Part 2
Whiskered Tern. _Hydrochelidon hybrida_ 323
White-winged Black Tern. _Hydrochelidon leucoptera_ 323
Black Tern. _Hydrochelidon nigra_ 323
Noddy. _Anoüs stolidus_ 323
Ivory Gull. _Pagophila eburnea_ 329
KITTIWAKE. _Rissa tridactyla_ 323
Glaucous Gull. _Larus glaucus_ 329
Iceland Gull. _Larus leucopterus_ 329
HERRING-GULL. _Larus argentatus_ 324
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. _Larus fuscus_ 325
COMMON GULL. _Larus canus_ 326
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. _Larus marinus_ 327
Great Black-headed Gull. _Larus ichthyaëtus_ 330
BLACK-HEADED GULL. _Larus ridibundus_ 328
Little Gull. _Larus minutus_ 330
SABINE’S GULL. _Xema sabinii_ 330
COMMON SKUA. _Stercorarius catarrhactes_ 330
Pomatorhine Skua. _Stercorarius pomatorhinus_ 333
RICHARDSON’S SKUA. _Stercorarius crepidatus_ 333
Buffon’s Skua. _Stercorarius parasiticus_ 333
_Order_ TUBINARES.
STORMY PETREL. _Procellaria pelagica_ 333
LEACH’S PETREL. _Procellaria leucorrhoa_ 335
Wilson’s Petrel. _Oceanites oceanicus_ 336
MANX SHEARWATER. _Puffinus anglorum_ 336
Sooty Shearwater. _Puffinus griseus_ 337
Greater Shearwater. _Puffinus major_ 337
Dusky Shearwater. _Puffinus obscurus_ 337
FULMAR. _Fulmarus glacialis_ 337
Capped Petrel. _Œstrelata hæsitata_ 339
Bulwer’s Petrel. _Bulweria columbina_ 339
_Order_ PYGOPODES.
GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. _Colymbus glacialis_ 340
BLACK-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus arcticus_ 341
RED-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus septentrionalis_ 342
GREAT CRESTED GREBE. _Podiceps cristatus_ 342
Red-necked Grebe. _Podiceps griseigena_ 345
Sclavonian Grebe. _Podiceps auritus_ 345
Eared Grebe. _Podiceps nigrocollis_ 345
LITTLE GREBE. _Tachybaptes fluviatilis_ 344
RAZORBILL. _Alca torda_ 345
COMMON GUILLEMOT. _Lomvia troile_ 347
Brünnich’s Guillemot. _Lomvia bruennichi_ 351
BLACK GUILLEMOT. _Uria grylle_ 350
Little Auk. _Margulus alle_ 351
PUFFIN. _Fratercula arctica_ 351
INDEX 353
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_COLOURED PLATES._
GOLDEN EAGLE _By A. Thorburn_ _Frontispiece_
BEARDED TITMOUSE „ _To face p._ 89
GOLDFINCH „ „ 126
BITTERN „ „ 224
COMMON TEAL „ „ 244
PTARMIGAN „ „ 270
DOTTEREL „ „ 289
ROSEATE TERN „ „ 320
_PLATES._
FIELDFARES; MISSEL-THRUSH; BLACKBIRD _By G. E. Lodge_ To face p._ 39
ROOKS; JACKDAWS; STARLINGS „ „ 164
LONG-EARED OWL; CHAFFINCH; GREAT, BLUE AND, COAL TITS; GOLDCREST „ „ 196
GANNETS; GUILLEMOTS; HERRING-GULLS „ „ 221
MALLARDS; PEREGRINE FALCON; HERON; COOT „ „ 240
JAY; WOOD-PIGEONS; PHEASANTS „ „ 264
OYSTER-CATCHERS; RINGED PLOVER; LITTLE STINT; CURLEW „ „ 314
BLACK-HEADED GULLS; POCHARDS, SHOVELER; WATER-HENS „ „ 328
_ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT._
FIG. PAGE
1. SKELETON OF WING OF ARCHÆOPTERYX WITH REMIGES ATTACHED. _From ‘Natural Science’_ 4
2, 3. STRUCTURE OF A FEATHER _From ‘Ibis’_ 5
4. PORTION OF TWO ADJACENT BARBS „ 5
5. FOOT OF PELICAN _From Owen’s ‘Anatomy of Vertebrates’_ 10
6. FOOT OF PERCHING BIRD „ 10
7. FOOT OF KINGFISHER „ 10
8. STERNUM OF SHRIKE „ 13
9. WING OF NESTLING OPISTHOCOMUS _From ‘Natural Science’_ 15
10. WING OF YOUNG FOWL OF SAME AGE AS FIG. 9 (OF WING OF OPISTHOCOMUS) „ 16
11. WING OF ADULT OPISTHOCOMUS „ 17
12. WING OF HALF-GROWN OSTRICH „ 17
13. PELVIS AND HIND LIMB OF DIVER _From Owen’s ‘Anatomy of Vertebrates’_ 19
14. GIZZARD OF SWAN „ 21
15. SYRINX OF RAVEN (Posterior Surface) „ 26
16. SYRINX OF RAVEN (Lateral View) „ 26
17. SYRINX OF RAVEN CUT OPEN LONGITUDINALLY „ 26
18. SONG-THRUSH (¼ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 41
19. THROSTLE’S NEST _From Photograph by R. B. Lodge_ 44
20. BLACKBIRD’S NEST „ 48
21. RING-OUZEL (⅕ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 50
22. WHEATEAR (⅓ natural size) „ 52
23. STONECHAT (¼ natural size) „ 56
24. REDSTART (⅓ natural size) „ 57
25. REDBREAST (¼ natural size) „ 59
26. NIGHTINGALE (⅓ natural size) „ 62
27. WHITETHROAT (⅓ natural size) „ 64
28. BLACKCAP (⅓ natural size) „ 67
29. DARTFORD WARBLER (⅓ natural size) „ 71
30. SEDGE-WARBLER (⅓ natural size) „ 80
31. HEDGE-SPARROW (⅓ natural size) „ 84
32. DIPPER (⅕ natural size) „ 86
33. LONG-TAILED TIT (¼ natural size) „ 91
34. GREAT TIT (⅓ natural size) „ 93
35. CRESTED TIT (⅓ natural size) „ 98
36. NUTHATCH (¼ natural size) „ 99
37. WREN (¼ natural size) „ 102
38. PIED WAGTAIL (¼ natural size) „ 104
39. GREY WAGTAIL (⅓ natural size) „ 106
40. TREE-PIPIT (¼ natural size) „ 110
41. ROCK-PIPIT (⅓ natural size) „ 112
42. RED-BACKED SHRIKE (¼ natural size) „ 114
43. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (¼ natural size) „ 117
44. SWALLOW (¼ natural size) „ 119
45. MARTIN (⅓ natural size) „ 121
46. TREE-CREEPER (⅓ natural size) „ 124
47. HAWFINCH (⅓ natural size) „ 130
48. LESSER REDPOLL (⅓ natural size) „ 140
49. BULLFINCH (⅓ natural size) „ 142
50. CROSSBILL (¼ natural size) „ 144
51. YELLOWHAMMER (⅓ natural size) „ 148
52. CIRL BUNTING (⅓ natural size) „ 150
53. REED-BUNTING (¼ natural size) „ 151
54. CHOUGH (⅛ natural size) „ 157
55. MAGPIE (⅑ natural size) „ 161
56. ROOKS AND NEST _From Photograph by R. B. Lodge_ 169
57. RAVEN (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 172
58. SKYLARK (⅓ natural size) „ 175
59. NIGHTJAR (⅕ natural size) „ 180
60. SPOTTED WOODPECKER (⅕ natural size) „ 182
61. GREEN WOODPECKER (⅙ natural size) „ 184
62. WRYNECK (⅓ natural size) „ 186
63. KINGFISHER (¼ natural size) „ 188
64. HOOPOE „ 190
65. CUCKOO (⅙ natural size) „ 191
66. BARN-OWL (⅐ natural size) „ 194
67. MONTAGU’S HARRIER (⅑ natural size) „ 201
68. BUZZARD (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 202
69. KITE (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 207
70. PEREGRINE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 209
71. MERLIN (⅛ natural size) „ 211
72. KESTREL (⅑ natural size) „ 212
73. HONEY-BUZZARD (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 217
74. CORMORANT (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 218
75. GREY LAG-GOOSE (¹⁄₁₄ natural size) „ 227
76. BRENT GOOSE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 231
77. BARNACLE GOOSE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 232
78. SHELDRAKE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 235
79. WIGEON (⅐ natural size) „ 237
80. PINTAIL (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 239
81. GADWELL (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 242
82. GARGANEY (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 243
83. TUFTED DUCK (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 246
84. EIDER DUCK (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 251
85. COMMON SCOTER (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 253
86. GOOSANDER (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 255
87. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 257
88. ROCK-DOVE (⅐ natural size) „ 262
89. TURTLE-DOVE (⅙ natural size) „ 263
90. RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (⅐ natural size) „ 266
91. PARTRIDGE (⅙ natural size) „ 267
92. QUAIL (⅕ natural size) „ 269
93. BLACKCOCK (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 274
94. CAPERCAILLIE (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 275
95. LANDRAIL (⅐ natural size) _By G. E. Lodge_ 278
96. STONE-CURLEW (⅐ natural size) „ 282
97. GOLDEN PLOVER (summer plumage) (⅙ natural size) „ 285
98. LAPWING (⅙ natural size) „ 290
99. TURNSTONE (⅕ natural size) „ 292
100. GREY PHALAROPE (¼ natural size) „ 295
101. WOODCOCK (⅙ natural size) „ 296
102. DUNLIN (summer plumage) (¼ natural size) „ 301
103. KNOT (¼ natural size) „ 305
104. RUFF AND REEVE (⅐ natural size) „ 306
105. SANDERLING (winter plumage) (¼ natural size) „ 308
106. GREENSHANK (⅙ natural size) „ 312
107. COMMON TERN (⅐ natural size) „ 319
108. LESSER TERN (¼ natural size) „ 321
109. BLACK TERN (⅐ natural size) „ 323
110. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 327
111. GREAT SKUA (¹⁄₁₂ natural size) „ 330
112. STORMY PETREL (⅓ natural size) „ 334
113. MANX SHEARWATER (⅛ natural size) „ 336
114. FULMAR (⅑ natural size) „ 338
115. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (⅑ natural size) „ 340
116. GREAT CRESTED GREBE (¹⁄₁₀ natural size) „ 342
117. LITTLE GREBE (⅙ natural size) „ 344
118. RAZORBILL (winter plumage) (¹⁄₁₁ natural size) „ 346
119. LITTLE AUK (⅛ natural size) „ 350
120. PUFFIN (⅑ natural size) „ 351
INTRODUCTION.
The plan followed in the descriptive portion of this work has, I trust, the merit of simplicity. A brief account is given of the appearance, language, and life-habits of all the species that reside permanently, or for a portion of each year, within the limits of the British Islands. The accidental stragglers, with the irregular or occasional visitors, have been included, but not described, in the work. To have omitted all mention of them would, perhaps, have been to carry the process of simplification too far. And as much may be said of the retention in this book of Latin, or ‘science’ names. The mass of technical matter with which ornithological works are usually weighted is scarcely wanted in a book intended for the general reader, more especially for the young. Nor was there space sufficient to make the work at the same time a technical and a popular one: the briefest description that could possibly be given of the characters of genera would have occupied thirty to forty pages. The student must, in any case, go to the large standard works on the subject, especially to those of Yarrell (fourth edition), Seebohm, and Howard Saunders, which are repositories of all the most important facts relating to our bird life, gathered from the time of Willughby, the father of British ornithology, down to the present.
The order in which I have placed the species, beginning with the thrushes and ending with the auks, is that of Sclater, based on Huxley’s classification, and is the arrangement adopted in the official list of the British Ornithologists’ Union (1883). The B.O.U. list enumerates 376 species; and of this number 211 species are counted as residents and regular visitants; the remaining 165 being loosely described as ‘Occasional Visitants.’ About these aliens, which are claimed as citizens, something requires to be said.
It has long been the practice of our ornithologists to regard as ‘British’ any species of which one specimen has been found in a wild state within the limits of the United Kingdom. As a result of this excessive hospitality we find in the list about forty-three species of which not more than three specimens have been obtained; in a majority of cases only one. We also find that there are not fewer than forty-five exclusively American species in the list; but by what means, or by what series of extraordinary accidents, these lost wanderers have been carried thousands of miles from their own region, across the Atlantic, and have succeeded in reaching our shores alive, it is impossible to imagine. It is highly probable that some of the American, Asiatic, and European waifs that have been picked up in these islands were birds that had escaped from confinement; but whether brought by man or borne on the wings of the tempest to our shores, the fact remains that they are not members of our avifauna, and the young reader should clearly understand that only by a pleasing fiction are they called ‘British.’
I have spoken at some length on this subject, because it is one that appears to interest a great many persons who are not ornithologists. How many British species are there? is a question that is continually being asked of those who are supposed to know. I should say that, in round numbers, there are 200; at the very outside, 210. Seebohm, in the introduction to his great work, gives 222 as the number of species ‘fairly entitled to be considered British birds’; but he probably counted some that are usually regarded as irregular visitors, and perhaps others which have been exterminated in recent times. Of the 165 species set down in the ‘British’ list as occasional visitors, about 55 or 60 deserve that description, since they do, as a fact, visit the British Islands at irregular intervals. All the others are accidental stragglers.
It only remains to add something on another subject--the little life-histories of the two hundred and odd species described in this volume. Although this is in no sense a controversial subject, the apologetic tone must be still used. I wish that these sketches had been better done, but I do not greatly regret that they had to be brief. The longest history of a bird ever written, the most abounding in facts and delightful to read, when tested in the only sure way--namely, by close observation of its subject--is found to be scarcely more complete or satisfactory than the briefest, which contains only the main facts. This is because birds are not automata, but intelligent beings. Seebohm has well said, ‘The real history of a bird is its _life_-history. The deepest interest attaches to everything that reveals the little mind, however feebly it may be developed, which lies behind the feathers.’ It has been remarked more than once that we do not rightly appreciate birds because we do not see them well. In most cases persecution has made them fearful of the human form; they fly from us, and distance obscures their delicate harmonious colouring and blurs the exquisite aërial lines on which they are formed. When we look closely at them, we are surprised at their beauty and the indescribable grace of their varied motions. An analogous effect is produced by a close observation of their habits or actions, which, seen from afar, may appear few and monotonous. Canon Atkinson, in his ‘Sketches in Natural History’ (1865), has a chapter about the partridge, prefaced by Yarrell’s remark, that of a bird so universally known there was little that was new to be said. While admitting the general truth of this statement, the author goes on to say: ‘Still, I have from time to time observed some slight peculiarity in the habits of the partridge that I have not seen noticed in any professed description of the bird, forming certain passages, as it were, of its minute history. It is precisely this ‘minute history’ that gives so great and enduring a fascination to the study of birds in a state of nature. But it cannot be written, on account of the infinity of ‘passages’ contained in it, or, in other words, of that element of mind which gives it endless variety.
Let us imagine the case of a youth or boy who has read and re-read half a dozen long histories of some one species; and, primed with all this knowledge, who finally goes out to observe it for himself. It will astonish him to find how much he has not been told. He will begin to think that the writers must have been hasty or careless, that they neglected their opportunities, and missed much that they ought not to have missed; and he may even experience a feeling of resentment towards them, as if they had treated him unfairly. But after more time spent in observation he will make the interesting discovery that, so long as they are watched for, fresh things will continue to appear. The reflection will follow that there must be a limit to the things that can be recorded; that the life-history of a bird cannot be contained in any book, however voluminous it may be; and, finally, that books have a quite different object from the one he had imagined. And in the end he will be more than content that it should be so.
W. H. H.
BRITISH BIRDS.
_THE ANATOMY OF A BIRD._
It is very important that every one who studies birds should have some acquaintance with their insides as well as with their outsides. To have a proper appreciation of the mechanism of flight, the most distinctive attribute of a bird, we must explore the air reservoirs and muscles, which combine, with other organs, to form a complicated, but exquisitely adjusted, system. It is true that other animals show a similar adaptation to their several modes of life, but in a bird the necessities of life seem to have produced a more obvious and striking harmony between structure and habit. Furthermore, the young ornithologist should not be content with gaining the ability to recognise the different kinds of birds: he should understand their mutual relations, and the place of a bird in Nature. To form an opinion about these matters needs more than an acquaintance with the colours and outward form, and with the eggs and nest. A great deal can be learnt from these characters, but they are at most only useful in linking together closely related species. All the members of the extensive tribe of parrots, for example, are bound together by their hooked bills, their white eggs, their grasping feet, &c. But we want to go further, and determine what are the relations of the parrots to other birds which differ totally from them in all outward and visible signs. To solve, or rather to attempt to solve, broader questions of this kind we must have recourse to the scalpel, and even to the microscope. Besides, there not only _are_ birds, but there _were_ birds, which have now passed away utterly, leaving behind only a few bones embedded in the rocks. Nothing of an external nature will avail us in considering what these birds were like in their day, and which of existing kinds they most resembled. We must have a knowledge of bones, of osteology, to grapple with the problems which they present. For these reasons I have dealt in the following pages principally with the organs of flight, and with those internal and external characters which are admitted to be of most use in classificatory questions. I have paid less attention to those organs which are not of importance from these points of view.
Feathers and Feathering.