CHAPTER V.

SUMMER WORKERS.

THE WRYNECK.

(_Iynx torquilla._)

The Wryneck is a migrant, which makes itself heard as soon as it appears with its _Kyen-kyen-kyen_ or _pay, pay, pay_, which is as peculiar as it is pleasing. It cannot be denied, that after the long silence of winter the sound is a very agreeable one. The Wryneck does not tap and climb like the Woodpecker, but it uses its tongue in the same way. Ants cling to its sticky tongue. It drags out and destroys the insects from the crevices in the bark of the trees. On this account it is useful.

It is not shy and can be observed quite close by. it owes its name to its peculiar position when it stretches out its neck and twists it round, raising its crest and spreading out its tail. It likes trees with dense foliage, and orchards.

* * * * *

In England we call this bird the Cuckoo’s mate or leader, because it always precedes the coming of that bird by a few days. This name has its equivalent in several European languages. It is more common in the south-east than in the west, and is rare in Wales. Some northern counties it never visits, yet from time to time it strays up as far as the Orkneys and the Shetlands. Towards the end of September it leaves us for the south. In autumn it is said to eat the berries of the elder, otherwise its food consists entirely of insects, ants and their

pupæ especially. It is very courageous in defence of its young and will hiss like a snake if an enemy or intruder approaches its nest.

Country children in our Home Counties listen eagerly for the call of the Cuckoo’s mate, whom Eliza Cook calls “the merry pee bird.” They know then that Spring is with us, and out-door pleasures are on the way. It is only the size of a lark, and it is difficult to observe the bird well either on its nest or during its short undulating flight.

* * * * *

The Wryneck is seven inches in length. It has fine, loose plumage, which recalls that of the Owl or the Night-jar. The throat is clay-colour with fine dark wavy cross lines; tail a beautiful grey with delicate black speckles, and six broad pointed stripes across it; the under side is covered with brownish-white and black spots, and delicately speckled: from the nape, down the back, about the shoulders, are large black spots. The flight-feathers have rust-red cross stripes; it has two toes towards the front and two towards the back; the legs are short. It makes its nest in any cavity it can find, and in it lays, on soft chaff, its seven to twelve white eggs. The Wryneck, like the Woodpecker, has a long wormlike tongue which can be extended.

THE CUCKOO.

(_Cuculus canorus._)

The Cuckoo is a most useful bird, as regards his food, which consists for the most part of very mischievous insects and caterpillars of all kinds; it is the more so as this bird is insatiable.

An individual Cuckoo probably always lays its eggs in the same neighbourhood, and always in the nest of the same kind of bird, and usually the same kind in which it was itself brought up. The young Cuckoo soon obtains the upper hand in the nest, on account of its rapid growth, and throws out its weaker foster-brothers and sisters. It always calls its own name--though it sounds more like “_ha-hu_”; sometimes it utters sounds which are like laughter. There is a popular superstition that the Cuckoo foretells to those who ask it, how many years they will live--and to young maidens, how many years they must wait for a husband.

Like the Swallow it brings the announcement of spring, and our Hungarian children have a song:--

“Cuckoo! Cuckoo! sounds from the wood Now let us dance and sing; For Spring is coming; Spring is here;”

The Cuckoo detracts from its usefulness, however, by its other actions. It greatly damages the nests of the small useful birds, in which it places its eggs, and consequently its young ones. The female Cuckoo selects a district, finds out all the nests of Wren, Robin, White-throat, Wagtail, or some other, and thereupon begins to place her egg in this. When she finds that she cannot get into a nest of a bird which builds in a hole, she lays her egg on the ground, then takes it up in her bill and drops it into the nest.

* * * * *

In spring and summer the Cuckoo’s note sounds all through Great Britain. Its ways will always have a fascination both for the old and the young. Many will be surprised to hear that scientists have now verified the placing of its eggs in the nests of as many as 145 species; in different countries, that is, including the nests of the Isabelline and other Chats in Africa and China, and the Red-headed Bunting on the steppes of Turkestan. In Lapland the Grey-headed Wagtail and the Red-spotted Bluethroat are the foster-parents; in Andalusia the Great-spotted Cuckoo lays oftenest in the nest of the Spanish Magpie.[2] The old poet, Quarles, must have seen the bird with an egg in its beak when he wrote “The idle Cuckoo having made a feast of Sparrow’s eggs, Lays down her own i’ the nest.”

A German authority, Dr. Rey, made a collection of over seven hundred Cuckoo’s eggs; and he states that the proportion of those which resemble in colouring those of the foster-parents is only about thirty per cent. Yet out of sixty-seven which he took from a Redstart’s nest fifty-seven were blue. Another collector again states that only one blue Cuckoo’s egg had passed through his hands. Lately a man told me of having found two Cuckoo’s eggs in one small nest, an unusual occurrence.

The Cuckoo is a very slender, long-tailed bird, 12 inches in length. In the male bird the mantle is ashen-grey, the tail has cross stripes, the under-parts are whitish with cross-running wavy lines. The female and young ones, with their reddish-brown dark cross bands, remind us of the Hawk. From this arises the popular superstition that the Cuckoo changes into a hawk in late autumn. The legs are yellow; eyes fiery red edged with yellow, beak dark, reddish at the corners. It never builds a nest. In its system of transplanting it shows itself an arrant knave, for it places its eggs in the nests of other birds, whose eggs, as a rule are totally different in size, colour and form. The eggs of one Cuckoo so placed may reach the number of 20 to 22, but as a rule are about 11 to 12.

With regard to the Cuckoo’s usual habit of leaving us in the autumn, a belated young bird may now and again spend the winter here. One frequented my sister’s tennis ground till the end of November, when the cat caught and killed it; and a gentleman of my acquaintance, Mr. Robinson of Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, saw one on his farm early in February of 1908.

THE HOOPOE.

(_Upupa epops._)

The Hoopoe is from base of bill 10 inches long. It is a fair bird with beautiful variegated plumage. Head, upper back, and breast pale rust-red; mantle, shining black, with white ornamentation; tail also black, with a crescent-shaped white band curving inwards towards the rump. The head is adorned with a bunch of feathers which the bird can erect or depress at pleasure. The feathers of this are light coloured, with black tips, but the tips of the longest feathers are black and white. Beak, long and slightly curved, thin, and adapted for picking. It lays four to seven eggs, greenish olive, or clay colour, but always of uniform colour, which it places on the mould in the holes of trees. The Hoopoe is the only bird that fouls its nest, and brings up its young in dirt and filth. On this account both mother and young have an evil odour, as some of the bird’s names indicate.

This national Hungarian bird is a migrant, and dwells chiefly on the borders of woods in the low bushes, and in the neighbourhood of pastures, where it is never weary of examining the droppings of the cows, from which it obtains beetles and maggots. It also catches gnats on the wing, and the leaping grasshoppers. It is a noisy bird, and its cry “_Hup up_”--from which its name is derived--is heard sounding vigorously from the branches. It is one of our most useful, and most brilliantly coloured birds, and should be protected.

* * * * *

For over two hundred years the Hoopoe has been recorded as a visitor to Great Britain, a more or less frequent one. Some years ago the late Mr. Howard Saunders told us that the head-keeper at Ashburnham Park, in Sussex, destroyed seven in one week, and that many a one has been slain in Kent, at the point where they alight after crossing the Channel. A few have, in spite of persecution contrived to breed in our country--in southern counties chiefly. Sometimes numbers come to England in the autumn, and it is generally an annual visitor in small numbers to Ireland. As it is a useful bird all should try to procure protection for it.

THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE.

(_Lanius excubitor._)

In spite of its comparatively small size this is a bold bird, and a true “Watchman”; he keeps a sharp lookout from the top branches of a dead tree, or a post, and will not suffer any other bird, even if ten times his size, to perch anywhere in his vicinity. Buzzards, Ravens, Crows, Magpies, he pounces on, something in the manner of a Falcon, and tries to push them off. He generally succeeds in routing the intruder, for he is indefatigable in attack. His food includes any living creature that he can slaughter.

He picks up a fat grasshopper, hovers over and darts on a mouse, just as a hawk does. These acts are beneficial; but they are not to be compared with the amount of harm he does, as a cut-throat and robber among the useful small birds. He disturbs the nests of the little singing birds which build on the ground, ransacks bushes and treetops, and slays mercilessly. His methods are those of the highwayman. He will sit on a stake on the top of a hayrick and watch, keeping perfectly still, only his eyes sweeping around. When his victim comes within range of his vision on earth, or tree, he instantly falls upon it. His close relation to the birds of prey, is indicated by his cry “_Tett, tett_.” His call is a strong, rough sound, like, “_Sheck, sheck_,” or a fainter “_Truii_.” This bird remains in Hungary through the winter, but is not very common. Where he does take up his abode, he does great harm by slaughtering the useful birds.

* * * * *

This Shrike is one of the regular visitors from the Continent, coming to Great Britain in autumn and winter. In England it has even been seen during the summer, but it has not bred with us. Lizards, mice, shrews, frogs, and insects, especially beetles and grasshoppers, it feeds on, as well as small birds.

The Great Grey Shrike is 9·5 inches in length. The back is light ashen-grey; underparts dingey white, brow whitish; from the base of the bill a broad black band passes over the eye to near the ear. Bill, legs, wings and tail black: the wings, however, have a white patch, and also the feathers on both sides of the tail show a white border. On the underparts of the female bird, faint stripes of a darker shade are discernible. The bill is indented at the point and has a hook. The bird builds its nest in trees and lays five or six eggs, occasionally seven, greenish-white speckled with grey.

THE LESSER GREY SHRIKE.

(_Lanius minor._)

The habits of this Shrike are, on the whole, those of the larger species, with this difference, that the Lesser Shrike, does not rob nests, but destroys insects, and therefore does good. It also, is a “Watchman.” It sits on a high point and flings its glances round about. Suddenly it darts down, looks about, finds its prey, and flies back to its former perch. When it is keeping watch over a place where the ground is covered with thick growth, it hovers at about half the height of a man, sometimes until it can see something that will serve as prey. If it finds nothing, it will cease to hover, and flies back to its post. Near the highroad it will flit onward from tree to tree, generally slightly in advance of a vehicle, till at last, at some point or other, it turns away over the fields and with a peculiar undulating flight returns to the spot where it started.

The Lesser Shrike is a migrant, and departs for warmer places at the beginning of autumn, returning to its nesting place in this country in the spring. Its cry sounds like “_Keejay_.” It is by nature quarrelsome, but it embellishes and enlivens the neighbourhood. Inthe warmer parts of Europe, it is the most common of all the Shrikes.

* * * * *

This species only wanders occasionally to England, a mere straggler, on migratory flight. If it be seen it must be protected, as a useful species, from “the man the gun” who shoots to sell or to enrich his own private collection.

The Lesser Shrike is smaller than the Great Shrike, but it is quite as beautiful and has the same deportment. Besides its smaller size, it is distinguished from its congener, by its black brow, the colour of which merges into that of the broad black stripe. The breast is a beautiful white, flushed with rose-colour. The white patch on the black wings is quite small. Otherwise the colouring is the same as that of the Great Shrike. Its nest is built in poplar trees bordering the highroad--sometimes in other trees. It employs sweet-scented plants in building the nest. It lays five or six pale green eggs, which have a speckled ring round the thicker end.

THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE.

(_Lanius collurio._)

This Shrike specially likes bushes at the side of a road, or the edge of a wood, and more particularly affects the whitethorn, or sloe bushes; but it sometimes ventures into gardens. It kills more than it can eat, so it impales the superfluous provender on thorns, so as to be ready when the bird feels hungry again, or when the weather is not favourable for hunting. So crickets, grasshoppers, cock-chafers, and, alas! also young birds, are sometimes found sticking on thorns. As this bird keeps to its own district, it robs the nests of the small birds in a scandalous way, including that of the White-throat.

Care, therefore, should be taken to keep this ogre at a respectful distance from the gardens; he does less harm in the open fields, as he there employs his energies on the mice.

It is a migrant, and departs at the beginning of autumn, returning not earlier than near the end of April. Wherever it is, its “_Geck, geck, geck_,” is frequently heard. Sometimes also “_Treng, treng_,” reminding us of the Sparrow. It imitates the song of other birds in a remarkable way, even that of the Nightingale, often in this way misleading both man and birds.

* * * * *

The Red-backed Shrike comes to Great Britain in May. It is the commonest of our own three species; but is becoming rarer each year in Lancashire and Yorkshire, being more often met with in the wooded parts of the Southern counties and in Wales. A handsome fellow, with his grey head, mantle of

chestnut-brown, and underparts a pale rosy buff colour, he has not the look of the cruel bird he really is; his song is fairly sweet, and I have heard of one which was so good a mimic that it could even bark like a dog. This particular one had been brought up in an aviary, I believe. All this species are, however, very imitative in their notes. In some parts of Germany, they are looked on as a great scourge of small birds, yet one or two of our English naturalists have tried to do justice to the pretty fellow. _They_ have seen only beetles, wasps and other not-to-be-regretted small deer impaled on the thorns of his larder. In point of fact, small birds, especially our pleasant little Tits, disappear under his notice; White-throats also occasionally, as well as bigger fledglings.

The German naturalist Lenz writes that he made some experiments in regard to Shrikes. In one garden he destroyed every Butcher-bird’s nest that he could find, and shot the birds; and there he had plenty of fruit, because the small birds stayed and destroyed the grubs and insects. In another, a larger garden, he allowed just one Shrike to breed. Wasps and other creatures destroyed all the fruit near the part where this Shrike’s nest was. In a third garden Lenz allowed Shrikes to nest freely, with the result that all the insect-eating birds forsook the place, or else were destroyed by the Butcher-birds, and there was no fruit. Writing of the Red-backed Shrike, one of our leading authorities in bird matters notes that in its larder he has seen the bodies of large moths, dragon-flies, mice, and sometimes a small bird from which the head has been wrenched, and many a cockchafer; and Canon Tristam considers that the food of the various species of Shrikes is almost entirely cockchafers, where they are to be had. The Rev. T. Wood again ranks them with the Owls for usefulness. A French naturalist also says they have every right to be placed on the list of useful insectivorous birds. It would seem to depend much on the nature of the district whether this bird is to be welcomed or otherwise.

The Red-backed Shrike is 7 inches long. Its whole shape and colouring--still more its habits--are those of a true Shrike. Crown and neck a beautiful grey; mantle reddish-brown; the folded wings show no white patch. Underparts pale rose colour, throat white; across the eyes and towards the ears, is the broad black band. The middle feathers of the tail reddish-brown, the outside feathers white near the root. The breast of the female bird is pale, crossed by brown wavy lines. The upper mandible is serrated and has a slight hook. The nest is usually placed in bushes; it contains five to seven eggs nearly white, with a ring of small darker speckles, sometimes at the larger and sometimes at the smaller end.

THE LESSER WHITETHROAT.

(_Sylvia curruca._)

This simple, modest, agreeable bird is valued and loved by us, because it comes in such a friendly way near our houses and ourselves. It nests in orchards, and more especially in gardens where there are bushes, and charms us in the early spring with its sweet trilling song, “_Lee-lee-lee-lee-lee_.” The little song is quite simple, being just the repetition from six to eight times of the syllable “Leeleelee.” Its call-note is “_tack-tack-tack_.” It keeps the feathers of its head erected whilst singing. Its food consists of all kinds of harmful insects for which it hunts without rest, and is therefore no less useful than the Titmouse. It feeds also on various berries, but without doing any harm. The hen shows great self-sacrifice in rearing her brood, amongst which is often found a stranger--the Cuckoo.

Its nest should be protected from the house Cat. Whoever protects it secures its services for himself. The Whitethroat is migratory, and so exposed to many dangers.

Mr. Herman gives us only the Lesser Whitethroat. With us what we call the Whitethroat proper is much

more common (_Sylvia cinérea_). Both species arrive in Great Britain at the same time, that is about the second week in April, to stay until the beginning of September. With us they nest in brambles and low hedgerows, and because of the fondness of nettle beds, schoolboys know it mostly as the “Nettle-creeper.” The male is a courageous little bird; he will often follow one along the side of his favourite hedgerow, flitting from branch to branch with the feathers on head and throat bluffed out and agitating his tail. We hear his song by night as well as by day.

The Lesser Whitethroat is 5·25 inches long. The crown is ashen-grey; cheeks darker, mantle grey-brown; back and breast white, merging into yellowish-red at the sides. The side feathers of the tail are wedge-shaped, the feathers near it having small indistinct spots. Beak small, awl-shaped; legs strong and bluish. The nest is generally found in whitethorn hedges and sloe-bushes, at about two and a half feet from the ground; in gardens the nest is placed higher. It is composed of fine grass and root fibre, interwoven and compacted with spider’s web, and lined with pig’s bristles and horse-hair. The bird lays five or six beautifully formed eggs, which are white or bluish with delicate speckles, which are thicker at the larger end of the egg, round which they form a ring.

THE BLACKCAP.

(_Sylvia atricapilla._)

The Blackcap prefers the underwood, particularly where higher trees stand solitary; it also nests in gardens, even in the public gardens of large towns, where it feeds on all kinds of insects, and so it serves wood and garden equally well. It leads a happy family life, and during its courting days the little wooer is full of joyous song. The song is simple, and does not approach that of the Nightingale in our opinion, although others say it does; it certainly cannot express so many phases of feeling, but it is as lovely and joyous as that of a merry child. It is heard first from one side of the bush, and then from the other, and it carries delight into the heart of the listener. Hoffman represents the song of the Blackcap by the syllables “_Rutia, ruetidi-rutia, tuedili, tuedia_.” Its mating call is “_Take, take, take_,” the warning cry “_Rarr_.” Towards autumn this bird eats all kinds of berries from the bushes--elderberries, blackberries, and others; in the garden it picks currants, without, however, doing any serious mischief, or being able to do so, for its principal food is composed of insects.

The bird-catchers ensnare it on account of its charming song. They cover its cage with greenery, so that it may imagine itself in the underwood, and thus the poor thing lives and learns the songs of other captive birds.

* * * * *

The Blackcap loves our old English hedgerows, about which it can find all its necessary insect food and also good cover. It is not a very commonly distributed bird with us; like the Nightingale, it is local in its habitat. The young fuss about after their parents for food supplies, after they have left the nest, more than most young birds do. Often the Blackcap builds in a privet hedge, or some bush near to garden or orchard, for the sake of the fruit of which it certainly avails itself a little. Do not grudge it, the song will make up for a slight loss of fruit, which is the more plentiful for the little bird’s making away with insect pests that infest the same precincts.

The Blackcap’s mantle is olive-grey, underparts nearly white; the colouring of the head forms a black cap, which extends over the eyes: hence its distinguished name. The cap is brown on the female bird and its young. Tail and wings dark-brown; beak thin, awl-shaped; legs strong; very bright dark-brown eyes. The nest is always found in thick bushes, near the ground, and it is furnished with grass and rootlets, and also the webs of insects, sometimes hair, but very little feather. It contains five or six eggs, which vary in colour, being sometimes brownish, sometimes nearly white or olive-grey, speckled or otherwise marked with a reddish tint.

THE NIGHTINGALE.

(_Daulias luscinia._)

The Nightingale leads a quiet domestic life among the thickets. It has much occupation on the ground, whence it derives its livelihood, its food consisting entirely of grubs and insects. In the pairing season, and at the time when the hen is sitting, the male bird perches on a twig near the nest and sings his song--now mournful, now stirring, now tender; the finest song produced from any bird’s throat! Enthusiastic bird-fanciers have put words to the Nightingale’s song and turned it into verse. It begins thus:--

_Fid, fid, fid! kr-kr-zi-zi, doredo, reredezit._

We have a native congener, the Meadow Nightingale, which is larger than the bird described above, and has a darker and fuller breast. The Hungarian Nightingale of the bird dealers begins its song thus:--

_Philipp--Philipp--Philipp,_ _Tarak--Tarak--Tarak,_ _Diderot--Diderot--Diderot._

Bird-catchers have been very destructive to this noble, useful bird on the Continent.

* * * * *

The Nightingale comes to Great Britain in the middle of April. In August the young birds take their departure, but the old birds stay until September in order to finish moulting before taking flight. It has been supposed that the migration is made singly, not in flocks like that of other small birds; but a naturalist has recorded having once seen great numbers of Nightingales resting

under the bathing machines along the _whole length_ of the shore at Brighton.

This fine singer is very local in its appearance. In the West of England it is rarer than elsewhere, and beyond Devonshire it is said to be quite unknown. In the Midlands it is scarce, and in the Northern counties it is entirely absent excepting in Yorkshire, where it is getting more common. They seem to be capricious in their comings and goings from given localities; no doubt their presence depends on the season’s scarcity or abundance of the food they prefer. The nestlings live on spiders, ants and small green caterpillars in June, and they afterwards frequent fields planted with peas and beans. The adult birds feed on worms, insects and wild fruits, especially the berries of the elder.

The Nightingale is as plain in plumage as it is marvellous in song. The mantle is russet-brown, shading off into reddish-chestnut near the tail, which is rust-colour, underparts whitish. It is scarcely as large as a Sparrow, and is much more delicately formed. Beak thin and pointed, legs slender. The shining, dark-brown eye has a brilliant glow. Its nest is placed among the bushes of a thicket, always near the ground. The outer covering is of dry leaves, then come blades of grass and fine rootlets, sometimes having hair interwoven with them. It does not stand out from the surrounding objects, and requires a sharp eye to discover it. The clutch consists of five or six olive-green eggs, with darker reddish-brown veining and speckles.

THE REDSTART.

(_Ruticilla phoenicúrus._)

This pretty and very useful bird quickly attracts notice in our gardens by its lively disposition. When it flies the tail spreads out, and then, when the bird settles again on any post or ledge the tail moves in a quick, tremulous way that is most amusing.

It usually perceives the creeping and flying beetles on the grass borders from a higher point above them; the former it picks up, the latter it swallows on the wing, twisting and turning about as circumstances require. It lives on all kinds of grubs and insects, and hence its great use in wood and garden. In autumn it takes the berries from the bushes, but without doing any mischief. Its mating call sounds like “_Fid-fid-fid-tik-tik-tik_,” and also “_Weet, weet, tak-tak_,” and ends with a smacking sound. In some places in Hungary the bee-keepers are great enemies of this charming little bird, believing that it steals their honey. This is not true, however, for it only catches the drones, which have no sting, takes the rejected, spoiled larvæ, and the destructive wax-mite. From its usefulness it is worthy of all protection, and it is a joy for heart and mind.

To us also in Great Britain where this species is generally distributed it is a joy, and in orchards its presence is most welcome. The red about the tail shows brightly as the bird darts from branch to branch. I have watched it myself where a nesting box has been put up for its use in an apple tree, until the little pair became quite used to my presence and to watch their pretty, affectionate ways was delightful. In speaking of nesting boxes, one must give a warning in connection with those smaller birds who like to nest in holes in walls and trees. I have seen them with lids at the top for the proprietor to open, which, through stress of weather and weak rusty hinges, soon came to grief. I regret to say this happened in the case of the pair I knew best. The lid was defective, and one night or morning early soon after the nestlings were hatched out, a Shrike or a Crow routed them out, to my great sorrow.

The Redstart is an elegant gay-coloured bird of slender shape, in other respects like the Robin. Throat, lores, brow and bill-base are a fine black. The upper part of the brow is pure white, passing into the bluish-grey of the crown. Back of the head and mantle also of the same beautiful bluish-grey; breast, rump, and tail a brilliant chestnut-red, but the middle feathers of the tail grey. Beak and legs delicate, but strong. The female bird and the young are less brightly coloured. The nest is found in cracks, holes, convenient corners, such as are under the roof of summer houses. It is rather carelessly put together, but well-formed, and is lined with hair and feathers. The bird lays five or six eggs, of a fine rare blue-green colour.

THE BLACK REDSTART.

(_Ruticilla titys._)

The Black Redstart which was formerly rare with us, is now a well-known visitor to many parts of our coasts in the autumn and winter, especially to Cornwall and Devon. It does not as yet breed with us, however. It visits Ireland also, particularly on the east and south coasts. It is called the House Redstart, and its congener the Garden Redstart on the Continent; the one under notice frequents the roofs of buildings, and it places its nest in châlets, holes in walls, sheds, etc. It is a useful little bird.

THE TREE PIPIT.

(_Anthus triviális._)

Frequenting the woods, the Tree Pipit seeks only the clearings, especially the wild parts, where these and copsewood alternate, and the ground is mossy. At the time of migratory flight it likes to rest on vegetable fields and cornfields. It will rest willingly on trees, but prefers the ground. Very small seeds it will eat, but all kinds of grubs and caterpillars and insects it prefers. The Tree Pipit has a pleasant note, “_Zeä, zeä, zeä_”--the mating call is more like “_Seele, seele, seele_.” It is absolutely useful in its mode of living.

It nests in Hungary more numerously than any other of the Pipits, for it has relatives which only visit our neighbourhood. At the time of migration, they arrive, rest themselves, and go off again.

In addition to the Pipit here described there is the Water Pipit, which breeds here. It seeks the mountain districts in summer, but takes refuge in the valley in winter; Richard’s Pipit, rather larger than these others, and with longer legs and a very long hind claw. The Meadow Pipit only passes through our land, like the Tawny Pipit; both of the latter nest in the far North, and they go far South in the winter.

* * * * *

The Tree Pipit comes to the South of Great Britain early in April, and it is spread pretty considerably throughout the country, excepting in Cornwall and Wales. As yet it is not, I believe, in Ireland. The song of this bird is rather like that of a Canary. It begins on the highest branch of a tree generally, after

which the bird hovers a little, then descends, singing still, to the perch he started from.

The Meadow Pipit is the best known member of his family with us. Ground-lark, Titlark, Ling-bird, Moss-cheeper are some of its local names. It seems able to make itself at home anywhere in summer, but in winter it seeks the fields in sheltered places, near the coast by preference. Its food consists of insects, worms, molluscs and small snails, with seeds in winter. The little bird works its creeping way up the grass or heather, taking now and again quick little runs. The flight is wavering and jerky. The Titlark has a very strong smell about it, dogs “point” it frequently.

In size the Tree Pipit most resembles the Wagtail, but it has a shorter tail. Its general colour is more like the Lark, but it is less speckled. The mantle is olive-green, the breast yellowish. The points of the folded tail are formed by the three first flight feathers; the fourth is much shorter. The nail of the back toe is long like a spur, but not so long as the toe. The beak is delicate and slightly awl-shaped. It is a nice modest little bird; its flight dips and rises again continually. It builds its nest cleverly with soft materials in the shape of a saucer, and places it on the ground on a clod of earth, under the shelter of a heap of stones, or on a grass ridge. Five eggs are laid which are very varied, a dull blue, sometimes brownish, sometimes white, with dark spots.

THE WHITE WAGTAIL.

(_Motacilla alba._)

Wagtails are all migrants and arrive in Hungary in great numbers.

This is a lively, elegant little bird, that walks and runs well, is very active, and always wagging its tail as it goes. It hops daintily from stone to stone in the shallow water, picking up insects busily, and snapping at the flies and gnats; and over the tall grasses and banks of the water, it dashes into the air, turning and twisting in the pursuit of insects. When there is pasture land near the water, it shows itself to be a good friend to the cattle, by destroying the flies and gnats and the tiny midges of the dragonfly kind, which would otherwise torment them. Its congeners in Hungary are the Yellow Wagtail, whose underpart is bright yellow, and mantle olive-green, which wags its tail less, and confines itself to cattle pastures; the Mountain Wagtail, the upper part of which is ashen-grey, and the under side brimstone yellow. Its call is a clear “_Zeewit-zuyit-beuees_, or _zeueess_,” sometimes it sounds like “_Kwee-kwee, kweereeree-kweeree_.”

* * * * *

The Wagtail is 7·5 inches in length, and has a long tail. It is a very charming bird. Its plumage is of three colours--black, white, and ashen-grey. Crown, neck, and throat black; brow, cheeks, and underparts white; mantle grey; tail and wings black, the feathers of the latter being edged with white; the two outer feathers on both sides of the tail are mostly white. Rump dark-grey, underneath the tail white; bill awl-shaped, and black, as are also the slender legs. It builds its nest on the edge of the water in all sorts of places: in holes, between stones, in cracks in the earth, among roots or in wood-stacks. It lays sometimes as many as eight, but usually five white eggs, finely speckled with dark colour, the speckling thicker at the larger end, in a ring round the egg.

THE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL.

(_Motacilla flava._)

This very handsome little bird, which is smaller than the White Wagtail, and does not wag its tail so much, inhabits the low Hungarian plain, and the pastureland generally of the open country, especially moist moorlands, and the banks of marshes, where it keeps close to the grazing animals, which are mostly swine and buffaloes. When swine trample down the bank of the ponds the bird approaches, and picks up the water insects and larvæ which have been exposed in the disturbed ground, or if the buffaloes trample the earth on the edge of the marsh the Wagtail is sure to be close on their heels to secure its share of food. It builds its nest in the grasses of the meadow or at the roots of the bushes in the hedge. It usually lays five eggs, which have light flecks on a dingy white ground.

* * * * *

A bird I always looked for eagerly in the days of my youth, on our Staffordshire moorlands was the Yellow Wagtail with its lovely tints. It would come tripping blithely along a certain road on its way from one rough fallow field to another, a most dainty, and I fancied then, even foreign-looking little creature. It has a prettier song than its relatives, the Grey and the Pied Wagtails, and is altogether a daintier looking bird. Nor is it so common, being very local in its distribution. Leaving us in September, little parties of the Yellow Wagtails are formed then, and some districts only make their acquaintance with these birds when on their migratory flight. Lately I heard of a company of about seventy Wagtails resting for the night in Kew Gardens grounds, where they had not been noted before. They frequent the meadows beside the Brent by Perivale, Ealing, where small, thin-shelled molluscs by the stream, and insects stirred into activity by the heavy feet of the grazing cattle, furnish them with food. I watched one day a pretty sight,--a nimble Wagtail in close attendance on an old sheep. The way it darted nimbly about this animal’s face, picking off the tiny flies as the creature fed was wonderful. Sometimes you may chance to see one picking the torturing little insects out of an old horse’s ears as it lies resting on the sward.

The yellow species is called _Motacilla raii_, but the Abbé Vincelot, who wrote half a century ago, on the birds of Maine-et-Loire, treating specially of their names as descriptive of their manners, call it _Motacilla boarula_, and he said he thought the latter designation came from Boaria, an old name for Bavaria, used after the Boïens, driven by the Marcomans from Bohemia, settled there. This name Boïens seems to have been given to the tribes who reared and tended cattle. There were Boïens of Gaul, of Italy, and of Germany. In Poitou an ox is still called boe and the grazier boier. By the ancient Romans the beef market was called the forum boarium. And so the name of boarule given to the Yellow Wagtail may be supposed to indicate this habit of following up the cattle in quest of his insect food. Bergeronette, the common French name of this charming and useful species, is equally descriptive of the bird as an ally of the shepherd.

* * * * *

The Pied Wagtail, _Motacilla lugubris_, is our common and well distributed species. The Grey Wagtail, _M. Melanópe_, a beautiful bird with its longer tail and yellow tints, frequents our hilly districts and mountain streams; but, the Blue-headed species is only an irregular visitor to our Islands, on migration. The food and habits of this family are alike, and they are all most useful to the grazier and farmers generally.

THE GREAT REED WARBLER.

(_Acrocephalus turdoides._)

This Reed Warbler lives exclusively in reed beds, and, as it is fairly common, inhabits a large number of such places, so that in the pairing season the whole neighbourhood resounds with its love song, which even overpowers the croaking of the frogs. There are usually large numbers of the birds near together, and all join with one voice in the concert. It goes on from morning till night. Indeed during the most eager time of its wooing it goes on all night.

The song is sometimes expressed thus:--

Karrey-karrey-karrey Ker-ker-ker Hedder-hedder Duee-duee-duee, etc.

Where the reeds are thickest it shoots between them, as a weaver’s shuttle shoots between the threads. What is still more clever is the way in which it climbs about the straight tall stalks of the reeds. It clasps the reed with its toes and claws, and immediately it seems to be up on the top, then in a moment it slides down again and vanishes among the reeds. And of what use is all this? This bird is of use in its own way, in places inaccessible to others. It destroys innumerable grubs and insects, which frequent water and boggy land, and does its best to make such places habitable. The food of this Reed Warbler consists principally of insects and their larvæ, although in the autumn, like most creatures, instinct teaches it to eat some fruit for health’s sake, in the shape of berries, particularly those of the elder.

The nest of this Reed Warbler is one of the marvels

of bird architecture. It is a real work of art, because, in its perfect suitability for its purpose, it shows an amount of calculation that few men would think a bird capable of.

Whoever is acquainted with the nature of marshland, and the reed beds that border it, knows that on the smooth surface of the water, the breeze, the wind, the storm have free course, and can at times bluster and rage. Everyone also knows that the lightest breezes moves the leaves of the reeds, bends their stems and sets the whole wilderness of them in motion, like the water itself. The wisdom of Nature has placed this bird of the reed beds here, and so formed it that it could live nowhere else. Therefore it must build its nest in this unstable-looking spot and can do so in perfect safety; so that it can lay its eggs, hatch them, tend the young birds which are at first blind, feed them and bring them up until they are fledged and like their parents.

It is no small undertaking to build among the bending stems a nest which will afford security in calm weather and also in storm! If the bird fastened it to one stem, and the wind were to come, the fastenings would soon be torn away, and all destroyed.

What then does the bird do? It chooses three or four stems at about equal distances standing near to each other. On these it darns and knits its nest in the shape of a high, eastern, fur hat reversed: attaching it also with tough grass to the reed in such a manner that it can give way on the stalk when it waves in the wind, so that the stalk cannot tear the nest. The cup of the nest is deep, narrowing a little at the upper edge to prevent anything falling out when moved by the wind. In this nest the Reed Warbler lays five or six eggs of pale green with darker speckles, which are hatched in fourteen days. It is a perfect work of art.

The Great Reed Warbler is 8 inches in length, that is, an inch less than a Thrush; and its form is not unlike that of the Thrush. The upper side is brown, shading into rust colour; over the eye is a lighter stripe, and round the ears the plumage is also a lighter colour. The underparts are whitish, tinged on the sides with yellowish clay colour. Beak like that of the Thrush, rather strong, slightly curved, pointed. Legs strong, suited for clinging. The nest is treated of separately.

We have a smaller relative of this bird in England, although it is not known in Scotland, and is only said to have been taken once in Ireland. Our Reed Warbler (_Acrocephalus streperus_) arrives regularly in the latter end of April, to stay until September. It is common in those places that suit its way of living, in the Midlands and the Southern and Eastern counties. In form it resembles its larger relative. This species does not confine itself to reeds or to watery quarters; it has even been known to build in a garden at Hampstead. The slender branches of willows or alder beside a running stream suit it well. Still it prefers reeds, and its nest also is supported by being woven about and through three or four, or even two reeds. The building is begun whilst the reeds are short, but by the time the young are hatched the nest is three feet above the water. That wandering creature the Cuckoo will even drop her egg into this hanging nest; indeed she is fond of it. The song of this species is at its loudest and pleasant during the long summer twilight. It is a useful little bird.

THE WILLOW WREN.

(_Phylloscopus tróchilus._)

This bird is called the Willow Wren because it loves the willow trees, the leaves of which, both in form and colour, are adapted to hide and protect it.

Its nest is well hidden, being often placed near the ground, under overhanging grasses and bushes, and built of materials found immediately around the chosen site; it can only be discovered by the eyes of an experienced bird-nester. It is covered over. The clutch consists of five or six little white eggs, speckled with reddish-brown.

It is a lively, active bird, that likes to frequent the tops of trees in thick woods, where it hops briskly from twig to twig, and is never still. But neither its colour nor its movements betray its presence and nature as does its voice, which is really extraordinarily strong and far-reaching, considering how tiny is the singer, and still more tiny its vocal organ. Its song is heard in spring, and sounds like _Zilp-Zalp, Zilp-Zalp_, and so on. Its busy call-note is _Whit, whit!_ It feeds on the insects which it finds on the trees. In autumn, when starving, it eats elder-berries and such things, but does no harm whatever. As a loud harbinger of spring, and a bringer of glad-tidings we welcome and protect it.

* * * * *

About the first week in April the Willow Wren comes to us in England, where it is the commonest of the three small greenish-yellow Warblers that come to us--the Chiff-chaff and the Wood Wren are its congeners. Owing to the shape of its domed nest it has been given the name of Oven-bird; indeed all three are known by that name, and the Willow Wren also by that of Hay-bird, because of the dry materials it uses for its nest. This species is very useful to the gardener, as its food consists almost entirely of insects, flies and aphides.

The Willow Wren is a little longer than the Chiff-chaff and an inch longer than the Wren. The upper parts, except the crown, is greenish-brown, passing into a yellow tinge; the underparts white, breast and throat pale yellow; the cheeks golden-brown, the inside of the wings yellow, legs brownish; the under side of the toes yellow. All is subdued, nothing glaring on this delicately coloured bird; indeed, all is delicate, including the bill, which is pointed and adapted for investigating the tiniest cracks and bud axels.

THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER.

(_Múscicapa grísola._)

The habits of the Spotted Flycatcher are quite different from those of its feathered companions in garden and forest, such as the Tits; for while the latter are always moving, darting here, hunting there, the Flycatcher sits quietly on the extreme end of a bough, on some point, or on a post, and watches for flying insects exclusively; flies, beetles; or near the bee-house it lies in wait for drones, but it never snaps at a stinging bee or wasp. It is quiet, only occasionally moving first one wing and then the other, as if to ascertain that they are in working order; then, as soon as it sees a flying insect, it darts forward, sure of aim as the Swallow, seizes its prey, and flies back in a fine curve to its post of observation.

The Flycatcher then, belongs to the useful birds, especially in gardens, where it destroys the harmful insects which fly among the trees. If it should happen to make away with the gall-insect, among others in the woods, that will not outweigh its good deeds. In gardens, at all events, it ought to be cherished and protected. Place a nest-box, such as it loves, with a wide opening, and let it nest there. There is not much to be said for its song; its call note is “_Tschee, tschee_.”

* * * * *

The Spotted Flycatcher is one of our latest British spring migrants, its usual time for coming is about the first week in May. Although it feeds almost exclusively on insects, it has been known to eat the berries of the mountain ash; I have noticed indeed that these disappear

before the birds more quickly than other wild berries. It is local with us in its breeding habits. It is one of the few species which still breed in some of our London parks and the larger gardens in town. The nest may be found among old creepers, but in the country it is often built on the beam of an outbuilding, and so it has been called the Beam-bird. It is a charming little creature to note as it sweeps round in quest of insect life. I was once watching a nest in a creeper on the porch of an old farmhouse. The young birds, tightly packed within, gasped greedily for the food brought by their parents. One had a fly too big for its swallow; it was stuck in its throat, and the fledgling graciously allowed me to push it down with a pin.

It is a charming sight to see the parent bird catch its prey when on the wing, and carrying it promptly to the nest within the creeper. “Not only tiny insects and moths go there, but also the bodies, denuded of their wings, of many a white cabbage butterfly, which would otherwise have deposited her small white eggs on the leaves of the cauliflowers in the kitchen garden close at hand. These eggs would become green grubs, which would injure the plants and make them unfit for food. The quick eyes of the bird and his clever flight put an end to the mischief so far as many a cauliflower is concerned. Flies, beetles, and aphides in hosts are devoured--the last especially during August, when they come in myriads from hop fields, or fruit trees--damsons; and the Flycatchers will clear the gooseberry bushes of the hurtful sawfly. Macgillivray has recorded that he noted a parent bird bring food to the nest five hundred and thirty-seven times during one day! Flycatchers come back to the same nesting place year after year. They may take a little fruit from you in the shape of red currants, but this is open to doubt. Like other creatures, a change of diet is, perhaps, valuable to them; but their labours during the early summer surely entitle them to a share of the fruit.”[3]

* * * * *

The Spotted Flycatcher is a little grey bird, smaller than the sparrow. The upper side of its body is mouse-colour, the underside whitish: on the breast and about the eyes are dark specks. The beak is black, flattened out wider at the base; the upper half of it furnished with stiff bristles on each side of the base to prevent its prey escaping. Legs black and weak; eyes dark and bright. The nest is usually built in trees, stumps of boughs, near the trunk, also in holes, but never very deep ones. It is beautifully woven, of fine moss, lichens, fine rootlets and grass, and is lined with wool, feathers and horse-hair. It contains five eggs of light grey-green, with dark marble-like veining and specks of rust-colour; the speckling is sometimes thicker in a ring round the larger end.

THE PIED FLYCATCHER.

(_Muscicapa atricapilla._)

The male Pied Flycatcher is so strikingly marked a bird that he is almost dazzling to the eye. Yet he is only in black and white, but his markings are very decided. The female is more quietly feathered, the frontlet, wing-patches and under parts are a buffish-white, whilst her upper parts are olive-green. The bill is just like that of its congener already described. The nest is made in a hole in some tree, of dry grass, moss and rootlets with a lining of hair.

This species prefers warmer districts, where it remains chiefly in leafy woods. The bird is a charming little object as it disports itself amongst the young green of oak and beech woods. When on the lookout for its prey it prefers to perch on some old withered tree branch. And so gentle and small it looks one would not dream of its injuring a fly. Yet, for the great benefit of the woods, it is keen in pursuit of flies, gnats and other “small deer.” It will agitate its little wings in front of the larger hollows in old trees, so as to create a slight wind which will rouse and bring out lurking insects to become the prey of this disturber of their peace. In the high beech woods this Flycatcher pounces on the little insects that play in the rays of sunlight that filter through the openings between the branches. A beautiful bird this and well deserving protection.

In Great Britain this species is far less numerous than its congener. It is, however, a regular visitor to some of our counties. Its song is like that of the Redstart.

THE WHEATEAR.

(_Saxicola œnánthé._)

This is a lively and vigilant bird. It selects a district, to which it afterwards remains faithful. It likes fallow ground, stony hollows, marsh-land, sandy depressions where there are undulations, also meadows where there are grass-grown mole-hills or grass plots. From one of these small eminences it surveys the surrounding land, and on seeing prey instantly makes for it, and having caught it flies on to another stone or hillock. It also perches on low posts, but only takes to a tree in case of need. As it prefers to be in the open, it is often visible, for when it begins to fly it spreads out its tail and the white feathers at once attract attention. It is a very useful bird, for it lives entirely upon grubs and insects. In autumn it destroys the caterpillars of the white cabbage butterfly. The modest little song is not heard only from the hillocks and stones on which it perches, but also high up in the air when wooing his bride with sweet sounds. It is fairly common in Hungary.

* * * * *

About the middle of March the Wheatear, with its graceful motions, begins to arrive in numbers on our own Southern and Eastern coasts. It flits over downs and fallow lands, some pairs remaining to make nests in old rabbit holes, and in sandy warrens near the coast, others passing on after a brief rest, seeking higher latitudes--the rocky moorlands of the Peak, the fallows of

agricultural districts in the Midlands, the mountains of Scotland. The old hole of a Sand-martin in a railway cutting, a crevice in a stone wall, the lee side of a boulder stone, or merely the shelter of a clod of earth in a fallow field serves his purpose. As regards a nesting site, the Wheatear is exceedingly adaptable, suiting himself to the locality. And so the popular names given to this bird seem often misleading to a student of its life-history. In the Southern counties as the “Fallow Chat” it is best known, in Lancashire and Derbyshire it is “Walltack,” “Stonecheek,” “Stone-smack,” or “Smutch”: and this in Staffordshire is “Stone Smasher.” But tack and cheek and smutch all come from the bird’s sharp note “Chack, chack!” uttered as it flits from stone to stone on high land or along the wind-swept downs and warrens.

* * * * *

Steinschmätzer is the German name for the Wheatear; so the Lancashire name of Stonesmatch is decidedly Saxon. Schmatzen is to kiss heartily--to give a good smack in fact. The French name for this bird, Traquet, was given because of the continual movement of the wings and tail, which is compared to the traquet, or clapper of mills, which is kept in motion by the wind or by the water.

* * * * *

All works on natural history describe the beautiful Wheatear as always wary and shy to a degree, and chiefly, as we have already said, to be found on warrens and poor lands near the coast, but as being especially plentiful about our South Downs. In other districts, too, it frequents the open ground and rough hillocky pastures. But who would look for the Wheatear amongst the old slag-heaps, in the very heart of the North Staffordshire Potteries? where, too, the bird seems to lay aside its shy and wary little manœuvres.

Mr. Wells Bladen, the well-known Staffordshire ornithologist, reports on the Wheatear, which arrived earlier than usual, telling us that he saw one on a slag-heap at Etruria on March 3rd. In April again he witnessed the curious sight of five Wheatears, mobbing a Kestrel on their slag-heap and driving off the intruder quickly. In June there were at least a dozen of these birds frequenting the heap, and one pair had nested within twenty feet of a very busy railway siding. The nest, with its lovely pale blue eggs, was in a hole in a bank of fused clinkers, two feet from the ground. The eggs were hatched safely, but the young birds were unfortunately killed by some mischievous person before they were old enough to leave the nest. It was a pity the bird made its nest so near the ground, for, as a rule the great heaps which railway passengers between Stoke and Crewe have seen and wondered at, by night as well as by day, are little interfered with, or trespassed on. The dreary slag-heaps in the neighbourhood of blast-furnaces would appear to be spots equally unattractive to man and beast, and especially so to that brightly marked migrant the Wheatear, as it is known on the sunny, wind-swept downs and sandhills near the sea. In August again, one was seen on a railway waggon.

Wheatears leave us by the beginning of October, but now and again a few stray birds are said to winter here in mild districts.

The Wheatear has the crown, back of the head and back a beautiful ashen-grey; throat a faint buffish-white. There is a black stripe from the bill to the eye, which broadens out towards the ear. Underparts nearly white, breast yellowish. The side feathers of the wings are white towards the base--at the end black; the middle feathers entirely black. Bill awl-shaped, and, like the legs, black. The female bird and the young are less varied in colour. The Wheatear hides its nest away in heaps of stones, and crevices of the earth, and is most discreet as a rule in ensuring its safety. It lays five eggs, occasionally seven, which are usually of a uniform pale-blue colour, sometimes faintly dotted.

THE STONECHAT.

(_Pratíncola rubícola._)

This lively little bird--that is the male bird--has the following characteristics: head, throat, nape, and back black. A conspicuous white patch on the wing-coverts. Under wing-coverts and axillaries black and white. Bill small and awl-shaped, legs and feet black.

* * * * *

It hides its nest so well, that it is difficult to find. It is usually built on the ground in a slight dip, so that the heads of the fledglings are level with the surface of the ground, and thus it merges into its surroundings. Five bluish grey eggs, speckled with brown, are usually found in the nest.

* * * * *

The Stonechat is a very pleasant bird, that seems, wherever it may be, to live by itself. It always sits on the topmost part of a bush, and thence looks attentively on to the ground, yet is quite conscious of all the insects and chafers flying about, for it is an alert captor. Sometimes it looks as if it were turning a summersault in the air, which is always a sign that it has disturbed a beetle in its flight and snapped him up.

* * * * *

This little Black-throat is more a bird of the foothills, where it loves the rocky dips where a few bushes render these not quite bare. It will suddenly appear on the top of a bush, the point of a moth-mullein or a nettle--always on a high perch--gives one look round, swallows an insect, and disappears as if by magic. Soon after it will appear in another spot, and go through the same performance. Meanwhile it wags its little tail, spreading it out. Late in the autumn, before its migration, it comes nearer to human dwellings, and carries on its pursuit of insects, among the hedges. It even ventures into the kitchen garden, where the cabbage stumps, and vegetable stalks are a favourable position, from which it can easily secure its prey. Its song is clear, pleasing, but not loud. Its call is “_Weet, weet, weet--tek, tek, tek_.”

The birds arrive in Hungary singly.

* * * * *

In Great Britain the Stonechat is a resident in most parts, although such as have bred in the colder districts migrate to more sheltered places in winter. At that season we have a number of arrivals from such parts of the Continent as are too cold for these birds to remain in. Grubs, worms, insects, and beetles are its chief diet, to which it adds a few small seeds. A very destructive insect which they take is known as the Bean Weevil. It is about a quarter of an inch in length; and it finds lodging among the whins, which the Chat family frequent. This beetle also haunts the rhubarb flowers in our gardens and visits the peas, selecting, it is said, always the finest of these in which to lay her eggs. Daddy-longlegs, cattle-flies, wire-worms, small snails, and slugs are also eaten by the Chats--especially the Whinchat, _Pratincola rubétra_, which comes to the South in middle of April, reaching the North early in May. It has a long white streak over the eye, which is a distinguishing feature of this species, also its underparts are buff, turning to bright fawn colour on the breast and throat. The crown and upper parts are mottled equally with sandy-buff and dark brown. Its bill is less delicate than that of the Stonechat.

THE BEARDED TIT OR REEDLING.

(_Panurus biármicus._)

The Bearded Tit is the ornament of the Reed-lands. Its feathers being unusually fine and light, the brilliant black moustache gives it all the more charming and attractive an appearance. It usually slips round in the high reeds about which it clambers very cleverly. The nest is placed between the stalks of the reeds, and is composed chiefly of their leaves, the colour of which harmonises with that of the bird’s long tail, so that the latter, which stands out of the nest, cannot be distinguished from its surroundings. The clutch consists of five to seven eggs, which have light brown specks and stripes on a white ground.

With the disappearance of the reeds, the number of the birds diminishes.

That is why we have not in England so many of this lovely species as we used to have. Our fens and meres in Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Cambridge Shires, as well as in Kent, Sussex, and Essex, also in Suffolk having been drained, the birds that lived in these have naturally left them. We are glad, however, to know that Bearded Tits are increasing again in the Norfolk Broads, owing to protection from the greed of private collectors. The great naturalist, Buffon, declared that the male bird has the charming habit of covering his mate with his wings to protect her alike from unkind winds and the burning heat of the sun, as she sits on her nest. _Trinkin_, the peasants of Anjon call it because of the metallic tone of its cry. In the Norfolk Broads it has been known as the Reed Pheasant. Scientists have found that this species differs in its digestive organs and other points from the Titmouse family, and that it is, as the late Professor Newton remarks, a perfectly distinct form, representing the family Panuridæ, instead of forming one species of the Paridæ.

It feeds on the seeds of the reeds in winter and in summer on small molluscs.

This bird, which is a beautiful and delightful bird in every respect, is the size of a Yellow-Hammer. Its feathers are of a silky fineness. The head is bluish-grey; from the corner of the mouth on each side, hangs a pointed, silky black moustache, which can be raised erect on occasion. The nape and back are cinnamon brown, which is lighter over the root of the tail; the tail is deep black underneath, and is wedge-shaped with feathers of graduated length. The wings are striped with buffish-white, black and rufous; the quills are brown with white outer borders. The throat and chest are snow white, the under parts white with a flush of rose colour at the sides. The pupil of the eye is golden yellow.[4]

THE GREAT TITMOUSE.

(_Parus major._)

In respect to usefulness and activity, this bird takes the foremost place among the Tits: restless, noisy, and always cheerful from morning to night. It clings to the end of the twigs, head downwards, to look for insects underneath the buds; it even climbs up walls if they are rough and uneven. It slips into holes and crevices which seem impossible of entry. It pursues insects everywhere, and swallows them wholesale, as though it could never be satisfied. It has no fear of men, but comes confidently under the roof and perches on the gate, or looks in at the window from the window sill. It is courageous, even bold, and boundlessly inquisitive, a trait which often places its life and liberty in peril. For the sake of a little fat it will allow itself to be snared in a gourd or other trap. But it is just these qualities that make it so popular.

Its voice sounds like “_tzit_” or “_sitzida, sitzida_.” This beautiful, kindly bird deserves every protection.

* * * * *

Our sympathies are quite with this bright active creature, although some of our English naturalists accuse it of using its strong beak in order to split the skull of small weakly birds so as to feast on their brains. It has even been known to treat a Bat in this manner. We recognise it readily in the early spring by its note which is like the noise caused by the sharpening of a saw with a file.

Two years ago I saw the largest company of Tits--Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Marsh Tits and Crested

Tits--together with a great number of tiny and beautiful gold-crested Wrens, that I have ever seen, or indeed can ever hope to see again. It was in a pine forest about twenty miles north of Gotha, the property of Hans Freiherr von Berlepsch, Germany’s most ardent bird protector. He was with us at the time and he said even he had never seen the like before, nor had his chief gamekeeper, who is himself an ornithologist. It was the more wonderful because we had walked for nearly three hours through the woods that morning and had seen, with this great exception, little wild life beyond an occasional black Squirrel and, through an avenue of pines from afar, a grand Buck feeding in a clearing. It was in the late autumn.

Nearly three thousand nesting-boxes have been fixed in the trees there, and it was about one of these, a deep one, that a number of Tits had appropriated as a warm and secure sleeping place for the autumn and winter, that the birds--three hundred of them at least the gamekeeper declared--had gathered; now pouncing down on it, a dozen of them at a time, now settling in noisy zi-zi-zi-ing parties on the high branches of pine round this centre. Perhaps, like Rooks that quarrel over a desirable nesting site, they were all eager to secure specially desirable sleeping quarters. Tits and Wrens do, of course, always go about the woods in parties, when family cares are over, but on such a scale as this rarely; and so many dainty Golden-Crested Wrens together might not be seen again in a life-time. All the species of the Tit family, excepting the Bearded and the Long-tailed Tit were there.

The amount of good these birds do among forest trees is incalculable, not to mention their greatly misunderstood labours in ridding the blossoms of our fruit trees of their infesting insect pests. Tits are, in fact, most energetic and active insect destroyers.

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The Great Tit is a lively bird about the size of a Sparrow. The crown, neck, and throat black; cheeks white. A black stripe runs from the throat over the breast and under parts. The mantle is bright green; rump, tail, and wings plum colour, with oblique whitish stripes on the wings. The under side of the body is a beautiful bright yellow on either side of the black stripe. The short, strong beak is shaped like a grain of wheat and brown in colour; the strong legs are bluish. It builds its nest delicately, and usually in such hollow places as have a narrow opening, sometimes even in empty beehives. It lays six to nine--sometimes, though rarely, as many as fifteen--eggs, which are finely formed, of a pure white, with speckles of a beautiful rust colour.

THE BLUE TITMOUSE.

(_Parus cærúleus._)

Crown bright blue, forehead and cheeks white. A dark stripe is drawn from above the eyes towards the nape. The white cheeks are edged at the back and underneath, with black. The under part and rump are sulphur-yellow, or rather lemon colour. Tail and wings blue, like the bloom on a ripe plum. There is an oblique white stripe on the wings. The beak is like a little grain of wheat. Legs bluish. The nest is placed in holes of trees with small opening and is composed of soft stuff and is very lightly built. The clutch consists of seven to ten eggs, which are like those of the Great-tit, only much smaller. As many as eighteen eggs have been recorded as being found in one nest.

It is one of the prettiest and most useful birds, and in its actions resembles the other Tits. The number of insects destroyed by these rises into millions, and it has been observed that one pair, in the course of seventeen hours brought food to their young 475 times. Its cry is clear and piercing: “_Tgi, tgi, tgi_”--or “_Ze, ze, zirr_,” or “_Ze, ze, he-he-he-he-he_.”

It is a real treasure, and not rare in Hungary.

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The Blue-tit is one of our best known and best liked British birds. In the autumn great numbers arrive on our east coasts. The Blue-tit, especially, devours a powerful tiny beetle with the ominous name of Scolytus destructor, which works its way from the chrysalis stage at the end of a tunnel bored by the mother beetle in the tree, until it comes out, after biting a round hole in the

bark, as a perfect beetle. By this small creature’s labours the bark is separated to such an extent from the tree that it cannot live long. A plague of other small wood-boring beetles of like habits destroyed 1,500,000 trees in the Harz Forest one season, when the priests even prayed in their churches for relief from this awful pest. And yet there are still numbers of country gardeners who look upon the Blue-tit, especially, as one of their worst enemies.

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A house with large grounds in our populous London suburb is a large boys’ school--a private one. One day I saw a pretty sight, one that did credit to the character of the boys there. Between the playground and the cricket field is an iron fence, having a wide gate. For some time this has not been properly closed, and just within the hole in the tubular iron post, into which the fastening bolt ought to run, a pair of Blue-Tits have their nest. As I approached it, a number of gaping mouths were thrust up for food. As the nestlings are fed with aphides and gooseberry moths and the old birds have a large family to feed, and they prey also on grubs and maggots, it is well for the vegetable garden close by.

About sixty boys pass noisily to and fro through this gateway during play-hours, but the wise parents think they know better than to feed them in the sight of these. All is done during school time and early in the morning.

A friend tells me that he knows of a Blue-Tit’s nest in an exactly similar position. When the bird was sitting he kicked the bottom of the iron post, and put his finger in the hole. Up flew the bold little creature, hissing like a snake, and bit vigorously at it, fully justifying her rural nickname of Billy-biter.

I am glad to think that some of my schoolboy neighbours will read this, and will know that their forbearance towards these little birds is appreciated: a forbearance towards the defenceless which is always a distinguishing characteristic of the true gentleman.

The Blue-Tit is of great service to all flower and fruit growers, and it comes much to our suburban, and even London gardens. And yet gardeners at one time persecuted the little labourer, one of the prettiest and most winsome of our common birds.

Sitting in the garden of a house I formerly lived in, I noted there, in my apple trees laden with fruit, that the Tits--the Great, the Marsh, the Coal, and the Blue-Tit--that had not been much in evidence since April, when they were busy amongst the blossom buds, have come back, and they were busy now again amid the branches. Having read lately that they destroy the fruit, notably apples, in the autumn, I have watched them closely. It is as I expected: a number of the apples have been attacked by insects, and it is on these that the birds are busy, on fruit which if they did remain on the trees--they are now falling in numbers--would be quite worthless. The Tits enlarge the holes so as to get at the true destroyers, and they are doing more good than harm. As the Rev. F. O. Morris said, long ago, “the destruction of the Blue-tit by the farmer or gardener is an act of economical suicide.”

Tits will also sometimes have recourse to the orchard in times of drought, in order to quench their thirst by bites at the fruit. But we should be churlish indeed if we grudged our little unpaid labourers a small tithe of our harvest, which is the larger for their spring services.

THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN.

(_Regulus cristatus._)

This is the very smallest of our British birds, and indeed of all European species. It is found generally throughout Great Britain, and it has increased in the north greatly of late years owing to the greater cultivation of larch and fir-trees. The numbers of these Wrens are augmented often in autumn by great flocks that come to our eastern coast from the Continent. A migration wave of this sort, Mr. Howard Saunders told of, which lasted 92 days, and reached from the Channel to the Faroe Islands. Another migration in 1883 lasted 82 days, and one, the following year, 87 days. On such occasions bushes in gardens on the coast are covered with birds as with a swarm of bees; crowds flutter round the lighthouse lanterns, and often come to grief there, and weary little travellers climb about the rigging of fishing-smacks in the North Sea.

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The Golden-Crested Wren is even smaller than the Common Wren, but its feathers are more flossy. It has on its crown a tongue-shaped patch of warm saffron yellow edged with black. The whole of the rest of its coat is of a plain greenish gray, which is lighter on the under parts of his body. The colour of the wings is also sober, the feathers having a lighter edge; the little beak is thin and pointed, the legs nearly black. The cunningly built nest is placed in the fir-trees where it can with difficulty be discovered. The eggs, which number six, occasionally eleven--of the size of peas--are reddish speckled with a darker shade of the same colour. This useful little bird, always active, hopping unweariedly about seeking food, lives exclusively on insects and grubs. Its dwelling is among pines and fir-trees; it often associates with the Tits, its call is “_Sit, sit, sit_.”

It is not rare, and is worth its weight in gold.

THE CRESTED TITMOUSE.

(_Parus cristátus._)

In order to learn habits of the Crested Tit it is necessary to climb high into the region of the firwoods. Here the Crested Tit is the good genius of the neighbourhood, for with untiring zeal it hops about among the thick branches of the fir labyrinth and destroys the most mischievous insects. Its call is “_ziárrrr_” or “_zick güirr_.” It is not rare in the pine forests of Hungary.

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The Crested Tit breeds in a few of the oldest forests in Scotland where firs and oaks remain. In Perthshire it is seen, but to England it is a stranger, a few cases only, being on record. In Ireland also it is practically unknown.

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The Crested Titmouse is much smaller than the Great Tit or Oxeye. It is easily recognised by its pointed head, which resembles that of the Crested Lark. The feathers of this are black, edged with white; the cheeks white; throat and round the ears black; so that the head has the appearance of being framed. Wings and tail greyish-brown, the feathers with whitish edges. Underneath it is a dingy white, rust colour at the sides. Its nest is carefully built, in holes and in trees. It lays from five to eight, sometimes ten, white eggs speckled with light rust colour. Two broods are generally brought out in the season.

These birds are seen in Germany, and elsewhere on the Continent, frequently in company with Golden-crested Wrens, other Tits and also Tree-creepers.

THE COAL-TIT.

(_Parus ater._)

This lively, pretty, amiable bird, also lives in the thickest parts of the fir woods, where it carries on its work of destroying the injurious insects, the number of which is enormous. It used to be thought that the Coal-Tit did harm to the young buds; but this has never been authenticated, and even if it does break one off here and there, the mischief is small indeed, in comparison with the service it performs from one year’s end to the other. Its call is shrill and clear “_ziwih, ziwih, ziwih,_” or “_sitt, sitt_”--or a long-drawn “_seeb, seeb_.”

This bird occurs in considerable numbers in Hungary.

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The Coal-Titmouse is one of our common birds in the United Kingdom and it is said to increase yearly, although it is not yet so common as the Great and the Blue Tits. It is a very useful little bird as it feeds its young largely on green caterpillars; but it eats nuts as well as seeds--the seeds of the Scotch fir it is specially fond of.

The Marsh-Titmouse--_Parus palústris_--is another resident species in Great Britain, but it is, with the exception of the Crested Titmouse, the least common of our Tits. I have seen it much about our Middlesex gardens, a superficial observer can note the difference between this bird and the Coal-Tit easily because the Marsh-Tit has not the white patch on the back of the head which the Coal-Tit has. It is often seen in orchards where it does good service, but is fond of the neighbourhood of rivers and delights itself among the alder trees and pollarded willows of swampy ground.

The Coal Tit is the same size as the Crested Tit. Cheeks white--at the back of the head a white patch, the rest of the head black, so that this colour forms a broad bridle, which recalls that of the great tit. Underneath it is of a dingy white, the mantle a bluish ash-colour with a tinge of green. Wings and tail dark grey, the former having two oblique whitish stripes. The nest is built on the ground, in holes in fir trees under decaying bark, sometimes in holes in the ground--and is formed for the most part of green moss, the interior being warmly lined with hair. The clutch consists of six--sometimes even ten--eggs of a brilliant white finely speckled with rust-colour.

THE LONG-TAILED TIT.

(_Acredula caudáta._)

This is a true Tit, and never rests, but is hunting here and there, slipping in and out, in constant movement, from morning till night, now and then indulging in such gymnastic exercises on the frailest twigs, as would by comparison make the limb-dislocating mountebank look a clumsy lout. Nothing can be more charming than the society of which the Long-tailed Tit is the grand master. It comprehends the Great-Tit, the Blue-Tit, and the Coal-Tit, one or two tree runners, Spotted Woodpeckers and a Nuthatch. The whole form a brigade of workers, who rove through the woods and gardens, each one working according to the measure of its strength. They search a tree, from the bark to the point of the thin topmost twig, where the Long-Tailed one is quite at home, so light a featherweight is his body--the twig bends, but does not break, and the tail acts as its balancing pole. This society gathers at the same hour at the same place, in the late autumn, in order to seek fresh places. The note of the Long-Tailed Tit sounds like “_je, je, je,_” and “_gey, gey, gey, gey_.” It lives on injurious insects, and wherever it builds its nest in wood or garden it is a priceless treasure.

It is not rare in Hungary, and deserves to be protected.

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There are various forms of the Long-tailed Titmouse in Europe; our own form is fairly common in localities which suit its mode of living. It is resident and common in Ireland, but very local in its occurrence in Scotland. These Tits often rear two broods in a season, and afterwards the whole family may be seen flitting about

together, in single file from hedgerow to hedgerow. There is a dipping motion in their flight which is pretty to watch. All these feed on insects and their larvæ.

The Long-tailed Tit is the size of the Wren; a round-headed little bird with a tiny beak, and a very long tail. The head is white, and suggests that of a grey-headed old grandfather. The fore-part of the back is black with white patches on the shoulders, the tail black, the three outer feathers being for the most part white, and graduated in length, the two middle feathers being shorter. The under part is rose colour; the tiny beak black.

THE NEST OF THE LONG-TAILED TIT.

It is not only in our latitudes that the nest of the Long-tailed Tit is considered a masterpiece, but even far away south where nature works such marvels, where the little humming birds, scarcely bigger than the joint of a child’s finger, shine in the sunlight like diamonds and rubies, and build nests no bigger than half a small hen’s egg,--even there, this nest is looked upon one of the finest specimens of bird architecture. It is the most charming, most beautiful, and warmest bird abode. Most often it is round, the twigs supporting it like the fingers of the hand, and often it stands free like a little beehive. It is beautifully roofed in with a domed top, and has at the side an opening large enough for a big bumble bee. It is constructed of the finest moss, and the softest fluff from the meadows and poplars; it is soft, and yet so strongly put together that no human workman can imitate it.

In this soft, warm nest the tiny bird lays its nine, sometimes eleven, eggs. These are white with rose-coloured spots at the thicker end. The male and female birds sit alternately on the eggs for fourteen days; and then the hard work begins--twelve babes to nourish, and with the finest food!

The industry of the Swallow is truly great, but that of the Long-tailed Tit is still greater. The Swallow seizes its booty while on the wing, and has only to open its beak; but the Tit has to go from branch to branch, working sometimes head downwards, sometimes swinging, in order to secure the tiny morsels.

Truly he who does not delight in the sight of this tiny family united by love, who is not moved when the twelve baby birds are seen sitting close pressed together on a slender bough, and the little parents come and go, with their continuous cry, bringing food and giving it in turn to the young ones--he whom such a sight does not fill with pleasure, must have a stone in his breast instead of a heart.