 
 birds ; and in texture theirs is superior to the others, and 
 the reflections on the blues and greens are perfectly unique.* 
 
 * There is no such order as Alcyones recognised by ornithologists. 
 The kingfishers constitute a family termed by Mr. Vigors Halcyonidce, 
 and by Bonaparte Alcedinidce. The bee-eater is the type of the family 
 Meropidce: both families are under the order Insessores, or Passeres, 
 and of the tribe Fissirostres (Cuvier).- M. 
 
240 
 
 O R D E R IX. 
 CHELIDONES. 
 
 THE SWALLOW TRIBE. 
 
 THESE are a particular class of the insect-eating birds, 
 which agree in so many characters, that they form a con- 
 venient group. They prey upon insects only; they capture 
 them chiefly while on the wing, and their whole structure 
 and manners are in accordance with that mode of feeding. 
 Thus they are all summer visitants in Britain, because there 
 are not so many insects to be caught in the winter as could 
 support even the thousandth part of them. Again, their 
 wings are very strong and long, and their tails produced in 
 forky points, so that they can remain the whole day on the 
 wing, and wheel round with very little diminution of their 
 velocity. Their plumage also is exceedingly firm, so that the 
 wind neither takes hold of, nor is apt to ruffle it. Their form 
 is that which has been found to make the fastest sailing- 
 vessel, full forwards, and lengthened and tapering back- 
 wards. They have small and weak feet, as they use those 
 little, and they would be a weight to carry in flying ; but the 
 feet and the stiff points of the tail, and even the edges of 
 the wings, are so formed, that they can cling to an upright 
 surface, or even to an overhanging one, if there be roughness 
 to hold their little claws. Their sight is exceedingly acute, 
 so that they probably see small flies at a greater distance 
 than man can discern them. Their bills are flat, very wide 
 
THE SWALLOW TRIBE. 241 
 
 at the base, and with the upper mandible hooked, and some- 
 times the lower recurved a little, so that the sides do not shut 
 so tightly as to crush any soft substance that may be between 
 them ; and that, with the wideness of their gape and gullet, 
 enables them to carry a cargo to their nests when they have 
 young. These characters apply chiefly to those that feed by 
 day : the twilight ones, of which there is only one British 
 species, have their plumage much softer, and vibrissa, or 
 hairs, dependent over the sides of the bill, with muscles at- 
 tached to them, capable of communicating impressions as well 
 as receiving them : these may help the owners to feel their 
 way, and also to entangle the insects, as the birds cannot, 
 from the extent to which the bill opens, and the position of 
 the eyes, have much use of them in finding their way. 
 
 In some of the systems, these birds are classed as fissi- 
 rostres, that is, " open-bills," as the bill does not shut at the 
 sides ; but that is only one part of their structure, and one 
 that is not an immediate or general key to their habits.* 
 The following figures will give some idea of the bills of the 
 nocturnal and the diurnal Chelidonian birds, both of which 
 differ from that of the bee-eater and other birds that pur- 
 sue the larger insects upon the wing. 
 
 Goat-sucker. Swallow. 
 
 These birds fly for their food in the air, something in the 
 same manner as the whales swim for theirs in the water; 
 
 * The term fissirostres does not mean " open-bills," but applies to the 
 extent of the gape, enabling the bird to open the mandibles widely. M. 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 CHELIDONES. 
 
 and as the goat-sucker feeds on the night-moths and gnats, 
 which it probably does not see, the hairs, or vibrissee, at the 
 sides of the bill probably answer a purpose similar to that of 
 the baleen in the common whale ; and it is not a little 
 singular to find so near a coincidence of organ, in animals 
 whose element and size are so very different. 
 
 The swallow, the martin, the swifts, and the goat-sucker, 
 are the only British Chelidonian birds : they all come to the 
 cultivated districts, and while they remain, no doubt perform 
 the most important services to man, in the vast numbers of 
 insects which they destroy, not when in the caterpillar state, 
 and when the capture of one may be considered as only the 
 destruction of one, but when they have passed all the 
 dangers of the preliminary stages of their being, and are 
 ready to deposit their eggs, and thus lay a foundation for 
 future myriads. 
 
 THE CHIMNEY SWALLOW (HlTUndo TUStica). 
 
 The forehead and the throat of the swallow are deep red- 
 dish brown ; the belly and vent reddish white ; a large white 
 spot on the inner web of each of the tail feathers, except the 
 two middle ones ; and all the rest black, with blue reflections. 
 Some individuals are grey, or even white. The length is 
 seven inches, the breadth about twelve, and the weight an 
 ounce. One remarkable character of the swallow is the 
 great length of the external feathers of the tail, and the 
 deep fork which they give to that appendage. The young of 
 the same year have not the long tail feathers. 
 
 Swallows perform their principal moult in warmer coun- 
 tries about the month of February ; appear in fine plumage 
 in the south of England about the first of April ; and pro- 
 ceed northward, colouring as they fly, along all the places 
 that are adapted to their habits, till about the end of the 
 month they appear in the extreme north of the country. 
 
THE CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 243 
 
 The places which they select for their nests are, chimneys, 
 barns, outhouses, steeples, ruins, rocks, and the sides of pits 
 and quarries. The nest is constructed of mud, and lined 
 with feathers, but open at the top ; indeed, the length of the 
 tail feathers is such, that the construction of a domed nest 
 would be very laborious for the swallow. The eggs do not 
 exceed five, but, except in the extreme north, where they 
 arrive late and depart early, there are two broods in the 
 year, one fledged in June, and the other in August. They 
 are, generally, all gone by the end of September ; but some 
 of the late broods are not capable of the long journey, and so 
 linger in the country, and are found dead, or in a benumbed 
 state, in holes of walls, or under hedges, partly, no doubt, 
 from the inclemency of the weather, and partly from want of 
 food. 
 
 Swallows are delightful little creatures, not only as they 
 come from a far country, the harbingers of the blooming 
 season ; but on account of their industry, the celerity of 
 their motions, and the perfect confidence in which they carry 
 on all their operations. 
 
 The most lovely scenes would lose much of their summer 
 interest, if it were not for the presence and lively motions of 
 the swallow. The banks of rivers and the margins of small 
 lakes are at all times delightful places for quiet contempla- 
 tion, and for agreeable walks, when the sultry day draws 
 near to a close, or on those stilly and transparent days which 
 immediately precede rain. But there is an excess of repose 
 about them which would soon become monotonous and 
 heavy, except for the evolutions of the swallow, now shoot- 
 ing into mid air, now skimming the surface of the water, and 
 sipping or laving its plumage as it speeds along, alternately 
 with darting wing, and with dart-like glide. Then, when we 
 think of the myriads of gnats and flies which the teeming 
 waters are constantly giving to the air, to sport (and sting) 
 
244 CHELIDONES. 
 
 for their few hours, deposit their eggs and die, making the 
 shores and shallows which are inaccessible even by the min- 
 now rank with their innumerable carcases, we feel how much 
 the swallow contributes to keep sweet and clean those waters 
 over which it glides, quaffing or bathing the while. The 
 air, too, is so still, that we hear the repeated strokes of its 
 bill as it captures those insects which, to our sight, are 
 viewless. 
 
 Though many swallows often build in the same locality if 
 there is abundance of food in the vicinity, the finding of their 
 food and that of their broods, every morsel of which is very 
 small and purchased by a laborious flight, leaves them little 
 time for associating with each other, as do many of those 
 birds which find their food in larger portions and with less 
 labour ; and as the young must be fed by the parents for a 
 longer time than is necessary in the case of birds that are not 
 called upon to make so great exertions, the labours of the 
 swallows are thereby further protracted. When, however, 
 the last brood are on the wing, and each has nothing to do 
 but procure its own food, they do assemble together, some- 
 times in very numerous flocks, over meadows on the banks 
 of streams; and they also roost upon the tops of houses and 
 churches, preparatory to their final departure. As the swal- 
 lows spend their active powers chiefly over the waters, while 
 they are in the northern and temperate regions, the old story 
 was, that they spent their winters at the bottom of the 
 same ; but that is, of course, not true : indeed it is impossible, 
 utterly inconsistent with the spring moult of the birds, and 
 even with their existence. If a swallow remained but for a 
 few seconds under water, it could not be brought out alive. 
 The air is their element and that too more exclusively 
 than it is the element of any other birds ; at least, of any 
 that are common in this country. One of the swallow tribe 
 is rarely seen resting on a solid perch, unless by its nest, 
 
THE HOUSE-MARTIN. 245 
 
 till the labour of the season is over, and the time of its 
 departure come. 
 
 THE HOUSE-MARTIN (HlTUndo 
 
 The house-martin is one of those creatures which associate 
 with man, claim the shelter of his dwelling, and for that 
 purpose hunt him out in all quarters of the world, and in 
 every latitude, if the places which he chooses will at all 
 afford a supply of food for the martin and its young. 
 
 There is not so much romance, or, if you will, sublimity, 
 about the martin, as there is about the swallow. The wings 
 are shorter in proportion to its weight, and it wants those 
 singularly produced feathers in the forky tail, which enable 
 the swallow to wheel round about upon its centre of gravity, 
 and to turn here, there, and everywhere, without almost any 
 perceptible effort. But the martin is a prettier bird, more 
 contrasted and more lively in its colours ; and its coming to 
 nestle in the windows (often the very identical bird for a 
 series of years), renders it still more a favourite. Black and 
 white are the colours of the house-martin ; the whole of the 
 upper part, except the rump, black, and all the under part 
 white. The tail, which is forked and very stiff at the tip, 
 and the quills and coverts, are brownish black, and the rest 
 of the black part has a trace of blue. The line of separation 
 between the white and black, on the sides of the neck, is 
 finely broken, and the richest blue reflections are close by it. 
 The tarsi and toes are covered with white down. The female 
 has the breast inclining to grey. 
 
 The martins arrive in Britain a few days before the chimney 
 swallows ; and, like them, they appear first in the warmest 
 parts of the country, but they soon distribute themselves 
 over the whole of the low grounds, and probably each returns 
 to the place of its nativity, to nestle in the neighbourhood, 
 and hunt in the society of its parents, or to repair the nest 
 
246 CHELIDONES. 
 
 in which they were hatched, and continue the race, after the 
 parents have yielded to casualties or to time. But interesting 
 as are the manners of these birds, though as free as that air 
 over which they have so much command, they are yet so 
 truly domestic that any one can observe them. The nest is 
 more carefully built than that of the swallow; and if the 
 place where it is fixed has not a projecting cover, the nest is 
 made with a dome, and the only opening is in the side. The 
 nest is made large enough to hold both birds, and may be 
 considered in the light both of a house and a nest. The eggs 
 of the house-martin are never more than four or five ; and 
 the birds feed their young with the same assiduity and for 
 the same length of time as the swallows ; and light-coloured 
 ones, and even albinos, occasionally occur as in that species. 
 The flight of the martin, though not so rapid as that of the 
 swallow, is swift, and at the same time easy and graceful. 
 
 The house-martin remains a little later in the country than 
 the swallow; but it retires about the time when the house- 
 flies leave the wing, and crowd in numbers inside the houses. 
 It seems that the house-fly is one of the chief attractions for 
 the bird; and that the instincts of the two are so tempered 
 to each other, that the bird retires while the flies are still 
 sufficiently numerous for producing an abundant supply 
 during the following summer. There are, indeed, enough 
 and to spare in that and all the other races of flies ; for by 
 the time that the summer birds begin to take their departure, 
 the autumnal spiders come into full activity, and capture flies 
 (especially males) by millions. 
 
 THE SAND-MARTIN (UlTUndo 
 
 A figure of this interesting little bird is given on the 
 adjoining cut, on a scale of one-third of the natural lineal 
 dimensions. It is smaller than any of the other British 
 swallows, rather shorter in the wings, and not so dark in 
 

 
THE SAITO-MARTIN. 247 
 
 the colour. It is also different in its flight, proceeding more 
 by jerks, and in that approaching the habit of some of the 
 other tribes of little birds; but still, it has all the leading 
 characters of the swallows. It comes, indeed, a little earlier, 
 and remains at least as late, but it is less the associate of man 
 than any of the rest : not that it shuns his neighbourhood, 
 and goes into the wilds; for though there are colonies of 
 sand-martins in lonely places, they are probably more nume- 
 rous in the cultivated districts. The vicinity of the water 
 is its hunting-ground, and gnats and other insects that sport 
 over the lakes and streams, or their banks, are its chief game ; 
 but its distribution is regulated also by the choice which it 
 makes of a nesting-place. Steep banks, or bluffs of sand, 
 which are easily dug into, and yet not subject to crumble by 
 the action of the summer rains, are its favourite places ; and 
 in the abrupt faces of these it forms its burrows, using its 
 bill as a pick-axe, and shovelling out the rubbish with its 
 feet, and often working so deep, that it is not easy to reach 
 the nest without digging. In these burrows its young are 
 very safe, as the aperture is too small for allowing any pre- 
 datory bird to enter, and the steep is generally such that 
 none of the small quadrupeds that eat eggs can climb it. 
 
 These birds are not found in the rocky districts or on the 
 clays, neither are they partial to gravelly banks that are 
 either very hard or very loose. The fresh-water accumula- 
 tions of sand are their favourite places, especially where a 
 knoll of these materials has been cut through by a road or 
 the action of a rivulet. There are two reasons for that the 
 ease of working the bank, and the certainty with which it 
 stands, and the abundance of insect food which, from the 
 warmth of the climate, is found in such places. If the place 
 be otherwise favourable, they do not much heed the immediate 
 vicinity of a village, but will make their holes close to the 
 houses, and beat about with little less familiarity than those 
 
248 CHELIDONES. 
 
 species which form their habitations in the chimneys or the 
 windows. The places in which the nests are excavated, 
 generally secure them from inundation; and as all birds that 
 burrow in the ground work with a little slope upwards, the 
 rain does not reach the nests. 
 
 A colony of sand-martins, especially when they are in con- 
 siderable numbers, and forming a new establishment, presents 
 a busy scene, for they dig away with much assiduity, relieving 
 each other by turns, the one working while the other feeds; 
 / ^"Vand as they are at work early and continue late, they are not 
 V long in having the burrow ready for the withered grass, 
 4 feathers, or other materials of which the nest is carelessly 
 made. The eggs, which are often as deep as three feet from 
 i!he face of the bank, are generally one more than those of 
 7 > the house-martin ; but there are seldom two broods in the 
 
 ^.+3* VTJT^ 
 
 year. The young are fed for a considerable time by the 
 parents ; and after they have attained as much maturity as 
 to be able to catch insects for themselves, they can be readily 
 distinguished from the old ones, by the rusty colour of the 
 margins of their feathers, an appearance which partially cha- 
 racterizes the female. The deep burrow of the sand-martin 
 is no more adapted for a winter residence than the mud 
 structure of the other species; for by the time that the 
 insects become scarce in the air, partly by the diminution of 
 their numbers, and partly because they are less on the wing, 
 the sand-martin retires to southern countries. 
 
 THE COMMON SWIFT (Ci/pselus vulgaris). 
 
 The swift, of which a figure is given on the plate at page 
 246, one-third of the lineal dimensions, is perhaps the most 
 powerfully winged, in proportion to its weight, of all British 
 birds, not even excepting the white-bellied swift, or even the 
 storm petrel, which extends its excursions so far from the land 
 as to traverse the surface of the whole Atlantic. But the petrel 
 
THE COMMON SWIFT. 249 
 
 does not feed on the wing, and in nestling time it of course 
 resorts to the shores ; whereas the swift has to hunt in the 
 air, and that too at a considerable elevation, for subsistence 
 both for itself and its brood. 
 
 The whole structure of the swift is indeed more adapted 
 to an aerial existence than that of any other bird. Its foot, 
 as may be seen in the figure, bears some resemblance to a 
 little hand, and is not all fit for walking, or for throwing 
 the bird upward with a jerk, as is the case with long- winged 
 birds which occasionally reside on the ground. Place the * 
 swift on level ground, and it would be utterly helpless ; but ''. 
 let it be in the air, and it is all-powerful. The little foot, too, 
 can lay hold of a small pointed rock, or rugged stone, with so 
 much firmness, that the bird can abide on a jutting part of a 
 tower, when it would be unpleasant for a man to stand on the 
 battlement. ' .-.-/.. , ' 
 
 The swift is the garreteer of nature ; not that it inhabits 
 the highest grounds (for the very altitude of its place pre- 
 supposes productiveness in its locality), but where it is found 
 it spends its time and finds its food above every other crea- 
 ture. Its place of habitation corresponds; for the highest 
 crevices in steeples, towers, and jutting rocks, that rise to a con- 
 siderable altitude amid fertile places, are the habitations of the 
 swift ; and its instinct leads it to adapt the structure of its 
 nest to the elements. The straws and other matters of which 
 it is composed, are said to be soldered to the rock and to each 
 other, with a viscid substance, elaborated by glands for the 
 express purpose, though perhaps the same glutinous matter 
 may more assist the bird in the capture of its prey. Those 
 swallows which' construct their nests in great part of humid 
 mud (they, too, may secrete more or less of a similar gluten), 
 never build so high or in such exposed situations as the swift; 
 and some of the foreign swallows, which form nests against 
 the tops of caverns, and on the under sides of overhanging 
 
250 CHELIDONEP. 
 
 precipices, to which it would be difficult to convey ordinary 
 mortar, construct them generally of so glutinous a substance, 
 that they are sold as a substantive ingredient of soups ; but 
 that the nest is wholly a secretion of the birds, is only said, 
 not proved. The swift is not so prolific as those swallows 
 which inhabit farther down ; its eggs seldom exceed two. 
 
 The swifts have not only more labour to perform in order 
 to procure an equal quantity of food, while they are with us, 
 than any other of the tribe, but they also perform a wider 
 and a more hurried excursion in latitude. The same species, 
 and in all probability the same individuals, range from the 
 northern parts of Europe to the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 back again, in the course of about nine months. They sel- 
 dom appear in any part of Britain before the middle of May, 
 and not in the northern parts till June. The young are 
 hatched, and on the wing, about the beginning of July ; after 
 that time the whole begin to flock, and they disappear about 
 the middle of August, a little sooner or later according to 
 the state of the weather. Their motions do not depend 
 entirely upon the state of the temperature, but on that and 
 the facility of finding food jointly ; and warm showers, with 
 gleams of sunshine between, will protract their stay, whereas 
 very dry weather, though intensely hot, rather accelerates 
 their departure. 
 
 During the short time that they remain with us, the swifts 
 are very interesting birds ; and duly studied, they would no 
 doubt be equally instructive. Migratory birds are all, of 
 course, from the very same instinct that prompts their migra- 
 tions, much more sensitive to atmospheric changes than resi- 
 dent birds, which are tempered by nature to endure those 
 changes, or to change with them, and on that account they 
 are better indices to those changes. But swifts are the most 
 migratory of birds ; their pastures fluctuate more with the 
 state of the weather than those of birds that fly and feed 
 
THF COMMON SWIFT. 251 
 
 lower down ; and therefore more delicate but not less certain 
 indications of changes might be drawn from them. 
 
 It appears from their mode of flying, that in very dry and 
 settled weather, there are fewer insects at a great height in 
 the atmosphere than when the air is troubled, even when the 
 signs of that trouble have not shown themselves in the depo- 
 sition of vapour, or in the weight of the air as shown by the 
 barometric column. It may be (and it most likely is) that 
 the evaporative power of the atmosphere is the first property 
 of it that yields ; and that their weak wings, which could not 
 bear the drying influence of the rarefied upper air when dry, 
 can endure it much better when its ardour relents. 
 
 In dry weather, the swifts hawk only towards morning and 
 evening, flying lower down than when the air is different, and 
 occasionally skimming the surface of the pools, and sipping and 
 laving themselves as they dash along. At these times, too, 
 they are sportless and silent, and if the drought is of long 
 continuance, they seem fatigued ; but when the upper air 
 relents they fly high, appear all day on the wing, accumulate 
 in unwonted numbers, gliding, dashing, wheeling, playing 
 numerous antics, screeching to each other, and apparently 
 acquiring more energy the longer they are on the wing. 
 These sportive dashings in the upper air become more nume- 
 rous and energetic as the time of their departure approaches, 
 as then their care of their broods has ceased, and they have 
 only their own food to find each for itself. The solstitial 
 showers generally give them a farewell feast ; and at that time 
 they may be seen on the wing for sixteen hours in the day 
 without once alighting to rest. Their sight has, by experi- 
 ment, been found to be so very acute, that from a distance of 
 400 feet they can discern an object not more than half an 
 inch in diameter, and how much less than that is not known. 
 The same motive of exertion which they often perform in this 
 country without any apparent rest, would sufiice to carry 
 
252 CHELIDONES. 
 
 them across the widest sea or desert that is in their way, or 
 even from England to Africa, in the course of one flight. 
 Swifts are often seen driving at the smaller birds of prey, as 
 if in derision of their less rapid flight ; but they are not quite 
 so furious against them as the swallows, within whose pro- 
 vince those birds more frequently come.* 
 
 THE WHITE-BELLIED SWIFT (Cypselm 
 
 This bird has been found as a rare straggler, near Margate, 
 in Kent. It is considerably larger than the common species, 
 being between nine and ten inches in length, and it is different 
 in the colour brownish, with the belly white. 
 
 THE GOAT-SUCKER (Caprimulgus Europaus). 
 
 Few birds have more names than the goat-sucker, and yet 
 there is not a very good one among the number. The MOTH- 
 EATER (Phalancevara europcea) has been suggested. Goat- 
 sucker does not apply, as, from the impossibility of closing 
 the bill at the sides, the bird cannot suck anything ; but some 
 of the other names (night-jar, for instance) are even worse. 
 
 On the plate at page 46 there is a figure of the bird, about 
 one-third of the lineal dimensions, from which some notion of 
 the form and also of the colours, which from the minuteness 
 of the markings are not easily described in words, may be 
 obtained. It may be noticed, however, that the sexes are 
 distinguished by the male having oval white spots on the 
 inner webs of the first three quills and of the outer tail 
 feathers. 
 
 * The genus Cypselus is more remote from the swallows than natu- 
 ralists until recently have acknowledged. In the shortness of the limnerus, 
 in the form of the os furcatum, and in the absence of a notch at each 
 side of the posterior and of the sternum, there is an approximation to the 
 humming-birds. Bonaparte places the families Cypselidce and Trochi- 
 lida close together; the Sirundinidce forming a distinct family. There 
 is no such order as Chelldones. M. 
 
THE GOAT-SUCKER. 253 
 
 The length is rather more than ten inches, the stretch of the 
 wings about twenty-one, and the weight nearly three ounces, 
 so that it is not so powerfully winged as the swift, or indeed 
 as any of the swallows, in proportion to its weight ; and it is 
 less so for its apparent size, as the feathers are much more 
 loose and bulky in proportion. 
 
 It is of course improper to call a bird beaked and footed 
 like the goat-sucker an owl, because neither the beak nor the 
 claws are capable of catching either birds or mice ; but still, 
 in its habits, and even in the general tints and markings of 
 its plumage, it bears something of the same relation to the 
 swallows, that the owls bear to the diurnal birds of prey. Its 
 plumage is loose and mottled, while theirs is stiff and firm, 
 and more uniform in the colours. As is the case with the 
 owls too, its eyes are very large and prominent, though, as 
 the bird catches its prey on the wing, the eyes have not the 
 concha of produced feathers that distinguish the owls. 
 
 There is a remarkable peculiarity in the foot of the goat- 
 sucker : the hinder toe is capable of being reversed, so as to 
 be turned forward along with the other three ; and that 
 appears to accommodate one particular habit of the bird. 
 The goat-sucker perches lengthways, but generally with its 
 head inwards to the tree, instead of outwards, like the 
 cuckoo ; yet it has to glide from its perch in nearly the 
 same manner ; only, as it must, from the slope of that perch 
 being the other way, spring more from the toes than the 
 cuckoo, and would find the hinder toe rather an obstacle, 
 that is brought forward in aid of the others, just as one of 
 the two hind toes of the cuckoo are. Like the wood-owl, to 
 which (though their prey is very different) the goat-sucker 
 bears some resemblance, it makes a noise when flying in 
 quest of its prey. That noise is a compound of hissing and 
 booming, much louder, but still similar to the sound made by 
 the larger beetles when on the wing in the twilight. This 
 
254 CHELIDONES. 
 
 sound has been said to be the love-note of the beetles, which 
 are thus attracted from a distance by the sound of the birds 
 their love-notes and maternal and filial cries being those 
 by which all animals are most easily allured. 
 
 The goat-sucker is a summer migrant, and does not arrive 
 till the middle of May, the time at which the cockchafer flies 
 in the evening ; and thougn it is not plentiful anywhere, it 
 contrives to capture vast numbers of those destructive insects. 
 It frequents the woods, and also the banks on the margins of 
 the pastures, where the beetles often settle, previous to de- 
 positing their eggs in the ground ; and under the trees, it is 
 just as active in the destruction of moths. It departs in the 
 end of August or the beginning of September, and rears, 
 during the interim, its brood, which are seldom, if ever, more 
 than two. The eggs are deposited upon the ground, under 
 the shelter of a tuft, and without any nest, and the young 
 have sometimes been mistaken for those of the cuckoo, to 
 which they have a faint, though but a very faint resem- 
 blance. 
 
 When hawking for beetles, which of course it does at 
 beetles' height, that is, within a few feet of the ground, the 
 goat-sucker flies with its bill widely extended, and makes its 
 peculiar noise, but stirs the air but little with its wings. 
 When moth-hunting, its habits are a little different. It 
 glides round and round some tree, below which the moths 
 are often taking wing, on their courtship or predatory flights, 
 and as it catches a glimpse of a moth, it darts in and cap- 
 tures it, the glutinous matter with which the gape is lined 
 assisting in the process. 
 
 The goat-sucker occupies alone a peculiar station in Orni- 
 thology, that of hawking on the wing for insects in the dim 
 twilight ; and as those which it chiefly catches are destruc- 
 tive ones, the larvae mostly being in the ground, and destroy- 
 ing the roots of plants, or in trees, and consuming their buds 
 
THE GOAT-SUCKER. 255 
 
 and leaves, and sometimes the cambium and even the wood, it 
 must, on the whole, be classed among those birds which are 
 eminently useful to man ; and one which comes from a far 
 country to perform its yearly service, and which performs 
 that without doing anything in the least injurious for the 
 goat-sucker consumes nothing but insects. Indeed, the 
 whole of the Chelidonian birds do good only, without the 
 least admixture of evil.* 
 
 * The goat-sucker constitutes the type of the family Caprimulgidce ; 
 and although our European species has little of the owl in its aspect, 
 there are other forms of this extensive family, as the genus Podargus, 
 which are very owl-like; having a large, powerful, hooked upper man- 
 dible, large nocturnal eyes, a voluminous head, with elongated tufts or 
 ear-plumes, and a deep, soft, marble plumage. 
 
 In the genus Caprimulgus, the margin of the gape is furnished with 
 long and strong bristles, which evidently assist in the capture of food; 
 the claw of the middle toe is elongated, and has its inner margin deeply 
 pectinated or comblike; a structure, the object of which has not been 
 explicitly determined. Some have supposed it useful as enabling the 
 bird to seize its insect prey with the foot; others as adapted for clearing 
 the bristles of the beak, of the limbs and wing-cases of beetles, or the 
 wings of moths. For ourselves, we incline to the idea that it assists the 
 bird in its peculiar mode of perching on the bare branches of trees, its 
 head being lower than the tail. 
 
 The voice of the goat- sucker is very remarkable. While perched on a 
 branch, on palings, or the ridge of any building, as the shadows of 
 evening increase, it depresses its head, and utters a sonorous, churring 
 sound, a continuous vibratory jar, its throat all the time swelling out and 
 quivering. This sound is seldom uttered on the wing, but the male 
 when playfully chasing his mate through the boughs of trees, frequently 
 utters a small squeak, repeated four or five times in succession. The 
 churring noise is no doubt a love-note of invitation to the female, and 
 not to the beetles, as the author seems to intimate. M. 
 
OEDEB, X. 
 INSECTIVOK^E. 
 
 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
 
 THIS is not a very accurate name for an order, because the 
 birds, which we have to class under it, are some of them less 
 insectivorous than those of the order immediately preceding, 
 and some of them feed as much upon molluscse and worms as 
 upon insects, if not more ; but still, it enables us to bring 
 together birds which have so many characters in common, 
 that a few general sentences enable us to avoid repetition. 
 
 These birds mostly inhabit woods, bushes, or reeds on 
 marshy grounds ; they do not associate in parties, but each 
 pair have their solitary nest, and many rear two broods in 
 the course of the year. They all feed chiefly upon insects 
 and other small animals, during the summer, and prefer them 
 for feeding their young ; but those which are resident in 
 Britain all the year round have recourse to berries, seeds, 
 and other vegetable substances, during the season at which 
 animal food is not to be found. Many of them are summer 
 visitants with us, and resort to warmer climates during 
 winter ; but a few also breed farther to the north, and are 
 winter visitants with us. 
 
 Of 37 species that may be considered as belonging to this 
 order, only 12 are permanently resident, 20 are summer 
 visitants, two come in the winter, and three make their 
 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 257 
 
 appearance only occasionally. The 37 are made up of the 
 following divisions (but there are probably more) : 
 
 3 Shrikes : two very occasional stragglers, and one a local 
 summer visitant. 
 
 2 Fly-catchers : both summer visitants. 
 
 1 Dipper : a local resident. 
 
 6 Thrushes : three resident, two winter visitants, one 
 summer. 
 
 12 Warblers : one resident, eleven summer visitants. 
 
 2 Wrens : resident. 
 
 3 Chats : two summer migrants, one resident. 
 
 2 Accentors : one resident. 
 
 3 Wagtails : two summer migrants, one resident. 
 3 Pipits : one summer migrant, two residents. 
 
 Though, among such a number of birds, there must be 
 great diversities both of character and habits, yet there are 
 sufficient resemblances among all these tribes to warrant the 
 referring of them all to a distinct, though not a very strongly 
 marked, order. There is a softness and indistinctness of the 
 individual feathers in the plumage of their bodies ; their bills 
 are slender and compressed, with some tendency to a hook at 
 the tip of the upper mandible, and also a notch ; their feet 
 are generally more adapted for perching than for walking on 
 the ground, as they have the middle and outer toe united at 
 their bases ; their notes are generally soft, and in most 
 'cases melodious ; and they nestle in the shade, in trees, in 
 bushes, under stones, or under herbage, and never associate 
 in flocks during the breeding season, though many of the 
 summer migrants do before they take their departure, and 
 the winter ones generally come in flocks. Some of the resi- 
 dent ones change their localities, and partially change their 
 food and some of their habits, during the winter months ; but 
 they never congregate in such numerous flocks as those birds 
 
 VOL. i. s 
 
258 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 which subsist merely on vegetable food. The greater num- 
 ber of them breed more than once in the course of the year. 
 
 Though these are not the only birds that feed upon insects 
 and their larvae, they are the principal ones that pick them 
 from vegetables when they are in active growth ; and there- 
 fore they are among the principal conservators of those woods 
 and groves which are rendered lively by their presence, and 
 cheerful with the melody of their songs. Two species, as 
 has been noticed, visit us only in the winter, and ten reside 
 permanently in the country ; but still, so great a proportion, 
 both in species and in absolute numbers, come in the spring 
 and depart in the autumn, that the whole may be considered 
 as being pre-eminently our summer birds, and as forming no 
 unimportant feature of that season of beauty and activity. 
 
 They resort to different localities : some to the open wild 
 or the brake-clad common, and others to the margin of the 
 lake or the bank of the stream ; but the majority frequent 
 only the ruder parts of the country, dwell chiefly in the 
 groves, and pour forth their notes while perched on the sprays. 
 Some disperse themselves over the whole island ; but there 
 are others which confine themselves to the warmer localities; 
 and, indeed, they may be generally said to be birds of the 
 rich parts of the country, and, as such, to increase with the 
 increase of cultivation and planting. In summer, one meets 
 them at every step ; and though the species varies with the 
 place, and the occupation with the time of the day and the 
 state of the weather, yet the place is sadly barren, or the time 
 intensely dry, if we do not meet with or hear these interest- 
 ing and active creatures. In spring, their appearance, on the 
 whole, keeps pace with the season ; for the weather generally 
 changes first in those places that are southward ; and the birds 
 are driven by the state of things in the places which they 
 desert, and not drawn by that of the places to which they 
 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 259 
 
 come. When, however, the spring conies suddenly in a 
 northward place, and before the decay of food and the action 
 of heat southward has sent the usual accompaniment of birds 
 to watch the opening buds, the young year feels dull and 
 desolate. It has been remarked, too, that in those years 
 vegetation suffers more than usual from the ravages of insects ; 
 though that, no doubt, in part, arises from the checks which 
 it subsequently receives when the young leaves are so far 
 expanded, that they derive little shelter from the hyberna- 
 culum which protects the germ in the winter, and the bird 
 in the early stage, before the leaves are so much unrolled as 
 to have much action in the air, But the very same non- 
 conducting property of the albuminous scales of the hyber- 
 naculum which preserves the germ from the winter's cold, 
 prevents the hatching of the insects' eggs, millions of which 
 are gathered by the birds when they first visit the sprays, in 
 the opening bud ; and if the birds are not there, these hatch 
 apace, and the caterpillars gnaw into the cones of the buds, 
 and spoil the vegetation of the year, as much in the shoots of 
 the forest trees as in the blossoms of the fruit. It is then 
 that the little strangers are peculiarly useful; and, as the males 
 generally come first, and commence their songs after a very 
 short rest, considering the length of their journey, they are as 
 charming as they are useful. A few graminivorous birds do 
 then mingle with them, and eat the small seeds that are sown 
 in borders ; but still, the damage done in that way is nothing 
 compared with the general good ; and it may be said, that 
 he who kills one of the insectivorous birds in the spring, pays 
 a bushel of apples as a fine to Nature in the autumn. 
 
 The spring birds, the spring breezes, arid the spring leaves, 
 all come together as parts of the same system ; and it is not 
 for us to separate them in their usefulness. But should we 
 not also include the insects ? for they too are the children of 
 Nature. Where man does not cultivate, the insects, which 
 
260 
 
 keep down the excess of vegetation, are as much part of the 
 system of nature, as the birds which keep down insects, or 
 the magpies, jays, and hawks, which destroy eggs and kill 
 birds; but cultivation alters the case, because the surplus 
 which man takes must be something more than that which 
 satisfies the balancing of uncultivated nature ; and because 
 the birds assist in the preservation of that, they are fellow- 
 labourers with man, and deserve his gratitude and protection. 
 
 When the summer visitants depart, there is a sort of pause, 
 which may be considered as the great annual breeding-time 
 of the insect tribes, though many of them perish in successive 
 generations during the season. There is a minor breeding- 
 time during the excess of the solstitial heat, when the birds 
 are silent and repairing their plumage, before they congregate 
 for their farewell feast. But the autumn is the grand time ; 
 and as the insects soon die after the eggs are safely committed 
 to Nature's keeping, the earth would be rank with the bodies 
 of dead flies, were it not for the labours of the autumnal 
 spiders ; just as it would be unsightly with rotting vegeta- 
 bles, but for the fungi of the same season. 
 
 After the pause, those insectivorous tribes which remain 
 with us all the year, come home from the wilds. The little 
 wren sits on the Christmas log as it lies seasoning at the door ; 
 and the robin hops about at the threshold, turns up his eye as 
 if he actually expressed, " I know you ;" and hopping on the 
 bush, the last ripe leaf of which falls at the slight vibration, 
 he carols to us the parting song of the year, and continues it 
 till the dark days are over, and many wings are extended in 
 the south, wafting hitherward, when the labours of the robin 
 call him again to the wild. So delightfully do these birds 
 mark the year always changing ; and, taken with the other 
 circumstances, every change an improvement. 
 
SHRIKES. 261 
 
 SHRIKES (Lanius). 
 
 Though these birds have the general characters of the order, 
 they feed much upon insects, their feathers are soft, their 
 voices have some music, though little melody, and their feet 
 are formed like the rest of the order; but their bills are larger 
 and stronger, have the tip of the upper mandible decidedly 
 hooked, and that of the lower one fitting a deep notch in the 
 upper ; the general opening of the bill slightly curved, the 
 margins of the mandibles strong, and shutting very close, 
 and the whole bill so much compressed laterally, as to have 
 great strength in proportion to its quantity of matter. The 
 sharp points of the mandibles and the notch enable the bill 
 to pinch much more strongly than that of any of the other 
 insectivorous birds ; and they use the bill for killing smaller 
 birds, which is so much " their vocation," that they have got 
 the name of "butcher birds," as they slaughter many, and 
 hang the carcases, or parts of them, on the hedges, as if ex- 
 posing them to other birds. This is, in fact, their object; for 
 as there are many little birds that will peck at dead birds or 
 beetles, which they do not attack when alive, the shrikes lite- 
 rally track the hedges, and watch on an elevated twig, or fly 
 along a little higher than the bushes, and if they observe a 
 little bird below them they drop down, bear it to the ground, 
 and, seizing the neck between the close-shutting margins of 
 their beak, strangle it in a moment. When they hunt on the 
 wing, they capture by surprise rather than speed, and the cry 
 which they utter seems to distract the attention of those birds 
 on which they prey. The smaller graminivorous birds are their 
 chief feathered prey ; but they also feed on mice. The mar- 
 gins of woods are favourite places of resort for shrikes ; and 
 they are so courageous, that they drive off crows and magpies, 
 and some of the smaller hawks. The small birds crowd angrily 
 about them, and attempt to beat them with their wings. 
 
262 INSECTIVORJE. 
 
 They are short- winged birds, and bounce or leap along in the 
 air; but they drop down very rapidly. The descent and 
 ascent are much facilitated by the motion of the tail, which 
 is rapid in the vertical direction, strong in its coverts, and 
 capable of being spread out like a fan. The air and attitude 
 are expressive of boldness and activity. These birds have 
 been called " pies," from supposed resemblance to the magpie 
 and the jay, but their characters are quite different : they do 
 not croak or chatter ; they cannot be taught to articulate ; 
 they do not eat carrion \ and it is not ascertained that they 
 plunder the nests of other birds. There are only three species 
 known as British : and one, 
 
 THE GREAT ASH-COLOURED SHRIKE (LaniUS excubltor\ 
 
 is merely a straggler, and a straggler not at any usual time of 
 migration, the few specimens that have been found in the 
 country having been in winter ; and certainly not as regular 
 winter migrants, the rare ones of which come late, and after 
 very severe weather. The bird cannot, indeed, be regarded 
 as much of a migrant in latitude in any country, for it rather 
 follows the habit of the resident insectivorse the woodlands 
 in summer, and the lower plains in winter. The British spe- 
 cimens are, in all probability, blown by east winds from 
 Germany, where they are abundant. The weather which 
 precedes the appearance of these birds that straggle " out of 
 time," wants to be more carefully noticed than it has been. 
 
 The great shrike is ash-grey above, white below, has a black 
 stripe across the eye \ the middle of the tail, the bill, the feet, 
 and the stiff hair-like feathers, all black. It is ten inches 
 long, fourteen broad, and weighs between two and three 
 ounces. Its habits on the continent are more migratory. 
 Indeed, those of most insectivorous birds are so ; as they can 
 range to the polar ocean in summer, but are driven out of 
 great part of Russia in the winter. 
 
RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 263 
 
 RED-BACKED SHRIKE ( 
 
 The red-backed shrike is a summer migrant, arriving in 
 May, and departing in September, and differing from the rest 
 of our local summer visitants, in being more numerous to- 
 wards the centre, or even the western side of the country, 
 than on the south-east. The larger beetles appear to be the 
 principal food of these birds, though they are also said to eat 
 mice, and to kill little birds, much after the fashion of the 
 great shrike. There is, however, a want of precision in the 
 description of their habits, as they seem to have been mixed 
 up with those of the other, and they are given by British 
 ornithologists more at second-hand than from observation. 
 
 They are lively birds, and so far resemble the birds of 
 prey, that the female is larger and darker-coloured than the 
 male ; but they live, upon the whole, in harmony with other 
 birds, and do not appear to excite so much ill-natured atten- 
 tion as even the cuckoo. The male weighs an ounce ; Dr. 
 Fleming says two; but he has either copied the wrong book, 
 or it is a misprint. The female weighs about an ounce and a 
 quarter. The male is rather more than six inches long, and 
 about ten and a half broad ; the dimensions of the female 
 are seven and twelve inches. The prevailing colours of both 
 birds are reddish brown on the upper part, and dull greyish- 
 white on the under ; but the white in the male is tinged with 
 pale rose colour, and that in the female marked by dusky 
 lines. 
 
 When these birds sit watching on a twig, they appear pre- 
 pared for an instant start upon whatever prey may come in 
 their way. The tail is spread, the wings partially expanded, 
 the bill open, and the eye in a state of active excitement. It 
 is said that, upon some occasions, these birds will, by imitat- 
 ing the cries of other species, sometimes allure young birds 
 
264: INSECTIVOIUE. 
 
 to their destruction ; but this is probably only said, not 
 seen. 
 
 The nests are carefully hidden in close hedges or bushes, 
 generally where the soil is rather humid, and near the margins 
 of woods. The nest is formed of moss and fibrous roots, in- 
 termixed with wool, and finished with a lining of hairs. The 
 eggs are five or six, of a colour something resembling the 
 under part of the male bird, and marked with brown spots. 
 The young, in their first plumage, resemble the female ; but 
 the upper part is not nearly so red. When the birds are in 
 full plumage, the red, though a brown red, is very rich ; and 
 when the bird jerks along the air, it has the appearance of 
 flashes of dull fire ; on which account it has been called the 
 " flasher," and that has been corrupted to " flusher." 
 
 The locality of the red-backed shrike is the most remark- 
 able part of its natural history. It is short-winged, and of 
 course gets through the air with more labour than many of 
 those summer birds that are found only in the south-eastern 
 part of the country ; but it leaves the gravelly and clayey 
 districts, and takes up its abode in a central zone, beginning 
 at the channel, and terminating at the light soils in the 
 valley of the Dee. The climate of that zone is warm, and 
 the soil peculiarly adapted to the habits of the larger beetles, 
 which seem the natural and peculiar food of these birds. The 
 habits of the red-backed shrike, and also the characters of 
 those districts which it prefers, deserve to be studied. 
 
 WOOD-CHAT SHRIKE (Lanius rutilus). 
 
 As a British bird, this species is rare, though common 
 enough on the continent, where it is a migrant, resorting, as 
 is the case with many of the common birds of central Europe, 
 to the delta and valley of the Nile in the winter. With us 
 it is a rare summer visitant, and may be said to be only an 
 
THE FLY-CATCHER. 265 
 
 occasional one ; but the nest having been found more than 
 once in Norfolk entitles it to a place among British birds. 
 
 The length of this shrike is about seven inches, and the 
 extent of the wings eighteen. The bill is dusky, with a 
 tinge of blue, very strong and notched towards the tip. The 
 irides are hazel, the legs dusky, the claws black, short, and 
 very crooked. The forehead has a stripe down each side of 
 the neck to the shoulders, the lesser coverts and part of the 
 quills are black or dusky. The base of the primaries and tips 
 of the secondary quills white. The back of the head rufous, 
 the scapulars white, the back dark ash-colour. The tail, 
 which is rather long, strong, and a little rounded, is dusky, 
 the rump somewhat paler and mixed with white. The throat, 
 fore part of the neck and breast, dull white, passing into dull 
 ochre, yellow on the belly and vent. 
 
 It is a bold bird, partaking much of the characters of the 
 other shrikes ; but with us it is rare, and only seen occa- 
 sionally in the woods. It does not follow the same zone as 
 the others. 
 
 THE FLY-CATCHEE (Musdcapo). 
 
 There is some little perplexity in the natural history of 
 the fly-catchers. They are smaller than the shrikes, and their 
 bills are less formidable, as their prey is softer, not having 
 the same horny covering as the beetles. They are also 
 larger in the wings, because their prey flies more swiftly, and 
 plays more tricks in the air than the beetles are capable of 
 doing on their " drowsy flight." Still, the fly-catchers hold 
 a sort of intermediate place between the swallow-tribe, which 
 catch their insect food by strength of wing in the free air, 
 and those summer birds which pick it from the leaves, buds, 
 and bark of vegetables, in the larva state. 
 
266 IKSECTIVOR^. 
 
 THE PIED FLY-CATCHER (MusticapO, 
 
 The history of this species is also a little confused. No 
 good cause has been shown, either by fact or analogy, to 
 establish the assertion, that the birds reside in any part of 
 England during the winter : and as they resemble the shrikes 
 more in character than the spotted fly-catcher does, which is 
 a summer migrant, the presumption is, that they are summer 
 migrants also. They follow nearly the same zone in longi- 
 tude as the shrikes ; but they are found farther to the north, 
 chiefly beyond the heights on the confines of Stafford and 
 Derby, where the principal locality of the shrikes terminates. 
 They are found thence along the hills between York and 
 Lancashire, and so into the hilly parts of Westmoreland and 
 Cumberland ; but there is no account of their breeding or 
 even being found in Scotland ; and they are very rare on 
 those champaign parts of England over which they must 
 pass in order to arrive at the interior and hilly districts. 
 But that, though an important fact in their history, and in 
 the history of migration generally, is no argument against 
 their arrival in the spring and their departure in the autumn. 
 The same instincts which adapt birds to certain districts, 
 guide them to those districts, without any reference to the 
 country which lies between. Like the occasional shrike, 
 these are upland birds, and they find their way to the up- 
 lands, just as the softer-billed summer migrants find their 
 way to the lower and richer places, where the larvae of lepi- 
 dopterous insects are more abundant. 
 
 A figure of the pied fly-catcher, one third of the lineal 
 dimensions, is given on the plate at page 246, on the same 
 scale with the sand-martin and the swift, the three to- 
 gether showing the gradation of fly-catching birds, from the 
 swift, which dashes after them with great celerity, and at the 
 highest elevation to which little birds extend their hawking, 
 
THE PIED FLY-CATCHER. 267 
 
 to the fly-catcher, which watches for them on the hedge or 
 the branch of a tree, and pounces on them as they pass. The 
 colours of the male plumage are subject to some variation 
 with age and with the seasons : when old, the tail feathers 
 are black : but when young, they have some white on them. 
 In winter, the upper parts incline more to grey, and in sum- 
 mer they incline more to black. The birds breed in holes of 
 trees, or in thick and close bushes, forming their nests of dry 
 vegetable matters, and lining it with hair or feathers. The 
 eggs seldom exceed five; they are pale greenish blue. The 
 incubation begins about the end of May, the birds being sup- 
 posed to arrive about the middle of that month. As they 
 do not previously flock, the time of their departure is not 
 very accurately known. 
 
 The pied fly-catchers are very pretty and lively little 
 birds ; and as they are constantly hopping in and out of the 
 bushes at those bright and sultry hours when the flies are on 
 the wing, they give an interest to times at which the greater 
 number of the summer birds are still as well as silent. In 
 the mornings, before the flies begin to come out, the male 
 birds are generally perched and singing, and the females are 
 on their nests. The songs of the males have not much 
 variety or compass, but they are soft, and not destitute of 
 sweetness. Their fly-catching is, however, the most interest- 
 ing of their habits ; they hold themselves so constantly pre- 
 pared, their eye is so keen, and their motions so quick. 
 Their wings, though well fitted for the leaping flight which 
 they perform in catching their food, are not so well adapted 
 for long journeys, especially if they have to contend with 
 gales of wind, which of course blow them to leeward in the 
 pauses during which the strokes of their wings are exhausted. 
 This may be one of the reasons why the east winds of May 
 carry them out of what may be considered as the line of 
 their migration. When the weather blows hard, they are s 
 
268 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 exhausted that they are obliged to alight, and rest for some 
 time near the coasts, although they do not stop to nestle 
 there. But many migrant birds have resting-places, within 
 many miles of which not one nest is to be found. 
 
 THE SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER ( Muscicapci grisolo). 
 
 This is a larger bird than the other, softer in appearance, 
 less active in its manners, and having the bill less convex on 
 the upper part, and less hooked and notched at the tip. The 
 upper part is brown, rather redder on the shoulders, and with 
 a pale streak over the eye ; the top of the head darker 
 mottled; the quills and tail feathers very dark. The under 
 part brownish white, with dusky patches and shafts to the 
 feathers on the breast. It arrives late in the season, not till 
 near the end of May, and it departs towards the end of 
 September, but sooner or later, according as the season is 
 less or more favourable to the continuance of insects upon 
 the wing. 
 
 It remains in the low districts, being most abundant in the 
 south of England, diminishing both northerly and inland, and 
 being rare in Scotland, if indeed it at all reaches that country. 
 It is a familiar bird, pursuing its labours close to the dwell- 
 ing of man, and even building in the shelter of outhouses. 
 But it is a very quiet little bird, as silent in its manners as 
 it is sober in its plumage ; and therefore it spends its labo- 
 rious summer in clearing the gardens and copses of flies, 
 unnoticed and unsought for. Its nest is formed of moss and 
 small fibres, lined with hair, wool, or feathers ; and the eggs, 
 which are bluish white spotted with red, are seldom more 
 than five. The nest is usually so placed as to be sheltered 
 from the weather, but it is not so studious of concealment 
 as the other species. It does not perch so much on those 
 trees that are covered with foliage as on stumps and posts, 
 which are not above the ordinary flight of the flies, and 
 
THRUSHES. 269 
 
 which command the horizon all round. It will often occupy 
 one of these for hours, though people are at work around it ; 
 and its habit is to dash at the insects, capture them, and 
 return to its perch, all in perfect silence. 
 
 The time when the early cherries and berries begin to 
 ripen is one at which flies throng to the gardens; and as it 
 is also the time at which the broods usually take wing, and 
 feed with great activity, the birds are very numerous and 
 active among the trees. They are then actually preserving 
 the fruit from myriads of insect destroyers; but they have 
 been (as is not unfrequently the case with birds) accused of 
 perpetrating the very mischief which it is the business of 
 their lives to prevent, and because some one called it the 
 " cherry-sucker," the consequence is, that the bird is very 
 often driven off, in order that the choicest of the fruit may 
 be spoiled by the wasps and flies. This bird has little 
 or no note, save a chirp. It comes, performs its appointed 
 labour, and goes peaceably ; but it is one of the birds that 
 accompany cultivation, and become more numerous as that 
 extends. 
 
 THRUSHES (Turdus). 
 
 The thrushes are the largest of all the British insectivorous 
 birds : those which remain permanently with us are among 
 the most mellow-toned of our wild songsters ; the whole 
 are very interesting in their manners, and, when in proper 
 condition, they are wholesome and palatable food. Though 
 the thrushes have a melodious song, of which the omnivorous 
 birds are wholly destitute, their alarm note partakes a little 
 of the scream of these, and, like them, they can be taught to 
 articulate, though not quite so readily, or with so much per- 
 fection. They have the bill of mean length, a little curved, 
 bent at the tip, and with a notch in the upper mandible; and 
 their whole plumage is close and compact, so that they dart 
 
270 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 through and under the bushes and low branches with great 
 celerity. They have also considerable command of them- 
 selves, both on the perch and the ground, in the last of 
 which situations they find a considerable portion of their 
 food. They are not so exclusively insectivorous as some 
 others of the order, but they are chiefly so during the 
 summer; and in the winter, when the state of the weather 
 excludes them from their animal supplies, they have recourse 
 chiefly to wild berries. Snails, slugs, and worms form a 
 principal part of their food, and in the capture of these they 
 do very valuable service to the gardens, orchards, and shrub- 
 beries, and even to many of the field crops. The three 
 resident British ones are all inhabitants of the groves and 
 thickets of the low grounds, or just on the borders of the 
 wilds, and they generally remain in the neighbourhood of 
 their nesting places all the year round. 
 
 THE MISSEL-THRUSH (TurduS 
 
 There is a sort of double naming in this bird; it is called 
 the niissel-thrush because it " missels" (soils) its toes with the 
 viscid slimy juice of the mistletoe berries, of which it is very 
 fond in the winter; and the mistletoe gets its name because 
 it " soils" the toes of the bird. The missel-thrush is the 
 largest of the British species, being nearly a foot long, about 
 eighteen inches in the stretch of the wings, -end five ounces 
 in weight. It is not a very gay bird in its plumage, neither 
 is it remarkable for the briskness of its expression ; but still 
 it is a beautiful bird, light in its form and soft in the tints of 
 its plumage. Its ground colour above is grey with a trace of 
 buff, and that below whitish with a lighter trace of the same. 
 Quills and greater coverts greyish brown, relieved at the 
 margins with pale ash-colour and white, and occasionally a 
 trace of buff. Tail deep ash-grey, the tips of the outer tail 
 feathers and their inner webs white. The throat, cheeks, and 
 
THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 271 
 
 chin, marked with three-cornered spots of brown, and the 
 rest of the under part with larger patches of the same. The 
 bill black, except the base of the lower mandible, which is 
 pale yellow; the sides of the head brown, but the eye sur- 
 rounded by a white circle. The female is more rusty on the 
 under side; and the young have the top of the head and 
 upper part of the neck greyish white, and the wings and tail 
 more inclining to brown. The colours vary considerably, 
 and some specimens are nearly white. 
 
 The missel-thrush, being found chiefly in those wooded 
 and sheltered places where the winter is neither the longest 
 nor the most severe, and meeting with berries at the times 
 when the snow keeps it from the ground, is much better fed 
 at that season than many of the other birds. In ordinary 
 seasons, indeed, it is never very long without animal food, 
 because it is very persevering and adroit in finding out 
 snails and slugs in their winter retreats ; so that it is among 
 the first birds to feel the turn of the year, and though its 
 note is not so mellifluous and varied as that of the song- 
 thrush, it is still both powerful and musical; and as it is the 
 first that is heard in the woodland after the howling of the 
 wind among the leafless branches, and heard even during the 
 fitful pauses of that, when the February or even the January 
 sun flings a momentary ray of hope upon the doubtful year, 
 it is perhaps hailed with more fondness than the song of the 
 nightingale itself, which is never heard till the season has so 
 far budded and bloomed, as to be full of life and hope without 
 the nightingale. 
 
 Perched upon some leafless tree, and haply near a branch 
 of that misletoe which has been a bone of contention between 
 the bird and the rustics, the one for his Christmas dinner, 
 and the other for his Christmas sport, the missel -thrush 
 shakes the surrounding air with his melody ; and while we 
 listen to the strain, we feel that the promise of nature's 
 
272 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 bounty for another year is announced, at the very time when 
 we have been sharing most plentifully the fruits of the year 
 which has gone by. For some time the song of the bird 
 alternates with those varying winds which at that season 
 shake the earth, and sometimes uproot the trees, though they 
 also mollify the clods. When the black cloud comes over, 
 and the sleet pelts, or the snow drives, the bird glides down 
 to his shelter ; but as soon as it is over, he is again on his 
 perch and at his song, nor does he cease till other choristers 
 have come to bear their part in that morning song with 
 which the children of nature welcome in the year. 
 
 The breeding-time of course varies a little, both with the 
 situation and the season ; but the average periods may be 
 reckoned about the middle of March for the building of the 
 nest, and April for the hatching of the eggs. The male 
 continues his song till then, after which it is heard no more 
 during the summer. 
 
 The nest is usually made in the fork of a tree, the more 
 moss-grown the better; because that harmonizes with and 
 helps to conceal the nest itself, which is formed of lichens, 
 mosses, and twigs externally, partially combined with, and 
 rendered more close and substantial by, an intermixture of 
 earth. The interior is lined with softer materials fine dry 
 grass, hair, or wool, according as the one or the other is more 
 easily procured. The eggs rarely, if ever, exceed five ; they 
 are flesh-colour, mottled with rusty brown ; and the birds do 
 not seek the seclusion of the deep and lonely woods, but will 
 build in the orchard, or the garden, though very near to the 
 house, if they find there the tree best suited to their purpose. 
 
 The male of the missel-thrush is not a mere idle songster. 
 He takes turn with his mate in the labour of incubation ; he 
 feeds her, and assists in feeding the young ; and he is equally 
 vigilant and bold in the defence of his family. The call-note 
 which he utters in case of danger, and which is answered by 
 
THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 273 
 
 the female as if she were expressing her confidence of safety 
 while he is on the watch, is harsh and grating, and has the 
 tone of a note of defiance. And, with the missel-thrush, the 
 defiance is no idle boast ; for the sneaking magpie, the light- 
 winged kestrel, and even the sparrow-hawk, are at those 
 times compelled to keep their distance, as the thrush is too 
 vigilant to be surprised, and under the sprays, where those 
 birds must contend with him upon equal terms, he keeps 
 them all at bay. Nor is he the guardian of his own family 
 only, he is in some measure the warder of the whole grove ; 
 and when the harsh but shrilly sound of his bugle note of 
 alarm is heard, all the warblers take heed of the danger, and 
 the chorus is mute till he again mounts the highest branch*, 
 and raises the song of deliverance. 
 
 If the nest, despite his watchfulness, is robbed, the male 
 continues his song, till preparations are made for a new 
 brood ; and if he loses his mate, he continues in song all the 
 summer ; and therefore his note, which is anything but a 
 note of sorrow, partakes somewhat of that character of a 
 lament in solitude, which has poetically, but not really, been 
 considered as characteristic of the song of the nightingale 
 and the moan of the turtle. 
 
 The purpose which the song of birds answers in the 
 economy of nature, is one of those mysteries which, like the 
 differences of tint in their plumage, human ingenuity has not 
 yet been able to explain. It is not, however, a mere pairing 
 cry, because it is continued till the birds break the shell, and 
 in some instances, till they are able to fly. We may be sure, 
 however, that it has its use ; and, as we can observe that the 
 females of all kinds which have that cry, whether it be what 
 we call song or not, are excited when it is uttered by the 
 male, it may be that it produces in the female that heat 
 which is necessary for hatching the eggs. In ourselves, there 
 are many sounds which make the heart beat, the blood dance, 
 
 VOL. L T 
 
274 INSECTIVOR^. 
 
 and the whole body glow, we know not why ; and thus we 
 have at least no ground for denying, without proof, that the 
 other animals may be affected in a similar manner. Perhaps 
 the more philosophical way of considering it is to suppose 
 that it produces general excitement, and a power of more 
 energetic performance in all the labour which the birds can 
 undertake. 
 
 The connexion between the song and the plumage, and the 
 silence and the moult, is also a curious matter, and shows 
 that the whole bird is subject to some general law, which, 
 though it lies deep beyond the power of our divination, 
 governs even the minutest circumstance the production of a 
 new spot or gloss on a feather, the reddening of a comb or a 
 wattle, or the inspiration of courage into birds naturally 
 timid. The birds, in fact, blossom in the spring as well as 
 the plants, and when the purpose of nature is accomplished, 
 the bloom of the one is shed as well as that of the other. 
 But if the purpose of nature in continuing the race is not 
 accomplished, the bloom lingers. If the east wind shrivel 
 the anthers of the peach-blossoms, the petals do not come 
 down perfect in that powdery shower which is the sign of a 
 plentiful crop, they cleave to the tree, and languish slowly 
 there. " Wo be to the wind of the bleak north-east," says 
 the cultivator, " it sheds no blooms ; " and so also may the 
 lover of birds lament, if the songs of his favourites are con- 
 tinued, through the summer. If the bird continues its song, 
 it at the same time continues its plumage ; and the moult, 
 when it does take place, partly because it is at a later and 
 colder season, and partly from that part of physiology which 
 has not yet become a science, the new plumage has less of 
 the peculiarity of the male, and more resembles that of the 
 female and the young, than if the bird had been mute and 
 had moulted, in due course. 
 
 That song of sorrow (though to the bird it is rather a 
 
THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 275 
 
 song of hope delayed) lias not the spirit of the natural song. 
 It is true that, by midsummer, nature is muffled, by drooping 
 leaves, and falling blooms, and downy anthers ; and it waxes 
 fat and rank, so that though it may murmur, it will not 
 "ring clear" (like a moistened flute) as it does in the season 
 of vernal song, when all is fresh and full of sap ; but we also 
 can perceive a falling-off in the note itself; and we have a 
 corroboration in caged birds, which never give their song 
 with the full glee and power of that of the woodlands. Even 
 in the most admired song that is warbled from the prison- 
 house of wire, an ear tuned and habituated to the free strains 
 of nature can recognize a blending of the cry of irritation and 
 distress. Nor can it be otherwise. The bird is the child of 
 Nature as much as man is, and it loves liberty as well 
 better, for it will not voluntarily exchange that to be a 
 pampered slave in a palace. It puts one in mind of that 
 exquisitely mournful delineation of the children of Israel, in 
 painful servitude and restraint, even on the palmy shores of 
 the wide-rolling Euphrates ; and one cannot contemplate the 
 imprisoned bird, without thinking on the mossy tree, the 
 little nest, and the chirping brood, and feeling the force of 
 the unanswerable interrogatory " Ah ! how can we sing the 
 song of our God in the place of our captivity?" 
 
 If matters fare prosperously, the missel-thrush has moulted, 
 and is partially in song, in the early part of autumn ; and by 
 the time that the second brood is fledged, the animal supply 
 for the year is nearly over, and the family flock together in 
 quest of berries, at which time they do not hesitate to lay 
 the gardens under contribution. Thence, till they sing again, 
 is the time when they are best in flesh and in flavour ; and 
 when the fruit of the service-tree and the mountain ash may 
 be repaid by a delicious meal, without any injury to the 
 economy of nature, and with some saving of the crop on the 
 late vines. 
 
276 INSECTIVOR^E. 
 
 That is the only season during which even a small flock of 
 these birds assemble in peace ; for, during the busy time, the 
 males are as pugnacious towards each other, on the score both 
 of partners and pastures, as they are resolute in defending 
 their families from predatory birds. 
 
 East winds, whether they waft the cold humidity of the 
 fen or come withering with drought, are equally unfavourable 
 to the food, and consequently to the presence, of the missel- 
 thrush. It is accordingly less plentiful on the east coast than 
 on the south and west, and in that zone which has been men- 
 tioned as particularly favourable to birds that feed on the 
 larger insects. But improved cultivation has brought it to 
 many places in which it was formerly unknown ; and a con- 
 tinuation of the same will extend it. The larger snails, 
 nemoralis, hortensis, and aspersa, and a variety of others^ are 
 always concomitants of the missel-thrush, and those snails 
 are somewhat dainty, and will not eat the austere produce of 
 the marsh. The missel-thrush is thus a sort of tell-tale, 
 showing how cultivation goes ; and the way to build him in 
 is the same as that by which the ague is built out building 
 drains below ground, and not walls above it. 
 
 THE SONG-THRUSH (Turdus musicus). 
 
 This bird is much more generally distributed over the 
 country than the former ; and though there is some resem- 
 blance between them, more especially in the markings on the 
 under part, the colours of the song-thrush are not nearly so 
 delicate. The whole of the upper part is brown, with a trace 
 of grey, the under part cream-colour, darkest on the breast, 
 and mottled with triangular dusky spots. The length is 
 about nine inches, the stretch of the wings thirteen and a 
 half, and the weight about three ounces. It is, however, 
 subject to considerable variations in colour more, perhaps, 
 than the missel-thrush and it is also subject to considerable 
 
THE SONG-THRUSH. 277 
 
 variations in size : those which inhabit the high grounds are 
 smaller than the tenants of the richer pastures. 
 
 The thrush is so familiar a bird everywhere, that there 
 are few to whom any description of it is necessary. It does 
 not like marshes, or countries that are very open and bare ; 
 but in all places where hedges, thickets, and young planta- 
 tions, or even orchards and gardens with trees, are to be 
 found, there are sure to be thrushes. They feed on slugs, 
 worms, and snails, of the last of which they destroy vast 
 numbers, but they are not so exclusively confined to the 
 districts in which the larger species of snails abound as the 
 missel-thrushes. They are found in many upland parts 
 where shelled mollusca are few and confined to the smaller 
 species : and in those, snails and earthworms are their chief 
 food in the early summer ; and as the season advances, they 
 have recourse to wild berries the whortleberry in preference 
 to any of the others. The soils where that thrives best are 
 generally well suited for plantations or natural copses ; and 
 copses there are sure to be inhabited by thrushes. In winter 
 the birds come down to the warmer lands, and beat about 
 under the hedges and in the gardens. 
 
 In the richer districts, their labours in destroying snails 
 are equally incessant and successful. Before these have 
 opened the window curtain which they spread over the mouth 
 of the shell, so as to completely exclude the air during the 
 time that they are dormant, the thrushes and their associates 
 the blackbirds find them out in their hiding-places, and by 
 this means do great service to the winter and early spring 
 crops, especially in those places where culinary vegetables 
 are much cultivated. In these places the snails nestle by 
 hundreds, under the hedges, and by the foundations of the 
 walls. In the former, which is their favourite winter abode, 
 the hedge preserves them in a great measure from the rain, 
 and the dry leaves from the cold ; but so industriously do 
 
278 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 the thrushes and blackbirds search them out, that the hedge 
 side is marked by a line of broken shells, as the birds fetch 
 the snails out, and batter the shells to pieces with their bills. 
 In the dead of winter this is carried on, in open weather, 
 during the whole day ; but if January is open, and warm, 
 and sunny, they may be seen suspending their labours about 
 mid-day, perching on the hedges, or hedge-row trees, and 
 warbling their clear, melodious, and variable song ; yet a 
 change of weather a fall of snow especially makes them 
 mute again for a space : and they have recourse to their 
 vegetable food, which does not appear to stimulate them so 
 much ; as those that are in situations where they must 
 depend chiefly on that, do not come into song till the season 
 is farther advanced, and the slugs and worms have begun to 
 make their appearance. 
 
 When the situation and the season are both favourable, 
 the birds are in full song early in February ; and as there 
 are generally two, and not unfrequently three broods of 
 young in the year, the song continues till the beginning of 
 October : and though the same bird does not sing during the 
 whole time, yet there are always thrushes in song from the 
 middle of January to that of October, if the weather is 
 favourable. Indeed, one or two very fine days are sufficient 
 to excite the thrush into song at any time of the winter. 
 
 During the hatching of the young, the male is as attentive 
 and industrious as the missel-thrush : and as the birds are 
 more numerous, they have to bustle more for food. They are 
 then up betimes. Their favourite prey finds its food during 
 the night, and retires before the heat of the morning is too 
 severe for the slimy secretion, which it uses not only as glue, 
 but also as a cable, and sometimes as a highway. The dis- 
 tance to which it can contrive to crawl is not small, con- 
 sidering that it has only one foot, and is burdened with its 
 house ; but the coming drought invariably sends it home, 
 
THE SOXG-THRUSH. 279 
 
 and the thrush is in the way to intercept it. When collecting 
 food for the young, the birds carry it not in the bill, but in 
 the stomach. The membranous upper part of the stomach 
 is, in all those birds which are not furnished with a pouch, 
 a very convenient pannier for carrying food to their young ; 
 and though there are not many in which a milky secretion, 
 like that mentioned in the pigeons, is produced, yet, in all, 
 the food may be so far acted on by the gastric fluid of the 
 parent, as to be more easily digested by the young birds. 
 
 The song-thrush builds in the middle of a hedge, tree, or 
 bush, but it builds lower than the missel-thrush ; and as 
 the nest of the latter externally resembles a lichen-crusted 
 stump, so the nest of the song-thrush resembles a mossy tuft. 
 Internally it is strengthened with mud, said io be water- 
 tight, and therefore destructive of the eggs in rainy seasons. 
 Rainy seasons are destructive to the nests of many birds ; 
 but they must be less so to that of the thrush than to many 
 others : the thrush does not build in situations where the 
 nest has much chance of being inundated by floods ; and it 
 may be said that the nests of all birds are about equally 
 secure from falling rain, while the process of incubation is 
 going on. If the nest is not so chosen as that the eggs are 
 sheltered from the weather by other means, it will generally 
 be found that the mother herself affords them sunicient 
 protection by her plumage and her mode of sitting. A 
 water-proof nest is no more a necessary means of drowning 
 than a water-proof boat : it is the preventing of water from 
 getting in, not from getting out, which is the grand means 
 of security ; and if the eggs of a bird were for any length of 
 time continually wet with falling rain, they would be cooled 
 more, and therefore rendered less likely to be fertile, than if 
 they were as long immersed in water. The birds whose 
 nests suffer the most from rain, are those that build on the 
 flat uplands, where the rain falls in torrents, and stagnates 
 
280 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 among the herbage ; and if there be any season more perilous 
 to the thrushes than another, it is that which is excessively 
 dry, at that time when they feed most exclusively upon 
 animals, which are, for the most part, below the ground 
 when the weather is in that state. 
 
 The song of the thrush is unquestionably the finest of any 
 of our permanent woodland songs, and superior in power 
 and clearness, though not in variety, to that of any of the 
 warblers. But the very abundance of it, perhaps, makes it 
 less prized than it should be. The nightingale heard in the 
 depth of groves and during the soft and balmy stillness of 
 the summer's night, may have more of the lusciousness of 
 romance about it, but there is a bold, natural, and free feeling 
 of rustic vigour, enjoyment, and endurance, about the thrush, 
 which gives it a more home and hearty interest in all parts 
 of the country, than can be commanded by any mere bird of 
 passage, whatever may be its charms while it stays. The 
 thrush is, especially, one of the birds of plenty : its blithe 
 and varied song is never heard amid desolation ; and if you 
 hear a thrush, you have not very far to go ere you come to 
 a human dwelling. When its animal food, which it at all 
 times prefers to that which is vegetable, fails, the thrush 
 may commit more devastations among the fruits than many 
 other birds ; but when the snail-shells by the hedge-side are 
 counted, and it is gravely considered how completely these 
 and their broods would have eaten all the early vegetables 
 as they got above ground, and the strawberries and peaches as 
 soon as they began to ripen, it is at least an undetermined 
 question, whether the good done by the thrush may not far 
 more than counterbalance the evil. The creatures on which 
 the thrush feeds are destructive ; they have no song ; and 
 they are at least not more pleasant to look at than thrushes. 
 
THE BLACKBIRD. 281 
 
 THE BLACKBIRD (Turdus merula). 
 
 The blackbird is as long as the missel-thrush ; but more 
 slender in its form, and weighs an ounce less. Its form and 
 also its plumage are remarkable for compactness ; and it is 
 very quick-sighted and lively in its motions. The male is 
 entirely black, except the bill and circle round the eyes, which 
 are orange-yellow, and the feet, which are brown. The female 
 has the bill and circle round the eyes, and the upper part of 
 the body, blackish brown ; and the lower part light brown, 
 passing into white on the chin, and mottled with dusky. 
 The young birds are like the females, and do not acquire the 
 yellow bill, which is the sign of maturity, till after the second 
 moult. 
 
 The haunts and habits of the blackbird are nearly the same 
 as those of the thrush, only it is more familiar, and, in pro- 
 portion to its numbers, less seen. The disposition of the bird 
 is shy and solitary, more so than the thrushes, as the blackbirds 
 separate so soon as the young are able to provide for them- 
 selves, and never again assemble except in the breeding-time. 
 It has been said that they do not all associate even then, but 
 that there are many solitary blackbirds which pass the whole 
 year in a state of sulky celibacy. There is no reason for car- 
 rying the matter quite so far as that ; the blackbird is as atten- 
 tive to its nest and young as any other of the tribe ; and its 
 evasive habit, or simply the facility with which it slips through 
 hedges and in below bushes, not probably so much from the 
 wish of hiding itself as in mere search for its food, is the 
 foundation of the whole. The blackbird nestles quite close to 
 the house, on ivied walls, in old trees, and thick bushes, and 
 at a moderate height from the ground. The nest is made of 
 moss and sticks, plastered inside with mud, and lined with 
 soft and dry matters. The brood is from three to six, but 
 rarely the latter number ; and the eggs are of a greenish blue, 
 
282 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 with very obscure dusky markings. But, as is the case with 
 most birds that frequent cultivated districts, the colour both 
 of the birds and eggs is subject to variety. 
 
 The blackbird sings early ; and though there is not nearly 
 so much spirit and variety in his song as in that of the thrush, 
 it is soft and clear, and has a sort of flute-like tone, which 
 makes a pleasant variety among the number of more sharp and 
 trilling voices. There are usually two and frequently three 
 broods of blackbirds in the year ; and thus the song continues 
 through a great part of the season, though it is not heard so 
 continually, so long at a time, or from so lofty a perch, as that 
 of the thrush. Notwithstanding its solitary and hiding habits, 
 the blackbird is more easily tamed and more patient of 
 restraint than the thrush. 
 
 THE RING-THRUSH (Turdus torquatus.) 
 
 The ring-thrush is a very beautiful bird, half an inch shorter 
 than the blackbird, but having about the same extent of wings 
 and nearly the same weight. It is much more firm and dom- 
 pact in the fore part, and altogether better formed for long 
 flight, or for contending with the weather, though not nearly 
 so well for gliding through bushes. 
 
 The figure on the opposite plate, which is one-third of the 
 lineal dimensions, will give an idea of the form, general 
 colours, and expression, of this bird. It may not, however, 
 be amiss to remark, that the grey on the edges of the fea- 
 thers above, and also on the greater wing-coverts, varies con- 
 siderably in different individuals, and also at different ages 
 and seasons. The pure white gorget is always a character of 
 the mature males. The young males have it reddish ; the old 
 females clouded with brown and grey, and in the young 
 females it is barely visible. 
 
 The ring-thrush is a summer migrant, arriving in Britain 
 in the spring, rearing its broods in the wilds, and disappearing 
 
m 
 
 ,,/' 
 
 ; 
 
 
THE KING-THRUSH. 283 
 
 in the autumn for warmer climates, in which it spends the 
 winter; and, as is the case with many seasonal^ birds, its 
 migrations on the continent are much more extended than 
 with us, though it is not very rare, in its season, in some 
 parts of the Scotch highlands, and has an original Gaelic 
 name. 
 
 Like the resident thrushes, it avoids the fenny parts of the 
 country ; and it does the same on the continent, as it is rare 
 in Holland and the flat parts of the Netherlands, and along 
 the low sandy shores on the east of the German sea. Hence 
 it comes to us across the channel, and rarely or ever across 
 the eastern sea. Whether these birds migrate over low 
 districts, or prefer hilly ones, such as Normandy, is a point 
 worth attending to in studying the habits of our migratory 
 birds ; because, if they prefer the former countries, we may 
 expect stragglers on the east coast ; but if the latter, we can 
 in general receive them only by the south. The Alps, too, 
 divide the birds in their migrations, by driving them nearer 
 both to the western and the eastern seas. 
 
 Though the ring-thrush is better formed for flight than 
 the resident thrushes, it does not appear to proceed by very 
 long flights, for considerable numbers alight on the shores 
 near the channel in the spring, and remain there for some 
 time to rest and recruit, though they always resort to more 
 inland, or at all events more alpine or upland places, to breed. 
 As they are shy, and betake themselves to the heathy and 
 rocky places, which are not much visited in the early part of 
 the season, the times of their arrival in the different localities 
 in which they breed, have not been so far ascertained as to 
 establish the fact, that all of them make the tour of the 
 country from the channel northward. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that they do. The south-eastern part of England the 
 paradise of the warblers is not well adapted to their habits ; 
 and they range westward into Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland, 
 
284 INSECTIVOR^E. 
 
 and northward to the hills on the border, to the south of 
 Scotland, and at least to the southern slopes of the 
 Grampians. 
 
 Cold moors, stony places, but still where a good deal of 
 rain falls, and there are springs and pools if not lakes, are the 
 nesting-grounds of the ring-thrushes. Their food has not 
 been so well ascertained as that of the more lowland species ; 
 so that we are less able to say what takes them to their 
 peculiar localities ; but whatever that food may be, they 
 nestle far apart; and unless by quartering the ground on 
 purpose, it is not common to see above one pair in crossing 
 the place where they reside. It must, however, be borne in 
 mind, that their habits are very shy and retiring. 
 
 When alarmed, by your coming suddenly upon them at 
 the turning of a rock (it is not very easy to get near them 
 on the open moor), they utter the same alarm-note as the 
 blackbird ; not quite so loud, however, though that may be 
 from the want of trees, which magnify sounds. [The snap- 
 ping asunder of a stick, which you would not hear at the 
 distance of twenty yards on the open heathy hill, will make a 
 report like a pistol in a wood, especially one of pines, which 
 is the most sonorous of all forests.] The song, which it does 
 not appear is uttered while the bird is on the coast, is given, 
 though not very copiously, in the wilds. But though a short 
 song (a miniature of that of the missel-thrush), it is a sweet 
 Bong in those wild places where there are screams and 
 whistles, but not many songs. It is given as the bird sits 
 on some point of the low rock or an elevated stone. 
 
 The nest varies a little with the place. A tuft or bush, 
 especially if against a bank, gets the preference, but a tuft of 
 grass or heath, or a projecting part of a mossy stone, will do, 
 where better is not to be had. The nest is formed of moss 
 and lichen, plastered with mud, and lined with soft dry grass. 
 The eggs are four, rarely six, about the size of those of the 
 
THE FIELD-FARE. 285 
 
 blackbird, but rather greener in the tint, and the spots more 
 decidedly marked. 
 
 When the business of nidification is over, the birds again 
 retire to the south ; and, as they have a farther flight than 
 those which they require to take on their journey into the 
 interior, they rest longer. They are more noticed on their 
 southward march, as they collect by the way. They come 
 into the low country about the end of September, and gene- 
 rally linger there for three weeks or a month. Hence they 
 are called Michaelmas blackbirds. They are beautiful birds, 
 and have something very peculiar in their habits ; but we 
 want information respecting them, especially their favourite 
 food. I am inclined to think that mountain beetles form a 
 considerable part of it, but I cannot say positively. If one 
 will stand to look at you on the dark heath, where little else 
 comes definitely out but the bright white crescent on the 
 breast, the sight is very pretty. 
 
 THE FIELD-FARE (Turdus pilaris). 
 
 The field-fare of which a figure is given on the plate at 
 page 30, along with the ptarmigan and the quail, on the same 
 lineal scale as the latter, and half as much as the former, that 
 is, one third of the size is in many respects the very anti- 
 podes of the last-mentioned species. Like that, it is a 
 migrant, and upon the continent has a considerable range in 
 latitude; but with us it is a winter migrant, arriving late in 
 the autumn, and remaining till the season is considerably 
 advanced. 
 
 Field-fares are said to breed chiefly in the woods within 
 and near the arctic circle j and as insects are very abundant 
 there in the summer, which does not fairly set in till June, 
 and wild berries are equally plentiful in what may be termed 
 the arctic autumn, which is merely a few weeks during which 
 the winter pauses, ere it collect its storms and whelm the 
 
286 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 whole country in that snowy covering which is to remain till 
 summer, there is food for them there. 
 
 These circumstances of the native regions (for the native 
 place of migratory birds is, of course, that in which they are 
 hatched) give them some peculiarities which are not observ- 
 able in birds that come from, or gradually pass through, 
 countries in which the changes of season are less abrupt. 
 
 In consequence of the abundance of food during the short 
 but very active season, when the whole or nearly the whole 
 twenty-four hours are daylight, the field-fares are very nume- 
 rous, and build near to each other ; and as the proportion, 
 making allowance for the casualties of the breeding time, is 
 nearly tripling the numbers, they swarm very thick by the 
 end of the season. They begin to move in September or 
 October, according as the cold weather sets in ; and, as that 
 is earlier if the summer has been wet, they sometimes, 
 though very rarely, reach the north-eastern part of Scotland 
 by the first of October, but they are, in general, later ; and, 
 according to the state of the weather, they come occasionally 
 all the winter. They seem, indeed, to take short stages on 
 the continent, and move southward as the storm drives them, 
 often in incredible numbers, and subjected to the greatest 
 hardships ; and if those dreadful storms are from the north- 
 east, they are drifted to our shores, often in an exhausted 
 and famishing condition when they land, and subjected to 
 still greater peril if it continues. 
 
 In the winter of 1798 (I forget the day, but shall never 
 forget the weather), there was one of the most dreadful snow 
 storms that ever visited the British isles. It was the har- 
 binger of those years of oppressive severity with which the 
 close of the eighteenth century was marked. I cannot say 
 that I was out on the fearful Friday, when the north-east 
 was flinging mountains of snow on the forests, but I was so 
 placed that I could hear the crash of the rending trees, and 
 
THE FIELD-FARE. 287 
 
 also the thunder of the ocean against a rocky shore, which 
 was dreadful ; and I had occasion to pass along the coast- 
 line from the Tay to Aberdeen, as soon as the road was at 
 all practicable, on the tops of the dry stone or mud fences, or 
 leg-deep in snow, or any way. That road commands not a 
 little of the coast, and the quantity of wreck cast high on 
 the beaches, or appearing ragged out of the sands, was most 
 melancholy. 
 
 Now, in the early part of that week, the field-fares were 
 coming in absolute clouds ; and I remember an old country- 
 man disliking the omen, and saying, " There will be news of 
 this, though many that are in health now will never tell the 
 tale." And the news did come, and if I mistook not (for it 
 was not a day for calm observation), it must have caught the 
 birds on their voyage ; for snow and birds were drifting 
 together. My observation, remembered through the chequered 
 lights of so many years and chancings (it never was worth 
 much) may go for nothing ; but it stands recorded that, 
 during that storm, which was as far-extended as it was fierce, 
 the field-fares were driven diagonally over the island ; that 
 vast numbers of them were found dead in Dorset and Devon; 
 and that the Atlantic threw back the dead bodies of many 
 more along the western coast. 
 
 The places of the island where these birds come in the 
 greatest numbers, are those that have a north-east aspect. 
 My personal observation does not reach Caithness, or south of 
 the Spurn ; but in the intermediate parts, the southern shore 
 of the Moray Firth, East Lothian, Berwick, Northumber- 
 land, and the line of coast on to Flamborough Head, are the 
 places where they appear in the greatest numbers ; and they 
 come first to those places which are farthest to the north. 
 
 During the day they spread over a considerable extent of 
 surface, though rather in an expanded flock than in detached 
 individuals ; but they collect together towards night, roost in 
 
288 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 the fields in open weather, and in the plantations of timber 
 when there is snow. They continue in the country till May 
 and even till the beginning of June, in some instances ; and 
 though they usually continue in flocks, they sometimes pair 
 before their departure ; but it has not been ascertained that 
 they nestle or rear their broods in any part of the British 
 islands.* 
 
 THE RED-WING THRUSH (Turdm UldCUs). 
 
 The red-wing is the smallest of the British thrushes, mea- 
 suring eight inches in length, about fifteen in the wings, and 
 weighing about two ounces and a half. The red-wing has a 
 considerable resemblance to the song-thrush ; only, besides 
 being smaller and less heavy, it seems a thicker bird from 
 being more closely feathered. The markings on the head, 
 and the red on the flanks and under the wing, however, 
 easily distinguish it from the thrush. The bill is longer in 
 proportion, more pointed, darker at the tip, and yellower at 
 the base of the lower mandible \ a dusky streak extends 
 from the gape to the eye j a white one extends from the bill 
 over the eye to the hinder part of the head ; and there is a 
 corresponding one on the side of the throat. Double rows 
 of dusky spots from each side of the lower mandible form a 
 sort of gorget under the chin : the space inclosed by this 
 and the ground-colour of the breast are the same dull white ; 
 but the breast is much marked with dusky spots, larger but 
 less distinct than those on the thrush. The belly and neck 
 are white with dusky markings, and the flanks and under 
 the wings are brownish red. The upper part is brown, with 
 
 * The field-fare, as Mr. Hewitson informs us, breeds in the forests of 
 Norway, and that too in society. The nests, of which a hundred may 
 be found within a very limited distance of each other, are placed in the 
 spruce-fir, at distances from the ground varying from four to forty feet 
 or upwards. These, as well as the eggs, very much resemble those of 
 the blackbird. M. 
 
THE RED-WING THRUSH. 289 
 
 more of a greenish tinge than the thrush. The female has 
 the under part more dusky and the red less bright. 
 
 The whole habits of the red-wing are very similar to those 
 of the thrush ; like that it builds chiefly in low bushes ; and 
 in the breeding countries, which are principally those around 
 the Baltic, it sings sweetly in the breeding season, though 
 with us it has only a sort of plaintive piping note. The 
 birds come to our shores in September, sooner or later, ac- 
 cording to the state of the weather in the places whence 
 they come, and of the wind which aids them in their passage 
 across the sea. 
 
 Red-wings appear in flocks, are lovers of peace, and mingle 
 freely with the field-fares ; the two, indeed, seem alike at the 
 mercy of storms during the winter, though the red-wings 
 usually come first, and occupy the ground. While the 
 weather continues open, they remain on the pastures and 
 fields, in those places where they land, and roost for the 
 night in the hedges, or on the ground, according to circum- 
 stances ; but when they are frozen out, they betake them- 
 selves to the hedges and copses, in search of wild berries, and 
 continue till these also are exhausted; and if they are then 
 overtaken by a storm, many of them perish, as, like the field- 
 fares, they seem to have but little command of themselves 
 in a gale. If the season is variable, they work their way 
 southward, but suffer very much from hunger and fatigue ; 
 and many of them are smothered in the snow, if overtaken 
 by heavy falls in their attempts to pass the central heights. 
 
 Red-wings, as well as field-fares, are often found lingering 
 in those parts of Britain which have the greatest resemblance 
 to the countries where they nestle, as late as the middle of 
 May, or even the first of June, detained, no doubt, chiefly by 
 the east winds, which blow dry and cold at that season; but 
 the same instinct the same obedience to the state of the 
 weather which retains them with us, prevents them from 
 
 VOL. i. u 
 
290 IXSECTIVOILE. 
 
 breeding, or even singing in this country. Bullock mentions 
 their breeding in the island of Harris ; but that is out of the 
 line of their ordinary migration ; and though it may be true 
 in the instance which he gives, it is certainly not true as a 
 general feature of the ornithology of that island. The song 
 of the red-wing is not known there, any more than it is on 
 the coast of Northumberland or East York ; but where any 
 singing-bird breeds regularly, its song is sure to be known, 
 not to naturalists merely, but also to*the country people. 
 
 Such are a few remarks on the thrushes a well defined 
 and a very interesting family of birds, whether they remain 
 permanently with us, come only in the summer, or take their 
 fate along with our field birds during the dreary and tem- 
 pestuous season. 
 
 CHATS (Saxicola). 
 
 Though the chats have the general characters of birds of 
 the insectivorous order, yet their particular characters, and also 
 their habits and haunts, are so well marked and distinct, 
 that they form a very convenient and well-defined group. 
 Their bills are straight, with a slight keel on the upper part, 
 which runs into the line of the forehead, and the upper man- 
 dible is margined, and slightly bent at the tip. The bill is 
 wide at the base, partaking there a little of the character of 
 that of those birds which hawk for insects on the wing. The 
 tarsi are long, and the feet well adapted for running ; but 
 the toes are not so much extended as in those birds which 
 walk upon very soft ground, or the hinder claws so much as 
 in birds which tread upon soft and thick herbage. The wings 
 axe of moderate length and light, the coverts not lying so 
 far over the quills as in many other birds, so that they are 
 not very well fitted for lofty and prolonged flights. 
 
 Their habits agree with the peculiarities of their structure ; 
 they dwell in the wilds, nestle under stones and bushes, fly 
 
THE STONE-CHAT. 291 
 
 low, seek their food upon the ground, run with much celerity 
 in quest of it, and, from the pliable structure of their wings, 
 they can drop immediately from the wing under the cover of 
 a stone or a bush. Most of the males have some song in the 
 breeding season, soft and musical, but not of much power. 
 Their ordinary note is peculiar, something like the sound 
 made by striking or rubbing one pebble against another. 
 They are dispersed and solitary in the breeding time, and the 
 families do not keep together after the young are able to 
 shift for themselves; but the migratory species collect in 
 numbers before they take their departure in the autumn. 
 As their mode of life requires them to be constantly arising 
 and alighting, in order to catch the insects and worms on 
 which they .feed, they have very great command of the tail, 
 and keep it flirting upwards and downwards, even when they 
 are perched on a stone, a clod, or the top of a low bush, and 
 uttering their peculiar cry. They do not frequent the bare 
 and open parts of the wilds, but rather places where there 
 are heaps of stones, furze bushes, or any other substances 
 which are calculated to retain those fatter and richer parts 
 of the soil which are drifted by the winds, and are more 
 favourable for insects and worms than the exposed parts. 
 They do not feed wholly on the ground, but occasionally 
 dash after insects on the wing, something after the manner 
 of the fly-catchers, to which they bear some resemblance in 
 their shape. They are, however, rarely found in marshy or 
 very humid places. The chats have some of the characters of 
 the thrushes, more especially of the ring-thrush, only they 
 inhabit places that are more open and exposed, and they are 
 far more easily seen, as they perch on the top of the heap of 
 stones or other shelter that covers their nests. 
 
 THE STONE-CHAT (Saoticolo, 
 
 This is the only resident British species ; it is a bird of 
 
 u2 
 
292 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 the dry, but not the most barren moors, being found only 
 where there are thick brakes of furze, or other close bushes 
 which do not rise high above the surface, but are close, and 
 afford concealment to the nests, and also to the birds them- 
 selves, who reside there, and find a warm and sheltered habi- 
 tation, and in all probability food, when the ground is 
 covered and the sheltering bush nearly buried with snow. 
 
 A furze bush on a wide moor, over which the winds 
 sweep with unbroken fury, is a sort of menagerie in the 
 desert; it catches and retains all the lighter mould which 
 the wind drives, together with seeds of plants and larvse of 
 insects ; and though furze does not grow where water stag- 
 nates, breeds mosses, and converts into peat even the matters 
 which the wind drives, yet there is always some moisture 
 under its close shade, so that there are worms there, and all 
 sorts of crawling and creeping things of the wild; and, as is 
 also the case with the snails and slugs under hedges in the 
 cultivated lands, they do not require to make their winter 
 habitations deep below the surface under the furze. Thus, 
 though the stone -chat is a smaller bird, and feeds upon 
 smaller prey, it feeds much in the same manner as the thrush 
 and the blackbird, and does not, unless the winter is very 
 severe, need to shift into other grounds. This bird is, 
 indeed, most truly and characteristically the " whin" chat, as 
 it summers and winters among whins, though the name is 
 appropriated to a migratory species, which does not so exclu- 
 sively inhabit bushes even in the summer. The young are 
 indeed, said to " go on their travels" the first year, and not to 
 acquire that fondness for the place of their residence which 
 characterizes the species, till they have had a nest and a 
 family of their own ; but as they are not seen on the low 
 grounds, except in very prolonged severe weather, and as they 
 live apart at all times, the autumnal dispersion of the young 
 may be nothing more than a local distribution over the 
 
THE STONE-CHAT. * 293 
 
 waste, in quest of unappropriated bushes; and as there is 
 little to call them out till the season of song, it is probable 
 that the individuals living apart under their bushes are more 
 numerous than, from the few that are seen, one would be 
 led to suppose. Their safety is in the bush, as well as 
 their food, and they fly in, instead of out, when they are 
 alarmed. 
 
 From the figure at page 282, which represents the male in 
 summer plumage, one-third of the lineal dimensions, it will 
 be seen that the stone-chat is a very beautiful bird, compact 
 in its form, and rich, though not gaudy, in its plumage. In 
 winter, the orange-brown on the under part is less bright, 
 and the feathers on the head and neck are partially mottled 
 with brownish-yellow; these appear to be decaying feathers, 
 which drop off, and are replaced by pure black ones. The 
 spring moult of our hill birds is seldom anything more than 
 that portion of their old coat, which remains for additional 
 warmth in the winter, and which answers the purpose better 
 from being dry and nearly dead. Dead hairs and feathers 
 are much worse conductors of heat than live ones; the case 
 of house birds does not apply here. The female has the 
 whole of the upper part brown, and the under part pale 
 brown, with no white on the rump ; and that on the wings 
 and sides of the neck much smaller and less distinct than in 
 the male. 
 
 In early spring, these are very delightful birds. The furze 
 brakes are mostly upon the southern slopes, and above the 
 light fogs and exhalations of the spring; so that they are 
 among the first places on which the sun of the young year 
 shines out. The green and gold of the furze itself are ex- 
 ceedingly gay and cheering, and the scent of it breathes a 
 vernal exhilaration which never tires. The black, white, 
 and brown, of the little bird contrast beautifully with the 
 colours of the furze, as he sits on the topmost and luxurious 
 
294 
 
 branch, which is too elevated for being clipped and rounded 
 by the browsing of sheep, or the nibbling of hares and 
 rabbits ; and he is ever and anon flinging himself a few feet 
 into the air, hovering over the bushes, flitting now here, 
 now there, like a butterfly over a bed of flowers, or a dragon- 
 fly over the margin of a brook, and chanting his little song, 
 sweet and persuasive, but low, and tuned to the short 
 distance at which it may be heard by his mate under the 
 shade of the evergreen bower. 
 
 That soft but sweet song is almost the first that is heard 
 on the bushy margins of the extensive heaths. The robin 
 and the wren are, indeed, before it ; but when they depart 
 from the cottages, they are in the wild woods; the thrush is 
 in the grove, and the sky-lark is hovering over the fields 
 below; so that the 'stone-chat alone supports the vernal 
 song in those places which it is peculiarly healthy and plea- 
 sant to visit at the opening of the vernal season. It sings, 
 *too, till you are almost close upon it, and then drops so 
 perpendicularly, that you imagine you have no more to do 
 than stoop, lift the side branch, and pick it up; but it glides 
 through the bushes like magic, and before you have examined 
 the half of one bush, it rises from another part, hovering and 
 singing again, and foils all attempts at capture, or a near 
 view of it, otherwise than on the wing. 
 
 The nest is under a bush, secured from the rain, and 
 hidden from sight ; and though, if you start a female from a 
 bush after the male has begun to sit on the tops, and 
 " chert" his peculiar note, you may be sure that there is a 
 nest you cannot discern, from the escape of the bird, which 
 part of the bush it is in, or whether it is at all in the one 
 from which she rose. The nest is of moss and dried grass, 
 lined with hair or feathers, or very frequently with wool. 
 The eggs are never more than six ; they are greenish-blue? 
 with small spots of reddish-brown at the thick ends. 
 
THE WHIN-CHAT. 295 
 
 If there are young plantations near, especially of pine or 
 spruce, under the shade of which the ground is not unlike 
 what it is under furze bushes, the stone-chat resorts there in 
 the cold months, and even in autumn, if that is dry : but it 
 does not build there, or at least very rarely, and only when 
 the plants are young, and the lateral branches near the 
 ground. 
 
 THE WHIN-CHAT (Saxicola ruletra). 
 
 The whin-chat is smaller than the stone-chat; it is five 
 inches long, and weighs about four drachms ; the other is five 
 and a half, and weighs five, and the whole appearance of the 
 whin-chat is feeble. It is a migrant, arriving in the south 
 of England about the middle of April, and migrating north- 
 ward rather slowly, so as not to reach its northern limit till 
 the middle of May; and even then it does not reach the 
 northern parts of Scotland, although it ranges much farther 
 than the stone-chat. Its habits, and also its song, have a 
 considerable resemblance to those of the former species, only 
 it sings more frequently on the perch, and comes nearer to 
 the cultivated fields nestling in thick tufts of grass as well 
 as under bushes ; but it is as shy as the other, and, if pos- 
 sible, more careful in the concealment of its nest. This is 
 approached by a labyrinth, to which the rising of the bird 
 affords no clue ; and one may seek long for it in vain, while 
 it may not be a yard distant all the time. The nests of all 
 the chats are so placed under cover, that they cannot be 
 looked down upon; but those of the stone-chat are often 
 placed in situations apparently less calculated for concealing 
 a nest than that from which the bird rises, and which is 
 generally an outwork to the 'nest, and approached by a zig- 
 zag path under cover. In that outwork the bird often turns, 
 so as to fly back again over the nest, or off at an angle, 
 which renders the discovery of it still more difficult. The 
 
296 INSECT! VOILE. 
 
 eggs are bluish-green, without any spots, and they do not 
 exceed six. 
 
 The range of the whin-chat extends at least as far as the 
 furzy and broom-clad slopes, which are particularly abundant 
 on the secondary hills to the south of the Grampians ; but it 
 does not appear generally, or in any great number, to cross 
 those mountains. It may, however, be found in the eastern 
 parts of the county of Ross, especially along the northern 
 shore of the Cromarty Firth, where the climate is peculiarly 
 genial for the latitude, the lower grounds rich, insects very 
 abundant, and the country accessible across Aberdeen and 
 Moray, without any long flights over the sea or high moun- 
 tains. The whole of that line from the sea to the central 
 mountains, is well worthy of the attention of ornithologists. 
 
 It is probable that the whin-chat retires, in the latter parc 
 of the season, from all its more northerly breeding-places ; 
 but that a few pass the winter in Kent and Sussex, even in 
 places where they rarely breed in the summer as a passage 
 from the central parts of Scotland to the south of England is 
 as great a change, both in climate and latitude, as one from 
 the central parts of England to the other side of the channel; 
 and though birds of powerful wing and long and rapid flight 
 can migrate from hemisphere to hemisphere, it is reasonable 
 to suppose that birds of comparatively weak wings, like the 
 chats, have their migrations shorter ; and that those which 
 go far to the north in summer, do not go so far south in 
 winter. . 
 
 The whin-chat is not so compact or thickly feathered on 
 the neck and shoulders as the stone-chat, but is intermediate 
 between that and the warblers. The colours are not so boldly 
 contrasted : in the male, the head and ear-coverts are dusky 
 brown ; a line over the -eye, the chin, a line down each side 
 of the neck, the bars of the quills and tail-feathers, and the 
 crest, white ; the rest of the upper part blackish-brown ; the 
 
THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT. 297 
 
 throat and breast very pale orange-brown, fading through 
 dull yellowish-white on the belly to the white on the vent. 
 In the female the white is less and dull, and the young birds 
 have the brown more or less mixed with white and grey. 
 
 As these birds do not affect high grounds or long flights, 
 they come to Britain more to the south-east than bolder- 
 flying birds ; and hence they are not common in the south- 
 west of England. They belong to the same migration, in 
 direction, as the warblers, only their habits and kind of food 
 lead them farther inland. 
 
 THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT (Saxicola OBnautlie). 
 
 Is another summer migrant, but it comes at least a month 
 earlier, and in much greater numbers, than the other species ; 
 it is by far the most abundant of the tribe, ranging over 
 every latitude in the British Islands, and resorting even to 
 the inhospitable shores of more northern lands : it is also 
 distributed farther up the wilds, and lower down on the cul- 
 tivated grounds, than any of the other species. Their perch 
 is on clods, and especially on stones, beneath which they form 
 their nests, and probably expel the toads from their dwellings j 
 at least I have seen a toad in a hole under a stone, and after- 
 wards a wheat-ear's nest under the same. They do not, of 
 course, always nestle under stones ; they resort to those 
 places where there is most food for them, and nestle under 
 whatever suits their purpose best. They love a dripping sky 
 and misty atmosphere, because these are favourable to the 
 growth and also to the appearance of those earth-worms 
 which form their principal food ; and these circumstances 
 have, of course, more influence in the determining of their 
 localities, than the places under which to shelter, or the 
 materials whereof to construct their nest. Indeed, the mate- 
 rials of a bird's nest are not a character upon which to found 
 
298 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 a dispute ; because they are minor parts of the bird's accom- 
 modation; and, in nature, minors must always yield. If 
 there is a loose heap of stones, natural or artificial, a dry 
 stone wall, a rugged stony bank, or a single stone on the 
 common, below which a hidden shelter for the nest either 
 exists naturally, or can be formed with little trouble, the 
 wheat-ear will prefer that ; and as they are not in the habi- 
 tual sight of man, it has no objection to the crumbling 
 masses that have fallen from a ruined tower or abbey, or 
 even to the shelter of a tombstone which has been partially 
 filled beneath with weeds and rubbish. It is worms that 
 entice the wheat-ear, and wherever the place of worms is, 
 more especially if deserted by man, there the wheat-ear is 
 sure to come, heedless of whatever tale of ghost or goblin 
 may keep the rustic in fear of its haunt, and occasionally 
 make the pretender to a more daring philosophy a little 
 sceptical of his own scepticism. 
 
 As the wheat-ear always nestles where it can feed both 
 itself and its young with the least exertion of its wings, of 
 course its nesting-places are different in those districts where 
 stones are not to be found. In these, the slovenly agriculture 
 of " fallowing " makes the best substitute for stones ; and as 
 the rugged furrows of that rude husbandry lie, encouraging 
 weeds, they seem so like ruins that they are selected as 
 nesting-places by the wheat-ear ; and as they are left alone 
 in their desolation, unoccupied by crop and useless as pasture, 
 till the broods are hatched (which is not later than June), 
 and as the birds then begin to resort to the downs and open 
 commons, the "fallow-chat," "wheat-ear," and "clod-hopper," 
 are not inappropriate names. But the bird, though bor- 
 dering on it, is not quite a bird of cultivation ; and therefore 
 the names are rather uncomplimentary in an agricultural 
 point of view. Wheat-ears breeding in the cultivated lands, 
 are not so expressive of desolation as bitterns in a city ; but 
 
THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT. 299 
 
 one would rather hear warblers in the copses, and shoot 
 pheasants and partridges. 
 
 In the north, the wheat-ear is generally found on heaps of 
 stones, by ruins, or on the dry stone walls of burial-grounds ; 
 and though it is a very handsome bird, and in the early 
 season sings sweetly, its haunts have gotten it a bad name. 
 Its common alarm-note is not unlike the sound made in 
 breaking stones with a hammer ; and as it utters that note 
 from the top of the heap which haply covers the bones of 
 one who perished by the storm, or his own hand ; or from 
 the mound beneath which there lie the slain of a battle-field, 
 magnified through the mist of years; or from the rude wall that 
 fences in many generations, it is no very unnatural stretch 
 of the pondering fancy which dwells in such places, to asso- 
 ciate the wheat-ear with all the superstitions that, unphiloso- 
 phically but not irreverently, belong to the place of graves. 
 It comes onward, too, to meet the traveller, and now running, 
 now flying, seems to pilot him to a place beside the " cairn," 
 as if his own bones were soon to be gathered there ; and in 
 that, its note of solemn warning, it is more than usually 
 energetic ; it is seen in the fog, too, and from the contrast of 
 its colours, it is particularly conspicuous even in that. In a 
 ^highland glen, during a highland mist (which wets but warms 
 you), you hear the clacJieran before you see it ; you meet the 
 clacJieran before you see the cairn : so you are at perfect 
 liberty to believe that it is busy breaking the stones that 
 are to cover you if you choose; and, really, there is no 
 accounting for what people will believe in such places or in 
 any place. 
 
 Now, the said clacJieran has merely selected that spot, as 
 you would select some sunny and south-turned nook, shel- 
 tered northward by trees continuing upward to the hill, and 
 bordered southward by a sparkling river rolling onward to 
 the sea a spot where no plant would fail, no blossom be 
 
300 , IXSECTIVORJ3. 
 
 barren, and no blight or blast could invade ; but where 
 plenty would attend on every labour, and the beauty of the 
 scene would bloom full and fair, mingling confidence with 
 hope that the colony which you had founded would continue, 
 for generations unnumbered, to enjoy the bounty and bless the 
 bestower. If the land were all before you where to choose, 
 and you were as much the unsophisticated child of nature as 
 the bird, the probability is that you would act thus, and that 
 is just what he does. Beneath that heap of stones there is a 
 little nest, formed of moss and grass, and carefully lined with 
 hair, feathers, or wool, with five or six eggs of a delicate 
 bluish-white, and there is a mate of whom and her promised 
 brood the bird is as fond, and for them he has as much for- 
 saken the society of other birds, as the most exemplary of 
 the human race could possibly do. He watches early and 
 late, and endeavours to divert any one that passes from the 
 retreat of his charge. He renders it unnecessary for the 
 dam to leave the eggs when they might be injured by the 
 cold and damp, for he feeds her morning and evening while 
 the air is cold ; but in order that she may not suffer by the 
 confinement, he takes her place a short time during the 
 warmth of the day, while she exercises her feet and wings 
 a little, and picks a snail fresh from the all-supplying earth. 
 
 Yet, for these assiduities to his brood, the wheat-ear has 
 been made, in the northern parts of Britain, and in places 
 farther to the north, the victim of superstition. Old and 
 young continue to kill and persecute the birds, and to 
 destroy their eggs, considering the service as one of more 
 than ordinary merit. Nor, though the warfare on them 
 there be a little more rational, do they fare better in the 
 southern parts of the country. When they collect in num- 
 bers on the southern downs, which they do about the middle 
 of July, they are caught in horse-hair nooses in vast numbers, 
 which are set between two turfs turned against each other. 
 
THE WHEAT-EAR CHAT. 301 
 
 At that time they are very fat, and of exquisite flavour ; as 
 indeed all the chats are in the latter part of the summer. 
 It appears that the broods, when matured so as to be able to 
 shift for themselves, have the same disposition to resort to 
 new ground which was noticed in the other species ; for those 
 taken on the downs are chiefly young ones. 
 
 The wheat-ear thus appears to be a bird of most hapless 
 lot. It is persecuted to death by superstition in one end of 
 the island, and killed and eaten by the cravings of luxury in 
 the other ; and yet the wheat-ear does nothing but good, for 
 its habits do not lead it in the slightest degree to destroy 
 any one thing that is useful to man. On the contrary, the 
 numbers which are scattered over the country destroy an 
 incredible number of animals that are really hurtful. But 
 the birds themselves appear to be indestructible ; from the 
 situations in which they build, and the industry with which 
 the callow young are fed by the parent birds, together with 
 the general watchfulness of the whole, fewer casualties befall 
 the wheat-ear than most of the other birds, and a dead one 
 is rarely seen ; neither are they much destroyed by birds of 
 prey. From the situations which they choose, they are 
 exempted from famine in dry seasons ; and those humid 
 rains that are destructive to so many other species of birds, 
 are seasons of extraordinary plenty to them. 
 
 The wheat-ear is the largest of the British chats. It is six 
 inches and a half long, and the weight about six drachms, but 
 rather heavier when fat, and the female is a little heavier 
 than the male. The bill, legs, claws, and gape, are black, 
 and so are the quills, the middle tail-feather, the tips of the 
 side ones, and a streak from the bill under the eye to the ear- 
 covert ; but the black on the wing has a slight bluish tinge. 
 The rest of the upper part is bluish-grey, with the exception 
 of the rump, which is white : all the under part is white, 
 with the exception of the breast, which is buff-orange. The 
 
302 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 colours of the wheat-ear are very pure ; and the bird has a 
 remarkably clean appearance. 
 
 As is the case with many or most of the migrants that 
 come to Britain to breed, the males come before the females ; 
 and as the instinct of the season leads each pair to separate, 
 they come singly, though many are often seen near the south- 
 east after they land. The song of the male wheat-ear is very 
 sweet, but it is low, and heard at a very short distance. They 
 have been occasionally seen late in the season, so that it is 
 possible some of them may winter in the southern parts ; but 
 if they do, they hide themselves in the copses or other shel- 
 tered places, and are seldom if ever seen, at least by those 
 who would be disposed to notice and record their appearance. 
 The distance to which their northern migration extends, and 
 the weakness of their wings (though they are better winged 
 than any of the other chats), would lead to the conclusion 
 that they do winter in some parts of the country. 
 
 WAGTAILS (Motacilla). 
 
 The wagtails get their name from the remarkable, rapid, 
 and almost incessant motion of their tails. There are many 
 other birds that flirt the tail upwards and downwards, but 
 perhaps none that do it so habitually as the wagtails ; and 
 the elevation is accompanied by a jerking spread, which 
 relaxes when it is depressed, so that it appears to have two 
 simultaneous motions. 
 
 These birds, which all either leave the country in the 
 winter or migrate to different places within it, are natives, 
 and while they sojourn with us, inhabitants of peculiar loca- 
 lities. They frequent the margins of waters, especially clear 
 streams and pools in retired places, and form their nests 
 under projecting stones or in holes near the banks. They 
 feed chiefly upon aquatic insects and upon worms. 
 
 The principal characters are: the head small and pointed; 
 
THE WAGTAIL. 
 
 303 
 
 the body slender, but firm at the shoulders, and tapering 
 backwards ; the tail very long, and well fortified by coverts, 
 both upper and under, and the wings rather short, but also 
 well supported by coverts, and pointed, the second quill 
 being the longest. The bill is slender, awl-shaped, has a 
 ridge or keel on the upper part, and margins to the edges of 
 both mandibles at the middle. The tarsi long and strong, 
 and also the hinder toe, the claw upon which is considerably 
 produced. The whole air is expressive of energy and varied 
 motion, whether in the air or on the ground. 
 
 They run with great rapidity, and do not hop or require 
 the aid of their wings in running; they can run upon the 
 surface of very soft ground without sinking, and over slippery 
 pebbles by the brooks without any unsteadiness ; and when 
 it is necessary for them to change from running to flying, 
 they can take wing from either of those surfaces with great 
 ease. The following cut will show the difference in structure 
 between a foot adapted for running upon or rising from 
 grass, and one adapted for such places as those on which the 
 wagtails run. 
 
 LarTc. 
 
 Wagtail. 
 
 These characters are remarkably well suited to the haunts 
 of the wagtails, and the modes in which they acquire their 
 food. They live beside the waters, upon the soft muddy 
 banks, or the pebbly strands, where they run and capture 
 such land or aquatic insects as present themselves ; or they 
 quarter the surface by short but rapid flights, and snatch 
 
304 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 those that play on the surface of the water or hover near it 
 in the air. 
 
 The legs of the wagtails are placed behind the centre of 
 gravity of their bodies, as is the case in all birds which run 
 rapidly, in consequence of which they would have difficulty, 
 or at least labour, in recovering themselves by mere muscular 
 exertion when they bring their bills to the ground, as they 
 must often do in picking up their food. The tarsi, as has 
 been noticed, are long in proportion to the size of the birds ; 
 but the neck and bill, instead of being so long as to enable 
 the latter to reach the ground while the axis of the body is 
 horizontal, are so short, that the shoulders must dip much when 
 the bill is brought to a level with the feet. A bird so formed 
 would be very apt to tumble forwards, if it had not some 
 means of working a counterpoise ; and that counterpoise is 
 the tail. When that is expanded and struck forward against 
 the air, it acts in nearly the same manner as a wing, and 
 pulls the body of the bird backwards, so that the head is 
 raised with comparatively little effort. All birds that have 
 the same length of tarsi in proportion to that of the neck 
 and bill have a similar action of the tail ; but as that struc- 
 ture, and also the habit of picking up food on a level with 
 the feet, is more remarkable in the wagtails than in any 
 other British birds, the motion of the tail is more powerful 
 in them, and the tail is also longer in proportion. But the 
 habit may be seen in very many birds, both in enabling them 
 to raise the head and to retain it in an erect posture. The 
 magpie is a familiar instance, and so is the peacock which 
 would tumble backwards if he were to raise the body in the 
 same manner when the tail is down as he does when it is 
 erected and spread. 
 
 PIED WAGTAIL (Motcicilla alia). 
 A figure of the male bird in its summer plumage is given 
 
THE PIED WAGTAIL. 305 
 
 on the plate at page 282, on a scale of one-third the lineal 
 dimensions. The female has the throat and breast white, 
 and the plumage on the back more inclining to grey, which 
 are also the colours of the males in the winter, at which 
 time the sexes are not easily distinguished. 
 
 The pied wagtail is a very generally dispersed bird ; and 
 there are few pools and streams in any part of the British 
 Islands near which it may not be seen in the summer, though 
 it prefers those that are near trees, fertile grounds, or any 
 other accompaniments that bring numbers of insects upon 
 the water. Hence it is not so much found by the cold, 
 dingy, and peat-encircled pools on the naked heights ; and 
 lower down, a favourite brook for the wagtail is always a 
 successful one for the young trout-fisher. 
 
 In summer, the wagtails hawk over the surface of the 
 water, and catch winged insects, not by straightforward 
 speed, like the swallow tribe, but by short and jerking 
 nights, after the manner of the fly-catchers. When the 
 water subsides during the droughts of summer, they may be 
 seen scouring the margins and picking up the larvae that are 
 still alive in the mud and sludge which remain wet. At 
 other times, they may be seen wading in the shallows, and 
 picking up the Iarva3 and aquatic insects that are between 
 the pebbles, their motions while doing so being so rapid, 
 that only the flitting of the tail is noticed. They also follow 
 the plough, and pick up larvae and worms that are exposed 
 on the turned furrows ; and they come about barns, and 
 examine horse-ponds, and generally all places where water 
 stagnates or the earth is turned up. Inhabiting, as they 
 may be said to do, the border between the land and the 
 water, they conduct themselves as borderers generally do 
 they levy their contributions upon the one or the other, as 
 may be most conducive to their own interests ; but they do 
 it with this difference, that all their inroads and forages are 
 
 VOL. i. x 
 
306 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 useful to man, as the number of insects which they capture, 
 if allowed to remain and breed, would make the waters rank 
 and the land unsightly. 
 
 As the wagtails subsist wholly upon insects, they are 
 unable to pass the winter months in the northern and ele- 
 vated parts of the country, because the ground is frozen up ; 
 but even there they may be found among the discharges of 
 those copious and deeply-seated springs, which maintain 
 nearly a uniform temperature all the year, and thus keep 
 their rivers open, even when the rest of the ground is skirted 
 with snow and ice. In such situations, the wagtails may be 
 seen even in the month of January, hopping under the banks 
 of snow that have been undermined by the discharge of the 
 spring. The change in the under part of the male bird to 
 white, is an adaptation of the bird to cold, in consequence of 
 which there is no doubt that they could bear the climate, 
 and only change their residence in order to find food. Many 
 of them retire to the sea-coasts, where they may be observed 
 running along the beaches, after the tide has ebbed, and 
 picking up the small marine animals that are left on the 
 sand. They linger long also about those fields where turnips 
 are fed off by folded sheep ; and may be seen there in con- 
 siderable numbers after they have all left their summer 
 haunts by the upland brooks. 
 
 In the southern counties of England, they remain nearly 
 stationary all the year round ; and though, in many other 
 places, they leave their summer quarters, the probability is 
 that they only disperse to more suitable places, and do not, 
 in any great numbers at least, leave the country. It is true 
 that, in the north, they are not seen inland from the time 
 that the cold weather sets in till the storm breaks ; but as 
 that takes place a month sooner in some seasons than in 
 others, without any alteration of weather in the south ; yet 
 as the birds visit the northern brooks as soon as they are 
 
THE PIED WAGTAIL. 307 
 
 open, and are on the fields as soon as the ploughs can be got 
 in, they cannot come from a very great distance, unless we 
 suppose that some messenger sends them word that the 
 northern country is fit for their reception. It must never 
 be lost sight of, that birds all animals are affected only by 
 present circumstances, by circumstances present both in 
 time and in place ; and though Iceland were heated like a 
 furnace by the action of its volcanoes, that would not occa- 
 sion the migration of one bird from the south. Besides, the 
 pied wagtail undergoes a considerable change of plumage 
 preparatory to the winter ; and birds require that, in order 
 to temper them to the climate, and having done so, they 
 never migrate farther than is necessary in order to find food. 
 
 The wagtail sings early, and sweetly, though its song is 
 neither very long nor very loud. It sings from a low perch, 
 the point of a rock by the water's edge, the parapet of a 
 bridge, on an old stump of a tree, a mill, or even the top of 
 an outhouse or cottage. It is a very familiar bird, and, at 
 the same time, very lively and very pretty, so that it is a 
 general favourite. A meadow of short soft herbage by the 
 brook, or a well-mown lawn near the bank of a river, is a 
 very favourite morning or evening pasture for the wagtail, 
 and it will run about there with great alacrity and glee, ever 
 and anon dipping its head, and again recovering its balance, 
 by the peculiar motion of the tail, as if it took pleasure in 
 a place neatly kept. But the fact is, that the short grass, 
 more especially if it is newly mown, enables the bird to see 
 its insect prey readily, and capture it with ease. 
 
 The situation of the nest is varied according to the haunt. 
 It may be in a bank of stones by the brook, a shelf of the 
 bank, a hole in the wall, or a thick old tree. The external 
 structure is composed of vegetable fibres filled with wool, and 
 the internal lining hair ; but these, of course, vary with the 
 materials that are to be had. The eggs are four or five, 
 
 x 2 
 
308 ISSECTIVOILE. 
 
 very small, greyish- white, with minute light brown speckles. 
 They axe not unlike the eggs of the cuckoo ; and that strange, 
 anomalous bird is said often to inflict upon the wagtails the 
 labour of feeding her ungainly and voracious offspring.* 
 
 THE GREY WAGTAIL (Motacilla boarula). 
 
 This is not so common as the last species, and it is more 
 migratory in its disposition, though there is reason to believe 
 that its migrations, like those of the other, are chiefly per- 
 formed within the island. 
 
 The grey wagtail is about the same size as the pied, that 
 is, seven and a-half inches long, and about a foot in the 
 stretch of the wings, and six drachms in weight ; but it is 
 lighter and more elegant in shape, more fitted for getting 
 through the air, and the tarsi are not quite so strong, or the 
 toes quite so much produced. The colours, though distinct, 
 are soft and delicate. 
 
 The male, in the summer or breeding plumage, has the 
 upper part a fine delicate grey, except the rump and tail- 
 coverts, which are bright sulphur-yellow. The white lines, 
 proceeding from the gape, one over the eye, and the other 
 on the side of the neck, joined by a white line across the 
 eye, impress the side of the head with a mark resembling 
 the letter \>. The throat, between the white lines, is black, 
 circular towards the breast ; and from that the whole under 
 part is yellow, very intense on the breast, and becoming paler 
 backwards. The wings are greyish-black, and the coverts 
 
 * The Motacilla alba of the continental ornithologists is not a 
 British bird but the British species, until Mr. Gould pointed out the 
 distinction, was ever confounded with it. The British speck's stands 
 now as Motacilla Yarrelli, Gould. When in full summer dress, the top 
 of the head, the chest, and back, are of a deep 'black, while in the pied 
 wagtail of France, the true Motacilla alba, the throat and head alone 
 are black, the upper surface being of a light ash-grey. (See Gould's 
 Birds of Europe.) M, 
 
THE GREY WAGTAIL. 309 
 
 tipped and margined with white, which forms a white spot, 
 and two longitudinal white streaks on the closed wing. The 
 tail (which is very long) has the outer feather, the inner web 
 of the second, and a streak on the inner web of the third, 
 white, and all the rest black. The bill and gape are black ; 
 the feet dusky brown, with the exception of the joint of the 
 tarsus, which is yellowish. 
 
 In the breeding season, the colours of the female are nearly 
 the same, only a good deal paler and less distinct, the yellow 
 being whiter, and the grey having a shade of black, while in 
 the male it inclines more to blue. In winter, the male, in a 
 great measure, loses its distinguishing colours. The black on 
 the throat gives place to pale greyish-white, and the whole 
 under part becomes very pale j the female also loses the black 
 on the chin, which is, indeed, never so pure and conspicuous 
 as that on the male. 
 
 These changes of colour indicate an adaptation to the tem- 
 perature of the season, so that the migration of these birds 
 may, like that of the pied wagtails, be regarded chiefly as a 
 migration for food : indeed, the want of food in the polar 
 climates may be considered as the grand operating cause in 
 all equatorial migrations. 
 
 The grey wagtail leaves the southern parts of the country 
 (in which it is called the winter wagtail) about February or 
 the early part of March, the cause which changes the plumage 
 appearing to operate simultaneously in prompting the migra- 
 tion, as the sexes resemble each other as long as they remain 
 in the south. Many of them halt by the upland streams in 
 the central and northern parts of England ; but others pass 
 into Scotland, where they penetrate to a considerable distance 
 north, although, as they keep to more retired situations, they 
 are not so often seen in proportion to their numbers as the 
 pied wagtails. They are also more confined to the clear 
 streams in the open wastes, where they feed upon water-flies, 
 
310 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 insects, and larvae. They nestle chiefly in rocky banks, 
 seldom in any vegetable cover. Nest like the former, eggs 
 not exceeding six, larger than those of the former, yellowish- 
 white, and mottled with brighter blotches. The first brood 
 is usually fledged by about the first of June, and the second 
 (when they have two) about the middle of July ; but in the 
 most northerly places, they seldom have more than one 
 brood, which is fledged about the end of June. In the north, 
 they are, of course, summer wagtails ; and they take their 
 departure earlier than the pied, though some of them linger 
 by the rims of the deep-seated springs, and may continue 
 there during the winter, in more northerly places than they 
 have yet been found in at that season. 
 
 It does not appear that they ever summer or nestle in the 
 south ; and it is worthy of remark, that these indigenous 
 water-insect consuming birds retire northwards in summer, 
 and leave the waters of the south and south-east to the 
 aquatic warblers. These resident insectivorse are suited to 
 the open air, and the warblers to the shade ; and accordingly, 
 they alternate with each other in the seasons. The warblers 
 retire to climates in which they find shade in the winter ; and 
 the resident birds betake themselves to the north in the sum- 
 mer, where the deep shade and the rank vegetation by the 
 sides of the pools and streams do not interfere with their 
 pedestrian habits. 
 
 THE YELLOW WAGTAIL (Motadlla flavd). 
 
 The name of this bird, though accurate enough as to the 
 under part being more entirely yellow than that of most 
 birds, is an inapplicable one, and apt to produce confusion ; 
 for it really has less yellow upon it than the summer plumage 
 of the species called yrey, the rump not being yellow, but a 
 dull yellowish-green ; and the habits of the bird are less 
 those of the pied wagtail, which we naturally (being most 
 
THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 311 
 
 familiar with it) take as the type of the genus. If it is to be 
 called a wagtail (for wagging the tail) the one of the charac- 
 ters, is not the distinguishing one, as it applies to many 
 birds and to dogs when they are pleased), it ought to be 
 the GREEN wagtail, as the green upon it bears some resem- 
 blance in locality to the grey on the other. The spring or 
 summer wagtail, is also a bad name for all Britain, as there 
 are places where all the three are spring or summer birds. 
 
 The following is the summer plumage of the male : Top 
 of the head and ear-coverts pale yellowish olive green ; 
 shoulders, back, and rump, the same, but darker ; and the 
 green advancing in a point at each side of the lower part of 
 the throat, as if fragments of a collar. The whole under 
 part pale gamboge yellow, still paler towards the vent. 
 Wings and tail dusky ; less white in the tail than the other 
 wagtails ; and very little in the wings, and the little that 
 there is dull and obscure. The female has the yellow below 
 so pale as to be almost white, and a blackish tinge in the 
 green on the back. As the birds are regular summer mi- 
 grants, they have no winter plumage as British birds ; and, 
 as might be inferred from the fact of their seasonal migration, 
 their plumage is not so much subject to change as that of the 
 others. 
 
 The air of these birds, and their haunts and habits, differ 
 so much from those of the wagtails, that they have been with 
 propriety separated as a genus, though the generic name 
 " Budytes" (associator with cattle) is not a very happy one, 
 or the characters well made out. Our business, however, is 
 merely with the popular appearances and characters of birds. 
 
 In that point of view, the yellow wagtail wants the active 
 expression of the others. The neck is longer, and the tail 
 an inch shorter, being less necessary for balancing the bird. 
 The hind toes are also longer, and the claws on these more 
 produced and straighter, approaching more to the character 
 
312 IXSECTIVOR^:. 
 
 of a foot for walking upon elastic surfaces, such as grass. 
 The bird accordingly frequents the cultivated lands, the pas- 
 tures, and ploughed fields, indiscriminately, more than the 
 margins of the waters. Its proper character with us is that 
 of a summer visitant of the open fields, and it prefers inland 
 places to those on the coast. Its nesting corresponds ; for 
 the nest is built on the ground, and not under stones or in 
 the shelves of banks. The nest is formed of dry vegetable 
 fibres, and lined with hair; and the eggs, which are not 
 more than six in number, have the prevailing colour of those 
 which are laid in ground nests. They are light brown, with 
 darker brown spots. The nest is, however, generally placed 
 under some cover, as in a tuft of grass, or at the root of a 
 tree. The young bird resembles the female. 
 
 These birds, which are by no means uncommon, make their 
 appearance in March ; and, as they are then most abundant 
 in those elevated parts of the country which are better 
 adapted for the growth of oats than of wheat, they have 
 been called " oat-seed" birds. They ply their labours, both 
 assisting in the nest, and the male crying shrilly but not 
 singing ; and by the end of July the broods are fully fledged. 
 In August they accumulate in flocks on the stubble lands, 
 and especially on the richer pastures, and about the pens and 
 folds ; and by September they leave the kingdom generally, 
 though it is probable that a few may pass the winter on the 
 warm downs near the channel 
 
 These birds occupy a particular zone (the edge of the culti- 
 vated country, but within it), a zone not exactly occupied by 
 any other migratory species ; and, therefore, they want to be 
 more carefully studied, not as wagtails (which they really 
 are not), but as migratory birds connected with that particu- 
 lar zone, and depending chiefly upon the insects, the larvse, 
 and the worms, which are peculiar to that. There is no 
 satisfactory knowledge of birds (or of any animals), unless it 
 
THE BLUE-BEEAST. 313 
 
 comprehend the places which they chiefly inhabit (that is, 
 the places in which they are produced), and the peculiar 
 matters which in those places constitute the greater part of 
 their food. Food for themselves and their young is the 
 grand necessary with birds, to which temperature and nest- 
 building are very subservient ; and many of the errors of 
 which ornithology is full, both as a science and a popular 
 employment, recreation, and source of pleasure, have arisen 
 from the elevation of minor circumstances over the major 
 ones.* 
 
 THE BLUE-BREAST (Motocilla suecico, of Linncsus). 
 
 Has recently been caught in the vicinity of Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne, and therefore it must be admitted into the list of 
 stragglers. Its characters are as follow : the crown of the 
 head and rest of the upper parts are brown, the latter tinged 
 with grey, and paler on the margins of the scapulars and 
 wing-coverts ; feathers at the base of the bill and streak over 
 the eye yellowish-white. The chin, throat, and upper part 
 of the breast, rich azure, with a silky white spot in the 
 centre ; the blue bordered beneath with a narrow gorget of 
 black, which is succeeded by another of reddish-brown. 
 Under parts, dirty white, inclining to grey. The two middle 
 tail feathers brown, the remainder having their basal half of 
 a bright ferruginous or brownish-orange colour. In the 
 female, the upper parts are paler, the chin pale azure blue, 
 mixed with black, streak on each side of the neck, and upper 
 part of the breast, black intermixed with azure blue, and 
 surrounding a large spot of white. The young are, in their 
 
 * The Motacilla (Budytes) flava of Cuvier and continental authors, 
 is not a British bird. At the same time it is to be observed that Ray 
 gave the title of flava to the British species. But in order to avoid 
 confusion, the title ofjtava is now relinquished to the continental species, 
 the British species bearing the name of Budytes rayi, Gould. (See 
 Birds of Europe.) M. 
 
314 IXSECTI VOILE. 
 
 first plumage, mottled. This bird has been classed with 
 warblers, but it does not appear to have much song.* 
 
 THE DIPPER 
 
 There is only one British species of dipper ; but it has so 
 many peculiar characters, that it cannot be properly included 
 in any other genus, as there is no other British bird that 
 much resembles it in shape, in colour, or in habits. The bill 
 is slender, with a slight bend upwards, the mandibles bent 
 inward at the edges, and the upper one margined and very 
 slightly hooked at the tip. The head is small, and the fore- 
 head remarkably low ; the body short and compact, the wings 
 very short and rounded, the tail also short, but very stout 
 and strongly fortified by coverts. The whole is what one 
 would call a " dumpy" bird, but there is an expression of 
 great energy and activity about it. Its plumage, also, is 
 remarkably thick and close, resembling that of the water 
 birds. Like these, it is amply supplied with oil for its 
 feathers ; and, though a considerable time in the water, the 
 plumage on the living bird does not become wet. The head, 
 back, and sides of the neck, are deep brown ; the rest of the 
 upper part is black, with some variations of brownish-grey. 
 The tail feathers and quills are quite black. The throat, 
 chin, and breast, are white, passing into reddish-brown about 
 the middle of the belly, and becoming gradually deeper and 
 blacker towards the end of the tail. The bill is dark brown, 
 the irides brownish-yellow, and the feet yellowish-grey. The 
 sexes are like each other in their markings, only the brown 
 on the head of the female is darker, and the white on the 
 breast less pure. The young birds have that part of the head 
 
 * The blue-breast, or blue-throated redstart, does not belong to the 
 group of wagtails, but to the same group which contains the common. 
 irt and the Tethys redstart. It is the Phoenicvra suecica of Selby 
 Cyanecula suecica of Boie. 
 
THE DIPPER. 315 
 
 and neck grey which is brown in the old birds ; and they 
 have the under part white almost to the vent, but marked 
 with grey and yellow on the portion which afterwards be- 
 comes brown. They are, of course, seen with the plumage 
 of tre changeable parts in all its intermediate stages ; and, as 
 it may change differently in different birds (as is the case in 
 all birds that change much of their plumage either with age 
 or with the seasons), there may be very different markings 
 even in the same brood in the autumn ; but probably there 
 are distinct species, or at least varieties. 
 
 When the bird is standing in its usual position of quietude, 
 the length from the point of the bill to that of the tail is 
 not more than five inches and a-half, of which the bill and 
 tail take two inches and a-half, measured on the horizontal 
 line, so that the body of the bird, in that position, is shorter 
 than that of any other species of equal weight. The weight 
 is two ounces and a-half. The curve along the under side 
 is, however, nearly nine inches. 
 
 The dipper inhabits more romantic places than those that 
 are the almost exclusive haunts of any other British bird ; 
 and its manners, taken altogether, are among the most sin- 
 gular. It is not confined to any particular latitude, being 
 found near the Channel, in Wales, in the mountainous parts 
 of the centre of the island, and also in the north. Cold and 
 heat seem indifferent to it, so that it can be near water 
 which is not frozen. The ravines on the slopes _ of the 
 mountains, where the perennial streams have worn them- 
 selves deep and rugged channels through the strata, with 
 here an opposing rock, there a dimpling pool, and in another 
 place a brawling rapid, with loose stone%, overturned trees, 
 ne plus ultra precipices, and all the et ceteras which annoy, 
 while they astonish, a guideless stranger in such places, are 
 the favourite haunts of the dipper. The bird flits before 
 him from stone to stone, chirping, and with a wing so appa- 
 
316 INSECTIVOKE. 
 
 rently helpless, that he imagines it unfledged, utterly incapable 
 of gaining the sky, of which a mere stripe appears over head, 
 and thus " a something," which he can easily catch and carry 
 home as a triumph of his victory over the wild. As he 
 gives chase, with all the confidence of one who drives 'deer 
 into a tincJial^ or ducks into a decoy, the dipper flits on from 
 stone to stone, flirting its tail, and ever and anon jerking 
 round, as if half astonished, half inviting. So onward they 
 fare, till they come to a bolder and tougher stratum which 
 has obstructed the stream, but at the same time given it fall 
 and force to scoop out a pool below, which, though it boils 
 where the cascade plunges (or rather where it rises again), is 
 placid compared with the brawlings that have been passed. 
 The water merely laves a beach of clean pebbles ; the rocks 
 on the other side are " sky-high," without footing even for a 
 bird ; and the breast, over which the water dashes, seems too 
 high for a thing so hopping and badly winged. The bird 
 halts on the beach ; and the sportsman rushes forward, hat 
 in hand, to the capture ; but the wet stones are treacherous, 
 endlong he falls, dips himself, and, rising, sees the hat which 
 was to capture the bird, whirling round and round in the 
 eddies. The bird, too, has vanished it is a sprite to wile 
 him into peril. But it soon bobs to the surface, at the lower 
 end of the pool on the other side, with its feathers dry 
 without any shaking off of the water, and, leaping first on 
 one stone and then another, it descends the ravine with the 
 same nonchalance that it ascended. To recover the hat is a 
 much more arduous matter than to lose the bird ; but that, 
 too, may be accomplished with one of the long suckers of 
 hazel which grow fr$m the tangled and gnarled stool on the 
 bank, though if the hold be not taken warily, and kept care- 
 fully, there may be a second dipping and yet no dipper to 
 boast of. 
 
 The dipper is, in fact, a very curious bird, and it is more 
 
THE DIPPER. 317 
 
 gratifying to watch the manoeuvres of one, than to be in 
 possession of the bodies or skins of fifty. Its food is water 
 flies, water larvae, water insects, worms, and dragon flies, 
 water beetles, and, in short, a variety of animals and animal 
 matters found in the waters. The fry of the trout and 
 salmon, while still in their cradle pools, numerous as motes 
 in the sun, and each not an inch long, form a supply for it, 
 and its young, while these are in the nest. Nor is it at all 
 chary of the nests of the fishes, of those nests under the 
 sand and gravel, each containing thousands, to form and fill 
 which the fish ascend as far as they can by the help of the 
 autumnal floods, and the nests (or rather plantations) of 
 young sprout up in the spring, like young onions in a garden. 
 While the water is unfrozen, the sun acts upon these, and 
 they pass through their stages ; so that while the thrushes, 
 with which the dipper has sometimes been associated in sys- 
 tems, are frozen out on land, the dipper feasts in plenty under 
 the water. 
 
 The dipper catches part of its food standing on land, and 
 some even on the wing, as well as floating on the surface of 
 the water ; but it also catches a considerable part under the 
 water, and the water is its retreat from terrestrial danger. 
 It cannot skim the water so well as if its feet were webbed. 
 Wings, though they help a web-footed bird in running along 
 the water, as may be seen in the case of a duck or goose, 
 are of less use for progressive motion along the surface, if 
 there are not webbed feet to act as fulcra. But the dipper 
 walks into the water, or lights on it from the wing, and in 
 either way gets under the surface, and rises, descends, moves 
 laterally, or appears to walk (actually does walk) along the 
 bottom ; in short, has almost the same command of itself 
 in that singular element for feathers, as other birds have in 
 the air. 
 
 A question has been raised (I do not say among "those 
 
318 INSECTIVOR^:. 
 
 out o' their wits," because there are " impossible cases" in 
 that problem), how the dipper can contrive to keep " beneath 
 a fluid so infinitely more dense than itself." That is a 
 strange use of the word " infinitely/' unless infinitely small 
 be meant. An owl to an owl's bulk of air, is a stone to a 
 pound, as compared with the dipper's bulk of water to the 
 dipper ; and if birds rise and descend in the air at pleasure, 
 by the motions of their wings, it is only reversing those 
 motions to enable them to descend or keep themselves down 
 in water. The compression of three feet of water is nearly 
 two pounds and a half on the inch of the feathers, and that, 
 when they are unruffled, as they are in the dipper, will 
 bring them to very nearly the specific gravity of water. 
 The difference of specific gravity between the bird and the 
 water is indeed so trifling, that very little effort suffices to 
 move it in any direction, upwards, downwards, or laterally. 
 Birds do not fly upon the principle of specific levity, as with 
 equal wings the heavy bird flies best ; they fly because they 
 strike the air more forcibly in the opposite direction to that 
 in which they wish to go, and, under water, the dipper does 
 just the same : if it wishes to go down, it strikes upward the 
 wings and tail ; if to come up, it does just the reverse. The 
 only difference is, that the wings are held "recovered," 
 as running birds use them, and that gravitation has even 
 less to do in the matter than in flying. Any one who has 
 ever seen a dipper under water, or has the slightest know- 
 ledge of the mere elements of mechanics, can understand the 
 whole matter in an instant. The dipper is, indeed, often 
 adduced as an instance of the beautiful simplicity of animal 
 mechanics. The curious habits of the bird will, perhaps, be 
 an excuse for this digression, which, after all, is more appa- 
 rent than real. 
 
 From its not being solely dependent upon atmospherical 
 temperature for its food, the dipper is, considering the upland 
 
THE DIPPER. 319 
 
 character of its haunts, really an early bird. It sings in 
 January, and its note, which is very sweet and peculiarly 
 varied, may be heard before the frost has relented on the 
 banks between which the stream of its habitation runs. 
 
 The nest is also begun early in the season, and consider- 
 able labour and ingenuity are bestowed upon it. It is large 
 for the size of the bird, formed of such materials as the 
 ravine or other banks of the stream furnish, covered over 
 with a sort of dome, and having an opening in the side. It 
 is usually placed but a little above the highest level of the 
 water, and the water is generally high from the spring rains 
 and floods about the time that it is building. The angle 
 between two fragments of stone, or between an old root and 
 the bank, is no uncommon place for it. Externally it is 
 generally of moss, which the humidity of the place keeps 
 partially green, so that it looks like one of the natural mossy 
 tufts; internally it is lined with more dry matters leaves 
 or fibres, as the situation may best afford. The first brood 
 is fledged in May ; but as the birds have a perennial pasture, 
 they have two or three in the course of the season. The 
 eggs are not more than five, and of a beautiful white. 
 [There are, no doubt, exceptions : but the eggs of many birds 
 partake of the colour which the breast of the male has in 
 the breeding season.] The young dippers grow fast, are 
 great feeders, and are incessantly chirping in the nest, in the 
 absence of the parent birds. It does not appear that the 
 dipper inhabits situations so high as that the running waters 
 are liable to be frozen over in ordinary seasons, though it 
 comes farther down in the winter, not to the wide and 
 slow rivers, however, for these are apt to be close, while the 
 brawling ones are clear. A pair of dippers with their nest 
 are given in the vignette to this volume. 
 
 * The dipper, or water-ouzel, belongs to the family of thrushes, but is 
 an aberrant form. It is common along the trout streams of Derbyshire, 
 
320 INSECTIVOR^E. 
 
 THE TITLING (Accentor). 
 
 There is one species of this genus a resident British bird, 
 and a very common and familiar one the " hedge-sparrow," 
 " hedge- warbler," or dunnock (Accentor modularis). It is 
 neither a sparrow nor a warbler, and it is certainly not the 
 only " dun-coloured" bird in the country ; so that titling is 
 the least exceptionable name, and it also partly expresses the 
 common cry of the bird, which is teet, sounded short. 
 
 The word " tit" means " little," and is used as part of the 
 
 and each pair occupies exclusively a certain range along, the river, as we 
 have often observed, beyond which, into the territories of another pair, 
 they do not appear to intrude. In their habits and manners they are 
 peculiarly lively and animated, flitting incessantly from stone to stone, 
 round which the rushing water sweeps like a mimic torrent. Before 
 starting, and on alighting, they dip the head and jerk the tail in an odd 
 sort of manner; ever and anon plunging into the stream, and emerging 
 at a considerable distance. 
 
 The nest of the water-ouzel is so artfully concealed, that it cannot 
 easily be discovered unless by watching the birds as they visit and return 
 from it. We have seen it in the fissure of a low, jutting crag, over- 
 hanging the rushing and bubbling current, and also between the green 
 damp stones of a rude dilapidated bridge. The structure itself is com- 
 posed of intertwined mosses, and is of large size and domed, with a small, 
 lateral aperture leading to the interior chamber, which is lined with a few 
 dried leaves. Sometimes we have seen it so placed that the sheet of 
 water falling from an elevated rock and forming a cascade, completely 
 screens it. But wherever situated, it blends with the rest of the moss 
 and lichen, which spreads over the humid rocks in great luxuriance. 
 
 This species is abundant in Ireland, and Mr. Thompson well observes 
 that with the romantic and picturesque i scenery, this bird is essentially 
 associated; it frequents the rock-enclosed dell, where the stream dashes 
 and foams along, eddying round masses of stone, or hurrying down 
 rapids or rocky steeps, but when the stream emerges into the lower 
 country and loses its rapidity, it ceases to have attractions for the water- 
 ouzel. 
 
 We have never observed any tiling which can be characterized as help- 
 less in the flight of this bird, and few perhaps are more intimately 
 acquainted with its habits; nor can we imagine that any person observing 
 it could entertain the slightest hope of being able to capture it. It is 
 restless, quick, and alert, flying low, but rapidly over the bubbling water. 
 r-M, 
 
THE TITLING. 321 
 
 names of some other birds, as ^-mice, tit-larka ; but it is 
 applicable pre-eminently to the bird under consideration, not 
 on account of its diminutive size, for, leaving the tail out of 
 the estimate, it is as large and heavy, and, from its thicker 
 plumage, it appears a larger bird than the wagtail; but 
 because of a very frequent habit, or rather, perhaps, misfor- 
 tune. The nest of the titling is one of those which the 
 cuckoo chooses for depositing its exposed egg. It shares that 
 burden with some other birds, especially with the meadow- 
 pipit, which has, on that account, been also called the " tit," 
 or "tit-lark.'* Both birds follow the cuckoo: it may be 
 sometimes from hostility, and sometimes in the character of 
 foster-mothers; at all events, they do it voluntarily, and 
 often blithely. It is the small following the great; and 
 " the cuckoo and the titling," or, better still, from the double 
 meaning of the first name, " the gotvJc and titling" of the 
 Scotch, has become not an uncharacteristic and, in some 
 instances, a very biting expression for the little of mankind 
 dancing a senseless and thankless attendance on the great. 
 
 In form, the titling has some resemblance to the red- 
 breast, only it is larger, more lumpy, and not nearly so ener- 
 getic in its expression, or so lively in its motions. Its habits 
 are also a good deal similar to those of the red-breast ; it 
 comes about the farm-yards and cottages, and into the 
 gardens and shrubberies, in the inclement season, not in 
 flocks, but hopping about singly, and picking up any food, 
 whether animal or vegetable, it may find. In these gloomy 
 times, it utters its peevish cry with an apparent feeling of 
 suffering and desolation. If the weather is at all favourable, 
 these birds begin to sing about the middle of January, and 
 by the middle of February they pair, and retire to a greater 
 distance, though not so completely into the depths of the 
 woods as the redbreasts. Both birds labour at the nest, 
 which is composed externally of moss and vegetable fibres, 
 
 VOL. I. y 
 
322 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 and lined internally with hair. (Birds that line their nests 
 with long hairs, do not build in the depths of large forests.) 
 The nest is at no great elevation, but it is in general hidden 
 among sticks, or in a thick bush or close hedge. The external 
 part is rather loose, like a natural tuft of green moss; but 
 the interior is more elaborately worked, the hairs being 
 interwoven with each other ; and the friction of the bird and 
 eggs during the process of incubation, produces a sort of 
 felting, which very little action will produce in hairs inter- 
 laced with each other. It has, very, naturally, no doubt, 
 occurred to some who have mentioned this bird, that the 
 internal part of the nest is put together with paste (as 
 some books are, and, of course, that the materials are obtained 
 with scissors,) which is a process to which magpies will 
 resort, though, instead of paste, they are apt to daub with 
 more vulgar mortar, as the manner of some is among our- 
 selves. The nest, laborious as the construction of it is, is 
 generally finished by the end of March, and the depositing of 
 the eggs requires only four or five days ; so that the first 
 brood in the south of England would be too early for the 
 cuckoo ; but probably there is a second brood there, and in 
 the same nest. Farther to the north, the cuckoo is said to 
 prefer the nests of birds that build later. 
 
 The colours of the titling are sober; the upper ] art is 
 brown, relieved with ash colour on the head and neck, and 
 with rust colour or reddish brown; the second coverts of 
 the wings tipped with white; quills and tail feathers black- 
 ish brown, margined with red brown; sides o! the neck, 
 throat, and breast, bluish grey; the rest ot the under part 
 greyish white. Female with the head more grey, and spotted 
 with brown ; the colours on the other parts less bright. The 
 song is continued for a considerable time in the winter 
 quarters of the birds, as they do not formally begin the 
 construction of their nests, during which they have little 
 
PIPITS. 
 
 time for singing, till the weather is somewhat settled. They 
 do not return to the neighbourhood of houses so soon as the 
 redbreasts, so that their song is not so frequently heard in 
 the autumn. 
 
 Another species, the Alpine accentor, grey above, with 
 brown spots, has occurred in England ; but it is comparatively 
 rare. 
 
 PIPITS (AntJius). 
 
 If the natural locality of the birds could be strictly adhered 
 to, the titling would lead to the red-breast and the wren, 
 which are our only sylvan warblers that remain the whole 
 year, and the pipits would follow them, as partaking partly 
 of the characters of the insectivorous birds, and partly of those 
 of the lark ; but there is an interesting race of strangers that 
 come in, partaking of the characters of our resident warblers ; 
 and as these, though strangers when they come to us in the 
 spring, are really native birds, inasmuch as they are hatched 
 in the country, we must alter the arrangement of those birds 
 which are suited to all our seasons, in order to deal as shortly 
 as possible with these most interesting prodigals, which leave 
 us in the autumn, to return to the feast in pur renovated 
 fields and groves in the summer. We shall therefore very 
 briefly notice the pipits. 
 
 Their general characters are more decidedly insectivorous. 
 The bill a little conical at the base, but awl-shaped at the 
 point, with a keel and slight notch on the upper mandible, 
 and much more slender and produced than that of the grami- 
 nivorous birds. The wings are blunt ; the feet well adapted 
 for running, but not having the hind toes and the claws 
 (which are curved) so much produced as the larks, they are 
 not so well fitted for running over long herbage. They nestle 
 on the ground, but sometimes use hair for the lining of their 
 nests, which is seldom, if ever, done by the larks, with which 
 
 Y2 
 
324 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 they have been confounded. The plumage of the old birds 
 changes after the breeding season, so as to resemble that of 
 the young, but the change is not very striking. There are 
 three of them ; two resident, and one migrant. 
 
 THE MEADOW-PIPIT (Anthus pratensis). 
 
 This bird, which is a resident, might, with as much pro- 
 priety, be called the moor-pipit, or the marsh-pipit, for it is 
 found abundantly in places so upland and naked, that hardly 
 any other bird will resort to them. In summer, it frequents 
 the naked places of the moors, where it nestles in the tuffcs 
 of grass, and picks up worms and insects for itself and its 
 young ; in winter it comes down, but still prefers marshy 
 places. Its colour is very sober, and its appearance is as poor 
 as its pasture, while its short and complaining note tends to 
 deepen the impression. 
 
 The length of the meadow -pipit is rather less than six 
 inches. The prevailing colours are dark olive brown, with a 
 slight greenish tinge on the upper part, and dull brownish- 
 white on the under, with a pale reddish tinge on the breast 
 of the male. The markings above are dull greyish-white 
 round the eyes and on the ear coverts, and lighter margins to 
 the feathers on the back, and scapulars ; those on the under 
 part have indistinct blotches of greenish-brown, two of which 
 form obscure lines from the gape down to the sides of the 
 neck. Wings very dark brown with dull white margins to 
 the lesser coverts, tail the same, with a white margin on each 
 exterior feather, and a few white spots at the end. 
 
 Contrary to the usual habit of birds, the meadow-pipit is 
 more gay in its winter than in its summer plumage. The 
 sides of the feathers above become olive green after the moult, 
 and the under part acquires a yellowish hue. 
 
 The moult takes place in the higher and more retired situa- 
 tions in which the birds nestle, and the new plumage, and 
 
THE MEADOW-PIPIT. 325 
 
 plumage of the young, are very like each other, as also are 
 the sexes at that time, and during the early part of the 
 winter. The birds come to the lower pastures, turnip- 
 fields, and sometimes, but more rarely, to the stubble land, 
 in small flocks, in September and October. At these times, 
 they generally roost on the ground, not so close together as 
 some of the other species that have that habit ; and as they 
 are different in colour from the more solitary birds that 
 are seen in the spring, and also fly differently, they are a 
 little perplexing to those who do not attend to their annual 
 changes. 
 
 In the autumn they have only their common flight, which 
 is performed by jerks, in the course of which the birds rise 
 and fall, and continue uttering their feeble and complaining 
 " peek." In the course of the winter they gradually acquire 
 more of that brown which may be regarded as the field colour 
 of British birds, and the shades of which vary from dry sand 
 through all the earth-tints to humid peat ; and with the colour 
 (which however is duller than in the true larks) they acquire 
 something of the speckling of the larks ; and though they do 
 not soar with the majesty or sing with the power of the lark, 
 they do mount up in a manner different from that which they 
 display at other seasons, and they have not an unpleasant 
 though a feeble song. Their motion in ascending is a curious 
 combination of leaping and fluttering, the wings being perpe- 
 tually in motion to prevent that descent after the stroke which 
 is so conspicuous in their common flight. The labour of 
 ascending, though they do not go very high, appears to be 
 enough for them without the effort of voice ; and therefore 
 they do not sing till they have got to the top of their height, 
 or rather are on the descent, which is performed in an easy 
 sliding manner, and sometimes perpendicular. 
 
 Their ascent and song are commenced early, as early as those 
 of the lark ; but they cannot be mistaken for each other ; 
 
326 
 
 INSECT1VOILE. 
 
 and besides, the pipit sometimes lights on a hedge, the sky- 
 lark never ; the larks remain over the rich fields, the pipits 
 retire to the wilds, and continue their song there. The nest 
 is on the ground in a tuft, the eggs are never more than six, 
 sometimes light and sometimes dark brown with reddish- 
 brown specks. The bird runs swiftly, catches insects and 
 worms readily, and is very industrious in the feeding of its 
 own young ; and also in feeding the young cuckoo, which, it 
 is said, is often committed to its care. There is one point 
 in the curiously anomalous history of the cuckoo, which has 
 not been so well authenticated as the rest (and these may be 
 the exceptions, not the rule, as they are not evidence of one 
 to ten thousand of the cases) ; and that is, whether the male 
 falls into the same dupery as the female, and aids in rearing 
 the cuckoo. The domestic cock scorns to assist in rearing 
 a brood of ducklings, even when they have been hatched by 
 his favourite hen; and it would be curious to ascertain 
 whether the males of those birds that hatch and feed the 
 cuckoo, are equally zealous for the honour of their species. 
 But the point can be settled by observation only experi- 
 ment takes animals out of nature ; and so there is an end to 
 all legitimate conclusion. The meadow-pipit is the titling in 
 many places. 
 
 THE SHORE-PIPIT (Anfhus aquaticus). 
 
 The shore-pipit is considerably larger than the meadow 
 species. It is seven inches long, nearly a foot in the stretch 
 of the wings, and weighs about seven drachms, and the upper 
 part is without the greenish tinge, and the under has a brace 
 of dull ochre yellow. The breast also is browner, the vent 
 whiter, and the bill is yellow at the base. The hind claw is 
 also more curved and shorter in proportion. 
 
 This bird, as its name imports, inhabits the sea shores, 
 especially where there are beaches of sand or mud, from which 
 
THE SHORE-PIPIT. 327 
 
 the tide recedes to some distance, and where there are low 
 rocks, or benty downs, where it can nestle. In those situ- 
 ations it is very plentiful, though always solitary. It finds 
 the principal part of its food at and within the high-water 
 mark ; but never in the water, except in those shallow pools 
 in which it can easily wade. It has thus a perennial pasture 
 like the dipper in the brawling rivers ; and so does not quit 
 it for any other haunt, during any time of the year. Its 
 manners, its song in spring, and its chirp at all times, bear a 
 very close resemblance to those of the last species. It runs 
 with great ease along the sand, picking up its food ; and 
 when alarmed, it hops onward with a bouncing flight. In 
 the early part of the season, when most of the shore birds 
 have gone inland to nestle, and the sea birds also have gone 
 to their favourite rocks and islands, the pipit is almost the 
 only winged creature that is met with upon long stretches of 
 beach ; and in passing along during a May mist, when the 
 sea is hissing unseen on the one hand, and the land obscured 
 on the other, the cry of the pipit adds not a little to the 
 melancholy of the scene ; but on the other hand, it is pleasant 
 to see so small a bird bobbing about and braving the storm 
 in the winter. As the haunt of the shore-pipit changes less 
 in temperature with the seasons than that of most birds, the 
 seasonal changes of its plumage are not so considerable. The 
 nest is formed of bents, or other plants growing near the sea, 
 and lined with finer fibres, or with hair, if its haunts are such 
 that that substance is within its reach. The eggs are not 
 more than five, yellowish-grey with reddish-brown spots, 
 especially at the thick ends ; but there are, from the constant 
 supply of food, and the uniformity of the temperature, two 
 broods or more in the course of the year. The shore-pipit 
 does not frequent the wild and precipitous parts of the coast, 
 neither is it ever observed at any considerable distance from 
 the sea. 
 
328 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 THE TREE-PIPIT (Antlius arboreus]. 
 
 The tree-pipit is so like the meadow one, both in the tints 
 of its colours, and in the marking and distribution, that if 
 they are seen alternately it is not easy to tell the one from 
 the other. But if seen together, they are at once distinguish- 
 able. The tree-pipit is larger than the other, and heavier ; 
 but is more compactly feathered, and more slender at the 
 shoulders (the last of these is, by the way, no bad distin- 
 guishing mark between the resident and migratory birds 
 the last always appearing the more slender and elegant), 
 flatter in the head, more produced in the bill, and gayer in 
 the tint on the under part. The claw on the hinder toe is 
 also much shorter, and more crooked, so that the foot is fully 
 as well adapted for perching as for walking, and much better 
 than for walking on grassy surfaces. 
 
 The tree-pipit is a summer migrant, arriving in May, and 
 taking its departure in September. Its locality is interme- 
 diate between those of the other pipits, more inland than the 
 shores, and less upland than the wilds. It frequents the rich 
 country ; but more on the margin of the woodland than that 
 of the open wild. It has in consequence some resemblance 
 in its habits to the sylvan warblers upon whose domain it 
 borders, and with which it makes its appearance and takes 
 its departure. 
 
 Its single cry, though peeking, is more musical and less 
 melancholy than that of the other pipits, and its song is also 
 sweeter, and being warbled from a greater elevation, and in 
 places that are more frequented, it is more generally heard. 
 It ascends with the single cry, and sings either perched on 
 the top of a tree, or whilst it is descending. It generally, if 
 not always, nestles upon the gronnd, constructs its nest of 
 vegetable fibres, and then lines it with finer fibres and hair. 
 But it never builds far from trees j and when the male is in 
 
THE TREE-PIPIT. 329 
 
 song he generally makes use of a tree as an intermediate 
 station both in rising into the air, and in descending to the 
 ground. By successive leaps, he gains the top of the tree, 
 and after having rested there for a little, he leaps higher into 
 the air in a similar manner, chirping as he leaps. When 
 he has gained the top of his ascent (which is not very lofty), 
 he begins his song, and while uttering it, he slides down the 
 air with expanded wing, a tail erected and spread, till he 
 again reaches the tree, where he pauses a little, and then 
 descends to the ground in the same manner. Many of the 
 weak- winged birds that feed chiefly upon the ground have the 
 same habit of getting to a height, and resting a little there 
 before they take their flight from place to place ; but there 
 is perhaps none in which it is so marked as in the tree-pipit. 
 That habit does not extend to birds that find their food in 
 trees, but only to those which have the feet better adapted 
 for walking than for perching. That is the case with the 
 tree-pipit. It can walk or run very easily, and at the same 
 time pick up its food ; but when it perches, it can do little 
 else than balance itself; and those birds which feed in trees 
 have generally just as little command of themselves on the 
 ground. 
 
 The part of a tree on which a bird perches is not a bad 
 means of ascertaining whether it be a surface-bird or a tree- 
 bird. Surface-birds, even when they flock, so as to cover the 
 whole top of the tree, always perch on the top or the topmost 
 part, while tree-birds hop into the tree, and leap about from 
 one twig to another. The sparrow and the red-breast are 
 ffl.rm1ia.rj though not the most striking, illustrations. The 
 sparrow merely rests in the leafless tree in winter, the red- 
 breast hops about in it as if quite at home. That habit is 
 well worth attending to, especially in the winter, when both 
 tree and surface birds come near the houses, and perch on 
 the leafless trees. 
 
330 IXSECTIVOILE. 
 
 RICHARD'S PIPIT (Antlms Ricliardi) 
 Has been found in England. It has the tarsi and the hind 
 
 o 
 
 claw long, and the bill strong. Upper part brown with 
 pale edges ; under part white. 
 
 WRENS. 
 
 The birds popularly called wrens have so few appearances 
 in common, that they can hardly be described as a tribe, and 
 therefore they cannot be classed according to their structure. 
 But, leaving out a few migrants which are sometimes called 
 wrens, and including the red -breast, to which the name 
 "wren" is never given, a popular tribe, founded on habits, 
 though not in appearance, might be instituted and described. 
 It is not our intention to interfere with names or with classes, 
 but merely to place in juxtaposition such birds as have their 
 habits so much alike, that the description of the one may hi 
 part serve for the other, and thus save repetition. 
 
 The birds which we would include in this popular section, 
 are the red-breast, the common wren, the q olden-crested irmi, 
 and the fiery-crested wren, more recently added to the British 
 Fauna. We do not call them wrens, or have the slightest 
 wish that anybody should call them so, but there is a family 
 likeness among them, as well as a similarity in some of their 
 leading habits ; and, which is not a little remarkable, these 
 are more striking between the common wren and the red- 
 breast, than between the common wren and those other 
 birds that are called wrens. So much so, indeed, that popular 
 opinion, which in such cases is always founded upon observa- 
 tion habitual and without bias has " time out of mind " 
 associated Robin Redbreast and Kitty Wren as husband and 
 "wife. 
 
 They are both resident even in the very coldest parts of 
 the country; they both breed in retirement, for though the 
 
THE WREN. 331 
 
 wren sometimes builds under the eaves of thatched houses, it 
 never does so if there are plantations near, thick with under- 
 wood and soft with moss ; and both come close to the dwelling 
 of man in the winter, though the redbreast, which is by far 
 the most familiar at that season, retires to the greatest distance 
 in the summer. Thus the redbreast so far partakes of the 
 character of the warblers (with which it is often associated), 
 that is, more of a woodland and a migratory bird, only it 
 does not emigrate from the country, or appear much to 
 change its latitude, with the seasons. 
 
 As both of this species sing very sweetly, though not loud, 
 and very early, when there are few other notes, and some- 
 times when the frozen earth rings back again even to their 
 small voices, they are among the most delightful of our little 
 birds, especially in those parts of the country to which the 
 summer warblers come sparingly, or not at all. The golden- 
 crested wren, which is more a " bark bird " than the others, 
 does not with us so often leave its native forests, or seek the 
 shelter and subsistence that are found near the dwellings of 
 men ; but as it is without that habit as a resource, it 
 migrates to greater distances, and far more completely during 
 very violent storms. 
 
 Violent storms, indeed, often carry to great distances and 
 in vast numbers, birds, which in ordinary seasons can hardly 
 be said to migrate, and that is perhaps more the case with 
 the dwellers in the northern forests. In those cases they are 
 literally driven southward or obliquely, as the wind may set; 
 and not only that, but as the wind often changes from the 
 northern to the southern half of the horizon in the course of 
 a winter storm, especially one on the eastern coast of Britain, 
 and when it comes near to the middle latitude, by the cold 
 air from Holland and the northern part of Belgium, "taking 
 the Norwain blast in its wane," the birds are often caught, 
 exhausted in the eddy, and whelmed in the sea, or cast* 
 
332 INSECTIVOIUE. 
 
 fatigued and perishing, on the coast between St. Abb's Head 
 and the Spurn. That happens, however, only when the 
 snow-drift gives note of its coming, in the intensity of cold ; 
 for if it break at once, the birds remain in their arctic dwel- 
 lings, and perish by thousands there. The golden-crested 
 wren is one of those which suffer much in that way. 
 
 THE COMMON WREN (Troglodytes vulgaris). 
 
 The wren is not literally a " dweller in caves," as troglo- 
 dytes imports, but it is a hideling, both in its nidification and 
 in its habits. In winter it comes near the house, and even 
 when snow lies thick upon the ground it may be seen hopping 
 about under the plants in the garden or the shrubbery. If 
 there is a pile of wood which has lain for some time, and is 
 not snowed over, it may be seen on tha top when the sun 
 comes out, or the day is otherwise at the brightest, but it 
 hops under cover the instant that it is approached. The 
 farm-yard is also a favourite place with it in severe weather, 
 and there it will seek its food very confidently among the 
 domestic poultry and domestic animals. If there are mud 
 walls, very thick hedges, or any other deep cover near the 
 house, it makes that its habitation all the year round, and 
 seeks shelter, in very severe weather, in the same nest in 
 which it has reared its brood. If the weather is more than 
 ordinarily severe, numbers will get into the same shelter, and 
 they are often found chilled to death by the cold or suffocated 
 by the snow. At those times, and indeed soon after the 
 young are reared, there does not appear to be any society 
 among wrens. Not that they evince the slightest hostility 
 to each other, but they are quite passive till the heat of the 
 weather puts them in mind of the labours of the season : and 
 very little heat suffices ; for even when the frost is still seen, 
 if the mid-day sun gleam out warmly, the wren will chant 
 his song ; and even when the sky is suddenly overcast, he 
 
THE COMMON WREN. 333 
 
 will continue his notes till the snow drives him into some 
 hiding-place. 
 
 Considering the diminutive size of the wren, its song is 
 loud, and it is clear and very sweetly modulated; so that, 
 upon first hearing it, one has some scepticism of its being the 
 song of so tiny a musician. It is more clear and heard far- 
 ther than the song of the redbreast, though that too is a 
 peculiarly agreeable one, as the young birds come to the 
 vicinity of houses, and renew it as early as they are in full 
 plumage, which is about the middle or towards the end of 
 September. The song of the wren is not so continuous, but 
 in peculiarly favourable situations and weathers it may be 
 heard as early as Christmas, or earlier. It is, however, liable 
 to be again interrupted, more especially in those middle 
 latitudes of Britain, where, in the inland places, heavy falls 
 of snow often occur after the new year, and remain till the 
 end of March. There is reason to believe that, owing to 
 culture, drainage, and planting, those falls will not hereafter 
 be so frequent as they have been ; but there are remembered 
 instances in which the wren sang in the early part of January, 
 and not again till the middle of April ; though, in ordinary 
 seasons, the birds pair in February, and begin their nests in 
 March. 
 
 The nest is constructed with much care and neatness, but 
 varied in its materials, and also a little in its form, with the 
 place. Moss, lichen, or withered grass, is the external mate- 
 rial, intermixed with wool, if the place afford it. The lining 
 is hair or feathers, according as the one or the other is most 
 easily procured. The nest generally has a dome-covering, 
 formed by the birds; but if there is a natural one, they avail 
 themselves of it, and under the lower branches of "back- 
 going Scotch firs," which are generally rough and hoary with 
 lichen, the nest may be found, constructed of moss, with a 
 lichen roof. The entrance is always at the side, and the 
 
334 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 approach such that the bird does not immediately enter the 
 nest or leave it. So much has been written on the subject 
 of wrens' nests, that one would be almost tempted to believe 
 that the witches had been consulted as architects ; but when 
 there are fifty conjectures to one fact, anybody may make 
 descriptions. 
 
 The eggs, where the birds are undisturbed, are seldom 
 fewer than six or more than eight ; they are of a pure white 
 colour, mottled with small reddish specks. The young return 
 to lodge in the nest for some time after they are fledged ; and 
 it is said, that while the female is performing the incubation, 
 the male makes a few clumsily constructed nests for the 
 accommodation of the brood after they disperse too widely 
 for returning to that in which they are hatched. That 
 would be curious, if true; but it wants confirmation: and 
 birds are subject to so many casualties in the breeding time 
 and they are so liable to abandon half-constructed nests, that 
 finding a young wren in such a nest would be no evidence. 
 Wrens nestle in holes and hiding-places at almost all seasons. 
 
 The wren is a very small bird, about four inches and a 
 quarter long, six and a quarter in the extent of the wings, 
 and rather less than three drachms in weight. The prevailing 
 colour is reddish-brown, darker above and lighter on the 
 under part. The quills and tail feathers are dusky brown, 
 the former spotted on their outer webs and the latter barred 
 with reddish-brown. The bill is nearly the same colour as 
 the dark part of the quills; and the feet, and also a streak 
 over the eye, are pale brown. The bill is rather long, very 
 slender, and a little curved. It has an insect-catching bill ; 
 and the bird catches the smaller ones with great quickness, 
 either when they pass or by darting at them. 
 
 In form, the wren has some resemblance to the dipper; it 
 is short and dumpy, and wears the tail, which though short 
 is very strong for the size of the bird, in an erect posture. 
 
THE REDBREAST. 335 
 
 That structure of tail enables it to balance itself, with the 
 centre of gravity before the points of support ; and thus it 
 can drop down, which is its most important motion, with 
 considerable celerity. 
 
 THE REDBREAST (Sylvia 
 
 The redbreast, though it associates more familiarly with 
 men than almost any other free bird, is really a native of the 
 woods. It is unnecessary to describe the redbreast, as every 
 body knows it. It is about an inch and a half larger, and 
 two inches and a half more extensive in the wings, than the 
 wren; but though rather a thick-looking bird, it is not so 
 weighty in proportion to its length, as that proportion (the 
 cubic of the lengths) would give three-quarters of an ounce, 
 while the bird weighs little more than half an ounce. The 
 bill is short, nearly straight, thick and broad at the base, 
 and strong for the size of the bird. Forehead, sides of the 
 neck and breast, reddish or orange, with grey at the lateral 
 margins; the upper part alone intermediate between green 
 and brown, and with a tinge of yellow ; belly and vent, dull 
 white ; wings and tail, dark greenish-grey, with a reddish- 
 brown hue on the middle coverts of the wings. The breast 
 of the female is dull yellowish-brown; and the young birds 
 are dull brownish-green, spotted with reddish-brown, and 
 want the orange red on the breast. 
 
 Though it has sometimes been so stated, it does not appear 
 that the redbreast is anywhere a migrant ; and there is no 
 reason to believe that it is an emigrant in any part of Britain, 
 though in countries where the districts suited to its winter 
 and summer habits run in larger tracts, as they do on many 
 parts of the continent, it may range much farther in the 
 course of the year than it does with us. Most birds that are 
 migratory are also social, at least when they are preparing 
 for their southward flight; but the redbreast, though very 
 
336 INSECTIVORJE. 
 
 familiar with man, is shy with all little birds, even those of 
 its own species, and also disposed to be pugnacious. It does 
 not appear that they battle for their mates ; they are too 
 wary and solitary even for that ; but when they have retired 
 to the breeding places, and begun their nests, they keep their 
 ground with much resolution. 
 
 The nest is on the ground, at the roots of trees, and in 
 other concealed places, formed of the same materials as the 
 nest of the wren, but not so elaborately put together, and 
 without a dome to the nest. If, however, there is not a 
 natural concealment of foliage, the birds contrive to form an 
 artificial one of dry leaves, under which they may reach the 
 nest without the precise spot being known ; and when the 
 dam leaves her eggs, she sometimes covers them in the same 
 manner, so that the strewing of leaves mentioned in the old 
 ballad of " the babes in the wood," is true to the habits of 
 the redbreast. Redbreasts, like wrens, often nestle near 
 houses ; but, from the caution with which they approach and 
 leave the nest, it is rarely seen in proportion to the numbers 
 of the birds. The eggs are yellowish-grey, mottled with 
 chestnut colour, and rarely exceed seven. 
 
 The redbreast is not only a very interesting bird, but it is 
 also an exceedingly useful one about gardens, orchards, and 
 shrubberies, and plantations near houses generally. The 
 young birds come first, because they are soonest in condition, 
 their plumage not being changed by a moult, but ripening 
 into its tints, as is the case with many young birds which 
 assume a new livery in the course of their first winter. 
 Thus they arrive in time to capture myriads of insects, 
 when these are alighting to deposit their eggs on the embryo 
 buds ; and they continue that labour as long as there is a 
 fly to be found ; and when the flies are gone, they attack the 
 eggs. It is highly probable that the common house-fly is 
 the first object that attracts them so near to houses, though 
 
THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WEEN. 337 
 
 they come for crumbs, or anything eatable that they can 
 pick up, when the severe weather sets in. 
 
 They also render considerable service in the capture of 
 worms. Young earthworms are very plentiful in the earlier 
 months of the autumn ; and when the weather is humid, 
 they come out in vast numbers, and are carefully watched 
 by the redbreasts. They approach the worms, or indeed any 
 prey that is on the ground, by very light and rapid hops ; 
 and when they have got within their distance, they pounce 
 on it with great certainty. The worm is seized by the head 
 and beaten against a stone or the hard ground, till all the 
 earthy matter in the canal is discharged, before it is eaten. 
 
 By the time that the redbreasts come into the shrubberie 
 and gardens in the autumn, the flies have become rather dull 
 and heavy in their flight ; and thus the birds can pounce 
 upon them with not much more difficulty than they find 
 with the worms, whose sense is so acute, that they would 
 escape even at the concussion produced by a redbreast, if it 
 were to alight close beside them from the wing. But in 
 summer, the capture of flies is a little more arduous ; and 
 when the bird observes one upon a leaf, it hovers round and 
 round, something in the same way that a butterfly does 
 round a flower, till it has got near enough for making its 
 pounce. At that time, also, worms form a considerable part 
 of the prey ; and as the young birds are rather numerous 
 and grow fast, the labour of the old ones is incessant. 
 Though shy to his neighbours, the male is very attentive to 
 his mate, never goes to any great distance, and continues 
 to encourage her with his song during the whole period of 
 incubation. 
 
 THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN (Regulus aUTWapillus). 
 
 A figure of the golden-crested wren, the male in full 
 plumage, is given on the plate at page 354, on a scale of one 
 
 VOL, I. Z 
 
338 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 third of the natural dimensions. The female has the colours 
 of the crest paler, and a greenish tinge over the whole body. 
 It is rather shorter than the common wren, though a little 
 longer in proportion in the wings, and only about half the 
 weight, being less than a drachm and a half. It is the 
 smallest of British birds, but it is one of the most active, 
 and one which endures the winter better than very many 
 larger birds. It is a forest-bird, nestling in trees, residing 
 on them, and not paying an annual visit to the neighbour- 
 hood of houses, like the common wren. Its bill is very 
 slender, straight, and awl-shaped j and it is presumed that, 
 at all seasons, it feeds upon insects. Indeed, there is little 
 vegetable food fitted for so small a bird in the places which 
 it chiefly inhabits. 
 
 It is found in all wooded parts of the country, rather 
 plentifully in most places, and very much so in the larger 
 pine forests, which are its favourite haunts, though it is not 
 confined to them. But it is so small, generally so far from 
 the ground, and always so quick in its motions, that it is 
 not easily seen, and never long at a time. It is continually 
 hunting both on the rough bark of the boles and main 
 branches and on the twigs ; but it appears to prefer the 
 latter. The command which these little birds have of 
 themselves in the trees, is really astonishing. They whisk 
 about more like meteors than like beings of solid matter. 
 They are now on this side, no\? on that ; now above the 
 twig, now hanging inverted under it the body never at rest, 
 and the head having generally an additional motion. 
 
 The male sings early, though the time of the year of 
 course varies with the season. In warm situations it sings 
 in February, and the young are sometimes fledged in April. 
 The nest is not very easily discovered, as it is always in a 
 thick branch if in a pine forest, and if in other trees it is in 
 a closely tufted place, or between ivy and the bole, where 
 
THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 339 
 
 that exists. The birds enter to the nest under the branch ; 
 but they enter the nest itself at the upper side, as it is never 
 (at least in the pine forests) covered by a dome, but is in the 
 shape of a cup, very deep, and neatly constructed ; green 
 moss forms the external part, and is sometimes interwoven 
 with wool, when that is within the range of the birds. The, 
 interior is very small feathers, but in considerable numbers, 
 so that the eggs can hardly be seen. The eggs are numerous, 
 sometimes as many as ten or eleven, but not much larger 
 than peas. Whether it be owing to the number of the 
 brood, the uncertainty of finding a regular supply of food 
 during the early season at which these little birds begin to 
 breed, or to some other cause which has not been ascertained, 
 has not been made out ; but it is true, that more nests and 
 eggs of the golden-crested wren are left to perish, apparently 
 from the death of the mother, than of almost any other 
 species of British birds. On that account, as well as from 
 the number of the birds that die in severe winters, more 
 especially in the deciduous forests, which do not afford the 
 same shelter as pines, the increase is by no means in pro- 
 portion to the number of eggs. Golden-crested wrens are 
 also liable to be driven, en masse, from their habitats, by 
 severe winters ; and there are recorded instances of vast 
 flocks, evidently continental ones, being stranded on our 
 eastern shores, as well as the native ones being driven from 
 their northerly haunts witt us for an entire season ; or rather 
 as being swept from those haunts, not to return, but to be 
 replaced by a fresh colony from the north ; as the birds, in 
 those cases, reappear in the autumn a time at which there 
 is no northerly migration in our hemisphere. 
 
 The birds are, however, so minute, and generally so hidden 
 among the branches, and shift about so much ; that they are 
 not easily seen even in places where they are abundant. 
 They are, however, so beautiful, and so lively in their action, 
 
 z 2 
 
340 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 that they are well worth looking for. That is best done with 
 a small pocket telescope, an instrument which no accurate 
 observer of the forms and actions of the smaller birds should 
 be without. By its means, the birds may be seen without 
 the least alarm or disturbance, and all the tints and markings 
 may be as well made out as if the bird were in the hand, at 
 the same time that it is showing all its attitudes with that 
 perfect freedom which alone can bring out its true character. 
 That applies to all birds, but more especially to those that 
 inhabit trees, and pass the greater part of their time in 
 hopping from twig to twig, and seldom come down to the 
 ground, or take long nights in the air. 
 
 THE FIERY-CRESTED WREN (IRegulus igmcapillus). 
 
 This species which, though by no means uncommon on the 
 continent of Europe, is a very recent addition to the known 
 birds of the British islands, is resident as well as the other; 
 and though it has hitherto been observed only in some parts 
 of England, as in Cambridgeshire and Sussex, it is in all pro- 
 bability pretty generally diffused, and may have, in many 
 instances, been confounded with the former. 
 
 The discovery of it as a British bird is in itself rather a 
 curious matter, as the honour of it belongs to a cat, in the 
 possession of a gentleman at Swaffham. Puss and her 
 master are both fond of birds, though for different reasons, 
 no doubt ; but puss studies her master's interest as well as 
 her own, and affords another proof that the feline race are, 
 by a little attention, fit for other purposes than mere mous- 
 ing. The old prejudice, that "cats are attached to places 
 only," which, though a vulgar prejudice, is not of popular 
 origin, meets with contradiction every day. One would not 
 formally lay it down as a maxim, though in truth it has very 
 much the force of one, that "the more carnivorous any 
 animal is, it is the more gentle and docile if you only keep 
 its hunger satisfied." Even among men, beef-eaters are pro- 
 
THE FIERY-CRESTED WREN. 341 
 
 verbially good-tempered, if they get their beef; and parched 
 lentils and potatoes certainly raise the malignant and mur- 
 derous passions more than beef-steaks or black-puddings, in 
 spite of the poetical allegation, that " he who feeds on blood 
 must be cruel." 
 
 Well, the cat in question is a very notable bird-catcher. 
 At first, no doubt, for the supply of her own appetite ; but her 
 master and she now so well understand each other, that when 
 she catches a bird she brings it to him. If it suits his pur- 
 pose, she is fondled or fed ; and, if not, the bird is returned 
 to her, and she does with it as she likes. In that way she 
 brought the fiery-crested wren to her master, a young bird, 
 and just at the season when the young, if hatched in the 
 country, would have begun to fly. That afforded a hint, 
 which was followed up; the old birds were observed in 
 the neighbourhood, and very soon after they were observed 
 near Brighton ; and altogether there is no room for doubting 
 that they are native and resident birds. 
 
 Hitherto they have not been seen in the northern parts of 
 the island ; and their history, as a species, is rather too short 
 for furnishing any satisfactory data as to how they and the 
 golden-crested species may divide the land. The probability 
 is, that the fiery-crested is less an upland bird than the 
 other ; but that is only a probability. 
 
 No question that the two species have been often con- 
 founded, as their size, habits, and general appearance, are 
 very much alike. But upon a closer examination, the specific 
 differences appear. The crest, which is golden orange in the 
 one, is bright fire-red in the other. The golden-crest has 
 one black streak along the margin of the crest ; the fiery-crest 
 has three, alternating with two white ones. The yellow on 
 the shoulders of the golden-crest has a greenish tinge ; that 
 on the fiery-crest is pure or inclining to orange. The bill of 
 the fiery-crest is rather stronger and broader at the base, 
 
342 IXSECTIVOR/E. 
 
 and the size of the birds is a shade larger. The manners and 
 habits of the two are so nearly the same, that in discriminat- 
 ing them it is necessary to pay particular attention to the 
 tints of the crests, and especially to the stripes above the 
 eye. The two last-mentioned species are the pets among 
 our resident forest-birds ; and it will be a pleasing office to 
 settle the boundaries between them, and find out the por- 
 tion of the country which the newly-discovered ones can 
 claim as their rightful heritage ; and if the observations 
 necessary for that purpose are properly carried on, fresh dis- 
 coveries may be confidently expected, as the birds in ques- 
 tion are so minute, that where they are found no others are 
 likely to be passed over. 
 
 THE DARTFOKD WARBLER (Sylvia provincialis). 
 
 The Dartford warbler might perhaps more accurately be 
 called "the brake warbler;" as it is not quite correct to 
 name after one place in England, and that not the place 
 where it is most frequently seen, a bird which is more abun- 
 dant in Spain, .Provence, and Italy, than in England. 
 Though generally classed with the warblers, and resembling 
 them in some of its characters, it differs in others ; and the 
 points of difference are certainly more numerous, and at least 
 not less striking, than those of agreement. 
 
 This bird has been observed only in the southern counties 
 of England those that lie southward of the Thames and the 
 Bristol channel ; but as it has been observed at points widely 
 distant from each other, and as its immediate haunts and its 
 habits both tend to concealment, it is probable that the 
 actual numbers are very great in proportion to those that 
 have been seen. The birds have been seen only on dry 
 places, in the neighbourhood of bSshes, more especially close 
 furze bushes, under which they nestle, and through which 
 they glide, with apparently as much facility, and not much 
 
THE DAETFOED WAKBLEK. 343 
 
 farther from the ground than mice. Nor are they very 
 unlike mice in colour. The whole upper part of the body is 
 dark reddish-brown, with dull grey on the cheeks, and a 
 trace of the same on the sides of the neck ; the throat and 
 breast are brownish-red, passing into deeper on the under 
 part, but with a line of white on the middle of the belly ; the 
 quills and tail-feathers are dusky, relieved with rusty brown 
 on the margins of the webs, except the tips of the exterior 
 and second feathers of the tail, and part of the outer webs of 
 the former, which are white ; the bill is pale yellow at the 
 base, and black at the tip ; the irides and naked spaces 
 round the eyes reddish-yellow ; and the feet dull yellow. 
 The colour of the female is a little duller ; and the young 
 have the throat and breast streaked with white, which 
 gradually wears off as they advance to maturity. 
 
 The length is about five inches and a half, or an inch more 
 than that of the common wren ; but the tail, which is straight 
 and wedge-shaped, takes up fully half the length, so that the 
 body is not longer than that of the wren, and it is more 
 slender \ the extent of the wings is also less, and the whole 
 bird lighter, being only two drachms and a half. There is 
 a faint trace of resemblance to the wren in the shape of the 
 body, but none in the head, neck, and tail. The head is 
 rounder ; both that and the neck are more darkly feathered, 
 the bill is less produced and less pointed, and the expression 
 is not so lively as that of the wren. The form of the head 
 and tail, as well as the expression of the bird, are, however, 
 less like those of the true warblers. 
 
 The nest is not placed immediately on the ground, but in 
 the very thickest part of the bush, which, in furze bushes, is 
 higher or lower according to age and other circumstances. 
 The materials of the nest are chiefly vegetable : the withered 
 spines of the furze, and other small vegetable bodies, some- 
 times united with a little wool, and lined with the withered 
 
344 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 culms of the small hard grasses which grow on the dry 
 wastes ; but it is rather loose and rude. Indeed, the care 
 with which it is concealed and sheltered, renders the struc- 
 ture of the nest a matter of minor importance. The eggs 
 are four in number, of a greenish colour, marked with olive 
 brown spots. The nests have been observed only late in the 
 season (July), but it is possible that these may have been 
 second broods. 
 
 The male often hovers about the bushes, uttering his 
 chirping song, which is rather feeble and hurried for being 
 called a genuine warble. The height at which that is done is 
 inconsiderable ; and from the thickness of the head and neck 
 the long tail, and the short and rounded wings, the bird 
 bears then some resemblance to a large dragon-fly. The 
 glass must be used in observing it ; for if one venture near, 
 he instantly drops into the bush, where it is vain to search 
 for him ; and the alarm-note which he then utters, is not 
 very unlike the cry of some of the field mice. The well- 
 feathered body, the short wings, and the long tail, of these 
 birds, enable them to thread their way among the close 
 bushes with great celerity, whether the sinuosities be vertical 
 or lateral. Grasshoppers, flies, and the smaller moths, are 
 understood to be their chief summer food, to which, perhaps? 
 the seeds of the furze, after they have been softened by lying 
 for some time on the ground, may be added in the winter, as 
 the birds do not appear to quit their haunts ; at least, they 
 have been seen on the furze-clad places as late as Christmas ; 
 and, though they vanish during very heavy falls of snow, it is 
 probably only by retiring into the thick bushes, where the seeds 
 alluded to may supply them with food. At all events, their 
 structure is not well adapted for long migrations ; and they 
 do not resort to the neighbourhood of houses during severe 
 weather. 
 
 The Dartford warbler is one of those birds of which the 
 
THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 345 
 
 habits require to be more carefully studied ; and when that 
 has been done, and an arrangement of birds founded on their 
 structure, haunts, and habits, comes to be formed, it will pro- 
 bably be found advisable to drop the name, both parts of 
 which are calculated to mislead. The white-throat warbler 
 nestles in a manner somewhat similar ; and has some ana- 
 logous habits, but the form and character of the two birds 
 are quite different : the shape of the body in the white-throat 
 is well suited for long flights ; that of the Dartford warbler 
 is the reverse. Barnes Common is not the worst place in the 
 vicinity of London to search for these local birds.* 
 
 THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER (Sylvia loCUStella). 
 
 Though this bird is called a warbler, and has latterly been 
 classed with the aquatic warblers, it is not, if names and clas- 
 sifications are to have any meaning, either the one or the 
 other. It does not warble, or, so far as observation has gone, 
 utter any sound save a hissing chirp, something similar to 
 that of the grasshopper or the mole cricket, whence it has 
 got the name of the former of these insects. Neither is it an 
 aquatic bird, though it may sometimes be heard in thick 
 bushes near water. Hedges and brakes are its favourite re- 
 sorts ; and its nest is usually hidden in the very closest bushes 
 upon dry places. Its tail is wedge-shaped in the same man- 
 ner as that of the aquatic warblers ; but the wedged tail is 
 not an aquatic character, but one which adapts the bird to 
 glide easily through thick foliage. The dipper, which is much 
 more aquatic than any of the warblers, as it feeds in the 
 water, has the tail square ; and the aquatic warblers have 
 theirs wedge-shaped, to adapt them, not to the water, but to 
 
 * We have often seen the Dartford warbler on Barnes common, 
 and on similar furze- clad commons in Surrey. It is perhaps less rare 
 than is generally supposed, but from its peculiar habits it easily eludes 
 observation. M. 
 
346 IXSECTI VOILE. 
 
 the thick aquatic vegetation in which they chiefly reside. 
 The wood-peckers, the creeper, and indeed all birds whose 
 habit is to thread their way among close twigs or thick foliage, 
 have the tail wedge-shaped or rounded ; and that gives them 
 the same facility over birds with forked or square tails, in 
 turning laterally, that a vessel with a round stern has over 
 one that is square. 
 
 When birds are classed upon any particular character, the 
 name should apply to the use of that character, otherwise it 
 either has no meaning or a false one. In some of the books, 
 the bird under consideration stands classed as a lark, and that 
 name, which was no doubt given to it from the slight simi- 
 larity in the mottled plumage on the back, induced some of 
 the older authors to add also the produced hinder claw of the 
 lark ; but that claw of the grasshopper bird is short and 
 crooked, well adapted for perching upon twigs, but not for 
 walking on the ground. A long straight claw would be as 
 inconvenient in close bushes as a forked tail \ and no bird 
 whose habit it is to thread the sprays has either the one or 
 the other. Even in the larks and pipits, the round or par- 
 tially wedged termination of the tail, at once distinguishes 
 the wood-lark, or the tree-pipit. The end of the tail and also 
 the tips of the wings are always good indices to the general 
 haunt. If the tail is wedge-shaped, the bird is woodland bred, 
 or rather a bird of the close sprays and bushes, and, in that 
 case, the wings are rounded ; if the tail is square, the haunt 
 is in more open places ; and if much forked, it is in the free 
 air, and the wings are pointed. 
 
 The grasshopper bird (" the Itrokehopper" would not be an 
 inappropriate name for it) diifers from the aquatic warblers, 
 and indeed from all the true warblers, in plumage and expres- 
 sion as well as in haunt and habits. The true warblers, 
 whether aquatic or sylvan, have the colour on the back entire, 
 even when there are strong markings on the other parts ; 
 
THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 347 
 
 but the upper part of the grasshopper bird is mottled brown, 
 and the whole dress has a tinge of that hue which charac- 
 terizes the field birds. When all together, however, it is not 
 like any of them ; but stands alone, in appearance, in voice, 
 and in habits. There can be no harm in calling it Sylvia, 
 because that name may include birds of the brake as well as 
 the tall forest j but Curruca, which some have used, is not 
 very appropriate. Names that have no precise meaning may 
 be used in any way ; but error is always the consequence of 
 an unskilful use of significant ones.* 
 
 The grasshopper bird is about five inches and a half in 
 length, and rather more than seven inches in the stretch of 
 the wings. The bill is a little more produced, and passes 
 more immediately into the line of the forehead than in the 
 sylvan warblers, but less so than in the aquatic. The bill is 
 dusky above and dull white at the base of the lower mandible. 
 The irides are hazel, the legs pale brown, and the claws, 
 which are strong, sharp, and hooked, of the colour of dark 
 horn. The upper part has the centres of the feathers dusky, 
 and the margins brown, with the least trace of green, which 
 brings out each feather distinctly. The tail and primary 
 quills are the same, a shade darker ; and the middle of the 
 wing rather lighter, with a faint trace of yellow. The sides 
 of the neck and the breast are pale yellowish-brown, which 
 brings out the forepart of the closed wing. The colour passes 
 into greenish-white on the belly, and there are a few lines 
 and spots of pale brown on the vent-feathers and under 
 tail-coverts. A dull whitish streak extends from the gape 
 to the eye ; and there is a gorget of the same colour on the 
 chin and point of the neck, which is better defined by being 
 margined with pale brown spots. In the female, the colours 
 are duller, and the gorget on the breast is not so well defined. 
 The forepart is very thickly, and the whole bird very closely, 
 * This species is the Salicaria locustella of Swaiiison. M. 
 
348 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 feathered, presenting no point that can be broken, and no 
 place that can be easily ruffled, on a forward motion ; so that 
 the bird slides unhurt through places where birds of different 
 form and plumage would be torn to pieces. The closest 
 hedge or brake presents no barrier to it ; so that it slips into 
 the hedge one knows not where ; and threading along without 
 stirring a twig, it will, apparently in an instant, slip out again 
 at the distance of several yards. It does not often leave its 
 cover ; and one may watch and even beat the brake, hearing 
 it, but without being able to see either it or its nest, for the 
 nest is as well hidden as the bird is expert at hiding. In 
 position, the nest is very similar to that of the Dartford 
 warbler (or rather the " furze warbler," as that leads one to 
 its haunts, and it is not met with in Dartford); but as it 
 inhabits wilder places, the materials are not quite the same. 
 In the hedges and bramble-brakes, the materials are the 
 withered stems of trailing plants ; and in furze bushes, where 
 those plants are not so abundant, they are more mossy. The 
 eggs are four or five, of a bluish-white, with very obscurf 
 rust-coloured mottlings. 
 
 The males arrive on the south coast of England about the 
 middle of April, and gradually proceed to distribute them- 
 selves over the lowland and warmer parts of the country, 
 though they are always most numerous in the counties on 
 the south. That is the best time for seeing them, as they 
 then perch on the tops of the brakes and hedges, and utter 
 their cricket cry, which is their only song of love. When 
 the females arrive, and the nest building begins, there is no 
 more perching on the top; but the cry continues till about 
 the beginning of August ; and as the moult is probably com- 
 pleted in that month, the birds may take their leave of us 
 about the beginning of September. 
 
 That the whole of our summer visitants moult in the very 
 hottest month of the year, is a point which, duly worked out, 
 
THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 349 
 
 would throw much light on many of the habits of Vrds, and 
 more especially upon the relation between the economy of 
 nests and the progress of plumification. I would offer a few 
 hints ; but one of our ablest practical physiologists, whose 
 demonstrations, I am proud to say, have in many instances 
 verified conjectures at which I had previously arrived by 
 virtual analysis, has taken up and demonstrated the same 
 view, but has not yet published it ; so that I can only recom- 
 mend the reader to notice the connexion between temperature 
 and the growth of feathers, and also the influence which light 
 has upon eggs. There is a corroborative circumstance in the 
 human body : the hair and nails grow faster 'when the body 
 is heated, as in fever, than when it is cool. 
 
 The obscurity to the sight, and the very peculiar note of 
 the grasshopper bird, give it very considerable interest; and 
 the resemblance which the note has to the sounds emitted 
 by the grasshopper and the mole cricket, often lead to the 
 belief that the bird is in situations which it never visits, and 
 vice versa. 
 
 All the jarring and hissing notes of birds, which probably 
 partake of the nature both of love-calls and of hunting-cries, 
 have something peculiar in them ; they are in so far allied to 
 ventriloquism, that one cannot tell very readily from what 
 precise direction they come. That is one of the reasons why 
 the grasshopper bird is so seldom seen ; it appears to cry in 
 one part of the brake, while it is really in another; and the 
 same thing happens with the crake in the corn-field, the 
 nuthatch on the tree, and several other birds. The direction 
 of the sounding body, whether a bird or anything else, or, 
 indeed, even the fact that there is a sounding body, is not an 
 immediate perception of the organ of hearing, but an act of 
 mind founded on experience ; and that easily explains what 
 is called ventriloquism (an absurd name, by the way), either 
 in man or in birds. Men acquire it by pitching the tone and 
 
350 INSECTIVOIL-E. 
 
 quantity of the voice to those of an echo returned from the 
 distance of the object from which they wish the sound to 
 appear to come: they do that by measuring the distance 
 with the eye, just as a speaker does when addressing some 
 particular person in a crowd; in which case the tone and 
 quantity of the voice alter, and that person hears better than 
 even those between him and the speaker. But the distance 
 can also be measured mentally, as sailors who have come to 
 the buoys in a fog, can "halloo a harbour" to the pilot. The 
 voice of the birds is instinctive ; but it is also made up partly 
 of echo-notes, in all cases where it is ventriloque, or varies in 
 apparent place, while the bird remains in the same ; and it is 
 a curious property of those echo-notes, that they cannot be 
 well returned in a real echo. 
 
 WAEBLERS (CllTTUCCL). 
 
 Though all the little birds are interesting, as associated 
 with nature, with innocence, and with beauty, there is a 
 peculiar interest about the warblers. The birds which remain 
 constantly with us, and come round our dwellings in the 
 inclement season, give that season sprightliness by their 
 appearance, and hail with their songs any warm day that 
 breaks out. But the constancy of their appearance takes off 
 some of the interest which, if they were as novel as they are 
 beautiful, they would more certainly command ; and as their 
 songs, breaking out as they do in the intervals of the storms, 
 are no certain signs that the life of the year has begun, we 
 do not listen to them with the same attention and satisfac- 
 tion as to the migrant warblers. 
 
 The song, or the other demonstration of spring, given by 
 the resident bird, tells us merely of the state of the season in 
 our own country, of which we have other means of judging ; 
 but the summer or rather the spring migrant brings us 
 
WARBLERS. 351 
 
 tidings from afar intimates that the plains of Africa are 
 burned up with drought, or that the season of growth is 
 advancing in the south of Europe, and will speedily reach us. 
 They are visitants from afar, but they are not strangers ; 
 they are our own native birds, that retired during winter, 
 leaving the groves, the fields, and the river banks, to other 
 races, driven from our own wilds, or from more inclement 
 regions further to the north, so that in the season of penury 
 there might be plenty for those whose structure and powers 
 did not adapt them for flights so far to the southward ; and 
 now, when the time of plenty is again coming round, and 
 vegetation is approaching that state in which there is danger 
 to it from those creatures on which birds feed, they return to 
 resume those labours which are alike useful, and those songs 
 which are alike cheering, to themselves and to us. 
 
 They come also to be our near associates, when those that 
 we had with us in the winter are beginning to seek their 
 way to the woods and the wilds. All the warblers love 
 shade and shelter; but with few exceptions, they seek these 
 among the cultivated lands, or close on their margins. Some 
 are in the grove, others in the coppice; some by the sedgy 
 stream, or the reedy pool, and others in the brake ; but they 
 are not found on the wide waste, or in the upland forest ; and 
 generally speaking, man always partakes in the benefit of 
 their labours, and may hear the melody of their notes. The 
 spaces over which they extend vary, and so do the characters 
 of those places which they most frequent ; but it is a general 
 rule, that where the air is most pure, and the soil most 
 fertile, and in the highest state of cultivation, there the war- 
 blers are found, in the greatest variety of species, and the 
 greatest number of individuals. Even their voices partake 
 of the characters of their localities. The nightingale sings 
 more sweetly over the gravel in Surrey, than over the clay 
 in Middlesex. 
 
352 IXSECTIVOILE. 
 
 There are considerable differences of appearance in the 
 warblers, answering to the haunts in which they are found ; 
 but there seems a general likeness through all the genera. 
 They are delicate in their outlines, without any of the full or 
 abrupt curves that are found in many other genera. Their 
 plumage is delicate, and though there be some exceptions, 
 their colours are subdued, and without any very strong 
 markings or contrasts. The feathers on the shoulders and 
 the wing-coverts are short, so that the wings are light. 
 Their whole expression is soft, but not dull ; and their man- 
 ners, though gentle, are rather sprightly. They have not, 
 indeed, any organs which can be regarded as offensive wea- 
 pons: their bills are tender, suited only for the capture of 
 insects and their larvae, or for bruising berries or other small 
 pulpy fruits. They are not all song birds, but they comprise 
 the finest of our songsters, and their notes run more on the 
 minor keys than those of any other birds. 
 
 Their general characters are : the bill of moderate length, 
 straight, slightly awl-shaped, a little compressed at the base, 
 and the upper mandible with a small bend and margin at the 
 tip. Feet with three toes before and one behind ; the outer 
 one articulated on the middle toe, so as to be capable of 
 perching upon very slender supports. The first quill of the 
 wing is very short, and in some species merely rudimental ; 
 the second and third are nearly of the same length, which 
 gives the wing a blunt appearance. The tail is of moderate 
 length, but strong in proportion to the size of the birds ; in 
 some wedge-shaped, in others nearly even, and in others again 
 slightly wedge-shaped ; but, in all cases, without any sharp 
 points when spread. There are two divisions of warblers, 
 aquatic and sylvan, which are easily distinguished by their 
 appearances, as well as by their haunts. 
 
AQUATIC WARBLERS. 353 
 
 % 
 
 AQUATIC WARBLERS. 
 
 Of these there are two; the sedge warbler and the reed 
 warbler : they are little birds, and summer birds only. 
 
 Their general appearances are : the forehead low ; the 
 body long and slender ; the tail strong and wedge-shaped ; 
 and the prevailing colours brown above, and yellowish-white 
 on the under part, without strong contrasts in any part of 
 their plumage. While they reside in Britain, they frequent 
 the reedy or sedgy banks of stagnant pools and slow-running 
 rivers, or the bushes and brakes in the vicinity of such places. 
 They do not range far from their nestling places, neither 
 does it appear that they flock previous to their departure in 
 the autumn. 
 
 THE SEDGE WARBLER ( Curruca pJiragmitis). 
 
 The sedge warbler is called also the sedge bird and the 
 sedge wren ; but it has no other resemblance to the wrens, 
 properly so called, than being about the same weight as the 
 common wren. It is about five inches and a half long, rather 
 more than seven in the extent of the wings ; the head 
 slender, the bill pointed, and the tail wedge or lancet-shaped : 
 the whole well fitted for gliding between the tall aquatic 
 plants, among which it chiefly resides and finds its food. 
 
 The colours are sober ; brown on the upper part, with a 
 slight tinge of olive ; the quills and tail darker, and the 
 edges of the feathers relieved with rusty. The side of the 
 head is peculiarly marked, and is an easy means of distin- 
 guishing the sedge warbler from the other small birds which 
 haunt similar places : a white streak proceeds from the line 
 of the upper mandible over the eye, and a pale brownish one 
 from the eye a short way down towards the side of the neck, 
 so that the two have a faint resemblance to the letter Y, 
 with the bottom above the gape, and the fork at the eye. 
 
 VOL, i. 2 A 
 
354 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 
 
 The parts immediately adjoining are deep brown ; the chin 
 and throat are dull white, which passes into dull brownish- 
 yellow on the breast, and becomes paler again towards the 
 belly and vent ; but, with the exception of the streak over 
 the eye, the colours are all softened into each other. The 
 bill is dusky at the tip and on the upper part, and whitish 
 at the base on the under ; feet dusky brown, and the claw 
 on the hinder toe rather short, but hooked. 
 
 The sedge warbler arrives in England about the middle of 
 April, and silently, but in considerable numbers, takes pos- 
 session of the sedgy and reedy banks of streams and pools, 
 of osier holts, and of shrubs and bushes on the edges of 
 marshes and moist places. It does not inhabit the very 
 high grounds, but it appears throughout the whole range of 
 England, and partially, though perhaps only as a straggler, 
 in the southern parts of Scotland. 
 
 It is not a loud songster, but it is a very constant one ; 
 and though it sings best in the morning and towards night, 
 it may be heard at most times of the day, and not unfre- 
 quently during the night. Its song is hurried, but varied, 
 not so much in the single stave, as in its having several of 
 them, which would lead one to imagine that there are dif- 
 ferent birds : they have been compared to the notes of various 
 other birds, but the resemblance is not close. It sings in 
 the throat, and gives a sort of guttural twist to all that it 
 utters. It sings from within the reeds or the bush, from the 
 top of it, or when it is leaping from one bush to another. 
 
 The mode of building depends something upon the lo- 
 cality : if among reeds, it is united to two or three of these ; 
 if in a holt, where the young osiers do not afford convenient 
 forks, it is on the side of some stool that stands above the 
 flooding of the place ; if in a bush, it is placed in the centre ; 
 and if the only cover for the bird be rushes, the nest is 
 placed in the centre of a tuft. The materials are vegetable 
 
THE EEED WARBLER. 355 
 
 fibres and moss, with occasionally a few hairs, if the locality 
 can supply them, which is not often, so that the chief lining 
 is fine fibres of dry grass or roots. The eggs are five or six 
 in number, of a light dull brown, mottled with darker spots 
 of the same. 
 
 So far as has been observed, its food consists chiefly of 
 those winged insects which frequent humid and watery places, 
 which it captures by leaping from its perch ; but it probably 
 also picks up larvae from the leaves, although its feet are 
 not so well adapted for giving it command of itself upon 
 very flexible ones, as those of the next species. 
 
 THE REED WARBLER (Cwruca arundinaceo). 
 
 A figure of one third of the lineal dimensions is given on 
 the plate at page 354, by which the bird can be readily distin^ 
 guished from the sedge warbler. The upper part is brighter 
 and more uniformly brown, and the under part more inclined 
 to yellow. The streak on the cheek is obscure, and extends 
 only to the eye. 
 
 This bird, which has sometimes been called the reed-wren, 
 comes rather later than the other, and is more confined to 
 the southern parts of England. It is also more exclusively 
 an inhabitant of reedy places, at least in the breeding time ; 
 for it is a more active bird than the other, and sometimes 
 approaches houses before its final departure. 
 
 The nest, which is always fastened to reeds, flexible up- 
 right twigs, or upright stems of some kind, is constructed of 
 vegetable matters, well united together, and very deep, so 
 that it can bear to be rocked upon its bending supports 
 without ejecting the bird or the eggs. The eggs are four 
 or five in number, but they are easily distinguished by their 
 colour from those of the sedge warbler, even though the 
 nests should be found in similar situations. The egg of the 
 sedge warbler is smaller than that of the reed warbler, and 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 generally of a pale and nearly uniform brown, or with very 
 obscure mottling ; that of the reed warbler is very pale 
 greenish- white, closely mottled with darker green and brown. 
 
 The note of the reed warbler, though decidedly a warble, 
 consisting of a melody of several hurried notes, is a very 
 subdued warble, and heard only at short distances. 
 
 That the bird is not adapted for so many situations as the 
 sedge bird, might be inferred from the different form of the 
 tail : it is more produced, and not wedge-shaped ; so that 
 while it answers better as a balance on the bending reeds, or 
 other flexible aquatic plants, it would not be so convenient 
 among the unyielding sprays of a hedge or brake. The bird 
 rarely, if ever, perches on the top of the reeds, even on its 
 first arrival, and when the song of invitation to a mate is 
 given, its place is on a leaf, or on a leaning stem, though, 
 upon emergency, it can cling to an upright one, the stiff 
 feathers of the tail acting as a sort of prop. It is not easily 
 raised, and remains a very short time on the wing ; but it is 
 by no means timid on its perch, upon which, if very flexible, 
 it sits with its wings not quite closed, but recovered, so as 
 to have a little hold on the air, and thereby either prevent 
 its fall, or be ready, when a gust comes, to bear it to a more 
 secure footing. Its food is found wholly over the stagnant 
 waters. 
 
 By no means the worst place, in the neighbourhood of 
 London, for observing the habits of this local and very 
 interesting bird, is between Shepherd's Bush and Hammer- 
 smith. The soil there is a retentive ague-provoking clay, 
 which has not been improved in anything save perhaps 
 the herbage during drought, by the oozings of the Grand 
 Junction Canal on the height to the north. The ground 
 there has been much dug for brick earth ; water stagnates 
 in the excavations, and soon becomes thick with reeds : 
 those reeds are useful to the brickmakers in covering the 
 
SYLVAN WARBLERS. 357 
 
 hacks and clamps of bricks, as a protection from rain, and 
 also from wind, which would make the clamp burn unequally : 
 and thus the reeds are cherished as a crop. The warbler 
 does not come till the reeds are considerably advanced, and 
 it departs before they are cut ; so that it dwells in peace, 
 and especially in the mornings about the end of May and 
 the beginning of June it may be observed with the greatest 
 ease. 
 
 SYLVAN WARBLERS. 
 
 These excel the tenants of the marsh in their size and the 
 power and melody of their songs, as much as the forest and 
 the grove, from which the majority of them sing, rise above 
 the brakes and beds of reeds. They are not equal to many 
 other birds in the brightness of their colours or the liveliness 
 of their motions ; but there is a softness in their plumage, 
 and a gentleness in their expression, which at once distin- 
 guish them from the resident birds, which they resemble the 
 most in shape and colour. 
 
 With the deductions that have been made in the birds 
 that have been described, there are about nine species of 
 warblers. They are all summer visitants, nestling with us, 
 and being consequently native birds. They are also fre- 
 quenters of the warm and rich lands, more numerous on the 
 southern part of the island, and the greater part rarely or only 
 occasionally straggling into Scotland, and seldom found in the 
 more mountainous parts. The only one which has a name 
 in the original language of the Scotch Highlands, is the 
 red-start. Some prefer the close forest ; others the copse ; 
 others, again, the hedges ; and others still, the wild bush : 
 though of those that sing and seek their food in thick trees, 
 there are some that nestle on the ground, but always in 
 shady places, or otherwise under cover. 
 
 Their general characters are the bill more slender, and 
 
358 INSECTIVOIUE. 
 
 the forehead more rounded than in the aquatic warblers ; the 
 throat full and inflated while singing ; the tarsi and toes 
 slender, and the latter with the claws considerably crooked, 
 and much better adapted for perching than for walking. The 
 wings longer, -and not so much rounded as in the aquatic 
 species ; the tail in general longer than in the aquatic ones, 
 but not so much fortified by coverts, and rounded square, or 
 slightly forked (rather lobed\ according to the haunt of the 
 species. 
 
 THE RED WARBLER (CuTTUCa 
 
 As might be inferred from its boldly-contrasted plumage, 
 which, though the cause has not been satisfactorily investi- 
 gated, is always in the inverse ratio of the power of song, the 
 red warbler (called, from one of its habits, red-start) is not 
 the finest songster of the warblers, but it is one of the earliest 
 visitants, and one of those which, though not the most abun- 
 dant perhaps in any locality, is most generally distributed. 
 It is found in the richer parts of the country, and in woods ; 
 but it is not confined to those parts, and the wood is not its 
 peculiar abode. 
 
 A figure of the male in summer plumage, one-third of the 
 lineal dimensions, is given on page 354, from which it will be 
 very easy to recognize the male bird. The remarkable ex- 
 panding and closing of the tail, which is rapidly and also 
 very frequently done, is another character which, taken in 
 conjunction with the colour, cannot be mistaken. 
 
 The female is also easily known, though very different in 
 plumage from the male. The upper parts are brown, the 
 head and sides of the neck a greyish tinge, and the back 
 yellowish. The rump and tail reddish-orange, except the 
 two middle feathers, which are brown ; but neither colour is 
 so bright as in the male bird. The throat, where the black 
 is in the male, is a pale reddish-white, which passes into pale 
 
THE RED WARBLER. 3.59 
 
 reddish-orange on the breast and flanks. The light streak 
 over the eye is dull in the female, and does not reach farther 
 back than the eye. The young males have the breast 
 mottled with the colours of both male and female ; but it is 
 probable that the colour changes without a moult, although 
 in the same feather : upon mature birds, the change to a 
 darker colour is less frequent than that to a lighter one. 
 
 The red warbler is altogether about the same length as the 
 redbreast, a bird to which it bears a slight resemblance in its 
 general air ; but it is longer in the body, considerably more 
 slender, and better adapted for long flight. In form, as well 
 as in colour, it is one of the handsomest of our summer birds, 
 and it is at the same time one of the most interesting in its 
 manners. It is lighter than the redbreast, weighing less 
 than half an ounce. Its tarsi are shorter in proportion than 
 those of the redbreast, which mark it more as a bird of stony 
 places, as these in general have the tarsi short. The time of 
 its coming varies ; sometimes it appears in March, and some- 
 times not till the middle of April. 
 
 Its habits are peculiar ; and though very lively in its ap- 
 pearance and motions, it is the bird of ruins in the warmer 
 districts, as much as the wheat-ear is the bird of sepulchral 
 cairns in the wilds. Deserted houses, mouldering walls, and 
 the hollow remains of trees, are its favourite nesting-places ; 
 the nest being formed of dry moss or grass, lined wholly or 
 with a mixture of hair or feathers. The eggs are numerous, 
 sometimes as many as eight. They are of a very light, but 
 clear greenish-blue. 
 
 The bird is both familiar and shy : familiar as to general 
 hunting-place, for it visits gardens and courts, and even the 
 close vicinity of towns, and the squares and less frequented 
 streets. But it is continually hopping about, so that it is 
 not easily got sight of; and that has led to the supposition 
 that it is not so generally diffused as it really is. The 
 
360 INSECTIVOR^:. 
 
 "blink" of reddish-orange displayed by the flirt of the tail, 
 even when there is not time to notice the peculiar motion of 
 that organ, is, however, sufficient to distinguish it from every 
 other bird. 
 
 Its song is sweet, though plaintive, and has some resem- 
 blance to that of the nightingale, only very inferior in com- 
 pass and power, and audible only at a short distance. The 
 song is uttered from the perch, on a ruin, a tall post, the 
 trunk of a blasted tree, or some other situation from which 
 it can see around it ; and one who has heard the plaintive 
 strain of the red-start from the top of a ruined abbey or 
 crumbling fortalice, would be inclined to call it the bird of 
 decay, rather than the " wall-nightingale," as Bufibn did. It 
 is not a nightingale at all, even in time, for it usually begins 
 its song about the time when that of the nightingale ceases. 
 Early morn is its favourite time, but not till the dawn has 
 made considerable advances. When the males arrive, they 
 sing from elevated perches ; but after the operations of nest- 
 ing are begun, they sing lower, and always within a short dis- 
 tance of the nest. Among other birds, the song of 'the male 
 is not always easily detected, for he is partially an imitator 
 of other birds. The flirting of the tail is accompanied by a 
 very short and plaintive chirp. From the habit which both 
 birds have of hopping about, the nest is not easily discovered, 
 even though it be known to be near ; and when it is dis- 
 covered, considerable liberties may be taken with it, without 
 making the birds desert it. 
 
 As is the case with most of the other warblers, the red 
 warbler lands on the eastern portion of the south coast of 
 England. The flight of these migrants is rather from the 
 south-east than on the meridian by the Valley of the Seine 
 rather than from Brittany; and they do not land much 
 farther to the west than Dorset, and, indeed, chiefly in Kent, 
 Sussex, and Wilts, and partially on the east coast as far as 
 
THE RED WARBLER. 361 
 
 about Yarmouth. The high grounds in the midland counties 
 divide them, and the eastern divisions are in a great measure 
 stopped by the heights in Yorkshire, or on the borders of 
 Scotland. The western divisions, which are fewer in num- 
 ber, pass by the valleys of the Severn and Dee ; and as the 
 climate is more humid and productive of insects in West- 
 moreland and Cumberland than on the corresponding parts 
 of the eastern coast, they straggle farther in that way ; and 
 though interrupted by the hills in Dumfries and Galloway, 
 some of them gain the valley of the Clyde, and probably pass 
 that way into Lothian, and even farther to the north. Of 
 course, these observations do not apply equally to all the 
 warblers ; but they do apply to the red-start, which follows 
 the line of the stony places on the margin of the rich lands ; 
 and, unless there are decaying trees, it avoids the level and 
 dry plains. 
 
 Its food consists of insects and larvae, especially the larvae 
 of coleopterous insects, and the other tenants of crumbling 
 stone and rotting wood. When these are thinned by cap- 
 ture, maturity, or drought, the birds (which have generally 
 then reared their broods) come to the garden and gather soft 
 berries and other small summer fruits. Insects are, however, 
 the principal food of these birds ; and their bills are not well 
 adapted for bruising the harder seeds, although, being, like 
 those of the redbreasts, more enlarged at the base than those 
 of most of the other warblers, they are probably more capable 
 than those living upon vegetable diet. 
 
 Besides its singular vibrating motion, which appears as if 
 it took place outwards and inwards, upwards and downwards, 
 all at the same time, the tail is a curious organ, and aids in 
 very peculiar leaps or short flights. When completely shut, 
 it is rounded at the extremity, so that the bird can thread 
 intricate places, as the brake birds do. When opened a little, 
 it is slightly forked, or rather terminates in two circular lobes, 
 
362 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 so that the bird can wheel in the air ; and the sort of rota- 
 tory motion that it has, and the oblique positions in which it 
 can be exerted, enable the bird to change into an echellon 
 motion, the result of which is forward, sideways, and upward 
 or downward, all at the same time. The straight-forward 
 flight is rather rapid, and all the motions of the bird are 
 graceful. 
 
 THE BLUSH REDSTART (CuTTUCa Tethys), 
 
 Has occurred as a British straggler. It is much more rare 
 even on the continent, than the common red-start. Its 
 colours are ash and grey above, cheeks, throat, and breast 
 black, flanks dark ash, middle of the belly white, vent and 
 under coverts of the tail bright red. 
 
 THE WHITE-THROAT WARBLER (CuTTUCa 
 
 The white-throat is the best known, the most numerous, 
 and the most generally distributed, of all the warblers ; and 
 though its stave is somewhat brief, it is so unsparing in its 
 repetition, that it gives abundant quantity of no despicable 
 song. The dwelling of the white-throat is comparatively 
 humble : a hedge, a solitary bush, or, failing that, a tuft of 
 nettles, or of any other rank herbaceous plants. Still, it is a 
 bird of the rich districts, and not found in the wild and 
 elevated moors, though it migrates farther to the north than 
 any of the other warblers. 
 
 Its plumage is as sober as its dwelling is humble. The 
 bill, which is not so enlarged at the base as that of the red- 
 start, is dusky above and at the point, and light on the under 
 part. The feet are pale brown, and the irides yellowish- 
 brown. The upper part is a mixture of brown, yellow, and 
 grey, the grey more conspicuous on the sides of the head and 
 neck. The lesser wing coverts are pale brown, the larger 
 and the quills and tail feathers dusky brown, the coverts 
 
THE WHITE-THROAT WARBLER. 363 
 
 margined with rich colours, and the outer curb of the first 
 quill and the outer tail feathers, and also the tip of the latter, 
 white. The chin and throat white, passing into very pale 
 rose colour on the breast, and into white again on the belly, 
 vent, and under tail coverts. The female wants the rosy 
 tinge on the breast, has all the colours less perfect, and 
 upper part more inclining to brown. Their young are 
 browner above than the old birds, have a pale streak from 
 the gape to the eye, and the outer web of the first quill 
 reddish-brown, instead of white. The feathers on the head 
 are a little produced, and capable of a slight elevation when 
 the bird sings, so that the forenead and crown of the head 
 appear higher than in any of the other warblers. 
 
 The white-throat is not so elegantly formed as the red- 
 start, and it is about half an inch shorter and narrower in 
 the wings, in nearly the same proportion ; but it is more 
 compact, looks stronger, and weighs about the same. Its 
 attitude is different on the perch. The axis of the body is 
 more horizontal, and the neck elevated with a shorter bend, 
 which, with the produced feathers on the top of the head, 
 gives it a brisker aspect. 
 
 In the nesting season, the white-throat keeps much in the 
 retirement of its hedges and bushes, not leaving the cultivated 
 grounds, but choosing those parts of them where the cover is 
 thickest or most retired. When disturbed, the birds flit 
 about in the hedge, uttering a grating and querulous sort of 
 chirp; but when they are undisturbed, the male continues 
 his song even in the heat of the day, when most of the other 
 birds are mute. That song is sometimes given from the 
 perch, but more frequently on the wing, not during an 
 onward flight, but rising to a small elevation, and again 
 gliding slowly down. When it sings, the feathers on the 
 head are erected, and the anterior part of the throat dis- 
 tended so as to show the white very conspicuously. It sings 
 
364 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 with all its might, and when there are other birds singing 
 near, it appears to sing against them, though only when they 
 are tolerable singers. The lark or the hedge-accentor excite 
 it, but not the bunting. 
 
 The nest is loosely formed of the withered stems of those 
 annual plants which trail under hedges and bushes, lined 
 with finer fibres, or, if the place furnish them, with hairs. 
 The eggs are four or five in number, of a greyish-white colour, 
 mottled with deeper grey and dull brown. 
 
 At that season of the year when caterpillars are so apt to 
 disfigure the hedges and hedge-rows, and spoil the orchards 
 and gardens, the white-throats are very serviceable birds. 
 Caterpillars are their principal food, and the feeding they 
 collect for their young while in the nest ; and as the birds are 
 so numerous and widely distributed, the numbers which they 
 destroy are very great. But the supply of caterpillars does 
 not last beyond the nesting time; and the foliage of the 
 hedges, bushes, low trees, and other vegetables, which the 
 birds are so instrumental in preserving, become comparatively 
 barren pastures some time before the birds take their depar- 
 ture. They then throng to the gardens ; and though they 
 continue useful in the destruction of the later swarms, as 
 well as in- that of the insects which are depositing their eggs 
 in the garden plants, they levy contributions on all the early 
 small fruits. In market gardens, especially, where these are 
 interspersed with hedge-rows and patches of tangled brake, 
 they do a great deal of mischief; but still, if the service 
 which they have previously rendered be fairly thrown into 
 the other scale, it is probable that the balance of good is on 
 their side. 
 
 THE BRAKE WARBLER, OR LESSER WHITE-THROAT 
 
 garrula). 
 The lesser white-throat is a smaller bird than the other; 
 
THE BRAKE WARBLER. 365 
 
 it comes later in the season; is more local in its distribution, 
 and probably not so numerous, though, from its diminutive 
 size and its retiring habits, it is also less frequently seen in 
 proportion to its numbers. It is about an inch shorter than 
 the white-throat, and proportionably smaller in all its dimen- 
 sions ; but it is only about one-fourth less in weight, so that 
 it is stouter, and not so well adapted for flight. The weights 
 of similar birds should, of course, be as the cubes of their 
 lengths, which, comparing this bird with the white-throat, 
 would give a weight of only about two drachms and a quarter, 
 whereas it weighs rather more than three. The power of 
 flight in birds is not, however, always directly as their lineal 
 dimensions and inversely as their weight, though in birds of 
 similar habits, it approximates to that ratio ; for the power 
 of flight depends on structure, spirit, and many other elements, 
 which are not easily brought within the scope of calculation. 
 The lesser white-throat is, however, a more hideling bird than 
 the white-throat, and more sparing in the use of its wings, 
 both in migration over the country, and in common flight 
 where it does inhabit. There is no well authenticated instance 
 of its being seen in Scotland, or even to the north of the 
 midland heights in England: but still it may be in both 
 places. 
 
 The distribution of its colours is nearly the same as that 
 in the white-throat, only the whole of the under part is purer 
 white, the head and upper part are more ash coloured, and 
 the coverts are relieved with ash colour instead of rusty 
 brown. The bill is wholly dusky, the irides greyish-yellow, 
 and the feet dark smoke grey. The exterior feathers of the 
 tail are white on their outer sides, and light coloured on the 
 inner. 
 
 The bird inhabits the hedges and bushes much more closely 
 than the white-throat, and does not sing on the wing. 
 Indeed it can hardly be said to sing at all, as its note con- 
 
366 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 sists of two whistling chatters, the second delivered a little 
 more quickly than the first : but while it flits about in the 
 hedge, bush, or brake, seldom exposing itself to view, and 
 then only for a moment, it is not sparing of its voice ; and 
 on that account, it has got the appellation of " garrula" or 
 " chatterer." It is a summer bird of passage, inhabiting the 
 same places which the warblers inhabit, and having some of 
 the manners of the white-throat; but, if the name is to 
 be applied as a significant one, it cannot with very strict 
 propriety be called a warbler. 
 
 Its nest is not very unlike that of the white-throat. It is 
 concealed in a hedge or thick bush, rarely in a tuft of annual 
 herbage, formed of vegetable fibres, loosely but not clumsily 
 put together, and lined with finer fibres, generally mixed 
 with wool or hair. The eggs, which are smaller than those 
 of the white-throat, do not exceed five, of a bluish colour, 
 and mottled with ash colour and pale brown. The materials 
 of nests and the colours of eggs are not, however, very 
 certain characters of birds. It is the food that brings birds 
 to particular localities, and they must build their nests of 
 materials which those localities furnish. The depth of tint 
 and the markings of eggs also vary considerably, not only in 
 the same species of birds, but in the same nest; and it 
 would seem that, in general, those that are last deposited, 
 and especially those of a second brood, are paler than the 
 first ones. 
 
 THE WOOD WARBLER (Curruca sibilatrix). 
 
 This bird has sometimes been called the wood-wren, but 
 with very little propriety, as it has not the expression or the 
 habits of the golden-crested or fiery-crested wrens, which 
 nestle as well as hunt in the woods, and inhabit them all the 
 year round. 
 
 The wood warbler is one of the more beautiful of our sum- 
 
THE WOOD WARBLER. 367 
 
 mer visitants. The general tint of the upper plumage is a 
 soft and very peculiar shade of green, produced by the blend- 
 ing of sulphur yellow on the points, and ash grey on the basis 
 of the feathers. A streak of the same colour passes across 
 the eye; and the ear coverts are slightly tinged with it. 
 Over the eye there is a bright and well-defined streak of gam- 
 boge yellow, and the same colour appears partially on the 
 chin and sides of the neck, and the under parts of the shoul- 
 ders ; but it soon passes into pure silvery white, which, un- 
 broken by spot or stain, is the colour of the whole under part 
 of the bird, except the thighs, which are pale yellow, as far as 
 the tail feathers. This beautiful whiteness of the under part 
 preserves the bird, in some places, the local name of linty 
 white. The wings and tail are dusky brown, the coverts 
 margined with greenish, and the quills and tail feathers, 
 except the two outer ones of the latter, are margined with 
 sulphur yellow. The upper mandible is dark yellowish-brown, 
 and the under one the same colour but paler. The irides are 
 hazel, the feet greenish-brown, and the claws the same colour, 
 only a shade paler. The colours of the female bird differ little 
 from those of the male ; and even the young, before they leave 
 the nests, are so distinctly marked as to be easily distinguished 
 from the young of any other. 
 
 The shape of the wood warbler is particularly handsome, 
 light without being feeble ; and the wings and tail indi- 
 cate very considerable command of the air. The wings 
 are long, reaching when closed to nearly two-thirds the length 
 of the tail ; and the tail is slightly forked or rather lobed. 
 The length is rather more than five inches, the weight not 
 quite three drachms. 
 
 The wood warbler has sometimes been confounded, in the 
 description of authors, with the lesser petty-chaps or hedge 
 warbler, and the field warbler or willow warbler, from both 
 
368 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 of which it is however easily distinguishable in plumage, in 
 expression, and in manners. 
 
 The lesser petty-chaps is about a quarter of an inch shorter, 
 the upper part yellowish-brown, and the under dull greyish- 
 white, with some pale orange brown speckles on the sides of 
 the neck, and an obscure pale patch round the eye instead of 
 the bright streak over it. The tail and wings, especially the 
 latter, are also shorter in proportion, and they want the 
 greenish and yellow margins, the feathers being relieved with 
 yellowish-brown instead. 
 
 The lesser petty-chaps is about a quarter or three eighths 
 of an inch shorter than the wood warbler, has a brisker, or, 
 as one would say, a perter expression, and is not so elegant in 
 shape. It also perches with the axis of the body more in the 
 horizontal line, is thicker backwards, has the tail more forti- 
 fied by coverts, and shows altogether more the air of an up- 
 and-down bird, and less one of forward flight. The position 
 of the axis of the body when perching, or otherwise in a state 
 of repose, and the way in which the body of a bird tapers 
 towards the tail, are always good characters, not only in dis- 
 tinguishing one bird from another, but as indicating the habits 
 of birds. 
 
 The field or willow warbler is also easily distinguished from 
 the wood warbler. It is larger in about the same proportion 
 as the petty-chaps is less, and the tint of the back is interme- 
 diate, yellower than the petty-chaps, and not so green as the 
 wood warbler. The belly only of the field or willow warbler 
 is white. The under tail coverts, the breast, sides of the 
 neck, chin, and throat, a dull streak over the eye, the lesser 
 wing coverts, and the edges of the greater coverts, quills, and 
 tail feathers, being pale whitish-yellow. The wings reach only 
 half the length of the tail ; the tail is thicker, and the whole 
 expression of the bird is softer, but not so elegant. Neither 
 
THE WOOD WARBLER, 369 
 
 of the birds, however, has the slightest resemblance to the 
 wrens in form or in general habits, although they have both 
 got the name. 
 
 The difference in note between the wood warbler and the 
 two birds with which it has been confounded, is as perceptible 
 as the distinction in appearance. The note of the wood 
 warbler is the single syllable twee ; but it not only varies that 
 so as to make almost an octave of it, but runs the last repe- 
 tition of the stave into a peculiar hissing and whistling trill, 
 from which it has got the specific name of sibilatrix (the 
 hisser or siffler) ; and in the delivery of that the bird is agi- 
 tated in a very peculiar manner. The lesser petty-chaps has 
 also only a single note ; but it repeats that twice with dif- 
 ferent intonations, so that it has got the name of chip- 
 chop, or chiff-chaff. Indeed, it is accused of falling into 
 the habit of the people of the district which it frequents, in 
 substituting one for another of those letters that belong to 
 the same organic expression with f; being chiv-chov, chiff- 
 chaff, chib-chab, or chip-chop, according to the locality. 
 
 That is not unlikely, as birds have great flexibility of voice, 
 and great powers of imitation ; and, as there is unquestion- 
 ably an unexplained something in the air and climate of dif- 
 ferent districts which influences the pronunciation of the 
 people, it is natural to suppose, that it should also affect, not 
 the songs of birds only, but the voices of all animals. The 
 voice of a dry chink or a dry leafless tree is harsh and sharp 
 to the wind, compared with the same when they are humid ; 
 and it is open to observation, that the voices of the inhabi- 
 tants of dry places are not so soft as those of moist. Com- 
 pare Westmoreland and Cumberland with Durham and 
 Northumberland ; and compare the whole western side of 
 Scotland with the eastern; nay, compare Essex with the 
 maritime part of Somerset, and they are both champaign coun- 
 ties, though Essex is by much the drief of the two. The 
 
 VOL. I. 2 B 
 
370 INSECTIVOR^E. 
 
 provincial tones of birds are well worthy of study, not only 
 as they are curious in themselves, and might help bird- 
 fanciers to procure birds of the finest voice, and also to 
 improve that by artificial means ; but as throwing light upon 
 the very curious subject of the varieties of local pronuncia- 
 tion. The inquiry would involve, not the mere difference of 
 tone, but the difference of cadence and inflection ; the inter- 
 change of sounds both of consonants and vowels, and the pre- 
 dominance of jarring and hissing. 
 
 The note of the willow warbler is also easily distinguished 
 from that of the wood warbler it is sweet and varied, not 
 unlike that of the redbreast, but not nearly so powerful. 
 It is a murmuring note, while that of the wood warbler sounds 
 querulous. 
 
 The males of the wood warbler arrive in the south of Eng- 
 land towards the end of April, and diffusing themselves very 
 generally over the country, they reach the north in May. 
 
 They resort to the woodlands, the margins chiefly, and not 
 the depth of the forest, as they do not generally nestle in 
 trees. When they have chosen their locality, they perch on 
 the tops or points of the high branches, and begin their song, 
 labouring to win their dames by dint of glee, and often 
 twee-ing and trilling against each other, as if they would 
 shiver themselves to pieces. 
 
 The nest is usually made in the close foliage of a bush or 
 tuft, on or near the ground, or, failing such cover, in the 
 lower parts of the lateral branch of a pollard, or on the 
 branch or any other tree that affords a bush near the ground. 
 The nest is formed of dried leaves and grass, and well lined 
 with fibres and hair. In structure it bears considerable re- 
 semblance to the nest of the lesser petty-chaps, only that lines 
 with feathers, and its eggs, though of nearly the same general 
 colour, are not so much spotted, and have not the spots at 
 the larger end so much run into a zone as those of the wood 
 
THE WOOD WARBLER. 371 
 
 warbler. The ground colour is white, the markings reddish- 
 purple. The young are easily distinguished by their resem- 
 blance in tint to the old birds. 
 
 The song of the wood warbler continues during the nesting 
 time, and ceases only with the moult, at which time it is 
 partially continued by the earlier broods of the young birds. 
 During the nesting time it is often delivered during flight, 
 while the bird is rising from its perch and returning again ; 
 but it is easily distinguished from that of other birds which 
 have a similar habit in singing. 
 
 But though this warbler does not nestle in trees, it is 
 always in their vicinity; they form its pasture, and it gives 
 the preference to such as are lofty. But it is a leaf bird, and 
 not a branch bird (in which again it is altogether different 
 from the wrens); and its food consists of the caterpillars 
 which curl, roll, and otherwise injure, the leaves of deciduous 
 trees, and the flies and moths by which these are deposited in 
 the egg state, and into which they are changed. Its short 
 flights from and to the tree are no doubt made for the pur- 
 pose of discovering the retreats of those caterpillars ; and its 
 habit of thus beating round the foliage of the tree agrees 
 with its structure as being a flying and not a leaping bird, as 
 all birds are which hunt among the stems and branches. 
 
 Though this bird is not, perhaps, quite so abundant, or 
 resident so far to the north, as the lesser petty-chaps, and 
 does not come so early in the spring, or tarry so late in the 
 autumn, it is in all probability far more plentiful than is 
 generally supposed ; but it is apt to be overlooked, as there 
 is nothing very striking about it, as it does not come so close 
 to houses as many other birds, and as it is hidden even from 
 those that walk under the thick trees in the foliage of which 
 it is hunting. It is one of the most active preservers of the 
 foliage of trees ; and as such it claims the protection of all 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 the lovers of those highly useful and ornamental productions 
 of the soil. 
 
 THE WILLOW WARBLER (CuTTUCa trOcJlilus). 
 
 The description of this bird has been partially anticipated 
 in the course of that of the former. It comes a little earlier 
 than the wood wren, and is either more abundant, or, from 
 the nature of its haunts, better or more generally seen. It 
 nestles on the ground, under dry banks, or at the roots of 
 close bushes. The nest is constructed with a dome covering 
 and lateral entrance. The materials used in the external 
 parts are dry vegetable fibres, and rarely, if ever, moss. The 
 fibres of course vary with what the locality supplies ; but 
 the culms of the wild grasses of the former year, together 
 with the slender wiry leaves which have faded in the winter 
 are the predominating ones, so that the nest is externally 
 like a little clot of hay, and hence the vernacular name of 
 "hay-bird." The inner lining is downy feathers. The eggs 
 do not exceed seven : they are white with rusty brown spots, 
 thinly dispersed, except at the larger end. 
 
 The willow warbler feeds lower than the wood warbler, 
 though the character of its game is nearly the same. Hedges, 
 copses, bushes, willow beds, and other collections of deciduous 
 shrubs are its haunts ; and among these it captures larvae, 
 moths, and flies. It does not fly to a distance for discovery 
 so often as the former species; but it is very active in leaping 
 upward and downward, for which its shorter wings and its 
 more strongly fortified tail better adapt it. Its habits, in- 
 deed, resemble those of the wrens and creepers a little more 
 than the former species, as it is found running among the 
 branches, and partially on the stems. 
 
 When the males of these birds first arrive, which in the 
 south of England is very early in April, they perch on the 
 
THE HEDGE WARBLER. 373 
 
 tops of hedges, bushes, and willows, and raise their song, to 
 which there is a very peculiar prelude. First, there is a sort 
 of broken chirp, then a retiring tinkle, and after that the 
 song, consisting of three distinct notes, but modulated into 
 many more. 
 
 Like most of the early visitants, those birds come in small 
 flocks; but they separate soon after their arrival, form their 
 pairs, and commence their building, which is rather a labo- 
 rious operation. If the weather prove kindly, they go on 
 well ; but if frost set in, as it often does (on the east coast in 
 the first or second week in April), they suffer considerably 
 from the cold, and probably also from hunger : several are found 
 dead if such weather continue, and the song of the remainder 
 ceases for a time. 
 
 All the warblers, when their song has ceased, have a pecu- 
 liarly soft chirp, as they fly about, either on the wing or from 
 spray to spray; and though they resemble each other much 
 more in that than in their proper songs, yet an attentive ear 
 may distinguish them even by that. Those that have varied 
 song generally shut their single chirp by a sort of consonantal 
 turn, while the single-noted ones do not, unless their first 
 note has that sort of ending. Thus the willow warbler's 
 single note is tweet, the wood warbler's is twee; and there is 
 a shake in that of the finer warblers. 
 
 THE HEDGE WARBLER, OR LESSER PETTY-CHAPS, 
 
 (Curruca Hippolais). 
 
 The description of this bird also has been partially antici- 
 pated in that of the wood wren. 
 
 Though the smallest of our warblers, being generally about 
 four inches and a half in length, and about two and a half 
 drachms in weight, this is the most hardy, coming as early as 
 March, remaining as late as October; and, if the autumn is 
 mild, remaining as a straggler in the warmer parts of the 
 
374 INSECTIVORJE. 
 
 country all the winter. In situation and structure, its nest 
 very much resembles that of the willow warbler; but the 
 eggs are not, perhaps, quite so numerous, and the markings 
 are purple-red, which easily distinguishes them from the rust- 
 coloured markings on those of the others. 
 
 It is very abundant in all parts of the kingdom, being 
 found farther to the north, and also in more bleak and 
 exposed situations, than any of the other warblers, nor does 
 it appear to suffer like the former species from the spring 
 frosts. From the length of time that it not only remains in 
 the country, but continues in song, it probably has two 
 broods in favourable situations ; and that may account for 
 the considerable differences in size and weight that are found 
 in different specimens, and also for the fact of some remaining 
 over the winter. 
 
 In the early part of the winter it feeds upon insects, and is 
 peculiarly serviceable to those bushes and low trees which 
 are subject to have their leaves and young shoots destroyed 
 by aphides : but before it finally leaves the country, the 
 insect supply is greatly diminished ; and as it has been 
 known to eat small seeds in confinement, it probably also 
 does so naturally, in the latter part of the season. 
 
 The difference in habit of the two broods of those migrant 
 and native insectivorous birds that breed twice in the year, is 
 worthy of investigation. The supply of seeds and berries, 
 which is the kind of vegetable food to which insectivorous 
 birds first resort in the autumn, is most abundant at that 
 season, while winged insects are fewer, and there are no 
 larvae, except the birds can dig them out of wood or of the 
 ground, or seek for them in humid places, which would not 
 agree with the structure or the other habits of the sylvan 
 warblers. The second broods must, therefore, be brought up 
 differently from the first, at least they must feed differently 
 when they begin to feed themselves. Now, as difference of 
 
THE HEDGE WARBLER. 375 
 
 food has as much influence upon the character of animals as 
 difference of soil has upon those of vegetables, it would be of 
 much importance, as well in the individual history of birds 
 as in the physiology of animals generally, to see what influence 
 that difference in the early feeding has upon the future habits 
 of the bird. The probability from the analogy of domesti- 
 cated poultry is, that that treatment when young tempers 
 them more to the climate ; and that, as the country becomes 
 more and more improved by drainage and culture, those birds 
 which now retire during the winter, may remain the whole 
 year. Consequently, the appearance of those birds more 
 northerly or upland than they had wont to come, is a testi- 
 mony of what cultivation has already done towards the 
 increased productiveness and salubrity of the place, in which 
 they sport and sing for the first time. 
 
 Birds, and those insects upon which birds feed, are as true 
 to climate and fertility as the vegetable tribes are. The 
 summer butterfly or moth, and the summer bird, are alike 
 children of the sun ; and, if they come into any place in 
 which they were not previously to be found, we may rest 
 assured that some change favourable both to the subsistence 
 and the health of man has been effected there ; that some 
 diminution lias taken place in that evaporation from bog and 
 marsh which chills, stunts, and sours the vegetation, and 
 nourishes carex and rushes, with their accompanying mosses, 
 and all the elements of peat-bog, and that the earth is in 
 a condition to feel and to profit by the whole influence of the 
 season, nursing a more sweet and kindly vegetation upon 
 which the caterpillar can feed ; and where these again can 
 supply food for the warblers and their broods. 
 
 That all these birds are now spreading northward and 
 upland, there can be little doubt, independently of the greater 
 attention which (on the part of some) has been paid to the 
 feathered tribes. That alone would not explain the differ 
 
376 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 ence, for though there are now more professed students of 
 birds, the country people, from more constant labour and 
 other changes of habit, study them less than in former 
 times ; and so, if they had existed, they would have got 
 names as well as the other birds. The white-throat has 
 been " Charlie Muftie," and the hedge warbler the " white 
 wren," in the midland parts of Scotland, from time anterior 
 to record ; and there is no doubt that, if the garden warbler 
 had frequented that country in the olden time, its more 
 enchanting notes would have won it a name, especially ID a 
 land not unknown to song. There is little question that this 
 delicious songster has now penetrated to the warm glens in 
 the southern verge of the Grampians; and so the folks of 
 Scotland may make sure that they have only to cultivate 
 away till they deserve the nightingale, and they shall have 
 him and more and better. 
 
 THE BLACK-CAP WARBLER (CuTTUCa at 
 
 The black-cap warbler is one of our most delightful song- 
 sters ; and it is more abundant, more generally distributed, 
 more hardy, and less exclusively insectivorous, ttan some of 
 those which are very inferior in song. The male black-cap is 
 barely six inches in length, and about eight and three-quarters 
 in the stretch of the wings, and it weighs barely half an 
 ounce ; the female is fully six in length, and nine in breadth, 
 and weighs a little more than half an ounce ; but as the 
 birds range over a variety of soils, and are both reared and 
 subsequently fed on pastures of varied productiveness, they 
 are subject to considerable variations, both in weight and 
 dimensions. I believe it will in general be found that the 
 bird of the poorer pasture is lighter and longer in the wings. 
 It is a general law, that where an extra production of ap- 
 pendage to the cuticle is required in the same species of 
 animal, there is more than a corresponding diminution in the 
 
THE BLACK-CAP WARBLER. 377 
 
 quantity of flesh, yielded by an equal and equally nutritious 
 species of food. It has been already noticed that heat has a 
 tendency to produce those appendages ; and thus the exer- 
 tion of flying tends, in some measure, to produce or enlarge 
 the instruments of flight. 
 
 The black-cap warbler is a bird of sober attire : the male 
 has the head, from the forehead to the occiput, dull black ; 
 the rest of the upper part grey, with a tinge of dull blackish- 
 green ; the throat and breast grey, and the rest of the under 
 part pale ash grey. The bill is bluish-brown, the irides dark 
 hazel, and the naked parts leaden-grey. The quills and tail- 
 feathers are inclining to dusky, relieved with dull greenish 
 on the margins. The female has the head reddish brown, 
 and the general tint of the plumage darker, and more in- 
 clining to green than the male. The young of both sexes, 
 when first fledged, resemble the female. 
 
 The nest is near the ground, in hedges, bushes, brakes, or 
 tufts, formed loosely of dry vegetable fibres, and lined with 
 the same, and often with a few long hairs. The eggs are 
 four or five in number, pale reddish-brown, rather obscurely 
 marked with a deeper shade of the same colour and with 
 grey ; but their colour, as well as the material of the nest, is 
 subject to variation. The young black-caps are said to leave 
 the nest sooner than most other birds of the order, and they 
 and the old ones roost for some times afterwards on the same 
 perch. 
 
 Hedges, copses, bushes, and trees, but not the depth of 
 forests, are the favourite haunts of the black-cap. It seldom 
 comes till towards the end of April, and is soon dispersed over 
 the country, fluctuating to a considerable distance northward. 
 As is common with the tribe, the males come first, and feed 
 for some time on any berries that have been spared by the 
 winter birds ; at that time, it sometimes also nips off the 
 liybernacula of buds upon trees in gardens and other places, 
 
378 INSECTIVOIL'E. 
 
 though probably only those in which the eggs of insects are 
 lodged. While confined to vegetable diet, it does not sing 
 with its full power. 
 
 Its song is generally given from a high perch, or an ele- 
 vated branch, or the top twig, if the tree be not very lofty. 
 While it sings, the axis of the body is very oblique, by the 
 elevation of the head, and the throat is much inflated. While 
 the bird is trilling, in which it excels every songster of the 
 grove in rapidity and clearness, and in the swells and 
 cadences which it gives to the same trill, the throat has a 
 very strong convulsive motion, and the whole bird appears 
 to be worked into a high state of excitement. It has, indeed, 
 the wildest and most witching notes of all our warblers ; it 
 has not, certainly, the volume and variety of the nightingale, 
 neither has it the ineffably sweet chant of the garden war- 
 bler ; but its notes take one by surprise, and the changes, and 
 especially the trills, are finer than those of any other bird. 
 The song, when the bird is at rest, appears to be, by turns, 
 like those of several birds ; but it transposes them into a 
 lower or rather a minor key, and finishes off with variations 
 of its own ; and, as is the case with the works of some of the 
 more impassioned musical composers, the very genius (so to 
 speajs:) of the bird interferes with the melody, and a sort of 
 indescribable wildness is the character of the whole. 
 
 When the supply of insects, in the destruction of which, 
 while they last, the black-cap is very assiduous, fails, it levies 
 its contributions pretty copiously upon currants, raspberries, 
 and other soft fruits ; but, as is the case with most of the 
 tribe, the harm which it does is, in all probability, very small 
 in proportion to the good, as one day of the ravages of cater- 
 pillars, at the time when the black-cap is most active in their 
 destruction, would prevent the coming to maturity of ten 
 times the quantity of fruit that the bird ever consumes. 
 
 As the black-cap does not extend its winter migrations far 
 
THE GARDEN WARBLER. 379 
 
 to the southward, and as it is capable of subsisting upon 
 that vegetable food to which our residents have recourse in 
 the winter, it is probable that the whole never leave the 
 country, but that some linger during the winter in those wild 
 and lonely places of the south, where wild berries are abun- 
 dant in the brakes and hedges ; but as the lingerers of the 
 migrant species are of course less lively, and less liable to be 
 excited into song by a fine day in the winter, than those 
 resident birds which are better clothed and fitted for the 
 climate, it may remain unheeded. It has been seen in Sur- 
 rey in December, and shot in Kent in January. On the con- 
 tinent of Europe it is rare on the south of the mountainous 
 ridge that may be traced from Cape Finisterre to the moun- 
 tains of Albania ; but it is found in the Atlantic isles. That, 
 however, is no proof of its migrating thither from any part of 
 Europe. The climate of these beautiful isknds is mild, and 
 the seasons are so very uniform, that the laws both of vege- 
 table and animal life are very different from what they can 
 be expected to be in the range of a large continent, which is 
 parched at one extremity, and frozen at the other. 
 
 THE GARDEN WARBLER (Curruca liortensis). 
 
 The garden warbler, or greater petty-chaps, of which a 
 figure of the male in the summer plumage, and one-third of 
 the lineal dimensions, is given on the plate at page 354, is, 
 perhaps, a sweeter songster than the black-cap, though not 
 so wild. 
 
 The plumage of the female is not unlike that of the male, 
 only less bright, and with less of the greyish tinge which 
 appears to be the nuptial livery of the male. The young 
 have more of a yellowish-brown tinge on the upper parts, 
 the fore part below pale amber colour, and the belly and vent 
 white ; the feet also want the bluish tinge which is percep- 
 tible in the mature birds. 
 
380 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 The garden warbler is larger than the black-cap, and longer 
 in proportion in the wings: the length is more than six 
 inches, the breadth more than ten, and the weight about five 
 eighths of an ounce. It is also a more extensive migrant, 
 ranging as far as the north of Africa. In Britain, it arrives 
 about the same time with the black-cap, or perhaps a little 
 later; and as it frequents richer and warmer places, it is not 
 so generally distributed. As is the case with all the sylvan 
 warblers, it is more common in the south and south-east of 
 England, than in any other part of Britain, and it is certainly 
 not plentiful so far to the north as the black-cap; but from 
 its power of flight, it is probable that it ranges much farther 
 in that direction than has been stated by authors. I have 
 heard reports of it near Balgonie, on the Leven, in Fife, and 
 in the romantic dell between the castle of Airlie and Ruth- 
 ven, in Strathmore ; and, as these are both warm places, and 
 abound in brakes and brushwood, it is not unlikely to be 
 true, though I cannot certify the fact on my own observa- 
 tion. In Lothian it has been both heard and seen upon each 
 of the rivers Esk, which are confluent in Dalkeith park ; on 
 the Northern one, between Lasswade and Roslin, and on 
 the Southern at ISTewbattle and Dalhousie; nor is there much 
 doubt that, if looked for, it would be found in many of the 
 warmer wooded districts of the lowlands. When summer 
 migrants once cross the border, indeed when they get regu- 
 larly into Durham and Northumberland, there is much to 
 entice and little to impede them till they reach the Gram- 
 pians. It is true that the plantations are more of fir and 
 less of deciduous trees, but the number of the latter is on the 
 increase. 
 
 The hideling manners of the bird may prevent it from 
 being known, even where its song is heard. It is a hedge, 
 copse, and thicket bird, and does not, like the black-cap, sing 
 from a high perch, but from the close cover; and as that 
 
THE NIGHTINGALE WARBLER. 381 
 
 cover is in foliage all the time that it remains, it is not very 
 often seen, even by those who search for it. Its notes are 
 perhaps the softest of any that have equal volume and com- 
 pass; they want that clear silvery tone which pierces the 
 ear so much in the song of the nightingale; but they are 
 exquisite flute notes; and the whistling part of the stave, 
 which is almost as full and mellow as that of the blackbird, 
 has an unbroken swell, which is at once characteristic and 
 peculiar. 
 
 Its nest is formed in the same manner, and nearly of the 
 same materials, as that of the black-cap; but it builds more 
 exclusively on the ground, though it always chooses a cover 
 of close herbage. The eggs are about the same in number 
 as those of the black-cap, but they are easily distinguished 
 by their colour: they are pale yellowish-brown, with dull 
 brown blotches, rather crowded at the larger end, and obscure 
 over the rest of the surface. 
 
 The birds inhabit even closer^ to houses than the black- 
 caps, though they do it more stealthily. The nests are some- 
 times found in gardens; and in these cases the birds beat for 
 food in the hedges, and the male sings from them. Like the 
 others, they can subsist upon succulent vegetable food, and 
 they plunder the berries when insects cease to be plentiful. 
 They retire from Britain in September; and it does not 
 appear that any of them remain during winter, or if they do, 
 they pass their time in solitude and silence, unseen and 
 unheard ; indeed, they are not much seen at any time, unless 
 come upon by accident, or that the observer remains close 
 while they are singing. 
 
 THE NIGHTINGALE WARBLER (GuTTUCa luSCinia). 
 
 The nightingale is the most celebrated of all the warblers, 
 but it is the one of which it is necessary to say the least ; 
 
382 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 first, because its habits are so concealed, and so much has 
 been written on the subject of its song, that there remains 
 little to be added ; secondly, because there is no mistaking 
 the nightingale, as no other bird sings at the time when its 
 song has the greatest effect; and thirdly, because, though the 
 bird often sings when there is light enough to see it, it is 
 just as much concealed as during the night. 
 
 The nightingale is the largest of all the warblers, being 
 about seven inches in length, between ten and eleven in the 
 extent of the wings, and three-quarters of an ounce in weight. 
 In shape and expression it resembles the garden warbler, only 
 it seems a little softer and heavier, and its plumage is infe- 
 rior in tint. 
 
 The colours of the nightingale are : the bill wood brown, 
 with the basal end of the lower mandible pale yellowish- 
 brown, and the tarsi (which are long) and the toes of the 
 same colour; upper parts deep yellowish-brown, inclining to 
 reddish-brown ; the quills and greater coverts dusky brown, 
 with reddish-brown margins; and the tail deep reddish- 
 brown, and very slightly forked; sides of the neck, ear 
 coverts, breast, and flanks, pale ash grey, passing into greyish- 
 white on the throat and middle of the belly; an obscure 
 dusky streak passing from the gape down the side of 
 the neck, and passing imperceptibly into the grey on the 
 breast. The colours of the female are nearly the same as 
 those of the male. The nest is a simple structure, formed 
 on the ground below brakes, underwood, or hedges, com- 
 posed of withered leaves and fibres, and lined with withered 
 grass. The eggs are from four to six, of a plain olive brown, 
 often varying a little in the intensity of the tint, but without 
 markings. 
 
 The male nightingales arrive in Britain about the begin- 
 ning of May, and, as is the case with some of the other 
 warblers, they may be seen in the open places near woods 
 
THE NIGHTINGALE WABBLEK. 383 
 
 for a few days; and it is then that the bird-catchers are most 
 successful in making prize of them. 
 
 About two weeks after their arrival, they betake themselves 
 to the woods, and are soon in full song, continuing the greater 
 part of the night with little intermission, and evidently sing- 
 ing against each other. They do not sing from the very 
 depth of close forests, but from the tall and thick trees that 
 are near open places, abounding in underwood or other cover 
 upon the ground. After the incubation begins, the song is 
 less incessant, and as the broods come to maturity, it gradu- 
 ally ceases. In severe drought, it does not begin till dark, 
 and it ceases at an early hour in the morning; but when 
 the air is moist, it begins earlier, and is continued longer. 
 A very dry season, after the nesting has been some time in 
 progress, will cause it to cease altogether; but if a shower 
 comes, it will break out anew; and it will do so the more 
 readily and the more powerfully, if the shower has fallen 
 during the day, with just a blink of clear before sunset. 
 
 From their retiring disposition, the habits of nightingales, 
 in a state of nature, must always be, to a very considerable 
 extent, conjectural, because instead of being able to follow 
 them in the details of their history, it is not easy to see the 
 same one twice. I watched them very carefully for more 
 than five years, in a place where they are very abundant, 
 and at the end of that time, I was about as wise as at the 
 beginning. 
 
 It appears that the principal food of nightingales is the 
 caterpillars of night-moths, and probably also of some of the 
 night-beetles. It is the habit of these larvae to feed only, or 
 chiefly, during the night, and to retire during the day. In 
 damp weather, when vegetation is succulent, they of course 
 come out in the greatest numbers; a much shorter interval 
 suffices for the nightingale satisfying himself, or procuring a 
 meal for his mate or his brood, and then he has time to sing; 
 
384 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 but in different states of the atmosphere, the task is more 
 laborious, and then the song ceases. It is true that, even at 
 those times, a solitary one, here and there, may be heard 
 singing with all his might ; but the probability is, that that 
 is some one who has been unsuccessful in his wooing, or 
 widowed of his mate. Even in the latter case, however, the 
 song is anything but a lament. The poets have, indeed, said 
 so, and given it to the female, as the most pathetic way of 
 putting it; but poets are not the best of philosophers, and 
 the song is one of invitation, which will slacken whenever it 
 has answered its purpose. We sing in many moods; but 
 birds sing only when they are merry. It is probable that 
 the loss of the brood may also bring the male a second time 
 into song; but the subject is one upon which it is exceed- 
 ingly difficult to get accurate information. What we know 
 of nightingales, farther than that which we hear from them- 
 selves, is collected chiefly from the observation of them in a 
 state of confinement, and that can throw but little light upon 
 their habits as denizens of the wild woods. 
 
 It is just as difficult to get a fair estimate of the song of 
 the nightingale, compared with the songs of other warblers, 
 as it is to get a satisfactory account of the manners of the 
 birds. 
 
 Under every circumstance, the song is a delightful one ; 
 and, with the exception of the time at which it is heard, it 
 is perhaps the most spirit-stirring and gleesome in nature, 
 much more so than that of the skylark, though the lark has 
 the odds of the bright sun and the clear sky, against the 
 gloom of the woodland shade and the night. To hear it in 
 the morning, especially for the first time, and to be awakened 
 by it upon one of those balmy mornings in May, when every 
 leaf is freshness, and every breath young perfume, is inde- 
 scribable worth more than a whole musical festival ; but 
 yet it owes much to the time, and the absence of other 
 
TITS. 385 
 
 sounds. Every one knows how sweet the music of the waits 
 is when it breaks one's sleep in a long December night, 
 though if day were dawned, and the musicians were seen, 
 it might prove to be sorry or even intolerable scraping. 
 The song of the nightingale, heard as above mentioned (the 
 most favourable way of hearing it), borrows something from 
 the same cause, although it certainly has less need to borrow. 
 The nightingale is local, confined to the chalky, gravelly, 
 and -partially to the clayey soils, and shunning the rocky 
 country and also the marshes. The cause of this restriction 
 is rather obscure, and in all probability it is complex. The 
 places which it frequents are certainly those that abound 
 most in lepidopterous insects, whether moths or butterflies, 
 and within them it affects most the places where those 
 insects appear in the greatest abundance and variety. But 
 we are not warranted in concluding that food is the only 
 circumstance that regulates its distribution ; for within the 
 places that it does frequent, there are favourite spots, and 
 they are always those spots at which the air is most balmy, 
 and the whole vegetation the most moist and kindly. To 
 the margins of waters it has no objection, but rather the 
 reverse ; but it does not so much affect marshy grounds as 
 those where the soil is retentive, the evaporation rank, and 
 the vegetation austere. Indeed, the clearness of its song is 
 said to vary much with the character of its locality. 
 
 TITS (Parus). 
 
 Though the tits (or tit-mice) are often classed with gra- 
 minivorous birds, and have hard bills, harder, indeed, than 
 many of the species which deserve to be so classed, as feeding 
 more upon the seeds of vegetables than upon animal sub- 
 stances, yet they are not more entitled to the appellation of 
 graminivorous than some of the warblers, if, indeed, they be 
 as much. They are, in fact, omnivorous, and might, without 
 
 VOL. I. 2 C 
 
386 INSECTIVOR^. 
 
 impropriety, be placed among the birds to which that name 
 is given, only they are small birds, and insects, in some 
 stages of their existence, form their chief food 
 
 It may seem a very secondary matter, in so far as popular 
 and practical knowledge is concerned, in what part of the 
 system any genus of birds may happen to be placed ; but in 
 the case of the tit it is not unimportant. A bird that eats 
 seeds is a marked bird with the cultivator. Whenever it 
 makes its appearance on the ground in gardens, it is in quest 
 of the newly-sown small seeds ; and if it happens to twitter 
 about among the sprays in the spring, then it is nipping off 
 the buds, and destroying the beauty of the summer, and the 
 wealth of the autumn. The tits do come to those places at 
 those times : and though they come to preserve rather than 
 to destroy, they come with the brand of seed and bud eating 
 birds affixed to them, and, as such, they are destroyed. 
 Justice to the birds, and also to those who unwisely persecute 
 them thus, demands that they should be called by the name 
 of that food to which they are most partial, or in search of 
 which they are not only more assiduous and successful, but 
 employed more in the proper season, than many of the birds 
 which stand on the muster-roll as insectivorous, and especially 
 more than any of the warblers. These retire, leaving the 
 insects to deposit their eggs in the buds ; and before they 
 return, these eggs have been hatched, and the mischief both 
 to shoot and blossom has been done. The tits, on the other 
 hand, watch the buds, more especially the fruit buds, from 
 the time of their formation in the autumn, till they begin 
 to expand in the spring ; and the number of the eggs and 
 larvae of the tortrices and other insects which they pick up, 
 would, if left, be quite sufficient to ruin the crops and dis- 
 figure the trees. 
 
 The larvae of those lurking moths not only do mischief 
 themselves, but are also the cause of mischief being done 
 
TITS. 387 
 
 by others. The injury which they do to the young buds, in 
 the very cores of which they batten, gradually brings on 
 that languid action in the tree, in consequence of which the 
 influence of the sun, which, in healthy plants, would bring 
 out a rich and luxuriant foliage, induces a saccharine con- 
 dition of the sap, which fosters the congregating caterpillars, 
 so that they appear upon the tree in swarms, secure, during 
 the day, in their silken tents, but eating voraciously at night, 
 till not a particle of green is left ; so that if the tree does 
 not perish, it remains actionless for the year. 
 
 Nor is the mischief confined to the leaves ; for, without 
 their action, the sap does not change into a healthy cambium, 
 fit for producing the new layers of wood and of bark, which 
 when a tree ceases to produce, its decay is begun. The 
 whole active surface of the tree thus becomes saccharine, and 
 is infested with swarms of insects of different kinds, down 
 to the very roots; and in the course of the summer, the 
 bole and branches become full of ulcerated and cankering 
 sores ; half the top dies, branch after branch, and the 
 miserable remnant of the erewhile fruitful and ornamental 
 tree becomes equally unproductive and unsightly. 
 
 When a tree is thus attacked, its recovery is always doubt- 
 ful, and generally hopeless. Wood and bark that have stood 
 more than one winter, are much less fit for vegetable action, 
 even though they have received no direct injury, than when 
 they have stood only one. But in a tree which has been 
 injured as above described, the continuity of even the stif- 
 fened vessels is broken, and the new production, even if the 
 tree lives, is wasted in unsightly gnarls and knobs, which 
 give further shelter and protection to insects, and also form 
 lodgments for water, which stagnates and rots the wood. 
 Heading down and grafting is generally only loss of time 
 and labour ; and the diseased remains inoculate other trees. 
 
 Such would be the natural course with most trees, and 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 with all the finer fruit trees, especially if the buds were not 
 cleared by birds ; and among these birds, the garden-fre- 
 quenting tits stand as eminent as rooks do among those 
 larger birds which clear the fields from insects. Indeed, 
 different as they are in size and in many of their characters, 
 the tits and the crows resemble each other not a little in 
 the form of their bills, as well as in their miscellaneous and 
 indiscriminate feeding, and also in the firmness and strongly 
 contrasted tints of their plumage, and their disposition to 
 kill and eat young and weakly birds. 
 
 The bills of the tits much more nearly resemble miniatures 
 of the bill of the magpie than they do that of either of the 
 insectivorous or the seed-eating little birds. They are small, 
 short, rather compressed, very firm and strong, and pointed 
 at the tip. The birds have very free, and, in proportion to 
 their size, powerful action of the neck, and they strike with 
 the point of the bill as with a pick-axe or chisel, and do not 
 peck or strike as the insectivorous birds do, or grind hard 
 substances between the oblique tomia, like the birds which 
 feed on grain. 
 
 By this action of the beak, they can dig very successfully 
 into the crevices of bark, or the folds and hybernacula of 
 buds, and extract thence the larvae, of which they are such 
 incessant and general destroyers. When they eat seeds which 
 have hard testa or coats, they do not crush them, but tear 
 them in pieces by repeated strokes of the bill, as is done by 
 the nuthatch ; and they also kill young and weak birds by 
 striking them on the head till they have broken the skull, the 
 contents of which they immediately devour. Some of their 
 habits, and also the command which those species that fre- 
 quent trees have of themselves upon the bark, would lead to 
 their classification with the creepers and nuthatch, only their 
 feet are different, and they have other habits that do not be- 
 long to those birds. They also capture prey by the snap of 
 
THE GREAT TIT. 389 
 
 the bill, and some of them are very successful fly-catchers and 
 bee-eaters. 
 
 Their flying feathers are very firm and stiff; the wings 
 rather rounded, the third or fourth quill being the longest, 
 and the first in some of the species merely rudimental. The 
 tails are in general strong and stiff; so that those species 
 which hunt on the bark of trees, can use them as supports ; 
 and they are more or less produced, and square or forked, 
 according to the habit of the species. 
 
 In fact, the tits have habits of so mixed a character, that 
 they do not accord well with any of the orders into which the 
 feathered tribes have been arranged; though, as insects form 
 their prevailing food, they may perhaps, in the present state 
 of the science, be with more propriety classed with the insec- 
 tivorse than with any other order. Their very name has been 
 objected to by some. Not the syllable tit, which is so general 
 in its meaning that it might be applied equally to any genus 
 of neat little birds ; but the syllable mouse, which is as 
 descriptive of their habits as the name of a quadruped can 
 be of the habits of birds. One regrets the introduction into 
 natural history of that small verbal criticism, which has no 
 sense or meaning even in an etymological sense ; because, 
 when the public find that the professors of any science 
 are merely triflers, it is difficult to prevent them from con- 
 cluding that the science itself is a trifle, and avoiding it 
 accordingly. 
 
 There are eight species of tits enumerated as British birds ; 
 and they are probably all resident, though some of them are 
 much more common and generally distributed over the coun- 
 try than others ; but there is one species about the habits of 
 which, as a British bird, very little is known. 
 
 THE GEEAT TIT (Parus major). 
 The great tit, ox eye, or torn tit, (the latter name is. also 
 
390 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 given to others of the genus,) is a woodland bird, very general 
 in all parts of Britain where trees abound, but rare on the 
 open champaigns, and unknown in the open wastes. It is 
 bright and well marked in its plumage, handsome in its form, 
 and brisk and lively in its manners ; and altogether one of 
 the most easily distinguished, most beautiful, and most ener- 
 getic, of our forest birds. 
 
 When full grown, its length is about five inches and a half, 
 the extent of its wings about eight and a quarter, and its 
 weight about an ounce and a quarter. Its air has a consider- 
 able resemblance to that of the magpie ; but its motions are 
 much quicker. The bill is stouter and more produced than 
 that of any of the other species ; both mandibles are curved 
 in their outline, and the upper one is very strong at the 
 tip. 
 
 The bill and claws are black ; the latter strong in propor- 
 tion to the size of the bird, and the hind claw is long and 
 strong, and much crooked. The irides are black, and the feet 
 and toes blackish-grey. The colours are black, olive green, 
 bluish-grey, sulphur yellow, and white, rich in their tints, 
 glossed with reflections in the male bird, and disposed in the 
 following manner : the head and throat, as far as the middle 
 of the neck, glossy black with some purple reflections, and 
 the black continued in a mesial line down the under part, as 
 far as the lower part of the belly. A bright white patch on 
 each check, pointed at the gape, passing under the eye, and 
 rounded at the other extremity, but with the black forming 
 a sort of collar beyond them on the sides of the neck. A 
 patch of pure white on the nape. The back and shoulders 
 olive green, passing into bluish-grey on the rump and the 
 tail and wing coverts. The greater coverts with white tips, 
 which form a bar across the wing. Quills deep greenish- 
 grey, the primaries edged with greenish-white, and the 
 second with greenish-grey. Tail dark greenish-grey, with the 
 
THE GREAT TIT. 391 
 
 exterior webs of the outer feathers white. Under part, with 
 the exception of the black mesial line, sulphur yellow ; and 
 the under tail coverts white. The colours of the female are 
 similar, only less brilliant in their tints. 
 
 The great tit has a chattering rather than a singing voice ; 
 but it has considerable flexibility of utterance. As it hunts 
 in the trees, its chatter though not loud is harsh and grating, 
 resembling that which is produced by the filing of iron ; but 
 in the pairing time it has a note not very dissimilar to that 
 of the chaffinch ; and the alternation of the note with the 
 chatter, makes a sort of rude song, but that song continues 
 only for a short time. 
 
 The birds pair in February, and soon after retire to a little 
 greater distance from houses than that at which they are 
 found in the cold weather ; but they may still be found in 
 gardens and copses, though they keep more in the close 
 foliage than many other birds. 
 
 As, during summer, trees are the abode and pasture of the 
 great tits, they prefer holes in trees as nesting-places, when 
 these are to be found in their locality ; and if the tree be in 
 a state of dew, so that it can be chiselled by the stroke of 
 their bills, they trim., and probably sometimes wholly exca- 
 vate, nesting-plices for themselves. If the trees do not afford 
 a proper place, they will nestle in the holes of walls, and 
 trim the mortar if there, to suit their purpose ; and in young 
 plantations which afford neither, they sometimes form their 
 nests in the thick herbage which surrounds the root of a 
 young fir ; but in these they nestle less frequently than in 
 the others. Th3 quantity of materials in the nest varies with 
 the situation. In a deep hole of a tree, which is warm and 
 sheltered, there Is sometimes little else than chips of wood 
 which the birds Jtave detached ; but in more exposed situa- 
 tions the nest is formed of moss, and lined with hair and 
 feathers. The ejgs are numerous, often as many as ten or 
 
392 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 twelve, and seldom fewer than eight ; they are white, mottled 
 with rust colour, especially towards the thicker ends, and 
 bear much resemblance to those of the nuthatch, only they 
 are more numerous, and the ground colour has a slight yel- 
 lowish tinge. There are often two broods in the year, so that 
 the birds have a laborious summer. The young come out of 
 the egg in a much less advanced state than many other birds. 
 They are blind, and remain so for a few days ; but as they 
 eat heartily, and both parents are equally industrious in 
 feeding them, they grow fast, and in the course of two or three 
 weeks they are able to fly. The brood are of a social dispo- 
 sition, and continue hopping about in the trees adjoining the 
 nest till the moult, which takes place in about six weeks. 
 When spring comes, the family society breaks up by the 
 pairing of the young : the pairs are very attached and atten- 
 tive to each other. It is supposed that the attachment is 
 for life ; and that if they are not disturbed, they use the 
 same nest for many successive broods. Both Mrds assist in 
 the building of the nest, and also in the incubation. The 
 two hatches, and the number and voracity of the young in 
 each, keep the birds fully employed during summer, so that 
 they have less time for sport than many of their fellow- 
 tenants of the trees. As, during that period, they are wholly 
 insectivorous, the number of insects and lar\0e of which they 
 clear the trees is very considerable ; and luring the time 
 that the young birds are in rapid growth, the activity and 
 industry of the old ones are worthy of admiration. They are 
 in continual motion, now running along the branches, again 
 leaping from twig to twig so swiftly that tieir motions can 
 hardly be discovered, and ever and anon datting out a little 
 to catch any winged insect that may happe(i to come within 
 the range of their very acute vision. ID extracting their 
 smaller prey from the chinks of the bark, the great tits, in 
 all probability, use the tongue as a prehensie instrument, for 
 
THE GREAT TIT. 393 
 
 the point of it terminates in four filaments, by which a very- 
 small object could be embraced. It is also probably used in 
 picking aphides from the leaves and tender shoots. 
 
 Trees growing near rank places are preferred to those that 
 stand upon a clear surface, as they abound more in t insects; 
 and the great tits may often be seen watching an opening 
 through which there is a current, or even attacking the bees 
 as they leave or return to a hive ; but the little thieves are 
 so clever that, even on the latter occasions, one can hardly 
 bear to drive them off. 
 
 When the house-flies become languid in the autumn, the 
 tits capture them in vast numbers : and when insects fail, 
 they make prize of the autumnal spiders. In the dead sea- 
 son, when insect life is chiefly in the egg, though they hunt 
 for the eggs with great diligence, yet they do not find in 
 them a sufficient supply of food. At that time, they pick up 
 nuts, acorns, and the capsular fruits of other trees, hold them 
 in their claws, and hammer away with the bill, till the hardest 
 shell or toughest capsule is opened. They also eat the seeds 
 of the grasses, especially those that are of an oily nature, and 
 of such size that they can hold them with the foot, and pick 
 them open, for they do not grind or bruise with the edges of 
 the bill. They feed greedily upon carrion ; and when they 
 come upon other birds in a benumbed or exhausted state, 
 they dispatch and eat them, first breaking and then emptying 
 the skull. 
 
 When the snow lies heavy on the ground, they approach 
 houses, and hunt about for any offal that may come in their 
 way. They are very partial to thatched roofs, as numbers of 
 the insects which remain dormant in the winter hide them- 
 selves there. The birds cling to the eaves with their back 
 undermost, and draw out the straws very dexterously and 
 expeditiously one after another, scrutinizing the whole length 
 as it passes ; and dropping them as soon as they are cleared, 
 
394: INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 or it is discovered that they present nothing eatable. So 
 successful are they in that operation, that they soon bring 
 out a heap of thatch ; and, though that is of course no part 
 of their purpose, assist in forming a nestling place for the 
 sparrows. They also sometimes draw straws from corn- 
 stacks ; but they do that much more rarely than some of the 
 birds which feed more exclusively upon vegetable matters. 
 "While engaged in these labours they continue repeating their 
 grating cry; but as soon as the weather begins to relent, they 
 resort to the trees, preparatory to the labours of the summer, 
 which, in their case, is no idle time. 
 
 THE COLE-TIT (Parus ater). 
 
 The cole -tit is a woodland bird, as well as the former 
 species ; but it inhabits colder places, where the trees are of 
 more stunted growth, and is also more abundant in copses 
 and young plantations on the margins of the wilds. It is 
 found in all the wooded parts of Scotland, even to a consider- 
 able height in the mountain glens ; and is indeed much more 
 abundant in that part of the island than in England. In 
 both countries, perhaps, it has been confounded with another 
 species ; that which is, not with the strictest propriety per- 
 haps, called the marsh tit. But though the two are often 
 found as neighbours, their appearance, their habits, and their 
 haunts, are all perfectly distinct. The cole-tit has the black 
 on the head extending to the lower part of the neck, but pied 
 with three bright and very conspicuous patches of white; 
 an oblong one from the gape to the lower part of the neck, 
 on each side, pointed forward at the upper extremity and 
 backward at the lower, and in some positions of the head 
 extending to the white on the shoulder, and one on the nape 
 wholly within the black at the lower edge. The black on 
 the head of the marsh-tit does not come below the eye, but 
 forms a remarkably well-defined cap extending from the bill 
 
THE COLE-TIT. 395 
 
 to the nape ; and the black on the throat is much narrower, 
 so that it is visible only in certain positions. In the cole-tit 
 the head is rather flattened on the crown, while that of the 
 marsh species is a full and remarkably graceful curve. The 
 other colours are equally different, but there is sufficient to 
 distinguish the species both in the males and the females, as 
 the sexes differ little from each other in their plumage. 
 
 The cole -tit sings, and the marsh one is comparatively 
 silent, or at least only chatters. The song of the cole-tit is 
 not indeed one of many notes, or of mellifluous inflexions ; it 
 is little else than the same note repeated four or five times, 
 but with so much variety of pitch and tune as to form a sort 
 of cadence, which would make a good variety anywhere, as it 
 is shrill and clear, and one which is particularly welcome and 
 cheering in those mountain woods which the summer warblers 
 but rarely visit. The bird sings in the noontide heat, when 
 most birds, and especially those *on the open wastes, with 
 which the haunts of this species are usually interspersed, are 
 silent. While the cole-tit is singing away in the plantation 
 of half-grown pines, often heard, but seldom seen, the marsh 
 species may be seen flitting about among the long and fragrant 
 broom which often grows thick in the neighbourhood ; but 
 as the one is heard while the other is seen, that causes them 
 to be sometimes confounded. 
 
 As the cole-tit is found, though in very different degrees 
 of abundance, in most wooded parts of the country, and (to 
 my observation) least plentifully in the richer and more 
 humid districts, it is not easy to say what description of 
 woodland is its favourite locality. I should feel inclined to 
 say, in fir plantations, upon places that are rather elevated 
 and dry, and while the trees are so young as to be closely 
 branched nearly to the ground, or on the outskirts of the 
 natural forests, where the trees are more apart than in the 
 
396 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 centre, and never so completely lose their lateral branches, 
 and where young ones have space and air to spring up. 
 
 In a fir plantation, which is neither so low as to partake 
 of the mushroom growth of pines (especially pinus sylvestris) 
 upon too rich soils, or too inland and upland, there is a suc- 
 cession of birds. Linnets and other brake birds come to 
 them as long as they are mere bushes ; but the note of the 
 cuckoo is not heard in them. After a while, the cole-tit 
 becomes one of their most plentiful inhabitants ; and by that 
 time the cuckoo perches and sings on the margin. A few 
 years longer, and the^ ring-dove moans in the tops of the 
 trees, which have then begun to open towards the surface of 
 the ground, and the cover for the brake birds, and nesting- 
 places for all birds that breed hideling and near the earth, 
 are gone. The cuckoo is then heard less frequently, unless 
 there are coppices of deciduous trees, or young pines come 
 up in succession, in the vicinity. If the trees form a belt 
 between rich grounds, the magpie, though he loves the 
 a home " trees better, will sometimes come a little after the 
 wood-pigeon ; and if the plantation is deep and secluded, the 
 jay will, perhaps, come a little earlier. To all these succeeds 
 the rook, which nestles in the mature trees, with the long 
 boles clear of branches, and he quits them not till they are 
 cut down or perish in the lapse of time. 
 
 The cole-tit is usually described as nestling in the holes of 
 trees and of walls; but in the above-mentioned places, which, 
 as they are those in which the birds are most abundant, must 
 be considered as the most natural to them, there are no such 
 holes in which they can nestle. Walls there are none ; and 
 pines do not fall into holes in which birds of any kind could 
 nestle. When they do decay, it is always first in the albur- 
 num, and they are generally barked and bleached before 
 then. In these situations it nestles something in the same 
 
THE COLE-TIT. 397 
 
 manner as mice nestle; but not in their holes, because young 
 pine plantations upon erewhile moors being but bare pastures 
 for murine quadrupeds of any sort, there are not many mice 
 in them. The nest is in the close shrubby vegetation near 
 the ground, formed externally of moss and wool, and lined 
 with hair. Where there is no cover of underwood, it, of 
 course, must build in other places ; and, as it always hides its 
 nest, the holes of walls and of trees are, no doubt, the best 
 and readiest places that it can find. The eggs in a hatch 
 vary from four to ten; they are of a purer white than those 
 of the great tit, but mottled in the same manner. 
 
 The birds come less frequently near houses than the former 
 species, and when they do they are not so shy, though they 
 are to the full as quick and lively in their motions. Their 
 food is not quite so well known; but their bills are so well 
 adapted for digging into the fissures of bark (and these appear 
 very early on pines towards the roots), and their air and 
 expression so much resemble those of the fly-catchers, that 
 insects and larvae must form their chief food in the summer, 
 and probably they dig out the larvae that burrow in the 
 bark in winter. 
 
 The cole-tit is a very small bird, the length being not 
 quite four inches and a half, and the weight little more than 
 half an ounce. The wings stretch seven inches. The bill, 
 head, and neck, with the exception of the patches of white on 
 the cheeks and neck, are deep glossy black. The upper part 
 of the breast, and the shoulders in a line bordering the black, 
 are white, passing into yellowish-white in the lower part, 
 and deepening in the yellow tint, and tinged with grey 
 towards the rump. Back and scapulars (from the white 
 margin) greenish-grey, wing coverts bluish-grey, with pale 
 ash-coloured tips to the feathers forming two bars on the 
 wing. The colour of the back passing gradually into a 
 yellowish-grey on the rump. Quills and tail feathers ash 
 
398 INSECTIVORJE. 
 
 grey, the former with the margins paler : feet and toes bluish- 
 grey. The tail is a little forked, and stouter in proportion 
 than that of any other of the genus. 
 
 THE MARSH-TIT (Parus palustris). 
 
 The marsh-tit is one of those birds which, from seeking 
 their food under cover of brakes, copses, and other under- 
 wood, and being seldom on the wing, except while flitting 
 from bush to bush, and otherwise hideling.in their habits, 
 are sometimes described as being much less abundant than 
 they really are. 
 
 It is about the same length in the body as the cole-tit, but 
 the tail is at least half an inch longer, the body is thicker, 
 and the weight one half more, or about three drachms, the 
 other being about two. The wings, too, are an inch longer, 
 being at least eight inches in extent. 
 
 The plumage is more downy and free from gloss than that 
 of the former species ; and the black on the head is not so 
 deep, though, from being entire and having no lustre, it shows 
 better. The bill is dusky, the head, as far as the nape and 
 eyes, and the centre of the chin, black. The rest of the 
 upper part smoke grey, with a slight yellowish tinge; the 
 under part cream colour, with traces of pale brownish-buff. 
 The wings and tail feathers bluish-grey, with the margins a 
 shade lighter. The feet and toes bluish-grey. The colours, 
 and also the lustreless surface, which makes them appear the 
 same in all lights, are sober and soft, with the exception of 
 the well-defined black-cap on the head, but they harmonize 
 very pleasantly ; and as the shape of the bird, especially that 
 of the head and neck, is very handsome, there are really 
 few more classically beautiful birds in the brake. 
 
 Its haunts appear to be different in different parts of the 
 country, those in which it finds tall brakes or low copses ; 
 but it can hardly be considered as a marsh bird. It is found 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 399 
 
 in broom brakes and in copses of deciduous trees, and rarely 
 in furze or other prickly evergreens. A hollow stump near 
 the ground is preferred for the nest, and as that is abundant 
 in willow grounds, and also in the stools of oak copses that 
 are cut for bark, it is found among them ; but finding a tree 
 fit for its accommodation, it nestles in the thick of the bushes; 
 and in the broom its nest is found near the roots. The nest 
 is formed of moss and vegetable down, the latter, of course, 
 varying with the haunt. The eggs are about the same in 
 number as those of the cole-tit, but a little larger, and the 
 spots more numerous and rather closer together at the thick 
 ends. 
 
 In summer, these birds consume a great number of flies, 
 bees, wasps, moths, and all winged insects generally ; and 
 when the animal supply fails, as the birds do not resort so 
 much to the holes, high branches, and buds of trees, as most 
 others of the genus, they feed more on seeds, especially those 
 of the composite flowers ; but they also resort to the farm- 
 yards in winter, and do not refuse carrion or any other animal 
 garbage, if it comes in their way. 
 
 THE LONG-TAILED TIT (PttTUS Caudatus). 
 
 This species (which, from the peculiar form of its nest, is 
 called the bottle-tit, or bottle-torn, though these names are 
 local, and have little truth of application) is the smallest, 
 but, at the same time, one of the most active and beautiful of 
 the genus. 
 
 The whole length of the bird is about five inches and a half, 
 of which the tail occupies three ; so that the body is really 
 shorter than that of any other British bird j but it is thick 
 and firm in proportion to the length, and the weight is nearly 
 equal to that of the cole-tit. The bill is very short, and as 
 the feathers on the head are rather produced, it appears 
 shorter than it really is j and the lively attitude and peculiar 
 
400 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 markings of the plumage give it a fiercer aspect than any of 
 the others. The bill and feet are dusky, inclining to black ; 
 and the irides dark hazel, with a ring of reddish-orange 
 margining the orbit of the eye. From the bill to the nape 
 there extends a prominent band of white feathers, which are 
 pointed, and stand half erected, hiding anteriorly the nostrils 
 and basal part of the bill, and more or less tinged with rose 
 colour towards the nape, and less or more marked with grey 
 or dusky at the tips. Below these there is an arch of black 
 feathers, pointing upwards, which extend from a little before 
 the eye to the nape, where they meet, and the black con- 
 tinues on the anterior part of the shoulders, and along the 
 middle of the back, in a line gradually diminishing in breadth. 
 Around the eye, a radiated patch of white, narrow between 
 the eye and the gape, but extending, with pointed feathers, 
 backwards on the cheek, downwards on the side of the neck, 
 and forwards to the throat, till it blends with the white upon 
 that and the breast. The feathers on the throat are rather 
 produced and pointed, and some of them marked with grey or 
 dusky on the points. The sides of the back and the scapulars 
 are pale rose red, with some of the feathers margined with 
 white, and others with black or dusky on the central parts. 
 The quills are black, and the secondaries black or dusky, 
 margined with white. The white on the throat and upper 
 part of the breast passes into pale ash grey, which is more 
 or less blended with pale rose colour, especially on the flanks, 
 but partially along the whole of the under part, as far as the 
 under tail coverts. The tail, which is as remarkable for its 
 straightness as for its length, has the four middle feathers 
 entirely black, and longer than fche rest, and the others mar- 
 gined with white on their outer webs, and white at the tips, 
 excepting the two next the black ones, which are white at 
 the tips only. 
 
 The sexes very much resemble each other in their plumage, 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 401 
 
 but the colours in different individuals are subject to con- 
 siderable variation. Tn some, the dark arch over the eye is 
 wanting, and in others the greater part of the cheeks is 
 dusky, with only a few white feathers radiating from the eye. 
 But the form and size of the birds are so peculiar, that they 
 are at once known from every other species, whatever may be 
 their colour. 
 
 They are tree birds, or more strictly bush birds, and keep 
 so closely to their cover, that they appear much less nu- 
 merous than they really are. That is not owing to any 
 deficiency in wing ; for though the wings are short in pro- 
 portion to the tail, they are not so in proportion to the 
 weight of the bird. 
 
 The flight is vigorous for such small birds, and the length 
 of tail gives them a very peculiar appearance. 
 
 Long-tailed tits are among the most active and even 
 laborious of birds ; and diminutive as they are in size, they 
 are so well knit in their little bodies, that it appears as if no 
 degree of fatigue could wear them out. Their food appears 
 to be the very smallest species of insects in the hedges and 
 copses; and though the number of these be great, the indi- 
 viduals are so minute, that it requires many of them to form 
 a meal even for a long-tailed tit. The birds are accordingly 
 incessantly in motion among the twigs the live-long day, arid 
 never use their wings in sportive flight, but in leaping from 
 spray to spray, or posting from bush to bush. Saw-flies and 
 their larvae, and eggs, aphides, ants, small spiders, and gene- 
 rally all the minute creatures with which the twigs and 
 branches swarm in summer, constitute their food at that 
 season of the year; and as the first races of these make 
 their appearance, even with a mid-day gleam, in the very 
 early part of the season, and continue race after race, till the 
 very latest period of the autumn, there is plenty for the 
 birds for at least nine months of the year, only that plenty 
 
 VOL. I. 2 D 
 
402 INSEOTIVORJE. 
 
 is not procurable without incessant activity. When the 
 insects in the larva or the winged state and the little spiders 
 fail, there still remains a plentiful supply of eggs ; and the 
 absence of the leaves makes the niches in which these are 
 concealed, whether that be a silken nest or a gummy case, 
 much more easily seen than during the season of even that 
 decaying verdure in which the eggs are deposited. Thus, the 
 concealment of the leaves, while the germs of broods for the 
 future year are committed to the trees, is of advantage both 
 to the preyers and the prey. While the foliage remains, the 
 birds cannot easily find the eggs ; and thus they are obliged 
 to hunt for the grown insects, many of which they capture 
 merely in time to save them from perishing in the course of 
 nature, which they in general do very soon after the eggs are 
 deposited. The insects are so much more numerous than 
 the birds, that notwithstanding the captures which these 
 make, the eggs that are deposited would produce probably a 
 hundred times more than the stock of the former year ; and 
 minute as the individuals are, and few as are all the races 
 that are found in the haunts of the long-tailed tit, as com- 
 pared with those in the whole country, yet, if the whole 
 deposit of one year were to come to maturity, the injury 
 which they would do to vegetation would be very great, and 
 their numbers would bring about their own extermination ; 
 but when the leaves and herbage, under cover of which the 
 eggs are deposited, are in the course of nature cleared away, 
 as many of these are disclosed to the acute vision of the bird 
 as serves for a winter supply ; and in procuring that, the 
 birds display the same energy, and the same curious atti- 
 tudes, as the crested wrens, with which they are not 
 unfrequently found in company. 
 
 It is probable, however, that though the bird is a little 
 larger than the golden-crested wren (it is very nearly the 
 same as the fiery-crested), it feeds upon smaller prey. From 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 403 
 
 the centre of the eyes to the tip of the bill, is only four- 
 tenths of an inch, while that in the golden-crested wren is 
 one-half more, or six-tenths. Hence it is probable that in 
 its vision, the long-tailed tit is the most microscopic of 
 birds. Now it accords with analogy, and with observation, 
 as far as that can be carried, that the shortest focal length 
 of the eye, that at which minute objects can be distinctly 
 seen, is never much longer (if longer at all) than the distance 
 from the eye to the tip of the bill ; and nearer than that 
 would be useless. 
 
 Hence we have a very easy means of judging of the 
 relative power of vision in those birds which feed upon very 
 small substances, and which, being hard-billed, as the tits 
 are, or not having the bill covered with a sentient mem- 
 brane, or the nasal groove continued to the point of it, as is 
 the case in that most singular of all birds, the apteryx, or 
 wingless bird, of New Zealand, must feed wholly, or chiefly, 
 by sight. 
 
 In the average of human eyes, of good formation, and in 
 a healthy state, the common focal distance for small objects, 
 such as for reading very small print, is about seven inches 
 and a half; and the microscopic distance, such as that at 
 which a very delicate engraving is examined (and that 
 requires a little time for the adjustment of the eye), is about 
 one-third less, or five inches. The bird must often strike 
 its prey without any time for adjustment, and therefore the 
 distance from the eye to the bill may be taken as the ordi- 
 nary short focal length; but call it microscopic, and the 
 magnifying power in line being inversely as the focal longth, 
 the lineal dimensions of an object seen by the long-tailed 
 tit will be, to that of the same seen by the human eye, as 
 five inches to four-tenths of an inch, or as twelve and a half 
 to one. The surface will of course be as the square, or as 
 156-} to 1 ; and the body, or solid of an object, as the cube, 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 
 
 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 or 1953| to 1. Thus an aphis, or any other small insect 
 that can come wholly within the field of vision, will appear 
 very nearly as large to the long-tailed tit as two thousand of 
 the same would do to the human eye. 
 
 As the subject is one of considerable interest, and not 
 generally noticed by authors, it may not be amiss to state 
 the relative magnifying powers, as compared with the human 
 eye, of the eyes of some of the other birds that subsist chiefly 
 by picking their prey from the bark and the buds of trees. 
 
 RELATIVE MAGNIFYING POWERS OF THE HUMAN EYE AND THE 
 EYES OF BIRDS. 
 
 
 Focal 
 Length. 
 
 Line. 
 
 Surface. 
 
 Bulk. 
 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Times. 
 
 Times. 
 
 Times. 
 
 Man (standard) . . 
 
 5- 
 
 I- 
 
 1- 
 
 1- 
 
 Green Wood-pecker . 
 
 2-25 
 
 2-2 
 
 4-84 
 
 10-648 
 
 Nuthatch .... 
 
 1- 
 
 5- 
 
 25- 
 
 125- 
 
 Wryneck .... 
 
 85 
 
 5-8 
 
 28-64 
 
 166-112 
 
 Creeper, and Large Tit 
 
 7 
 
 7-1 
 
 50-11 
 
 355-781 
 
 Crested Wrens 
 
 6 
 
 8-3 
 
 68-89 
 
 571-787 
 
 Cole Tit 
 
 5 
 
 10- 
 
 100- 
 
 1000- 
 
 Blue Tit 
 
 45 
 
 11-1 
 
 123-21 
 
 1367-631 
 
 Long-tailed Tit . . 
 
 4 
 
 12-5 
 
 156-25 
 
 1953-125 
 
 This table will be easily understood. The first column of 
 numbers is the focal length of the eyes in inches and deci- 
 mals, and it is found by actual measurement. The second 
 column is the number of times, and decimals of a time, that 
 the eye of each of the birds, whose names are prefixed, mag- 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 405 
 
 nines in line, as compared with the standard of the human 
 eye, at five inches' distance ; and the numbers are found by 
 dividing five inches by the focal length of the eye as stated 
 in the first column. The third column is the magnifying 
 powers in surface, and the numbers in it are found by multi- 
 plying those in the second column by themselves. The num- 
 bers in the last column are the magnifying powers in bulk, 
 and they are found by multiplying together the correspond- 
 ing numbers in the second and third columns. In conse- 
 quence of the greater magnifying power, an insect a quarter 
 of an inch long will appear as large to the eye of the long- 
 tailed tit, as the common mouse does to the eye of man, when 
 held as near as it can be seen. 
 
 The microscopic power of the eyes of those little birds 
 which seek for minute prey on the bark of trees, is, therefore, 
 as wonderful as the telescopic range of the eyes of eagles and 
 other birds which soar aloft, and scan a horizon of miles ; and 
 not the least wonderful part of the whole matter is, the ease 
 with which the eye changes from telescope to microscope. 
 The eye of the eagle, which can discern the motion of a small 
 quadruped at the distance of more than a mile, can shorten 
 its focus, so as to be keen and perfect at the distance of a few 
 inches; and the tit, to whose near vision the eggs of flies- 
 must appear as large as musket-bullets do to us, feels no diffi- 
 culty at seeing a bush at the distance of more than a hundred 
 yards. We may admire, but we cannot imitate, that won- 
 derful mechanical skill which can, in an organ not altogether 
 larger than a pepper-corn, produce so many focal lengths in 
 the same crystalline lens, instantly adapt the retina, or sen- 
 tient tissue, to all of them, manage the admission of the 
 proper light by the iris, and remove the colours and correct 
 the aberrations by the other humours all, as it were, in an 
 instant, without effort, and (to use the common, though un- 
 philosophical terms) without will or even conscioibsness on the 
 
406 IXSECTIVOILE. 
 
 part of the owner. But curious as the subject is, and wide 
 and wonderful as is the field of investigation to which (if 
 properly followed out) it would lead, we must leave it, with 
 our warmest recommendation, to the attention of even the 
 common reader (to the scientific it needs no recommenda- 
 tion), and return to the individual bird in which the micro- 
 scopic power is so very great. 
 
 But though the vision of these little birds is thus remark- 
 ably nice and microscopic, capable of discerning clearly objects 
 which to our eyes are not at all visible, yet it is not to be 
 supposed that they depend wholly upon the eye in all their 
 motions. Eyes have, no doubt, a wonderful flexibility in 
 their focal length, so that the same eye is to a very consider- 
 able extent both a microscope and a telescope. But still 
 their flexibility, or power of adaptation, in that way, has a 
 limit ; and as the focal length of the long-tailed tit's eye is 
 not a twelfth part of that of the human eye, we may suppose 
 that it cannot see so well at the distance of half a mile as man 
 does at the distance of twelve miles. 
 
 Indeed the estimate should be taken somewhat differently; 
 the mean range of near distance in the human eye is probably 
 about half the length of the arm say about fifteen inches, as 
 that is the medium point to which the eye guides the hand ; 
 and thus the acting focal length of the human eye is between 
 thirty and forty times that of the long-tailed tit's eye, so that 
 one furlong is as telescopic to it as five miles are to man ; and 
 that man would be sharp-sighted who could distinguish a loaf 
 of bread from a grey stone at the distance of five miles. 
 
 But the tits find out carrion at long distances, probably at 
 the distance of several miles, and therefore we must suppose 
 that they are, on their long flights, guided by some other 
 means than sight. What these means are, whether scent or 
 some other species of perception, to which, as a sense, we can 
 give no name, we do not know, and it is neither useful nor 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 407 
 
 wise to speculate. In matters of reasoning and inference, we 
 are free from the trammels of the body, but in matters of 
 mere animal sensation, we can know nothing beyond the 
 power of our own organs of sense, or of the artificial means 
 by which we can contrive to improve these. Science has yet 
 found out no contrivance by which the sense of smelling can 
 be improved. Indeed, as the sense of smell is in a great 
 measure a feeding sense, the probability is that our acuteness 
 in the use of it diminishes as the comforts of society improve. 
 At all events, we are far less acute than man in the savage 
 state ; and we say proverbially, " A hungry man smells meat 
 afar." No doubt the saying is allegorical; but when we 
 find an allegory made a proverb, we may in general depend 
 upon the literal foundation being a well-known fact. The 
 subject is an exceedingly curious one, because it involves 
 not only the flights of birds from place to place within the 
 same country, but also the means by which they are guided 
 upon their longer migrations. So far as the bird is driven 
 from the place which it leaves, we can and do understand ; 
 but how it is directed to the place to which it comes is 
 beyond our philosophy, because the data by means of which 
 alone we could work it out, are beyond the cognizance of our 
 senses. Where knowledge is attainable, it is our own fault 
 and misfortune if we remain ignorant ; but there are subjects 
 which appear to be under the taboo of nature, and to waste 
 our time and labour on these is among the worst species of 
 idleness. But let us return to the bird. 
 
 It is not in the procuring of its own food alone that the 
 long-tailed tit has to labour diligently; its brood is very 
 numerous, and they are as assiduously fed, and far more 
 comfortably, nay, elegantly lodged, than those of any other 
 birds. 
 
 The nest of this species has always attracted notice as the 
 model of neatness and warmth among nests, and we have 
 
408 INSECTIVOR^E. 
 
 very accurate descriptions of it handed down from times at 
 which the habits, and even the forms of birds, were but 
 imperfectly known. 
 
 The nest is a structure formed by the patient and inces- 
 sant labour of both birds for at least a month, even in those 
 places where materials are most abundant, and requiring five 
 or six weeks where these are more scanty. It is placed in 
 the fork of a small mossy tree, or among the thick twigs of 
 a shrub, often of a hawthorn, and sometimes of an evergreen ; 
 but it is seldom more than three or four feet from the 
 ground, and generally, if not always, more or less within the 
 cover of the sprays. In form, it is an elongated spheroid, or 
 rather that of an egg placed on the larger end ; and in ap- 
 pearance and texture it is very like a short decayed stump 
 which has become coated over with lichens, and it is as firm 
 in texture as it is neat and regular in form. The main fabric 
 is closely made of moss, taken in very small pieces, and 
 matted together with animal fibre, rarely with wool (as the 
 bird does not range so far from the bushes as to be much of 
 a wool-gatherer), but principally with what may be called 
 tree or bark silk ; that is, not the threads of spiders, either 
 those that are spun for snares or as gossamer to waft the 
 spinners through the air, for the last of these hardly stand a 
 shower, and the first disappear during the winter ; but the 
 silken cocoons, indiscriminately, perhaps, of the crysalides of 
 insects and the eggs of spiders, both of which are much less 
 perishable, and consequently much more abundant in the 
 early part of the season, when the birds build. 
 
 These materials are firmly interwoven. But, though the 
 term is sometimes applied, they are not felted, as they are 
 not of a feltable nature, even though the birds could perform 
 that operation ; and as it is an operation which no bird can 
 perform, the name ought never to be used in describing the 
 texture of nests. The two materials form a stronger fabric 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. . 409 
 
 than could be made of any of them singly. The moss 
 gives bulk and stifmess, and the silky filaments cohesion ; 
 and as the birds are microscopic in their vision, have perfect 
 command over their short bills, and apply these materials by 
 very small portions at a time, the fabric is beautifully put 
 together, and when there are twigs in the way, the nest is so 
 closely worked upon these, that it cannot be removed entire 
 unless they are taken along with it. Externally it is coated 
 with lichens and liverworts, applied in small pieces, but so 
 close as to hide all the substantive materials, and so firmly 
 worked in, that not a bit falls off. The inside is carefully 
 lined with feathers, the tubes or quills of which are worked 
 into the fabric, so that nothing can be felt internally but the 
 down and sides, of which there are several falls, as there are 
 in the clothing feathers of a bird. The whole nest, dome 
 and all, is lined in this manner; so that the nest, when 
 finished, is equally secure against rain and change of tem- 
 perature. 
 
 The entrance is by an aperture in the side, towards the 
 top of the structure ; and there are, in some instances, two 
 such apertures, the one nearly opposite the other, the feathers 
 around which are so worked into the fabric, as, when not 
 pushed aside by the birds, to form a sort of curtain. The 
 interior is usually of sufficient size to contain both birds 
 during the night ; and they, in the case of two apertures, 
 sit with the head of the male out at the one, and the tail 
 of the female out at the other, so that both apertures are 
 partially closed, and the male is ready to start out, as soon 
 as there is light enough for hunting. But, notwithstanding 
 these precautions, the long tails of the birds are often so 
 much bent, torn, and otherwise injured, during the incu- 
 bation, that they do not regain their peculiar flight, which is 
 something resembling that of a short dart armed with a long 
 feather, till after the moult. 
 
410 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 The nest is altogether one of the most extraordinary of 
 animal structures. It is built wholly of gathered r/i ate rials, 
 without any secretion by the birds either as a cement or 
 otherwise. That any bird uses a secretion of its own body 
 in the construction of its nest, cannot indeed be regarded as 
 an absolutely demonstrated truth, and in the case of the 
 long-tailed tit, rational hypothesis does not go so far even as 
 to lead to the belief that any of the materials adhere to 
 each other by being glutinous, because in that case they 
 would be as likely to adhere to the dry surface of the bill, 
 or at least to the produced feathers at its base, as to anything 
 else. Thus, the nest in question must be regarded as being 
 wholly a mechanical structure, owing its compactness to the 
 manner in which the materials are put together ; and, in the 
 mere union of its parts, perhaps it is the finest mechanical 
 structure, independently of living structures, that is any 
 where to be met with. The best of human workmen would 
 find more difficulty in imitating the execution of a long-tailed 
 tit's nest, than in imitating any work of human art. 
 
 Nor is that at all to be wondered at, when we consider the 
 implements with which it is made. The power which the 
 bird has of perching on one foot, if necessary, so as to have 
 perfect command of its whole body ; the nice, yet powerful 
 forceps formed by the firm, short, and pointed bill ; the in- 
 numerable motions that may be given to them by their own 
 peculiar muscles, and the motions of the neck, and of the 
 whole body, if necessary ; and the high magnifying power of 
 the eye, which guides the whole ; are altogether vastly supe- 
 rior to any set of tools with which man can be furnished. A 
 power of four, or one inch and a quarter focal length, is 
 inconvenient even in very small works, and a power of six 
 has so small a field, that it can hardly be used ; but the 
 bird has a power of more than twelve in its natural sight 
 so that, with that power, it commands any extent of field, 
 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 411 
 
 fully better than we can do, with the naked eye, at the dis- 
 tance which answers to a power of eight. When we reflect 
 upon these adaptations, we may cease to wonder that the 
 work itself excels our art. 
 
 In the early part of the season, the male of these birds has 
 a weak, but not an unpleasant song ; but when the season 
 has advanced so far that its labours are in vigorous pro- 
 gress, there is little leisure for singing. While the nest is 
 building, the birds have barely time to feed ; and when the 
 eggs are laid, the one sits while the other feeds, the male 
 going out first in the morning, and the female last at night. 
 The eggs vary in number, from eight or ten to twelve or 
 fifteen, of a clear white ground, more or less marked (but 
 always sparingly) with small red specks towards the thick 
 ends j but they appear of a pink colour when held up against 
 the light : they are not much larger than peas. Unless the 
 eggs are removed and the feathers carefully examined, the 
 total number is not easily discovered, as they are always in 
 part buried in the soft lining of the nest. 
 
 When the young are fledged, they continue for the re- 
 mainder of the season together, and with the parent birds ; 
 and in the cold weather they roost for the night all huddled 
 together on the same tw%, and, indeed, seldom quit the 
 bushes even at that season. The latter circumstance has led 
 some to conclude that they are migratory, which, however, 
 does not appear to be generally the case, though they may, 
 under certain circumstances, shift their ground. They are 
 birds of rich and rather humid situations, where the seasons 
 are mild, and small insects abound in summer, and their eggs 
 in winter, and where the foliage is close during the former 
 season, and the leafless sprays thick during the latter. Their 
 peculiar form, their diminutive size, their lively action, their 
 laborious lives, their beautiful nests, the number of their 
 broods, and their strong and lasting family attachments, 
 
412 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 render them among the most interesting of our little 
 birds. 
 
 THE BLUE TIT (PaTUS 
 
 The blue tit, of which a figure is given on the plate at 
 page 370, on a scale of one-third of the lineal dimensions, is 
 a very beautiful and lively little bird ; and few of the British 
 species are either so generally distributed or so numerous in 
 their localities. In some places of the country it is called the 
 torn-tit, and in others the ox-eye ; but as both of these 
 names are, in other places, given to the great tit, it is better, 
 for general purposes, to avoid them altogether, and retain 
 only that trivial name which is expressive of the prevailing 
 colour of the upper part of the bird, and thus can lead to no 
 mistake in any district. 
 
 The colours, though different in their tints from those of 
 the great tit, bear some resemblance to them in their dis- 
 position. The forehead, sides of the head, and cheek, are 
 white, divided by a black line across the eye ; the crown of 
 the head is blue; the nape, and collar round the neck, bright 
 azure ; the back a mixed tint of azure, grey, and green, the 
 azure generally predominating, but all confluent without 
 mottling ; the wings and tail are pale blue, the greater 
 coverts of the former with white tips ; the throat and mesial 
 line on the under part, deep blackish-blue ; the breast pale 
 yellow, passing into darker and greyish yellow on the sides ; 
 the bill and feet blackish-grey. The colours of the male are 
 subject to some variations, in all probability climatal ones, as 
 in hot countries the blue on the back, which has always a 
 tinge of greenish-grey, becomes olive green, and even inclines 
 to dusky, or black, and the yellow on the under part becomes 
 paler. The female is a little paler in the tints than the male, 
 has less blue on the head, and is rather smaller in size. The 
 young birds have the light parts more inclining to yellow, and 
 
THE BLUE TIT. 413 
 
 the dark more of a greyish and greenish cast, than the birds 
 in mature plumage. 
 
 If the length of tail in the last species be included, it is 
 longer than the present ; but as the tail is not half the length, 
 the body of the bird is longer ; and it is also more stoutly 
 formed, and one-half heavier, being rather more than three 
 eighths of an ounce. The length from the eye to the point 
 of the bill has been already stated as being the shortest of 
 any British bird, excepting the long-tailed tit. It is consi- 
 derably shorter, in proportion to the size and weight of the 
 bird, than that of the great tit ; and hence the blue one is 
 the most expert in the capture of very small game ; and its 
 stroke and bite are sharper in proportion. 
 
 The blue tit is a tree or bush bird, like most of the other 
 species; but it is an inhabitant of the cultivated lands and 
 their margins, rather than of the wilds. It nestles, and 
 indeed generally lodges for the night, in holes of trees or of 
 walls, and it is said to vary them with the season, choosing 
 warmer ones in winter and colder ones in summer, though 
 that wants confirmation ; but the trees may be considered as 
 its native pastures, in which, during the greater part of the 
 year, it hunts for insects and larvae. It is, perhaps, more 
 incessant than any other bird in hunting the buds and 
 branches of trees, especially of fruit trees near houses, for its 
 insect prey. But it is not confined to these. It will eat 
 any animal matter either in a recent or putrid state j and it 
 appears to scent animal remains at a considerable distance, 
 as it hovers about slaughter-houses, dog-kennels, and other 
 places where there are animal scraps or carrion. It also 
 haunts the neighbourhood of houses, and picks bones, eats 
 bits of fat or any refuse that it can find ; and when opportu- 
 nity favours, it kills other birds by punching them on the 
 head, and picks their bones as clean as if they were cleaned 
 by the thousands of an ant-hill. Dead birds are, of course, 
 
414 INSECTIVOILE. 
 
 lawful prize, for which it searches under trees and hedges 
 after severe weather. It is, in short, a very omnivorous 
 bird, and plays the scavenger with equal diligence and grace. 
 It is also very bold and familiar, and will alight among the 
 poultry in the farm-yard or the dogs in the kennel ; nor does 
 it much heed the presence of people under the trees upon 
 which it is hunting. 
 
 The last trait of its character makes it easily studied ; and 
 the best trees for watching it in are standard apple trees 
 which are partially injured by insects. Dull days, threatening 
 rain, in the summer months, and the mornings in the autumn 
 and spring, are the best times 'for observing it.' In summer, 
 ' it lurks more within the trees than at other times, though 
 not so much upon the bole and larger branches as the nut- 
 hatch and creeper. In autumn and spring, as well as in 
 winter (though at that season it sometimes finds the ground 
 a better pasture than the trees), it is more among the buds, 
 and though it may sometimes drive off clean buds in the 
 bustle and activity of its search, it probably does not pick off 
 any with its bill, except such as contain the eggs or the larvae 
 of insects. 
 
 Granting that it does sometimes take off buds which would 
 produce shoots or fruit notwithstanding the insects that are 
 in them, or even buds in which there are no insects, it must 
 not be supposed that the effect is always mischievous. 
 Whether the beauty of trees can or cannot be improved by 
 pruning is a matter of taste ; but it is matter of fact, that 
 judicious pruning does improve the value both of timber 
 tree.s and forest trees, by producing long straight boles in the 
 former, and more abundant or larger fruit on the latter. 
 There no doubt remains a question as to the quality of the 
 timber and the flavour of the fruit, but there is none as to 
 the marketable appearance. If the pruning is delayed till 
 the shoots that are regarded as injurious be grown, all that 
 
THE BLUE TIT. 415 
 
 part of the action of the tree which went to their formation 
 is lost ; and in the case of forest trees, the wound made by 
 the removal of a large branch injures the timber, and in fruit 
 trees it hastens the decay of the tree. Insects do not gene- 
 rally deposit their eggs on the most forward and principal 
 buds ; and thus the ones which they do attack are those 
 which can be best spared spared with advantage, if the 
 destruction were to be confined to them ; and it is no exag- 
 geration to say that, in many instances, the valuable part of 
 the tree grows twice as much in the course of the year, in 
 consequence of the pruning which the inferior parts have 
 received from those birds which nip off the tainted buds for 
 the sake of the insects they contain. Among these birds, 
 especially in gardens and orchards, the blue tit holds a con- 
 spicuous place j and therefore it ought to be hailed as a 
 welcome, and cherished as a most useful, servant. 
 
 It also has recourse to vegetable food, to the oily seeds at 
 all times when the supply of insects fails, and to grain, espe- 
 cially oats, when the ground is covered with snow, and food 
 is not to be had either in copse or field. On such occasions, 
 it draws the oat-ricks, and perching on a bush with one foot, 
 holds the grain with the other, till it has divided the husk 
 by repeated strokes of its bill. It will also attack a pea or 
 nut, but does that on the ground. The activity and resources 
 of the bird, during the inclement season, are not less inte- 
 resting than its action in the trees at other times. 
 
 The blue tit feels the influence of the season early, and 
 although the male can hardly be said to have a song, he 
 testifies his feeling by two chirping notes, that are lively, 
 though not musical, and he is much more bustling than at 
 other times. The nest is formed in holes of trees or walls, 
 and sometimes among the thickly matted herbage at the root 
 of a bush. The body of it is composed of moss, and the 
 lining of hair or feathers. A hole, when it can be had, is 
 
416 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 preferred to any other situation, and it is often trimmed by 
 excavation. The eggs are from six to eight or ten, of a white 
 ground with rust-coloured specks at the thick end. In the 
 latter stage of the incubation the female is a very resolute 
 sitter; and, as she has no back door for retreat, she defends 
 the entrance to the nest with great boldness and determina- 
 tion, erecting her feathers, hissing and biting very sharply, 
 and no doubt offering successful resistance to predatory birds, 
 secured as she is from attack everywhere save in front. It 
 is not personal safety that induces her to be thus bold ; for 
 if taken forcibly from the nest, she will fly straight back to 
 it, and offer the same resistance as before. It is only in the 
 later stage, however, when exposure to the air would be most 
 injurious, that she is so resolute. At other times, if an egg 
 is broken, or the nest is otherwise altered or deranged in her 
 absence, she will abandon it and commence anew ; but if no 
 accident happen, the pair (generally at least) rear only one 
 brood in the season, with which they resort to the gardens 
 (if these have not been their nesting places) rather early, and 
 commit depredations by digging into the wormed fruit. The 
 birds are of rather pugnacious dispositions, and very forward 
 in the attack of any strange bird, however large, that may 
 appear in their haunts. 
 
 The above enumerated species comprise all the birds of 
 the genus parus, which are generally or popularly known as 
 British ; but there are two others, one of which is certainly 
 a resident, and analogy is in favour of the residence of the 
 other. Residence is, indeed, so much the habit of the genus, 
 that we could hardly look for even a straggler. The omni- 
 vorous disposition of the birds enables them to live at all 
 seasons in the same ktitudes, with only a slight thange of 
 their ground with the seasons; and, as the species which 
 remains doubtful as a British bird belongs to the zone of the 
 pine forests, and is found both on the continent of Europe 
 
THE CRESTED TIT. 417 
 
 and in America, it is at least worth seeking for as a British 
 bird. The two species in question are, " the crested tit," a 
 woodland bird, and " the bearded tit," a marsh bird. 
 
 THE CRESTED TIT (PttTUS CTlstatus). 
 
 The title of this beautiful little bird to a place in the 
 British Faunae rests upon rather slender direct evidence, 
 that of a single specimen received by Dr. Latham from the 
 forest of Glenmore, in the eastern Grampians. 
 
 These birds inhabit, abundantly and permanently, the pine 
 forests and the adjoining or interspersed jungles of juniper or 
 other shrubby evergreens, in Scandinavia, the countries on the 
 south of the Baltic, the Carpathian mountains, and the hilly 
 districts of France ; and they are also found in the pine forests 
 on both sides of the St. Lawrence in North America. But 
 in all their localities they are hideling birds, never seen out 
 of the forests, and but seldom there in proportion to what, 
 from the eggs, (which are as many as ten,) may be presumed 
 to be the total number of the birds.* 
 
 The proper places to look for these birds are the natural 
 pine forests, the juniper brakes, and the fir plantations in 
 Scotland southward of the Moray Firth, on the borders of 
 the great glen of the lakes, and in Strathglass, between the 
 river and Mam Suil ; the last of which deserves more minute 
 observation than it has hitherto met with, from its proximity 
 to both seas, and the mildness of its climate as compared 
 with the elevation of its surface there being a rich sward 
 upon Mam Suil at a greater height than that at which all 
 vegetation but lichens ceases on Ben Nevis, which is nearer 
 the Atlantic, and farther to the south, though the small lake 
 
 * The Parus cristatus is not an American species ; it is common in 
 Central Europe, and according to Sir W. Jardine, has been found in 
 some plantations not far distant from Glasgow, where it annually 
 breeds. M. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 E 
 
418 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 in the north-east gorge of Mam Suil remains frozen to the 
 bottom even in the warmest summers, and the mountain is 
 very copiously deluged with rain. 
 
 I have been much in those forests, and in them at different 
 seasons, and never saw or even heard of the crested tit. That, 
 however, is no proof of its not being there, because the 
 golden crested-wren, which inhabits the same places, and is 
 presumed to be abundant, is rarely seen. To search an exten- 
 sive pine forest for a little bird is no very promising matter. 
 If the trees are young and close down to the ground, as they 
 generally are when they are in that state, it is impossible to 
 discover any bird except one which rises, because the rustling 
 of the branches is unavoidable, and sufficient to keep all the 
 feathered tribes beyond view of the tardy and laborious ob- 
 server ; and if the trees are aged, the branches are so far from 
 the ground that little birds are nearly out of view. The time 
 at which they would be best seen, would be when they resort 
 to the juniper bushes for winter feeding; but then both 
 ground and bushes are either covered with snow, or the former 
 is so sludgy as not to be easily walked on. Besides, there are 
 more than three hundred square miles of forests to examine, 
 and consequently one cannot very safely conclude that any 
 little bird whose habits are in perfect accordance with the 
 climate and locality may not be there. In matters of natural 
 history, observation tells us what there is, so far as it goes ; 
 but we have no guide whatever to what is not. 
 
 The length of this species is rather more than four inches 
 and a half, the breadth about eight inches and a half, and the 
 weight between two and three drachms ; the bill is nearly 
 black, the feet lead-coloured, and the irides hazel. The upper 
 part of the body is olive brown, passing gradually into yel- 
 lowish white on the under part. The wings and tail are 
 dusky, the chin black, the cheeks hoary, or white mottled 
 with dusky. A black line passes above the eye, round the 
 
THE BEARDED TIT. 419 
 
 ear-covert, and returns under the eye ; and there is another 
 black line margining the produced feathers on the cheek. The 
 feathers on the hind head form a crest, which is partly hoary, 
 but black on the top, and bends forward something in the 
 shape of the Phrygian bonnet. The bird is said to nestle in 
 hollow trees (though these are not common in pine forests) : 
 the eggs are white with reddish spots. 
 
 THE BEARDED TIT Or rather BEARDED ROAD-BIRD (PdTUS 
 
 biarmicus). 
 
 This species differs from the rest of the genus, in its appear- 
 ance and its locality, so much as to make it doubtful if it 
 should in reality be classed with them. It is a marsh bird, 
 and inhabits more deeply and more silently in the reeds than 
 either the reed-warbler or the reed-bunting. It inhabits the 
 marshy zone of country which extends from the great salt- 
 lakes of A sia a considerable way up the valley of the Danube, 
 and again in Holland; in all of which places it is a resident 
 bird, feeding upon insects and mollusca among the reeds in 
 summer, and upon the seeds of the aquatic plants in winter. 
 It has the same command of itself upon a waving perch as 
 the other tits and the buntings ; but it is seldom seen, unless 
 when the reeds are cut down, and then the family, which 
 consists of six or eight besides the parent birds, flit onward 
 before the reed-cutters, not taking high flights, but generally 
 lurking huddled together when the cold weather sets in. It 
 is but recently that these birds have been ascertained to be 
 resident natives, and they have been met with only in the 
 fenny parts of the south-east of England ; nor is it likely that 
 they are to be found in Scotland, unless, perhaps, in the reeds 
 which skirt some parts of the Carse of Gowrie. 
 
 This species is between six and seven inches long, of which 
 the tail occupies fully half, the two middle feathers being 
 longer than the others, and lancet-shaped at the points. The 
 
 2 E2 
 
420 INSECTIVOR.E. 
 
 body is more slender in proportion than that of the other 
 tits; the first quill of the wings is nearly rudimental, and the 
 bill is orange-yellow, more pointed and conical than that of 
 the other tits, very slightly bent, and altogether more of a 
 graminivorous character. 
 
 Its plumage is beautiful: head, nape, and breast, bright 
 bluish grey, paler and with a tinge of lilac on the chin and 
 throat ; hind part of the neck and back bright orange-brown, 
 paler on the scapulars; belly, sides, and thighs, like the back, 
 only a shade lighter. Quills dusky ; the inner webs of the 
 primaries white; the secondaries margined; and the tertia- 
 ries tipped with the same colour as the back. Tail the same 
 colour as the back, with white tips to three exterior feathers 
 on each side : vent feathers black. In the male bird, a tuft 
 of soft black feathers originates between the bill and eye, 
 and is pendant by the side of the neck, terminating in a 
 point ; the female has merely a dusky spot, in the place of 
 the tuft of produced feathers, and has the head mottled with 
 orange-brown and dusky. The nest is formed of the leaves 
 of reeds and aquatic grasses, and lined with the tops of the 
 same ; it is carefully hidden in the reeds, or, if the ground is 
 not solid enough there, in a tuft upon the margin. It has 
 not been ascertained that the bird has any song, but its single 
 note is more shrill and ringing than that of most of the 
 genus : it is one of the subjects which equally demand and 
 deserve farther observation. 
 
 There are still remaining many miles of the marshy parts 
 of the country at home, of which wonderfully little is known, 
 because they are not inviting under any circumstances, and 
 very often they are not accessible. In summer they are not 
 firm enough for the foot, and one has some reluctance at 
 taking the chance of drowning, or even of sticking fast in the 
 foul water or fenny mire of a "deep bed of whispering reeds ;" 
 which are not ungraceful as they play in the wind, but they 
 
THE BEARDED TIT. 421 
 
 grow in places of which we are suspicious. In winter again, 
 even in the floods, there is no passage for a boat ; and as the 
 frost in England is seldom so severe as to consolidate the 
 surface of those places, they are less inviting then than even 
 in summer. 
 
 The fact that, till within these few years, the bearded tit 
 was not admitted into the list of resident British birds, or 
 even into that of regular migrants, while it has been found 
 that it is not only resident, but far from rare in those parts 
 of the country which are favourable to its habits, points out 
 pretty strongly the necessity of scrutinizing those places 
 which have been neglected, and also of not coming to any 
 hasty conclusion, that a bird which is rarely seen, is only a 
 straggler and need not be sought for. If, indeed, the habits 
 of the bird in any other country be well known, so that from 
 its haunts, its food, or any other circumstance, it can be clearly 
 inferred that no part of Britain is well adapted for it, and 
 that the adaptation is worse at the seasons at which it has not 
 been found, than in those in which it has ; or if the bird is a 
 migrant, and belongs to a migration which is distant in longi- 
 tude, and ranges over a great extent in latitude, then we may 
 safely conclude that it is only a straggler. But if those cir- 
 cumstances do not apply ; if the bird inhabits nearly the same 
 climate as that of Britain, does not change far in latitude 
 seasonally, is a bird of rare occurrence, concealed habits, and 
 obscure history, in other places, though we ought not to decide 
 without proof that it is a British bird, we are as little entitled 
 to decide the other way without proof. In such cases, it is 
 always of use to examine ; and if the young be found early in 
 the autumn, and before the supply of food shall have failed, 
 or the cold weather set in, in places farther to the north, that 
 is an additional inducement to examination. The labourers 
 in the field of British ornithology are now many, and the 
 harvest which has been reaped since fresh ardour and im- 
 
422 INSECTI VOILE. 
 
 proved science were brought to the task, shows that the field 
 is not yet exhausted.* 
 
 * The bearded tit (CalamopJiilus biarmicus) LEACH is found in the 
 marshes about Erith, in various parts of Essex, in the bog lands of Lan- 
 cashire, and in all our fenny districts. We have seen many which have 
 been taken in the reed ditches communicating with the Thames, in the 
 low lands of Kent, from Erith to the Reculvers. 
 
 The nest is formed of the smaller seed-bearing stems of the reed, and 
 is placed in tufts of grass or other herbage. The eggs, five in number, 
 have a pinkish tinge, with irregular specks, and streaks brown, dispersed 
 over the whole surface. The specimens which we have observed in 
 captivity uttered no song, but a simple shrill note only. It is a very 
 elegant species; differing altogether from the true tits in form, habits, 
 and manners. M. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, 
 London Gazette Office, St. Martin's Lane, and Orchard Street, Westminster. 
 
fereQ7T.ne.Fdl/xjrL: 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY