Part 37
Bill moderate, red with a black tip; head and long feathers on the back of the head black; upper parts bluish ash; quills ash-grey, brown at the tips; tail much forked, not longer than the wings, white, the two outer feathers on each side dusky on the outer webs; under parts white, tinged with grey on the breast; irides reddish brown; feet coral-red. _Young birds_ have a good deal of white about the head, and the feathers on the back are tipped with white; tail ash-grey, whitish at the tip. Length fourteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, blotched and spotted with ash and dusky.
On those parts of the coast where the Common Tern is abundant, no sea-bird is more likely to attract the notice of the visitor than the Common Tern. It is less in size than any of the common species of Gull, with which, however, it is often confounded by the unobservant. It is more lively and active in its motions, not ordinarily flying in circles, but, if I may use the expression, 'rambling' through the air, frequently diverging to the right or left, and raising or depressing itself at frequent intervals. These characters alone are sufficient to distinguish the Tern from any of the Gulls; but it presents yet more striking features. Its tail is elongated and forked like that of the Swallow, and from this character rather than from its flight it is commonly known as the Sea Swallow. Its mode of taking its prey is totally different from that of the Gulls. Very frequently a single Tern may be observed pursuing its course in a line with the breakers on a sandy shore at the distance perhaps of from fifty to a hundred yards from the beach. Its beak is pointed downwards, and the bird is evidently on the look-out for prey. Suddenly it descends perpendicularly into the water, making a perceptible splash, but scarcely disappearing. In an instant it has recovered the use of its wings and ascends again, swallowing some small fish meanwhile if it has been successful, but in any case continuing its course as before. I do not recollect ever to have seen a Tern sit on the water to devour its prey when fishing among the breakers. Often, too, as one is walking along the shore, or sailing in a boat, when the sea is calm, a cruising party of Terns comes in sight. Their flight now is less direct than in the instance just mentioned, as they 'beat' the fishing-ground after the fashion of spaniels, still, however, making way ahead. Suddenly one of the party arrests its flight, hovers for a few seconds like a Hawk, and descends as if shot, making a splash as before. If unsuccessful it rises at once, but if it has captured the object on which it swooped, it remains floating on the water until it has relieved itself of its incumbrance by the summary process of swallowing it. I do not know a prettier sight than a party of Terns thus occupied. They are by no means shy, frequently flying quite over the boat, and uttering from time to time a short scream, which, though not melodious, is more in keeping with the scene than a mellow song would be.
In rough weather they repair to sheltered bays, ascend estuaries, or follow the course of a river until they have advanced far inland. They are harbingers of summer quite as much as the Swallow itself, coming to us in May and leaving in September for some warmer coast. They usually breed on flat shores, laying two or three eggs on the ground, in marshes, or on sandy shingle. The eggs in my collection were procured on the coast of Norfolk, but I have seen the birds themselves in the greatest numbers in Belfast Lough and in Loch Crinan. They have bred as far north as Sutherland.
THE LITTLE (OR LESSER) TERN STERNA MINUTA
Bill orange, with a black tip; feet orange; forehead, and a streak above the eye, white; crown black; upper parts pearl-grey; under, white; tail much forked, shorter than the wings. _Young birds_ have the head brownish, with darker streaks; upper plumage yellowish white and dusky; bill pale yellow, with a dark tip; legs dull yellow. Length eight and a half inches. Eggs stone-colour, spotted and speckled with grey and brown.
On the sandy and marshy shores of Norfolk, the Lesser Tern is a bird of common occurrence in summer, either single, or in small parties of three or four. Not unfrequently, as the sea-side visitor is sauntering about on the sands, one of these birds seems to take offence at its dominion being invaded. With repeated harsh cries it flies round and round the intruder, coming quite close enough to allow its black head and yellow beak to be distinguished. Its flight is swift, something like that of a Swallow, but more laboured, and not so rapid. If fired at, it takes little notice of the noise; and, knowing nothing of the danger, continues its screams[51] and circling till its pertinacity becomes annoying. When feeding it presents a far pleasanter appearance. Then, altogether heedless of intrusion, it skims along the surface of the drains in the marshes, profiting by its length of wing and facility of wheeling, to capture flying insects. At least, if this be not its object, I can in no other way account for the peculiar character of its flight. At other times, either alone or in company with a few other individuals of the same species, it is seen flying slowly along, some fifteen or twenty feet above the surface of a shallow tidal pool, or pond, in a salt marsh. Suddenly it arrests its onward progress, soars like a Kestrel for a second or two, with its beak pointed downwards. It has descried a shrimp, or small fish, and this is its way of taking aim. Employing the mechanism with which its Creator has provided it, it throws out of gear its apparatus of feathers and air-tubes, and falls like a plummet into the water, with a splash which sends circle after circle to the shore; and, in an instant, having captured and swallowed its petty booty, returns to its aërial watch-post. A social little party of three or four birds, who have thus taken possession of a pond, will remain fishing as long as the tide is high enough to keep it full. They take little notice of passengers; and if startled by the report of a gun, remove to a short distance only, and there resume their occupation. Sometimes they may be seen floating about in the open sea, resting their wings, perhaps, after a long flight, or simply idling, certainly not fishing; for although they plunge from a height, with great ease and elegance, diving proper is not one of their accomplishments.
To the stranger who visits the coast of Norfolk, the Lesser Tern will, perhaps, be pointed out under the name of 'Sea Swallow', or, more probably, as a 'Shrimp Catcher'. Either of these names is appropriate. Its mode of progress through the air is more like a Swallow's than that of the Common Tern, and in size it does not so very much exceed the Swift as to make the comparison outrageous. A shrimp it can undoubtedly catch; and it exercises its vocation in shallow water, such as shrimps alone inhabit or small fish no larger than shrimps.
Like the other Terns it is migratory, repairing year after year to low flat shores on various parts of the coast, arriving in May, and departing in September for some climate subject to no cold severe enough to banish small marine animals to deep water. The Lesser Tern makes no nest, but lays its eggs, generally two, among the shingle.
[51] I have been beset in this manner by a Lesser Tern, so far on in the summer that I could not attribute its actions to any anxiety about either eggs or young. I am inclined to think it is, on such occasions, taught by its instinct to accompany a traveller for the sake of the insects disturbed by his movements. During the summer months, the shingle, on a sunny beach, is haunted by myriads of sluggish flies, which rarely take wing unless thus disturbed. That the Chimney Swallow often accompanies the traveller for this object, I have no doubt; as I have seen them fly to and fro before me, darting in among the swarming flies, and so intent in their chase, as to pass within a few yards of my feet every time they crossed my path.
SUB-FAMILY LARINÆ
THE LITTLE GULL LARUS MINUTUS
_Summer_--head and neck black; lower part of the neck, tail, all the under plumage, white; upper plumage pale ash-grey; primaries white at the end; bill reddish brown; irides dark; legs vermilion. _Winter_--forehead, front and sides of the neck white; nape and cheeks white, streaked with greyish black. Length eleven inches.
This, the smallest of the Gulls, comes sometimes in numbers to the British coast. It is said to be remarkably active and graceful in its movements through the air, and to associate with Terns. Its food consists of marine insects and small fish. Its breeding-place and eggs are unknown. As a rule it leaves us in September or early in October.
THE BROWN-HEADED GULL LARUS RIDIBUNDUS
_Summer_--head and upper part of the neck deep brown; lower part of the neck and all the under plumage white, slightly tinged with rose; upper plumage bluish ash; primaries white, edged with ash, and broadly tipped with black; irides brown; bill and feet red, with a purple tinge. In _winter_ the head and neck are white; bill and feet bright vermilion. In _young birds_ the hood is pale brown; the upper plumage dark brown, mottled at the edges of the feathers with yellowish; bill livid at the base, the tip black; feet yellowish. Length seventeen inches. Eggs olive, spotted with brown and dusky.
Black-headed, Blackcap, Brown-headed, Red-legged, and Pewit, are all common distinctive names of this Gull, to which may be added that of Laughing Gull. The latter name is, indeed, often given to the next species, a rare bird, and might with equal propriety be applied to several other species, whose harsh cry resembles a laugh. The systematic name, _ridibundus_, which has the same meaning, is by general consent confined to this. The reader, therefore, must bear in mind that though the term _ridibundus_ will bear no translation but 'laughing', the name of the Laughing Gull is _Larus atricapilla_, which can mean only 'Black-headed Gull'; a paradoxical statement, perhaps, but one which it is necessary to make, or the young student will probably fall into error.
Brown-headed Gull is the most appropriate of all the above names, at least in summer, for at this period both male and female are best distinguished by the deep brown colour of the head and upper part of the neck.
This is one of the most frequent of the Gulls, to be sought for in the breeding season not on the rocky shore among cliffs, but on low flat salt marshes on the coast and in fresh-water marshes far inland. Early in spring large numbers of Brown-headed Gulls repair to their traditional breeding-grounds and wander over the adjoining country in search of food, which consists of worms and grubs. From the assiduity with which they resort to arable land and follow the plough, they have been called Sea Crows. In April and May they make their simple preparations for laying their eggs by trampling down the broken tops of reeds and sedges, and so forming a slight concavity. The number of eggs in each nest is generally three, and as a large number of birds often resort to the same spot, the collecting of these eggs becomes an occupation of importance. By some persons they are considered a delicacy, and, with the eggs of the Redshank, are substituted for Plovers' eggs; but to a fastidious palate they are not acceptable, and far inferior to an egg from the poultry yard. Willughby describes a colony of Blackcaps on a small island in a marsh or fish pond, in the county of Stafford, distant at least thirty miles from the sea. He says that when the young birds had attained their full size, it was the custom to drive them from the island into nets disposed along the shore of the lake. The captured birds were fattened on meat and garbage, and sold for about fourpence or fivepence each (a goodly price in those days, 1676). The average number captured every year was 1200, returning to the proprietor an income of about £15. In _The Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds_, it is stated that precisely the same sum is paid for the privilege of collecting the eggs from Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk. Towards the end of July, when the young are fully fledged, all the birds, old and young, repair to the sea, and scatter themselves in small flocks to all parts of the coast, preferring a low sandy shore, or the mouth of a tidal river, as the Thames and the Clyde, where they are of common occurrence. They also accompany shoals of herrings and other small fish, often congregating with other species in countless numbers.
Before winter the distinctive character afforded by the brown plumage of the head and neck has entirely disappeared. These parts are now of a pure white, and the red legs afford the best distinguishing feature. Persons residing on the coast, who are familiarly acquainted with the habits of the bird, but are unaware of the periodical change in its colour, consider the two forms of the bird as distinct species. Thus I have received from a marsh on the coast of Norfolk the eggs of the 'Black-headed Gull', and have had the same bird pointed out to me in winter as the 'Red-legged Pigeon-Mow' (Mew). One flock of about thirty thus pointed out to me presented a very pretty sight. They had detected either a shoal of small fishes, or a collection of dead animal matter floating among the breakers, and were feeding with singular activity.
THE COMMON GULL LARUS CÁNUS
In _spring_ the head and neck of this species are white and the mantle is a pale grey, a little darker in _summer_, the head, tail and under parts white; primaries comparatively long, and the three outer pairs dull black on the lower portions, with large white 'mirrors' near the tips in mature birds--in the rest the predominant tone is a pale grey, the black only forming a bar, and all but the first primary broadly tipped with white; bill a rich yellow towards the point; legs and feet greenish yellow in _summer_, darker in _winter_. In _winter_ the head and neck are streaked and spotted with ash-brown. Length eighteen inches.
This is a species resident in Great Britain, but it is not known to breed south of the Solway. It nests, however, in the west of Ireland; grassy sides and islands of lochs or slopes that face the sea, not far often above high-water, are its favourite resorts, where it breeds in colonies, the nest of sea-weeds, heather and dry grass being fairly large. In it will be, as a rule, three eggs, an olive-brown, spotted and streaked with a blackish tone; but pale blue, light green and straw-coloured varieties are found often. This Gull is the first to seek the shore on the approach of 'coarse' weather; and it may often be studied in the fields as it picks up grubs among the furrows in the company of Rooks, or by the town-tied Cockney, from his own standpoint of Westminster Bridge.
The 'Blue Maa', as this species is called in the north, breeds in abundance on the Scottish coasts as well as the moors of the fresh-water lochs, including the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands. The Black-headed Gull is generally the Common Gull of the peasantry in Ireland, but the underside of the wing in the young of the Common Gull is mottled with brown, whereas it is greyish-white in the Black-headed species.
Gulls are, moreover, of material service, for they perform for the surface of the sea the same office which crustaceous animals do for its depths. Most of their time is spent in either flying or swimming about (they are no divers) in quest of food, which is of that nature that, if suffered to accumulate, more than one of our senses would be offended. All animal matter which, when life is extinct, rises to the surface, it is their especial province to clear away. To perform this necessary work, they have need of a quick eye and a voracious appetite. That they have the former in an eminent degree, any one may convince himself who, when taking a sea voyage, sees the vessel followed, as he often will, by a flock of Gulls. Let him fling overboard, into the foaming track of the ship, where his own eye can distinguish nothing, ever so small a portion of bread or other kind of food. That some one individual at least among the flock will have seen it fall and be able to descry it is certain; now, probably, a general scramble will ensue, and the prize will be secured by the swiftest. Having tried this several times with the same result, let him throw over, instead of meat or bread, a bit of wood. Not a bird will come near even to examine it. I have often tried this experiment, and have met with but one result. To prove that the Gull is capable of consuming a large quantity of food, as well as quick-sighted, a single anecdote will suffice:--"A man who was shooting on the banks of the river Yare, seeing something, which had the appearance of an eel half-swallowed, hanging from the mouth of a Gull which was flying overhead, fired at the bird, and on taking it up, found, not an eel, but--five tallow candles attached to a piece of thread, to the other end of which was fastened a sixth, the latter having been _almost entirely swallowed_. The candles were about twelve inches in length, with cotton wicks, such as are used on board the fishing boats, from the deck of which he had probably taken them". The Gull, then, is not choice in its diet; it is, in fact, omnivorous. It skims the deep for dead animal matter, follows the ship for offal thrown overboard, paces the shore in quest of molluscs and marine insects, flies inland in stormy weather (a specimen was once brought me which had been shot in Hertfordshire, twenty miles from the nearest navigable river) in winter and spring, and follows the plough along with Rooks and Jackdaws, alights on fields which have been manured with decomposed fish, resorts to marshes for frogs and worms, and after an inundation repairs to the lately submersed ground, and picks up the small quadrupeds which have been drowned. It usually flies at no great elevation above the water, but when repairing inland and returning it frequently rises to a very great height.
THE HERRING GULL LARUS ARGENTÁTUS
Head and neck white, streaked in summer with light brown; tail and lower parts white; back and wings bluish ash; primaries dusky, passing into black, the shafts black and extremities white; secondaries edged and tipped with white; bill, orbits, and irides, yellow; feet flesh-colour. In _young birds_ the white is mostly replaced by dark grey, mottled with brown; wings and tail brown, the latter reddish yellow towards the end; bill dusky; irides, orbits, and feet, brown. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with dark brown and dusky.
If, among a flock of Common Gulls, seen either following a vessel at sea or attending on the movements of a shoal of fish, one be observed which greatly surpasses the rest in size, it will probably be this species, provided that it have a grey and not a black back. In the latter case it may either be the Great or Lesser Black-backed Gull.
The Herring Gull is a large and powerful bird, thoroughly competent to dispose of a herring or even a more bulky fish. It is common on most parts of the British coast, and remains with us all the year, building its nest on steep cliffs, or rocky islands. In the south of England it is very abundant, and is more frequently seen inland, in newly-ploughed fields, than any other species. Like the other Gulls, it may easily be tamed if taken young; and, when kept in a garden, earns its maintenance by keeping down slugs and other vermin.
THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL LARUS FUSCUS
Wings reaching two inches beyond the tail; head and neck white, streaked (in _winter_) with brown; lower parts pure white; rest of the upper plumage blackish grey; primaries black, the first two with an oval white spot near the tip; secondaries and scapulars tipped with white; bill, irides, and feet, yellow; tarsus two and a quarter inches long; orbits red. In _young birds_ the white plumage is mostly replaced by grey mottled with brown, and the black by dusky edged with yellowish; the primaries have no white spots, and the bill is dusky. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs brownish grey, spotted with brown and black.
This is a generally diffused species, occurring in considerable numbers, not only on various parts of our coast, but in the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the northern parts of America. It repairs in spring either to rocky islands, steep cliffs, or sometimes to inland lakes, where it builds a rather large nest of tufts of grass, and lays two or three eggs. When the young are hatched it is very impatient of having its stronghold invaded, and resents molestation by darting at the head of the intruder. The Lesser Black-backed Gull breeds habitually on many parts of the coast, especially such as are frequented by the Herring Gull. Its food and habits are much the same as those of the Common Gull. In the South of England, the nesting-places are confined to Devon and Cornwall, but there are colonies on the Farne Islands, the Isle of Man and Wales.
THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL LARUS MARÍNUS
Wings extending but little beyond the tail; legs pale flesh-colour. Length thirty inches; breadth about five feet nine inches. In most other respects resembling the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Eggs stone-buff, blotched and spotted with dusky brown.
Of the two Black-backed Gulls, the Greater, or 'Cobb', is by far the less frequent on our coasts, and when seen generally occurs in pairs. It remains with us all the year, but is most frequent in the south during winter. In spring, Great Black-backed Gulls for the most part withdraw to cliffs and rocky islands far north, as, for instance, the Orkneys and Hebrides, where they are numerous, a few only nesting southwards. Unlike most other Gulls, birds of this species are unsociable even in the breeding season. They build their nests on the most inaccessible parts of the rocks, and reserve the situation entirely to themselves, not even permitting birds of their own species or any other intruders to settle there. They are exceedingly wary, and give notice of the approach of danger to other animals. Consequently, they are held in dislike by the gunner, whether in pursuit of sea-birds or seals. Like the rest of the Gulls, they are omnivorous, but are, more than any others, addicted to carrion, in quest of which they often wander inland; hence, they are sometimes called Carrion Gulls. 'If a floating prize presents itself', says Mr. St. John, 'such as the remains of a large fish or dead bird, it is soon discovered by one of the large Gulls, who is not, however, allowed to enjoy his prize alone, for every one of his fellows within sight joins in tearing it to pieces. When I have winged a Duck, and it has escaped and gone out to sea, I have frequently seen it attacked, and devoured almost alive, by these birds.'
Stations occur here and there on the coast of England in which the Great Black-backed Gull builds. It sometimes resorts to a marsh at the breeding season, but retains its habit of driving away all intruders. Its eggs are prized as dainties, being thought to resemble Plovers' eggs.
GLAUCOUS GULL, OR BURGOMASTER LARUS GLAUCUS