by many days than its two nearest relations, the chiffchaff and
willow-wren. As its name implies, it is a bird of the woods, with
a preference for such as are composed wholly or in part of oak and
beech trees. It is not easily discerned, on account of its restless
disposition; also because it chiefly frequents the uppermost parts of
the trees it inhabits. Its instinct appears to be to live and hunt for
the small insects it preys on among the green leaves at the greatest
possible height from the earth; this may account for its love of the
beech, which is the tallest of our forest trees. But if difficult to
see as it flits lightly from place to place among the higher foliage,
it is easy to hear, and its frequently uttered song sounds very loud
in the woodland silence, and is strangely unlike that of any other
songster. It may be said to possess two distinct songs: of these, the
most frequently uttered and unmistakable begins with notes clear,
sweet, and distinct, but following more and more rapidly until they
run together in a resonant trill, and finally end in a long, tremulous
note, somewhat thin and reedy in sound. At longer intervals it utters
its other song, or call, a loud, clear note, slightly modulated, and
somewhat plaintive, repeated without variation three or four times.
The wood-wren, although so great a lover of the tall tree-tops, breeds
on the ground, like the two species described before it, and, like
them, builds an oval-shaped domed nest. It is placed among the herbage,
and is composed of moss, dry leaves, and grasses, lined with fine grass
and horsehair. Feathers are never used in the nest-lining, and in this
the wood-wren differs from the two preceding species. Six eggs are
laid, transparent white, spotted and speckled with dark brown, purple
and grey.
The wood-wren differs from most of the warblers in being exclusively an
insect-eater.
* * * * *
A fourth member of this genus, the yellow-browed warbler (_Phylloscopus
superciliosus_), which breeds in Northern Siberia, has been met with as
a rare straggler in this country.
Two more warblers, belonging to different genera, must be mentioned
here as stragglers to England: the icterine warbler (_Hypolaïs
icterina_) and the rufous warbler (_Aëdon galectodes_).
Reed-Warbler.
Acrocephalus streperus.
Upper plumage uniform reddish brown, without spots; a white streak or
spot between the eye and bill; throat white; under plumage very pale
buff. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
The reed-warbler closely resembles the sedge-warbler, next to be
described, in size, colouring, and general appearance, also in
language and habits; but is a much less common species, more local
in its distribution, and is, consequently, not nearly so well known.
He arrives in this country about the middle of April, and inhabits
dense reed-beds in dykes, marshes, and the borders of rivers, where
he skulks, for the most part out of sight; but his loquacity betrays
his presence, for he is a persistent singer, especially in the early
part of the day, and again in the evening. His song resembles that
of the sedge-warbler in its curious mingling of musical and harsh
notes, its hurried and somewhat angry scolding character, but is less
powerful, the harsh notes less harsh and vigorous--a sweeter but
not so interesting a performance. Like the nearly allied species,
he bursts into singing when excited by fear or solicitude for the
safety of his nest. He is an exceedingly restless little creature,
incessantly hopping from stem to stem, now mounting to the surface of
the reeds, and almost instantly dropping into concealment again. Even
where the birds are many, it is only by patient waiting and watching
that an occasional glimpse of one can be got. His food consists of
small insects, caught on the wing and on the leaves and stems of the
reeds and aquatic herbage. The nest is a deep, beautiful structure,
suspended on two or three, or more, slender reed-stems, or on the twigs
of a willow, osier, or other plant growing near the water. It is made
of long dry grass-leaves woven together, with finer grass-leaves and
horsehair for a lining. The eggs are four or five in number, greenish
white in colour, clouded, blotched, and freckled with dark olive and
ash-grey.
Sedge-Warbler.
Acrocephalus phragmitis.
Upper plumage greyish brown; above the eye a broad, distinct, yellowish
white streak; under plumage pale buff; throat white. Length, four
inches and three-quarters.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--SEDGE-WARBLER. ⅓ natural size.]
* * * * *
The sedge-warbler, usually called sedge-bird, and in some localities
river-chat, is a common species in most waterside places where there
are reed-beds and willows; it also frequents rough hedges and bramble
and furze bushes in the neighbourhood of a watercourse. Sometimes,
but not often, it is found breeding at a considerable distance from
a stream. It comes to us in April, and is a most active and lively
little creature. Although not shy of man, it is less easy to observe
than any other species in this group, except, perhaps, the grasshopper
warbler, on account of its excessive restlessness, the rapidity of its
movements, and its habit of keeping near the surface in the close reeds
and bushes it lives in. The grasshopper warbler, and, indeed, most
small birds that inhabit bushes, love to come to the surface to sing;
the sedge-warbler sings much as he hurries about in search of his food,
which consists of small caterpillars and slugs, and aquatic insects.
Occasionally the restless little yellowish brown figure appears for a
moment or two near the top of a bush, and then vanishes again.
The song is curious, and delivered in a curious manner, with hurry and
vehemence; and this, as well as the character of the sounds emitted,
gives the idea that the bird is excited to anger--that he is scolding
at, rather than singing to, the listener. The opening note, hurriedly
repeated several times, and recurring at short intervals as long as
the song lasts (its keynote and refrain), resembles the chiding note
of the whitethroat when its nest is approached, but is louder and
more strident. It is the loudest sound the sedge-warbler emits, and
when the song is heard at a distance of fifty or sixty yards it seems
all composed of chiding notes. But on a nearer approach--and the bird
will allow the listener to get quite close to it--the performance is
found to be a very varied one. Listening to it, one finds it hard not
to believe that this warbler possesses the faculty it has often been
credited with, of mocking other species. But if he indeed has such a
talent, he reproduces not so much the songs of other birds as the notes
and chirps and small cries of anxiety and alarm--the various sounds
emitted by singing-birds in the presence of danger to their young or
incubated eggs. Thus, in the medley of hurried and strongly contrasted
sounds that come in a continuous stream from the sedge-warbler one
seems to recognise the low girding of the nightingale, and the
different notes of solicitude of the sparrow, reed-bunting, and
chaffinch, of the wren and the willow-wren, the meadow-pipit and pied
wagtail. But whether these various sounds are really borrowed or not
one can never feel sure.
The sedge-warbler is a very persistent singer. Some birds are too chary
of their strains; but of this waterside music any person may have as
much as he likes in May and June. Singing is apparently as little
tiring to this bird as rushing through the air is to the swift. At the
season of his greatest vigour he appears to pour out his rapid notes
almost automatically; and when silent, a stone or stick flung into his
haunts will provoke a fresh outburst of melody. He also sings a great
deal at night in the love season.
The sedge-warbler makes its nest among the tangled vegetation at the
waterside; as a rule it is placed near the ground, and is composed
outwardly of moss, leaves, and aquatic grasses, and lined with fine
grass and hair. The eggs are five, of a dirty white or pale brownish
ground-colour, with yellowish brown spots, sometimes with hair-like
marks among the spots.
* * * * *
Besides the two described, three more species of this group of warblers
have been numbered as British birds, having been found as stragglers
in this country. These are the marsh-warbler (_Acrocephalus
palustris_), the great reed-warbler (_Acrocephalus turdoïdes_),
and the aquatic warbler (_Acrocephalus aquaticus_).
Grasshopper Warbler.
Locustella nævia.
Upper parts light greenish brown; the middle of each feather, being
darker, gives a mottled appearance; under parts very pale brown,
spotted with darker brown on neck and breast; feet light brown. Length,
five and a half inches. _Female_ without the brown spots on the
breast.
* * * * *
This warbler arrives in our country about the middle of April,
sometimes a week, or even a fortnight, earlier. In the melodious family
to which it belongs it is distinguished by the singularity of its
voice, which has no musical, or song-like, or even bird-like quality
in it, but is like the sound produced by some stridulating insects. It
is to be found in suitable situations throughout England and Wales,
and in many parts of Scotland and Ireland. It frequents both dry and
marshy ground where dense masses of vegetation afford it the close
cover which would seem necessary to its frail existence; thus it is
found in reed-beds growing in the water, and in hedges and thorny
thickets, and among the furze-bushes on open commons. Although thus
widely distributed in the British Islands, it is, like the nightingale,
very local, and reappears faithfully each spring at the same spot.
How strong the attachment to place, or home, is in this species will
be seen in the following fact: Having found a small colony of about
half a dozen grasshopper warblers inhabiting a circumscribed spot
in the middle of an extensive common, I went back to the place in
three consecutive summers, and each time found the birds in the same
bushes. Yet the dozen or twenty furze and bramble bushes which they
inhabited were in no way, that one could see, better suited to their
requirements than hundreds of other bushes of the same description
scattered over the surrounding land. Nor were any other individuals of
the species to be found in the neighbourhood, except one pair, which
were always to be met with in some brambles about a quarter of a mile
from the spot inhabited by the other birds. Such a fact appears to show
that, not only do the old birds return year after year to the same
breeding-place, but that the young also come back to the spot where
they were hatched; also, it appears to show that in this frail and
far-travelling species the annual increase is only sufficient to make
good the losses from all natural causes.
Immediately after their arrival in April the males begin their curious
vocal performance, at first with a feeble and broken strain; but in
a little while the voice gains in strength and shrillness, and the
utterance becomes more sustained, lasting sometimes without a break for
thirty or forty seconds, and even longer. This is renewed again and
again at short intervals throughout the day, and continued far into
the night. Indeed, the song may be heard all night long in fine summer
weather. The sound is recognised by few of those who hear it as coming
from a bird. It is usually attributed to an insect, and if the hearer
grows curious, and tries to find the exact spot from which it issues,
he finds this a somewhat difficult task. The sound seems now on this
side, now on that, now far away, and anon close at hand; it is here,
there, and everywhere. A good plan is to put the open hands behind the
ear, then to turn slowly round until the exact spot is discovered. When
the bush from which it proceeds has been found, the listener should
advance cautiously to within a few yards of it, and sit down and wait
until the hidden bird, recovering from his alarm, comes up to the
summit and resumes his singing. It is then most interesting to observe
him. The bird sits motionless, turning its head from side to side, and
so long as the strain continues the yellow mouth is wide open, like
the gaping mouth of a fledgeling waiting to receive food, the slender
body trembling with the sound, as if an electric current were passing
through it. The sound produced has been compared by different writers
to the song of a grasshopper, only more sustained; to the cicada; to
the whirring of a wool-spinner’s reel, and to that of a well-oiled
fisherman’s reel made to run at a very rapid rate; and, finally, to the
sharp, vibrating sound of the rattlesnake, and to an electric bell; but
it is not so sharp as these last two.
The grasshopper warbler builds on the ground, and so well concealed
is the nest that it is only possible to find it by watching the birds
when carrying nesting materials into the bush. The nest is formed of
dry grass and moss, and lined with fine fibres. Five to seven eggs are
laid, white or pale pink, spotted with reddish brown over the entire
egg; and sometimes fine hair-like lines are mixed with the spots.
* * * * *
A small warbler, closely resembling the grasshopper warbler in its
language and habits, and once an indigenous British species, is
_Locustella luscinioïdes_, locally known as the reelbird, red
night-reeler, and red craking night-wren, and in books as Savi’s
warbler, after its discoverer. It bred regularly in the Norfolk Broads
and the fen districts in Lincolnshire down to about 1849, when it
became extinct.
Hedge-Sparrow.
Accentor modularis.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--HEDGE-SPARROW. ⅓ natural size.]
Crown ash-colour with brown streaks; side of neck, throat, and breast
bluish grey; back and wings reddish brown streaked with dark brown;
breast and belly buffy white. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
Most people know that a sparrow is a hard-billed bird of the finch
family, and that the subject of this notice is not a sparrow, except in
name. It is, in fact, a soft-billed bird belonging to that large and
musical family which includes the nightingale, the redbreast, and the
warblers. ‘How absurd, then, to go on calling it a sparrow!’ certain
ornithologists have said from time to time, and have re-named it the
hedge-accentor. But, as Professor Newton has said in his addition to
Yarrell’s account of the bird, a name which has been part and parcel of
our language for centuries, and which Shakespeare used, ‘is hardly to
be dropped, even at the bidding of the wisest, so long as the English
tongue lasts.’ Now, as the English tongue promises to last a long
time, it seems safest to retain the old and, in one sense, incorrect
name. Dunnock is another common name for this species; it is also
called shufflewing, from the habit the bird has, when perched, of
frequently shaking its wings.
Among our small birds, the hedge-sparrow is regarded with some slight
degree of that kindly feeling, or favouritism, which is extended
to the robin redbreast, the swallow, and the martin. It is one of
the few delicate little birds that brave the rigours of an English
winter, and occasionally enliven that dead season with their melody.
With the wren and missel-thrush, it is a prophet, in February, of the
return of brighter sunshine and lengthening days; and in hard weather
it comes much about the house, for the sake of the small morsels of
food to be picked up; and, while retaining its sprightliness at such
times, it learns to be trustful. It is possible that the feeling or
sentiment which no person, not even the most matter-of-fact scientific
ornithologist, is quite proof against, is the cause of this species
having been a little overpraised in many books about birds. The
hedge-sparrow is often spoken of as a very charming little creature,
while its song has been described as pleasing, as sweet, and as
delightful. All birds are in a sense attractive, and even charming in
appearance, but in different degrees, and the plain-coloured dunnock
strikes one as being the least attractive among our birds. In the
same way, the song may be said to be pleasant because it is a natural
sound, and is heard in the open air when the sun shines, when leaves
and blossoms are out, and it expresses the gladness which is common to
all sentient things. But it has none of the rare qualities which are
requisite to make a pleasant sound anything more than a merely pleasant
sound.
The hedge-sparrow is a common bird throughout the British Islands--so
common as to be familiar to most people, in spite of its shyness and
love of concealment. It is pre-eminently a hedge-bird, and in that
respect has been well named; even in the most populous districts,
and in the suburbs of large towns, where a hedge remains, there the
smoke-grey and brown little bird will have its home and make its nest,
although it may seldom be able to rear its young. It is a very early
breeder, a first brood being often reared in March. As a rule, the nest
is placed in the centre of a hedge or thorny bush, three or four feet
from the ground; it is made of dry grass and fine roots, and lined
with hair; the eggs are five or six in number, bright greenish blue in
colour, without spots. Two or three broods are reared in the season.
* * * * *
The alpine accentor (_Accentor collaris_), a larger species
than our hedge-sparrow, which it resembles in colour, is known as a
straggler to England from the mountainous districts of Central and
Southern Europe.
Dipper.
Cinclus aquaticus.
Upper plumage brownish black tinged with grey; throat and breast
pure white; belly chestnut-brown; bill black; feet horn-colour.
_Female_: colours dingy. Length, six inches and a half.
* * * * *
The dipper, or water-ouzel, differs considerably in appearance, and
still more in habits, from all other British birds; as is the case
with such species as the wryneck, cuckoo, kingfisher, bearded tit,
tree-creeper, starling, and nuthatch, there is no other like him. In
figure he is wren-like, stout and compact in body, with short, rounded
wings and short, square tail, which, as with the wren, is often carried
upright and jerked. He is a little less than the song-thrush in size,
and is conspicuously coloured, the greater part of the plumage being
black, or blackish brown; and, in strong contrast, the throat and upper
part of the breast shining white--a big black wren with a silvery white
bib.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--DIPPER. ⅕ natural size.]
Some species always live and move within such narrow limits, or, in
other words, are so dependent on certain conditions, that we invariably
think of them in association with their surroundings:--the snipe with
the boggy soil; the rock-pipit with the rock-bound seashore; the
tree-creeper with the tree he climbs upon; the lark with the cultivated
fields; and the swift with the void blue sky, through which he is
perpetually rushing. In like manner we invariably think of the dipper
in connection with the swift, brawling mountain-torrent he inhabits. He
is never, or very seldom, found removed from it, and is probably more
restricted to certain conditions, and consequently more bound to his
home, than any one of the species just named. The stream he attaches
himself to must have quiet and comparatively deep pools, and the water
must be clear to enable him to detect the larvæ of water-beetles,
dragon-flies, and other aquatic insects he preys on, all of which have
a protective colouring. He does not range up and down a stream, like
the kingfisher, to visit the various feeding-places; he limits himself
to a portion of it, in many cases not more than a hundred yards in
length, and explores the bottoms of the same pools from day to day,
until they must be as familiar to him--all their inequalities, their
stony ridges and half-buried boulders, and sandy or pebbled places, and
all the holes and secret corners where sediment collects--as the rooms
we live in are to us, and about which we are able to move freely in
the dimmest light. In ascending a mountain stream such as these birds
love, abounding in deep, quiet pools, with noisy cascades and shallow
rapids, its bottom strewn with great fallen boulders partly submerged,
the rocky banks overgrown with sheltering bushes and vines, when you
disturb a dipper he flies up stream a short distance, perhaps twenty
yards, and alights on a boulder, or in the shadow of an overhanging
rock, and there waits, silent and motionless, until, disturbed again,
he takes a second short flight up stream, and so on to the limit of his
range, whereupon, rising up and doubling back, he flies to the spot he
started from. And as often as you disturb him he will act in the same
way, going just so far, and no farther. If you leave him behind and go
on, you will find another pair of dippers, whose portion of the stream
begins just where that of the first pair ends. They, too, will act in
the same way, and fly on until the end of their range is reached, and
will not venture beyond where a third pair are in possession. Where
they are not disturbed a mountain stream may be found parcelled out in
this way among a dozen or twenty couples. Probably the dipper, like the
robin, jealously resents the intrusion of another bird of his kind into
his chosen ground. Concerning this habit of the dipper, and its strange
way of feeding under the water, something still remains to be known.
It is, indeed, strange that this little perching song-bird should have
the habit of diving for its food like a grebe or a guillemot, and
other species that have structures specially adapted to such a way
of life. For there is absolutely nothing in the dipper’s structure
to lead anyone unacquainted with its habits to believe that it ever
approaches the water, unless to drink and bathe, and perhaps to pick
up an insect floating on the surface. That it is able to sink into and
move freely about beneath the water close to the bottom of a stream, in
spite of gravity, seems very astonishing, and would be incredible if
the fact were not so familiar. Some ornithologists believe that it is
related to the wren, others to the thrush;--that is a question capable
of solution; but how by a short-cut it became a diver must remain a
mystery.
Formerly it was believed that the dipper was able to walk freely about
on the bottom of the stream, but that was an error. It is difficult to
watch the bird moving about under water; but a few good observers have
succeeded in doing so, and from their accounts it would appear that the
dipper propels itself by powerful wing-beats, moving by a series of
rushes or jerks, keeping close to the bottom of the stream. It appears
to swallow its food under water, but comes up at intervals to breathe,
then sinks again beneath the surface.
On land the dipper is somewhat inactive, and will stand on a boulder
or under an overhanging rock without moving for a long time. One would
imagine that their eyes, fitted so well to see in the dim light beneath
the surface, must be very sensitive to the glare above.
The dipper’s song is short but brilliant, and very much like that of
the wren in character; it is heard most frequently in the love season,
and occasionally in autumn and in winter, when the sun shines, even
during very cold weather.
The nest is made among the rocks, usually in a crevice, and is very
large for the size of the bird, being sometimes a foot across, and is
globular in form, with a small opening near the top. It is composed
principally of moss, loosely felted, the inside lined with dry grass,
fine rootlets, and dead leaves. Four to six eggs are laid, pure white,
and unspotted.
The dipper is most common in mountainous districts in Scotland,
Ireland, and Wales, and is found in suitable localities in England.
* * * * *
The black-billed dipper (_Cinclus melanogaster_), the Scandinavian
and North Russian form of _Cinclus aquaticus_, has been met with
on two or three occasions as a straggler to the east coast of England.
[Illustration: _PLATE IV._ BEARDED TITMOUSE. 3/4 NAT. SIZE.]
Bearded Titmouse.
Panurus biamicus.
Head bluish grey; between the bill and eye a tuft of pendent black
feathers, prolonged into a pointed moustache; throat and neck greyish
white; breast and belly white tinged with yellow and pink; upper parts
light orange-brown; wings variegated with black, white and red; tail
very long, orange-brown, the outer feathers variegated with black and
white. _Female_: the moustache the same colour as the cheek; the
grey on the head absent. Length, six inches and a half.
* * * * *