Part 31

“Length 23 inches, 6 lines; alar stretch, 26 inches; tail, 11 inches; tarsus, 2 inches, 7 lines. The bill similar to that of the common fowl, but longer on the ridge and more curved at the point; the upper mandible light slate blue, the lower yellowish, but brown near the base; legs and feet blackish slate color; the nails black; the irides dark hazel; the chin devoid of feathers, and its skin, which is of an orange-red color, approximating in looseness to the gills of the common fowl; general color above, a brownish olive, with dark green reflections, deepest on the head; breast and belly light rufous, with whitish longitudinal pencillings; tail (of twelve feathers) darker than the back, and with a broad terminal band of dull white; wings dusky olive. A male; a very fine specimen, killed near Encinal, Dec. 30, 1846.

“A remarkable feature in the _poliocephala_ is the eye, which in the living bird is full of courage and animation—it is equal, in fact, in brilliancy to that of the finest game cock.

“I frequently noticed this bird domesticated by the Mexicans at Matamoras, Monterey, &c., and going at large about their gardens. I was assured that in this condition it not unfrequently crossed with the common fowl; but I did not see the progeny.

“In the wild state, the eggs are from six to eight, never exceeding the last number. They are white, without spots; and rather smaller than a pullet’s egg. The nest is usually made on the ground, at the root of a large tree, or at the side of an old log, where a hole several inches deep is scratched in the ground; this is lined with leaves, and the eggs are always carefully covered with the same when the female leaves them for the purpose of feeding. If disturbed while on her nest, she flies at the intruder with all the spirit and determination of the common domestic hen, whose retreat has been invaded.”

This species has been noticed by several of the naturalists who have recently made such important contributions to the ornithology of the southwestern frontier of the United States. Specimens brought by Mr. John H. Clark, were obtained near Ringgold Barracks, Texas. The fine collection made in Texas and Mexico, by Lieut. D. N. Couch, of the United States Army, contained specimens obtained in the State of New Leon, in the latter country.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Ortalida. Merrem, Icones et Desc. Av. p. 40. (1786.)

General form rather slender and lengthened; bill short, curved, rather wide at base; aperture of the nostril large; wings short, rounded; fourth, fifth, and sixth quills longest; tail long; tarsi moderate, rather robust; colors usually plain. A genus of American birds, containing about fifteen species.

Ortalida poliocephala. (Wagler.) Penelope poliocephala. Wagler, Isis, 1830, p. 1112.

Form. Bill short, curved; wing short, rounded; first quill short, sixth slightly longest; secondaries long and broad; tail long, graduated; external feathers nearly three inches shorter than those in the middle; tarsi moderate, rather robust, and having in front about ten wide transverse scales; a bare space on each side of the throat from the corners of the lower mandible; feathers of the middle of the throat stiff and bristle-like; plumage of the head above somewhat elongated and erectile, and with the shafts of the feathers slightly rigid and hair-like, especially in front.

Dimensions. Male.—Total length of skin, about 21 inches; wing, 8; tail, 10; tarsus, 2½ inches.

Colors. Head above and neck dark greenish cinereous, the shafts of the feathers in front black; back, rump, wing-coverts, and exposed portions of quills, dark olive, slightly tinged with ashy; quills brownish black, widely edged on their outer web with olive; tail dark glossy bluish green, widely tipped with white; plumage of the middle of the throat black, bare spaces on each side reddish orange; breast, sides, flanks, and tibiae, dull yellowish green, very pale, and in some specimens nearly white on the middle of the abdomen, and frequently tinged with rufous on the flanks and tibia; under tail-coverts dark rufous, frequently tinged with green; bill dark, light at the tip, especially of the under mandible; tarsi light.

Hab. Texas. Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philad., and Nat. Mus., Washington.

Obs. There is a general resemblance of several species of this genus to each other, almost impossible to be pointed out in the limits of our present article. The bird now before us may be recognised, however, without difficulty, by its comparatively large size and the dark cinereous color of its head and neck.

Specimens of this bird in adult plumage are yet rarely brought in collections, and we suspect is only attained in several years.

BERNICLA LEUCOPAREIA.—(Brandt.) The White-necked Goose. PLATE XLV. Adult Male.

On the western coast of North America, this is one of the most abundant of the species of Geese. In California it appears regularly in the course of its migrations in the spring and autumn, and at both seasons is brought to the market in San Francisco, in large numbers.

This bird is a near relative of Hutchins’ Goose, a well known species, though not of common occurrence on the Atlantic coast. It is more frequently met with in the larger rivers of the interior. From that species our present bird may be easily distinguished by the white ring around the neck, a character not mentioned in the descriptions given by authors, nor represented in the plate in Mr. Audubon’s Birds of America, of Hutchins’ Goose. The plate alluded to is the only one of the species which has come under our notice, and is given with that eminent naturalist’s usual great accuracy, but may not, we suspect, represent a bird in mature plumage. This suspicion we have been induced to entertain from an examination of the specimen figured by Mr. Audubon, for an opportunity to make which we are indebted to the kindness of our friend, Mr. J. P. Giraud, of New York, to whose fine collection it belongs.

We are not, however, sufficiently familiar with Hutchins’ Goose, to feel qualified to decide respecting the identity of the present species.

This bird was first described by Prof. Brandt, a distinguished Russian naturalist, who ascertained it be an inhabitant of the coasts of Russian America. This author, and various others of Russia, have done much towards elucidating the Natural History of Northwestern America, and in some instances names given by them will be found to anticipate those of Americans, especially in ornithology.

As a species occurring on the coast of California, our present bird was first observed by Mr. John G. Bell, of New York, whose collection made in that country contained numerous specimens. Since that period, it has been noticed by nearly all our naturalists, though nothing is recorded of its habits or history. In fact, the water-birds of Western America have by no means received sufficient attention, and contributions to their history would be important additions to American ornithology.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Bernicla. Stephens, Cont. of Shaw’s Zool. XII. p. 45. (1824). Bernicla leucopareia. (Brandt.) Anser leucopareius. Brandt, Bulletin Acad., St. Petersburg, I., p. 37. Desc. et Icones Animalium Rossicorum novorum. Aves, p. 13, pl. 2, (1836.) Anser Hutchinsii. Richardson, Fauna Boreali Americana, Birds, p. 470? (1831.) “Anser canadensis. Brisson.” Pallas, Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, II., p. 230.

Form. Bill small, short, wide vertically at base; wing long, second quill longest; tail short; legs short; toes moderate, fully webbed. A protuberance on the edge of the wing near the shoulder. One of the smallest of the species of this genus.

Dimensions. Total length, male (of skin) about 23 inches, wing 15, tail 5½ inches.

Colors. Head and neck glossy black; a large somewhat reniform patch on each cheek, white, and a ring around the neck of the same (white) at the termination of the black part. Entire upper parts fuscous, lighter on the back, and with the feathers edged with paler and very dark, nearly black on the rump; upper tail coverts white; quills and tail brownish-black; secondaries edged outwardly with pale brown; breast and abdomen glossy yellowish ashy, with transverse stripes of brown on the sides; ventral region and under tail coverts, white; bill and feet dark; under wing coverts and axillaries light ashy brown; the white ring around the neck more or less interrupted behind; the white patches on the cheeks separated by a narrow longitudinal band on the throat.

Hab. California. Russian America. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philad.

Obs. As stated in the preceding pages, this bird much resembles, if it is not identical with, the species known as _Bernicla Hutchinsii_, from which the most essential distinctive character is the white ring around the neck. If identical, we have, at any rate, the gratification of being the first to represent that species, in mature plumage. At present we regard it as a distinct, though nearly allied bird.

The date of the publication of Prof. Brandt’s first description we have not succeeded in ascertaining, not having access to the Bulletin of the Academy of St. Petersburg. The reference to the volume and page we copy from his own citation, in his work above quoted, in which, however, the date is not stated.

THALASSIDROMA FURCATA.—(Gmelin.) The Gray Storm Petrel. PLATE XLVI. Adults.

The little birds of the group to which that now before the reader belongs, are known to seamen, wherever the English language is spoken, as Storm Petrels, or “Mother Carey’s Chickens,” and have too, a reputation, not without a tinge of superstition, of being the harbingers of the storm and of maritime disaster.

Of the many birds adapted by their organization to a life of adventure on the ocean or its tributaries, and of which in fact during a large portion of their lives they are almost as much inhabitants as fishes, the Albatrosses and the Storm Petrels, or Mother Carey’s Chickens, venture the most boldly. The birds of both these genera, though one contains the largest and the other the smallest of marine birds, are alike in this particular character, and are also alike known as inhabitants of shores very remote from each other, and as wanderers over immense extents of the ocean.

Boldly directing their course far out on the sea, like their gigantic relatives the Albatrosses, our present little birds are frequently to be met with in nearly all latitudes usually traversed by navigators, and are generally tempted to remain for a time in the wakes of vessels, and about them, by the fragments of food to be gleaned from refuse thrown overboard. Flitting as it were before the gale, with it, the appearance of these birds may readily be coincident, or premonitory of its coming, thus acquiring, and perhaps in some degree justly, the attributed character of precursors.

Several species of these birds are found on the coasts of the United States. The most abundant and best known is Wilson’s Storm Petrel (_Thalassidroma Wilsonii_), a bird which is perhaps to be regarded as more nearly cosmopolite than any other, so extensive are its wanderings over the surface of the ocean. It is of common occurrence throughout the whole extent of the eastern shores of the continent of America, and it has been repeatedly noticed and captured at various points on the coasts of Europe and Africa, thus demonstrating a range over nearly the entire Atlantic Ocean. In the Pacific also it is well known, though it is not so abundant. Mr. Gould gives it as a bird of Australia; and the naturalists of the United States’ Exploring Expedition in the Vincennes and Peacock, record its appearance at various other points in the Pacific Ocean.

The histories of this, and of other American species of Storm Petrels, are perhaps as well known as those of the sea-birds generally, and much that is interesting may be found in the articles on them in the works of our predecessors in American Ornithology; but we cannot allow the present occasion to pass without availing ourselves of the kindness of our friend, Charles Pickering, M. D., of Boston, one of the naturalists attached to the Exploring Expedition, and justly ranked with the most eminent of American Zoologists.

With his characteristic liberality, Dr. Pickering has placed at our disposal much valuable information relative to birds observed during the voyage of the Expedition, especially on the western coast of North America, and in other localities of interest, with reference to American species. From his manuscript we copy the following in relation to Wilson’s Petrel, which occurs under date of October 24th, 1838, and from the latitude and longitude given, the nearest land was the coast of Africa:

“A stormy Petrel taken, which proved to be _Thalassidroma Wilsonii_, and although this species and others of its genus have been constantly seen during the voyage of the Expedition, this is the first specimen that has been captured without having been injured, thus affording whatever facilities can be obtained on shipboard for observing its manners.

“I was rather surprised to observe that this bird was not only entirely incapable of perching, but even of standing upright like birds in general, and as I have seen birds of this genus represented, unless by the aid of its wings. In standing, or rather sitting, the whole of the _tarsus_ (commonly mistaken for the leg) rests on the ground, and it walks in the same awkward position, frequently being obliged to balance itself with its wings. By a more powerful exertion of its wings, however, it was enabled to run along on its toes in the same manner as it does over the surface of the waves. The absence of a hind toe, the nails being but slightly bent and flat, and perhaps I may add, its evidently being unaccustomed to this description of locomotion, seemed to be the causes of its helplessness on its feet.

“These birds have been numerous about us for some days past, and their coursing over the water with flitting wings remind me of the actions of butterflies about a pool. One of them was seen swimming, or at least resting, on the surface. We have seen this species very frequently, indeed almost daily, since leaving America, and scarcely any other sea-birds, except in the immediate vicinity of the islands. It would seem that it scarcely ever visits the land, except for the purposes of incubation, and there can hardly be a better comment on its untiring power of wing than the popular fable amongst seamen that it carries its egg and hatches its young while sitting in the water. It does not sail in the continued manner of the gulls and some other sea-birds, but moves by rapidly flexing its wings something like a bat, and was continually coursing around and in the wake of the vessel, generally in considerable numbers, during much the greater part of the time that the Expedition was in the Atlantic Ocean.”

The curious fact that this bird cannot stand upright we do not remember ever before having seen noticed. Of the specimen alluded to, Dr. Pickering gives notes of a minute and evidently very careful anatomical examination, which the limits of our present article will not allow us to insert. They are, however, confirmatory, in most respects, of the account of the anatomy of this species, given by Mr. Audubon, in Ornithological Biography, V., p. 645.

The bird before the reader in the present plate is an inhabitant of the Northern Pacific Ocean, and is an interesting addition to the ornithological fauna of the United States, made by the naturalists of the Exploring Expedition, under command of Captain Charles Wilkes, to which we have previously alluded. Though long known as a bird of the coasts of Asiatic Russia and of Russian America, it had never before been noticed on the more southern coast of Oregon, where it was found in large numbers by the Expedition, and specimens then obtained are now in the National Museum at Washington.

This bird was first noticed by the celebrated Pennant, in Arctic Zoology, Vol. II., p. 255, who called it the “Fork-tailed Petrel.” An accurate description is given by him, but no further account of it than merely stating “taken among the ice between Asia and America.” On the faith of this description, Gmelin, in _Systema Naturæ_, as cited below, gave the scientific name. Subsequently, Pallas mentions it as an inhabitant of the coasts of Unalaschka and of the Kurile Islands. It is also mentioned in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Sulphur, (London, 1844,) and very handsomely figured from specimens obtained at Sitka in Russian America.

To the journal of Dr. Pickering we have again to acknowledge our obligations for a notice of this bird. First recording its occurrence on the 26th of April, 1840, at sea, the distance from the coast of Oregon being about 200 miles, he subsequently mentions it under date of 29th of the same month, as follows:

“In sight of the coast of Oregon. Great numbers of the gray _Thalassidroma_ are to-day flitting around and in the track of the vessel, very actively engaged in searching for particles of food thrown overboard. Generally, this bird reminds us of _T. Wilsonii_, but the wings seem longer, and its movements appear to be more rapid, and in fact more like that of the larger Petrels, (_Procellaria_.) It occasionally sails in its flight, but for the greater part moves by very rapidly flexing its wings in the same manner as the species mentioned.

“These birds proved not difficult to capture, and several specimens were taken with a hook and line. They would dive a foot or two after the bait, and made use of their wings in and under the water, from which they apparently had not that difficulty in rising observable in the Albatrosses. Though their powers of swimming seemed rather feeble, they alighted in the water without hesitation. The dead body of one of their companions being thrown overboard, they clustered around it with as much avidity as around any other food.

“The specimens obtained agree generally in color of plumage, being nearly a uniform pale gray, with the abdomen sometimes paler or nearly white, and generally showing a lighter bar across the wing, when expanded. Uttered a faint note when taken on board.”

At present we have no further information relating to this interesting species.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Thalassidroma. Vigors. Zool. Jour. II., p. 405. (1825.)

Size small; bill rather wide at base, compressed towards the end, and abruptly hooked; lower mandible shorter; nostril elevated, tubular; wings long, pointed, second quill usually longest; tail moderate, rather wide, usually emarginate or forked; legs long, slender; tibiæ more or less naked above the joint with the tarsi; toes rather short, fully webbed. A genus comprising about twelve species, all of which are strictly marine, and inhabit the various oceans of the world.

Thalassidroma furcata. (Gmelin.) Procellaria furcata. Gm. Syst. Nat. I., p. 561. (1788.) Procellaria orientalis. Pallas. Zoog. Ross. As. II., p. 315. (1831.) Thalassidroma cinerea. Gould.

Form. Wing long; second quill longest; tail forked; legs shorter than usual in this genus; under coverts of the tail long.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin) about 8 inches; wing 6; tail 4 inches.

Colors. Entire plumage light cinereous or lead color; lighter, and in some specimens, nearly white on the abdomen and under tail coverts; lesser wing coverts darker; in some specimens nearly black; quills and tail slightly tinged with brown; greater wing coverts and secondaries pale on their outer edges; primaries nearly white on their inner edges; bill and feet black.

Hab. Coasts of Oregon, Russian America, Northeastern Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. Spec. in Nat. Mus., Washington, and Mus. Acad., Philad.

This bird belongs to a group of the genus _Thalassidroma_, of which _T. marina_ is the best known species, an inhabitant of the Southern Pacific Ocean, and figured by Mr. Gould as a bird of Australia.

All the species of this group are characterised by cinereous plumage, a strong distinctive character from the greater part of the birds of this genus, which are of dark colors, and in some species nearly black. The present bird does not, in any considerable degree, resemble any other American species, and may be easily recognised.

SYLVICOLA KIRTLANDII.—Baird. Kirtland’s Warbler. PLATE XLVII. Adult.

Of the smaller birds of North America, no group exceeds that of the Warblers, in variety and richness of color. It is, too, one of the largest of the groups of our birds, embracing not less than forty species, besides several which are South American.

Migrating in the spring, and again in the autumn, these little birds are known in the Middle and Southern States, for the greater part as visitors only, though various species are residents during the summer, which have been supposed to continue their journey much further north, before undertaking the duties of incubation. The Blackburnian Warbler (_Sylvicola Blackburniæ_), the Chestnut-sided (_S. icterocephala_), the Yellow-backed (_S. Americana_), and several others, breed in the mountains of Pennsylvania. The Prairie (_S. discolor_), the Blue-winged (_Helinaia solitaria_), and two or three other species, are to be met with every summer in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. The greater number of species proceed further north, but much the majority of all known as North American rear their young within the limits of the United States, as well as in more northern countries; but by no means exclusively in the latter, as is to be inferred from the representations of various authors. The Black-poll (_S. striata_), raises its young in the State of Maine.

These birds are great favorites with collectors. Coming northward, as many species do in the months of April and May, when excursions to the woods are attended with such agreeable accompaniments, the short period of their stay is the most deeply interesting of the ornithological season, whether the object be to study birds in the fields and woods, or only to procure choice specimens for the cabinet. In either case, the observer or collector will find himself greatly tempted by these attractive little birds, to the exclusion, probably, of others, not so gay, perhaps, in plumage, but equally interesting in other respects.

Bird-collecting is the ultimate refinement,—the _ne plus ultra_ of all the sports of the field. It is attended with all the excitement, and requires all the skill, of other shooting, with a much higher degree of theoretical information and consequent gratification in its exercise. Personal activity, not necessarily to be exerted over so great a space as in game-bird shooting, but in a much greater diversity of locality, coolness, steadiness of hand, quickness of eye and of ear, especially the latter;—in fact, all the accomplishments of a first-rate shot, will be of service; and some of them are indispensable to successful collecting. The main reliance is, however, on the ear, for the detection of birds by their notes, and involves a knowledge, the more accurate and discriminating the better, which can only be acquired by experience, and always characterizes the true woodsman, whether naturalist or hunter.