of small insects and their larvæ, found in the crevices of the bark;
hence the bird is most often seen frequenting old rough-barked trees,
the oak being a special favourite, more especially if it happens to be
well covered with lichen. At times, when seeking its prey, its rapid
and vigorous blows on the bark or portion of rotten wood can be heard
at a considerable distance, and are frequently mistaken for those
of the woodpecker. In autumn the nuthatch feeds largely on nuts and
fruit-stones, and to get at the kernel he carries the nut to a tree,
and wedges it firmly in a crevice or in the angle made by a forked
branch, then hammers at the end with his sharp beak until the shell is
split open and the kernel disclosed. Its love of nuts makes it easy to
attract the bird to a tree or wall close to the house by fixing nuts
in the crevices. If supplied regularly with this kind of food it soon
grows trustful, and may even be taught to come to call, and even to
catch morsels of food thrown to it in the air. Canon Atkinson, in his
lively and interesting ‘Sketches in Natural History,’ has described
the amusing manners of a pair of nuthatches which he thus made tame by
feeding. Since his book was published, about twenty-five years ago,
many persons have adopted the same plan with success.
Wren.
Troglodytes parvulus.
Upper parts reddish brown with transverse dusky bars; quills barred
alternately with black and reddish brown; tail dusky, barred with
black; over the eye a pale narrow streak; under parts pale reddish
brown; flanks and thighs marked with dark streaks. Length, three inches
and a half.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--WREN. ¼ natural size.]
The little nut-brown wren--nut-like, too, in his smallness and
round, compact figure--with cocked-up tail and jerky motions
and gesticulations, and flight as of a fairy partridge with
rapidly-beating, short wings, that produce a whirring noise if you are
close enough to hear it, is a familiar creature to almost every person
throughout the three kingdoms, and is even more generally diffused
than the house-sparrow. Something of the feeling which we have for the
swallow, the house-martin, and the robin redbreast, falls to the share
of the small wren. He is one of the few general favourites, although,
perhaps, not so great a favourite as the others just named. The reason
of this is, doubtless, because he is less domestic, never so familiar
with man or tolerant of close observation. The wren is never tame nor
unsuspicious; he is less dependent on us than other small birds that
attach themselves to human habitations, never a ‘pensioner’ in the same
degree as the blue tit, dunnock, blackbird, and sparrow. The minute
spiders, chrysalids, earwigs, and wood-lice with other creeping things
to be found in obscure holes and corners in wood-piles, ivy-covered
walls, and outhouses, are more to his taste than the ‘sweepings of
the threshold.’ His small size, modest colouring, and secrecy; his
activity, and habit of seeking his food in holes and dark places which
are not explored by other insectivorous species, enable him to exist
in a great variety of conditions--gardens, orchards, deep woods,
open commons, hedgerows, rocky shores, swamps, mountains, and moors;
there are, indeed, few places where the small, busy wren is not to
be met with. This ability of the wren to find everywhere in nature a
neglected corner to occupy would appear to give it a great advantage
over other small birds; moreover, it is very prolific, and excepting,
perhaps, two species of tits, is more successful than any other small
bird in rearing large broods of young. Nevertheless, the wrens do not
seem to increase. At the end of summer they are very abundant, and
you will, perhaps, be able to count a dozen birds where only one pair
appeared in spring; but when spring comes again you will generally find
that the population has fallen back to its old numbers. The larger
increase in summer indicates a greater mortality during the rest of
the year than is suffered by other species. The wren is said to eat
fruit occasionally, and even seeds; but it is almost exclusively
insectivorous, and probably perishes in large numbers during periods
of frost, when larks, pipits, and titmice become seed-eaters. Yet the
wren is a hardy little bird, a resident all the year round in the
coldest parts of our country, and one of the few songsters which may
be heard in all seasons. Even during a frost, if the sun shines, the
wren will sing as gaily as in summer. His song is his greatest charm.
It is unlike that of any other British melodist--a loud, bright lyric,
the fine, clear, high-pitched notes and trills issuing in a continuous
rapid stream from beginning to end. Although rapid, and ending somewhat
abruptly, it is a beautiful and finished performance, in which every
note is distinctly enunciated and has its value. When near it sounds
very loud: one is surprised to hear so loud a song from so small a
creature. But it does not carry far: the notes of the song-thrush,
blackbird, and nightingale can be heard at nearly three times the
distance.
The wren begins his nest-building at the end of April, and in
selecting a site exercises a greater freedom than most small birds.
The nests may be found in trees, bushes, masses of ivy or other dense
vegetation, hedgerows, holes in banks and walls, crevices in rocks, in
furze-bushes, and close to the ground among the bramble-bushes. There
is also a great variety in the materials used in building different
nests. As a rule, one kind of material is used for the outer part of
the structure, which is domed, and very large for the bird. It may be
moss or dead leaves, or moss and leaves woven together, or dry grass
leaves and stems, or dead fern-fronds. The nest is not only well
concealed, but in most cases the outside is made to assimilate in
colour to the vegetation surrounding it. The opening is near the top of
the nest; inside, the cavity is lined with moss, hair, and feathers.
Four or five eggs are laid, often a larger number, and it is not
unusual to find as many as eight or nine eggs in a nest. Not long ago,
in a wood in Berkshire, I saw eight young wrens sitting in a row on a
branch near the ground, and watched them being fed by the old birds.
The eggs are pure white, thinly spotted with pinkish red. Two broods
are reared in the season. Imperfect or false nests are often found near
the nest containing the eggs, and are called ‘cocks’ nests,’ the belief
being that they are made by the male bird.
Pied Wagtail.
Motacilla lugubris.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--PIED WAGTAIL. ¼ natural size.]
Summer plumage variegated with white and black; back and scapulars,
chin, throat, and neck black; a small portion of the side of the neck
white. Winter plumage: back and scapulars ash-grey; chin and throat
white, with a black, but not entirely isolated, gorget. Length, seven
and a half inches.
* * * * *
The pied wagtail is probably not more abundant in this country than
the yellow wagtail, but is far better known, being a more generally
diffused species, often seen in the neighbourhood of houses where the
yellow wagtail never comes. And if there be a pied wagtail anywhere
within range of sight, it is sure to be seen and recognised, for in its
black-and-white plumage it is the most conspicuous small bird in this
country, not excepting the kingfisher, snow-bunting and blackbird. When
tripping about a smooth lawn he looks double his real size, and reminds
one of a magpie in a field or an oyster-catcher on a wide stretch of
level sand.
The pied wagtail is found in this country all the year round, but
many birds (probably the large majority) migrate annually. Knox, in
his ‘Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,’ says that they arrive on
the Sussex coast about the middle of March, the old males first, the
females and the males of the previous year a few days later. They are
sometimes seen in large numbers near the coast, resting after their
voyage before proceeding inland. The return migration takes place at
the end of August or early in September.
Meadows and pasture-lands in the neighbourhood of a running stream are
favourite resorts of the wagtail, and it is fond of attending cattle
for the sake of the numbers of insects driven from their shelter in the
grass by the grazing animals.
The pied wagtail is not so lively, quick, and graceful as the yellow
and the grey species; but if you watch him for any length of time he,
too, gives you the idea of a creature that never continues in the same
mind for a minute at a time, but acts according to the impulse of the
moment, and is as unstable as a ball of thistle-down. He runs, then
stands, and shakes his tail; for two or three moments he searches for
food; then chases an insect, and is still again, waiting for a new
impulse to move him:--suddenly he flies away, not straight, as if
with an object in view, but with a curving, dipping, erratic flight,
governed seemingly by no will; and just as suddenly alighting again,
when he is once more seen standing still and shaking his tail. The
call-note, a sharp chirp of two syllables, is emitted once or twice
during flight. The song is a loud, hurried warble, uttered on the wing
as the bird hovers at a moderate height from the ground. But the pied
wagtail has another way of singing, especially in early spring: this
is a warble so low that at the distance of fifteen yards it is just
audible, and is sometimes uttered continuously for two or three minutes
at a stretch.
The nest is made, as a rule, in a hollow or cavity in the ground, or in
a crevice or hole in a bank or rock, or under a stone, or at the roots
of a furze-bush. It is built of fine dry grass, moss, and various other
materials, and lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are four or five,
pale bluish in tint, and spotted with greyish brown.
Grey Wagtail.
Motacilla melanope.
Summer plumage: head and back bluish grey; a pale streak over the eye;
throat black; under parts bright yellow. Winter plumage: chin and
throat whitish, passing into yellow. Length, seven inches and a half.
* * * * *
The grey wagtail is the prettiest and the least common of the three
species of Motacilla inhabiting the British Islands. Like the dipper,
it frequents mountain streams, but is not restricted to them. In
England it is a somewhat rare species, but is more common in Scotland
and Ireland. It remains with us throughout the year, but although a
permanent resident in most parts of the country, it is certain that it
disappears in autumn from many of its breeding-haunts in Scotland and
the north of England, and that a large number of these northern birds
winter in the southern and western counties.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--GREY WAGTAIL. ⅓ natural size.]
The grey wagtail is frequently spoken of as a bird of brilliant
plumage. It is not exactly that, but the various colours are so soft
and delicate, they harmonise so admirably, and show in the velvet-black
of the gorget and pure canary-yellow of the breast so fine a contrast,
that the effect is most beautiful, and pleases, perhaps, more than the
colouring of any other British bird. And this is not all. The charm
which the grey wagtail has for those who know it intimately consists in
the union of delicate colouring with a delicate form and exquisitely
graceful motion. Ornithologists have called it a ‘fairy-like bird,’ and
the terms in which they have sometimes recorded their impressions of it
might lead one to imagine that they are speaking, not of a bird, but of
some elusive nymph of the mountain rivulets, of whom they had caught
a glimpse in their rambles. To its other charms may be added that of
melody. Its spring song is sweet and lively, a little like that of the
swallow in character, and is uttered as the bird hovers in the air.
The alarm-note is like that of the pied wagtail, a sharp double note,
emitted as the bird passes away in undulating flight.
The grey wagtail is more exclusively a bird of the waterside than
either of the other two species, seldom being met with away from the
margins of its beloved mountain streams; in its flight, motions on the
ground, and manner of taking its insect prey, it closely resembles
the pied and yellow wagtails, the only difference being that it is
even more volatile, and that it is the most graceful of these three
feathered Graces.
The nest is made on the ground, concealed by grass and herbage, or
under a bush, and often under the shelter of an overhanging rock. It
is formed of fibrous roots, dry grass, and moss, and lined with hair,
wool, and feathers. The eggs are five or six in number, French white or
grey in ground-colour, mottled and spotted with pale brown and olive.
Yellow Wagtail.
Motacilla rayii.
Top of head, lore, nape, back, and scapulars greenish olive; a bright
yellow streak over the eye; lower parts sulphur-yellow. Length, six
inches.
* * * * *
The yellow wagtail is a summer visitor, arriving at the end of March or
early in April in this country, and is found very nearly in all parts
of England, and is also common in the southern counties of Scotland;
farther north it is rare, and in Ireland it is only known to breed in
one locality. On its arrival it frequents open downs and sheepwalks,
pastures, commons, and arable lands, more especially fields where
spring sowing is in progress. On this account it has been named in some
districts the barley-bird and oat-seed-bird, and in Scotland seed-bird
and seed-lady--the last a suitable appellation for so sweet and dainty
a creature. Seebohm says of it: ‘Its active, sylph-like movements, and
its delicate form and lovely plumage, make it a general favourite.’
In its motions on the ground, its tail shaking and fanning gestures,
and in its fitful curving and dipping flight, accompanied with a sharp
double call-note, it closely resembles the species already described.
From the pied wagtail it differs in never coming about houses or
breeding in their vicinity; and from the grey wagtail in not being
restricted to the waterside. In the fields it follows the plough, and
in the pastures it is often seen with the cattle, chasing the small
twilight moths and other insects driven from the grass.
As the season advances it forsakes the cultivated lands and open downs,
and is more restricted to borders of streams, and to meadows and
pastures not far from water. The nest is placed on the ground under the
grass and herbage, and is formed of dry bents and fibrous roots, and
lined with hair. Four to six eggs are laid, mottled with pale brown and
olive on a French-white ground.
* * * * *
Besides the three species described we have the white wagtail
(_Motacilla alba_) as a rare visitor to the south of England and
Ireland, and the blue-headed yellow wagtail (_Motacilla flava_),
an accidental straggler to the southern, south-western, and eastern
counties of England. These two species breed throughout Europe, the
first being the continental form of our pied wagtail, which it closely
resembles; and the second, of the yellow wagtail.
Meadow-Pipit.
Anthus pratensis.
ind claw longer than the toe, slightly curved. Upper parts ash tinged
with olive, the centre of each feather dark brown; under parts dull
buffy white, with numerous elongated spots of dull brown. Length, five
inches and three-quarters.
* * * * *
To the uninformed the pipits are lesser larks; they are lark-like
in figure, in their sober, mottled colouring, in habits, language,
and, to some extent, in the action which accompanies their song.
But, in spite of these outward resemblances, modern authorities have
removed them from the position they once occupied next to the larks
in classification, to place them by the side of the wagtails, which
are now supposed to be their nearest relations. And when wagtails and
pipits are seen running and flying about together, it strikes us that
there is among them a certain family resemblance; but we see, too,
that the wagtails have diverged greatly, and are much more graceful
in figure, have longer tails, and a gayer plumage; they are also
more aërial in habit, and warble a more varied strain. From the fact
that the numerous species of pipits are so much alike, not only in
appearance, but also in habits, language, and flight, and that they are
so widely distributed on the globe, being found both on continents and
oceanic islands, it may be inferred that the modest earth-loving pipit
represents the original form from which the wagtails have sprung.
Of our three species, the meadow-pipit is by far the most numerous,
being found in all open situations, moist or dry, meadow and
waste-land, moor and mountain-side, and close by the sea, where one can
listen to meadow-pipit and rock-pipit singing together, or alternately,
like birds of one species, and compare the two songs, that are so
much alike. This species is, moreover, to be met with in all parts of
our country, from the warm Hampshire and Dorset coasts to the western
islands of Scotland; but while in the main a resident all the year
round in the southern parts of the country, in the bleak and barren
districts of the farther north he is migratory, and moves southward in
winter in considerable flocks.
The meadow-pipit seeks his food on the ground, and moves nimbly about
in search of minute beetles, caterpillars, and seeds, pausing at
intervals to stand motionless for a few seconds, with head raised and
tail slowly moving up and down. When approached he displays a curious
mixture of timidity and tameness, and eyes the intruder with suspicion,
but flies with reluctance. The flight is a succession of jerky
movements, the bird rising and falling in a somewhat wild, erratic
manner.
In the love season the male pipit occasionally takes his stand on a
weed or low bush; but on moors, hills, and stony waste-lands he prefers
a stone or mound of earth for a perch. From such an elevation he is
able to keep watch on the movements of his mate, and, when the singing
spirit takes him, to launch himself easily on the air. To sing he soars
up to a height of forty feet or more, then glides gracefully down, with
tail spread and wings half-closed and motionless, presenting the figure
of a barbed arrow-head. In his descent he emits a series of notes
with little or no variation in them, slightly metallic in sound, and
very pleasing. These notes are occasionally repeated as the bird sits
motionless on the ground.
In describing bird-melody it is sometimes borne in on us that all
that has, or can be, said about the song of any species is not only
inadequate, but in a sense even false, inasmuch as a single song of an
individual is described as compared with that of some other, usually
nearly related, species. Thus, the meadow-pipit’s song is said to
be less rich and varied, and in every way inferior to that of the
tree-pipit. This is true enough, so far as it goes, but it does not
take into account the different scenes in the midst of which the two
distinct sounds are heard. The song of a single meadow-pipit, heard
close at hand, is a slight performance--an attenuated and not very
dulcet sound. The effect is wholly different and most delightful when
a dozen or twenty birds are within hearing, singing at intervals at a
distance, on a perfectly calm day on the moors or downs. As the little
widely-scattered, unseen melodists rise and fall, the sounds they emit
are refined to something bell-like and delicate: the effect is unique
and indescribably charming and fairy-like.
The nest is a neat structure, usually placed in a small cavity in the
ground, under a bunch of grass or heather, and is made of dry bents,
and lined with fine grass, fibrous roots, and hair. Four to six eggs
are laid; these vary greatly in colour and markings, but the most
common form is white, thickly mottled over with greyish brown. When the
nest is approached the parent birds display great solicitude, flying
from place to place, and incessantly uttering a sharp but plaintive
chirp of alarm.
Tree-Pipit.
Anthus trivialis.
[Illustration: FIG 40.--TREE-PIPIT. ¼ natural size.]
Upper parts ash tinged with olive, the centre of each feather dark
brown; a double band across the wing, formed by the yellowish white
tips of the lesser and middle wing-coverts; the outer pair of tail
feathers white; throat and region of the eye dull white; breast buff,
with elongated spots of dark brown; belly and lower tail-coverts dull
white. Length, six inches.
* * * * *
Of the three species of Anthus inhabiting the British Islands, and
which are appropriately named of the tree, rock, and meadow, according
to their respective habits, the tree-pipit alone is migratory,
appearing in this country about the third week in April, to remain
until the end of September, and sometimes longer. In size, colour,
and general appearance it so closely resembles the meadow-pipit that
the two species are hardly distinguishable, except by examination
in the hand. They also resemble each other in their feeding habits,
running about in the grass in a mouse-like manner in search of the
small insects and seeds on which they subsist, and, when flushed,
starting up suddenly, with a sharp chirp of alarm, and going away with
a wild, jerky flight. The tree-pipit is distributed widely over the
country, and is found at most wood sides, and where trees grow singly
or in isolated groups about the pasture-lands. Where the conditions
are favourable he is a common bird, but never abundant. In spring
and summer the tree-pipit is solitary, and it is possible that the
males, as with the redbreast and nightingale, are not tolerant of
other singers of their own species near them, as they are always found
occupying trees far apart--seldom, in fact, within hearing distance of
one another. On the arrival of the birds in April each male chooses
a home, a feeding-ground, with a tree or trees to sing on, and this
spot he will occupy until the end of the breeding season, after which
the birds resort to the fallows and stubbles, and sometimes before
departure they are seen gathered in small flocks.
It has been said of the tree-pipit’s song that it is like that of
the canary, and that it ‘is perhaps more attractive from the manner
in which it is given than from its actual quality.’ Both statements
are true in a measure: that is to say, they will be found true in
many instances, but not always. For there are few birds in which the
song varies so much in different individuals. The reiterated, clear
thin notes and trills that so closely resemble those of the caged
canary are heard in some songs, and not in others. As a rule, the bird
perches on a favourite tree, very often using the same branch, and at
intervals, rising into the air, ascends with rapidly-beating wings,
and when it attains to the highest point--usually as high again as
the tree, but sometimes considerably higher--the song begins with a
succession of notes resembling the throat-notes of the skylark, but
very much softer. With the song the descent begins, the open wings
fixed motionless, and so raised as to give the bird a parachute-like
appearance, falling slowly in a beautiful curve or spiral; on the perch
the song continues, but with notes of a different quality--clear,
sweet and expressive--repeated many times. Having ended its song,
it remains perched for a few moments silent, or else uttering notes
as at the beginning, until once more it quits its perch, either to
repeat the flight and song, or to drop to the ground, from which it
shortly ascends to sing again. The manner in which the song is given
is thus always beautiful, and in some individuals there is a wonderful
sweetness in the quality of the voice.
The nest is built near the male bird’s favourite tree, and is placed
in a hollow in the ground, and so well concealed by the grass and
herbage that it is almost impossible to find it, unless by flushing the
incubating bird from it. It is formed of fine dry grass and fibrous
roots, and lined with horsehair. Four to six eggs are laid, of a
dull white ground-colour, spotted with dull brown, grey, and purple,
sometimes with blotches and hair-like marks among the spots. The eggs
of this species vary a great deal.
Rock-Pipit.
Anthus obscurus.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--ROCK-PIPIT. ⅓ natural size.]
Hind claw equal to the toe in length, much curved. Upper parts greenish
brown, the centre of each feather darker brown; a whitish streak over
the eye; under parts dull white, spotted and streaked with dark brown.
Length, six and a quarter inches.
* * * * *