Part 63

They skim very low over the sea in search of the floating bunches of marine plants, usually called the Gulf Weed, so abundant here as sometimes to occupy a space of half an acre or more. In proceeding, they flap their wings six or seven times in succession, and then sail for three or four seconds with great ease, having their tail much spread, and their long wings extended at right angles with the body. On approaching a mass of weeds, they raise their wings obliquely, drop their legs and feet, run as it were on the water, and at length alight on the sea, where they swim with as much ease as ducks, and dive freely, at times passing several feet under the surface in pursuit of the fishes, which, on perceiving their enemy, swim off, but are frequently seized with great agility. Four or five, sometimes fifteen or twenty of these birds, will thus alight, and, during their stay about the weeds, dive, flutter, and swim, with all the gaiety of a flock of ducks newly alighted on a pond. Many gulls of different kinds hover over the spot, vociferating their anger and disappointment at not being so well qualified for supplying themselves with the same delicate fare. No sooner have all the fishes disappeared than the Petrels rise, disperse, and extend their flight in search of more, returning perhaps in a while to the same spot. I heard no sound or note from any of them, although many came within twenty yards of the ship and alighted there. Whenever an individual settled in a spot, many others flew up directly and joined it. At times, as if by way of resting themselves, they alighted, swam lightly, and dipped their bills frequently in the water, in the manner of Mergansers.

I preserved the skins of the four specimens procured. One of them I sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Captain JOHN R. BUTLER, of the ship Thalia, then bound from Havannah to Minorca. Two others were presented to my excellent friend Dr TRAILL, on my first becoming acquainted with him at Liverpool.

I found the wings of this species strong and muscular for its size, this structure being essentially requisite for birds that traverse such large expanses of water, and are liable to be overtaken by heavy squalls. The stomach resembles a leather purse, four inches in length, and was much distended with fishes of various kinds, partially digested or entire. The œsophagus is capable of being greatly expanded. Some of the fishes were two and a half inches in length, and one in depth. The flesh of this Petrel was fat, but tough, with a strong smell, and unfit for food; for, on tasting it, as is my practice, I found it to resemble that of the porpoises. No difference is perceptible in the sexes.

While on board the United States’ Revenue Cutter the Marion, and in the waters of the Gulf Stream opposite Cape Florida, I saw a flock of these birds, which, on our sailing among them, would scarcely swim off from our bows, they being apparently gorged with food. As we were running at the rate of about ten knots, we procured none of them. I have also seen this species off Sandy Hook.

PROCELLARIA OBSCURA, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 828.

PUFFINUS OBSCURUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 371.

DUSKY PETREL, _Lath._ Synops. vol. iv. p. 416.—_Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 337.

Adult Male. Plate CCXCIX.

Bill about the length of the head, straight, somewhat cylindrical, the tips curved. Nostrils tubular, separate, inclosed in a horny sheath, and dorsal, the outline straight, curved on the unguis, the sides nearly erect, convex, the edges sharp, hard, and inflected, the tip decurved, strong. Lower mandible straight, the angle very narrow and extending nearly to the tip, the dorsal line beyond it decurved, the sides convex and inclining inwards, the edges sharp and inflected.

Head of moderate size. Neck of ordinary length; body ovate. Feet stout; tibia bare a short way above the joint; tarsus of moderate length, rather stout, reticulate; hind toe a very slight knob, with a small conical claw; fore toes long, slender, connected by reticulated webs with concave margins, the outer toe slightly longer than the third. Claws small, slightly arched, compressed obtuse.

Plumage soft, full; the feathers rounded, those of the back and wings rather compact. Wings long; primaries tapering, rounded, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries of moderate length, rounded. Tail rather short, much rounded, of twelve feathers.

Bill light blue, the tips black, mouth light blue. Edges of eyelids light blue, iris bluish-black. Outside of tarsus and toes indigo-black, inside and webs pale yellowish-flesh-colour; claws bluish-black. The upper parts are sooty black, the lower pure white.

Length to end of tail 11 inches, to end of wings 10-1/2, to end of claws 11-1/4; extent of wings 26-1/2; bill along the back 1-4/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1-3/4; tarsus 1-1/2; outer toe 2, its claw (2-1/2)/12.

THE GOLDEN PLOVER.

_CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS_, LINN.

PLATE CCC. ADULT IN SPRING AND IN WINTER, AND VARIETY.

The Golden Plover spends the autumn, winter, and part of the spring, in various portions of the United States, appearing in considerable numbers both along the coast and in the interior, and not unfrequently on our highest grounds. A much greater number, however, proceed in severe winters beyond the limits of our Southern States, and the partial migrations of this species are much influenced by the state of the weather. They are more abundant along the sea shores of the Middle and Eastern Districts, from the middle of April to the beginning of May, whereas in autumn they range over the interior, and more especially the western prairies. In the early part of May they congregate in immense flocks, and commence their journey toward more northern regions, where they are said to breed.

The account which WILSON gave of this species refers in part to the “Bull-headed Plover,” _Charadrius helveticus_, although his figure cannot be mistaken for that of the latter, even in its first autumnal dress. But the Editor of the second edition of WILSON’s work has rejected the Golden Plover as an American Bird, although he might have frequently seen it in the very markets of Philadelphia. The Prince of Musignano corrected this error, in his valuable “Observations on the Nomenclature of WILSON’s Ornithology.” Mr SELBY, in speaking of the Golden Plover, gives it as his opinion, that the bird so called in America, differs from that of Europe. This opinion, however, I cannot consider as correct, as I have seen and examined the Golden Plovers of both countries, and have found their manners, tone of voice, and appearance, precisely similar.

This bird moves on the ground with sprightliness. When observed, it often runs with considerable rapidity to some distance, suddenly stops short, nods once or twice, vibrating its body at the same time, and if it should imagine itself unnoticed, it often lies down and remains crouched until the danger is over. At the time of their departure from the north, and while on the sands or mud-bars on the sea shore, they often raise their wings as if to air them for a few moments. While searching for food, they move in a direct manner, often look sideways toward the ground, and pick up the object of their search by a peculiar bending movement of the body. They are frequently observed to pat the moist earth with their feet, to force worms from their burrows. In autumn they betake themselves to the higher grounds, where berries as well as insects are to be met with, and where they find abundance of grasshoppers.

When travelling to a considerable distance, the Golden Plover flies at the height of from thirty to sixty feet, in a regular manner, with considerable velocity, the flock, when large, forming an extended front, and moving with regular flappings, an individual now and then uttering a mellow note. Before alighting they often perform various evolutions, now descending and flying swiftly over the ground, then curving upwards or sidewise, closing and extending their ranks, until the sportsman is often tired of watching them, and, after all, the flock, just when he expects it to alight, may suddenly shoot off and fly to a distance. When they alight within shooting distance, the moment their feet touch the ground is the critical one, for they are generally in a compact body, and almost immediately afterwards they disperse. I have often observed them while flying from one place to another, suddenly check their course for a moment or two, as if to look at the objects below, in the manner of Curlews.

While at New Orleans, on the 16th of March 1821, I was invited by some French gunners to accompany them to the neighbourhood of Lake St John, to witness the passage of thousands of these birds, which were coming from the north-east, and continuing their course. At the first appearance of the birds early in the morning, the gunners had assembled in parties of from twenty to fifty at different places, where they knew from experience that the Plovers would pass. There stationed, at nearly equal distances from each other, they were sitting on the ground. When a flock approached, every individual whistled in imitation of the Plover’s call-note, on which the birds descended, wheeled, and passing within forty or fifty yards, ran the gauntlet as it were. Every gun went off in succession, and with such effect that I several times saw a flock of a hundred or more reduced to a miserable remnant of five or six individuals. The game was brought up after each volley by the dogs, while their masters were charging their pieces anew. This sport was continued all day, and at sunset, when I left one of these lines of gunners, they seemed as intent on killing more as they were when I arrived. A man near the place where I was seated had killed sixty-three dozens. I calculated the number in the field at two hundred, and supposing each to have shot twenty dozen, forty-eight thousand Golden Plovers would have fallen that day.

On inquiring if these passages were of frequent occurrence, I was told that six years before, such another had occurred immediately after two or three days of very warm weather, when they came up with a breeze from the north-east. Only some of the birds were fat, the greater number of those which I examined being very lean; scarcely any had food in their stomach, and the eggs in the ovaries of the females were undeveloped. The next morning the markets were amply supplied with Plovers at a very low price.

I have again applied to my friend WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY for an account of the manners of this species during the breeding season, which I now lay before you.

“The Golden Plover is in many parts of Scotland, but especially in the Northern Highlands, and in the Hebrides, a very common bird. When the weather begins to improve towards the end of spring, these birds may be seen flying over the shores or fields in their vicinity, at a great height, in loose flocks, which now extend into a wide front, now form irregular angular lines, move with a quiet and regular flight, frequently emitting their peculiar soft notes, and at times uttering a singular cry, somewhat resembling the syllables _courlie-wee_. These flocks are leaving their winter haunts and returning to the inland moors, over which they disperse in pairs. In the beginning of May, should you traverse one of the dreary heaths, you will often hear the plaintive cry of the Plover, mingling, perhaps, with the feeble cheep of the Dunlin, or the loud scream of the Curlew. Before you have advanced to any considerable distance, there may come up and alight on some mossy knoll beside you, a male, clad in his beautiful summer vesture of black and green. You may approach him within ten paces if you are inclined, and in some districts it would be easy for one to shoot many dozens of them in a day at this season. After incubation has commenced, the females seldom make their appearance on such occasions. Whether the males assist their mates at that time or not, they certainly do not forsake them. The nest is a slight hollow in a tuft of moss, or on a dry place among the heath, irregularly strewed with fragments of withered plants. The eggs, of which the full number is four, are placed, as usual in this genus, with their small ends together. They are much larger and more pointed than those of the Lapwing, being at an average two inches and one-twelfth in length, and an inch and a-half in their greatest transverse diameter. The shell is thin and smooth, of a light greyish-yellow or cream-colour, irregularly spotted, dotted and patched with dark brown, and sometimes having a few light purple spots interspersed, the markings larger towards the broadest part. The young leave the nest immediately after they burst the shell, and conceal themselves by lying flat on the ground. At this period, the female evinces the greatest anxiety for their safety, and will occasionally feign lameness to entice the intruder to pursue her. I have several times seen one fly off to a considerable distance, alight in a conspicuous place, and tumble about as if in the agonies of death, her wings flapping as if they had been fractured or dislocated. The eggs are delicious, and the young birds when fledged not less so.

“When the young are able to fly, the Plovers collect into flocks, but remain on the moors until the commencement of winter, when they advance towards the pasture lands, and in severe weather betake themselves to the low grounds near the shores. During continued frosts, they feed on the sands and rocky shores at low water, and in general during the winter remain at no great distance from the sea.

“When a flock alights at this season on a field, the individuals disperse, run about with great activity, and pick up their food. Sometimes one finds them so tame that he can approach within fifteen yards, and I have often walked round a flock several times in order to force them together before shooting. In windy weather they often rest by lying flat on the ground, and I have reason to think that at night this is their general practice. In the Hebrides I have often gone to shoot them at night by moonlight, when they seemed as actively engaged as by day, which was also the case with the Snipes; but I seldom succeeded in my object, it being extremely difficult to estimate distances at night. The numbers that at this season frequent the sandy pastures and shores of the Outer Hebrides is astonishing.

“The Golden Plover, although occasionally addicted to wading, evidently prefers dry ground, in which respect it differs essentially in habits from the _Totani_ and _Limosæ_. It frequently probes the moist sands, and in summer the dry cow dung on the moors and upland pastures is seen perforated by its bill. It affords delicious eating, and in my opinion is scarcely inferior in this respect to the Woodcock.”

CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 254.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 740.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 297.

GOLDEN PLOVER, CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 71. pl. 59. fig. 5., Winter.—_Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 16.

Adult Male in Spring. Plate CCC. Fig. 1.

Bill shorter than the head, straight, subcylindrical. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight and slightly sloping for two-thirds of its length, then bulging a little and curving to the tip, which is rather acute, the sides flat and sloping at the base, convex towards the end, where the edges are sharp and inclinate. Nasal groove extended along two-thirds of the mandible, filled with a bare membrane; nostrils basal, linear, in the lower part of the membrane, open and pervious. Lower mandible with the angle long, narrow, but rounded, the sides at the base sloping outwards and flat, the dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the edges sharp and involute towards the narrow tip.

Head of moderate size, oblong, rather compressed, the forehead rounded. Eyes large. Neck rather short. Body ovate, rather full. Wings long. Feet rather long, slender; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus rather compressed, covered all round with reticulated hexagonal scales; toes slender; the hind toe wanting; third or middle toe longest, fourth considerably longer than the second, all scutellate above and marginate, the outer connected with the middle toe by a membrane as far as the second joint; claws small, compressed, slightly arched, slender but obtuse at the end, the inner edge of the middle claw dilated.

Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed, the feathers rounded. Wings long and pointed; primary quills tapering, the first longest, the second a little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; outer secondaries short, broad, obliquely rounded, inner tapering and elongated. Tail rather short, rounded, of twelve rounded feathers.

Bill black. Iris brown. Feet bluish-grey. The upper part of the head, the fore part of the back, and the scapulars are beautifully variegated with brownish-black and bright yellow, the latter in spots along the edges of the feathers. The hind part of the back greyish-brown, variegated with yellow of a duller tint; the tail brown, barred with white. The wings are hair-brown, the smaller coverts spotted with yellowish-white, the primary coverts and secondaries tipped with white. The inner secondaries like the scapulars. Part of the forehead, the loral space, a band over the eye, and the throat, are greyish-white; the sides of the neck and body variegated with brown, dull white and yellowish. The breast and a broad band down the fore-neck, are brownish-black, the latter margined on each side with white. Axillar feathers, and lower tail-coverts white.

Length to end of tail 10-1/2 inches, to end of wings 10-1/4, to end of claws 11-1/2; extent of wings 22-3/8; wing from flexure 7; tail 3-2/12; bill along the back 11/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1-2/12; bare part of tibia 8/12; tarsus 1-7/12; middle toe 1-1/12, its claw 4/12. Weight 5-1/2 oz.

Adult in winter. Plate CCC. Fig. 2.

The black on the lower parts is peculiar to the breeding season; and after the autumnal moult, they become of a light greyish colour, spotted and streaked with deep grey. In other respects the plumage is similar to that described above.

Length to end of tail 10-3/4, to end of claws 11-7/8; extent of wings 22-5/8. Weight 4-1/2 oz.

Light coloured variety. Plate CCC. Fig. 3.

Bill and feet greyish-blue. Iris deep brown. Upper part of head and back mottled with black and pale yellow; wing-coverts greyish, with white and dusky spots, as are the sides of the head and the throat; a broad band of white over the eye; fore part of neck pale grey, fading into pale cream colour and white; the breast and fore-neck with large spots of black.

This individual was killed in the breeding season.

REMARKS ON THE FORM OF THE TOES OF BIRDS.

Although naturalists have laboured, more especially since the time of the great LINNÆUS, who gave an impulse to the study of natural history unparalleled in that of any other science, to make us acquainted with animals of every class; and although much has been done by them in ornithology in particular, it requires little knowledge to be enabled to say with truth that a great deal more remains to be done. To take an apparently trivial example, let us look to the tips of the toes of birds, and we shall no doubt find much that is curious, and much that has been entirely overlooked. The examination of those parts was suggested to me by the following occurrence.

On the 21st of March 1816, while I was residing at Henderson in Kentucky, great flocks of Golden Plovers happening to be passing from their winter toward their summer haunts, I procured a good number of them. While engaged in drawing a fine specimen, I observed something beneath the claws, which induced me to look more particularly to that part of the toes, when I found there what might be called a second but smaller claw, equally horny with the part properly so called. I examined several others, and, finding them all alike in this respect, I mentioned the circumstance to a friend, who agreed with me in thinking it very curious. Since that period I have generally, on procuring a bird of any kind, looked to its toes, and I have found many species, both of the genus _Charadrius_ and of other Grallæ, similarly supplied with double claws.

Although I use this term, however, let it not be supposed that I consider the parts in question as really subsidiary or secondary claws; for as they are not furnished with a central bone, or process either from the last phalanx or that next to it, they cannot be truly considered as such, however much they may sometimes resemble them.

But, in order to explain to you what I mean, let us take a general view of the subject. If we examine the foot of any common land bird, a domestic fowl for example, we observe that the extremity of its toes under the nail are rounded, and covered with quincuncial papillæ, generally flattened. The extreme degree of this rounded form is seen in the _Eagles_ and _Hawks_, of which the end of the toe projects beneath the claw, having the appearance of a large round knob or rather pad. It is not, however, my intention at present to describe the structure of this part in the land birds. I may however remark, that in them, as well as in the others, the examination of the parts in question will materially aid in limiting the number of merely nominal species, by disclosing an identity of form, as well as in separating species that have been confounded, by shewing a diversity, as I have had occasion to observe, in several species of both kinds.

In the aquatic tribes numerous remarkable modifications are observed. Beginning with those which have the extremity of the toe largest and most rounded, we find that the _Geese_, _Ducks_, and _Gulls_, supply good examples. Thus in _Larus marinus_, the protuberance beneath the claw is rounded, and covered with small rounded and flattened papillæ, of which there is a semicircular terminal series of a larger size, as is represented by fig. 1.

The _Pelicans_ and _Gannets_ are similar in this respect to the Gulls, as are the _Cormorants_, which, however, have the terminal pad projecting and more pointed. In the _Guillemots_, also, it is rounded, with small distinct rounded scales. In the _Frigate Bird_, in which the webs are short, and do not modify the pads, the terminal scales are similar to those of the Gulls. In the genus _Lestris_, they are smaller, and obscured by the webs, their papillæ smaller and more pointed. In the Terns, they are similar to those of the Gulls, but narrower, and with the papillæ large. In _Phaeton æthereus_, the webs appear to obliterate the terminal papillæ, which are very small. In all these, the extremities of the toes are more or less rounded, and terminated just beneath the claw by a semicircular series of scales larger than those immediately behind.

In the _Auks_, however, there is a large scale or plate, on the inner side of the middle toe, and then a series of narrow scales. In _Mormon glacialis_, of which the end of the middle toe is represented by fig. 2, there is a single much recurved narrow horny plate, behind which is a narrow series of oblong scales. In the genus _Puffinus_, there is also a single short rounded terminal scale or plate.