this is the one distinction of this small dull-coloured bird. It is
true that the starling sometimes nests, like the jackdaw, in cliffs,
and that sparrows, wagtails, and a few other species, are occasionally
to be seen on the sands and among the rocks; but they are only casual
visitors in such places--they are inland birds, that live and breed
in meadows, hedgerows, woods, and commons. The rock-pipit is of the
seashore exclusively, and everywhere inhabits the coasts of Great
Britain and Ireland where there are rocks and cliffs, and all the rocky
islands and islets in the neighbouring seas; his nest is not found
nor his song heard out of sound of the ocean. In summer he keeps very
close to the sea, and his food then consists principally of minute
crustaceans and marine insects and worms; in the autumn and winter
months he unites in small flocks, and visits the salt-marshes and low
grounds near the shore, and he then feeds mostly on small seeds. His
song, if heard at a distance from the sea, would not be distinguished
from that of the meadow-pipit; the action which accompanies the song is
also the same in both species. Occasionally he delivers his notes while
sitting on a rock; but as a rule he soars up to a moderate height,
either silent or else repeating the first note of the song at regular
intervals, then descends with a slow, sliding flight to the earth, and
descending emits his best notes, short and simple, but with a melodious
tinkling sound which is very pleasant to listen to, especially when
several individuals are heard at once. When intruded on in his rocky
haunts, or anxious for the safety of his young, his alarm-note, sharp
yet plaintive, closely resembles that of the meadow-pipit. The nest,
built in May, is carefully concealed among the rocks, beneath a tuft
of grass, or in a well-sheltered hole or crevice in the rock, and is
composed of small scraps of seaweed, dry grass, and moss, and lined
with fine dry grass or hair. Four or five eggs are laid, white or pale
bluish in ground-colour, thickly mottled with dull greyish brown or
reddish brown spots.
* * * * *
Besides those described, three other species of Anthus have been
included among British birds. These are the tawny pipit (_Anthus
campestris_), Richard’s pipit (_Anthus richardi_), and the
water-pipit (_Anthus spipoletta_). The first two are occasional
visitors to the south of England; of the water-pipit, a very few
specimens have been obtained in different parts of the country.
* * * * *
Two beautiful British birds, unfortunately not indigenous nor regular
in their visits to our country, may be mentioned in this place. They
represent two families: Oriolidæ, which follows Motacillidæ (wagtails
and pipits); and Ampelidæ, which comes after Laniidæ (shrikes). One
is the golden oriole (_Oriolus galbulus_), a rare straggler to
England on migration from Central and Southern Europe. It has been
known to breed in the southern counties, and, if protected, would
probably become an annual visitant. The other species is the waxwing
(_Ampelis garrulus_), an irregular visitor in winter, sometimes in
considerable numbers, from the arctic circle.
Red-backed Shrike.
Lanius collurio.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--RED-BACKED SHRIKE. ¼ natural size.]
Frontal band, lores, and ear-coverts black; crown and nape grey; mantle
chestnut-brown; quills dark brown edged with rufous; tail-coverts grey;
tail-feathers white at their bases, the other portion and the whole of
the two central ones black; under parts rose-buff; bill and feet black.
Length, seven inches.
* * * * *
The shrike is distinguished among perching birds by its sharply hooked,
toothed, rapacious beak, and its hawk-like habit of preying on small
birds, mice, shrews, frogs, and lizards. The extraordinary custom it
has of impaling its victims on thorns has won for it the unpleasant
name of butcher-bird, by which it is best known to country-people.
Some naturalists have expressed the opinion that the shrike does not
often attack small birds; and this would seem a reasonable view to take
when we consider that the bird is no bigger than a skylark. But it is
impossible to follow with the eye all the wanderings and the actions
of all kinds that go to make the day of any wild bird; we really
see only a very small part of the killing that goes on. The little
feathered butcher is small in size, but his spirit is bold, and his
taste for flesh not to be doubted. In a question of this kind I believe
our slight intermittent observation is less to be depended on than
the reputation--if such a word may be used in this connection--which
the shrike bears among his feathered fellow-creatures. He is by them
reputed dangerous, a bird of prey to be avoided, or at least regarded
with extreme suspicion. We are accustomed to say that we do not know a
man until we come to live with him; and the small birds live with the
shrike, and therefore know him best.
The red-backed shrike is a summer visitor, arriving in this country
early in April, and is not an uncommon species in England and Wales,
being most numerous in the southern counties; but its range does
not extend to Ireland, and in North Britain it is only known as a
straggler. It inhabits the open borders of woods, rough commons, and
high hedges, and has the habit of sitting conspicuously perched,
often for an hour at a stretch, on the summit of an isolated bush or
low tree, or on a fence or any other elevated stand, where it has a
pretty appearance. From its perch it watches for its prey, but is
by no means a motionless and depressed-looking watcher, like the
flycatcher: its movements on its stand, as it turns its head from
side to side and jerks and fans its tail, frequently uttering its
low, percussive, chat-like chirp or call-note, give the impression of
a creature keenly alive to everything passing around it. The shrike
is, in fact, attentively watching air, earth, and the surrounding
herbage and bushes for a victim, which he captures by a sudden dart,
taking it by surprise. Besides small vertebrates, he preys on various
large insects--beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, bees, &c.--seizing them
in the air as they fly past, or dropping upon them on the ground. He
often devours the insects captured on the spot, then returns to his
stand; but he also has a favourite thorn-bush or tree to which he is
accustomed to convey many of the creatures he takes, to impale them on
thorns or fix them on forked twigs. He has the habit of plucking birds
before devouring them; and it is doubtless easier for him to pluck
a small bird and pull anything he catches to pieces when fixed on a
thorn, for, being without crooked claws, he is incapable of grasping
his victim and holding it steady while operating on it. This is one
of those instincts which simulate reason very closely. The number
of remains of victims sometimes found suspended to a butcher-bird’s
tree shows that he is occasionally very destructive to small birds.
In a case recorded in the ‘Zoologist’ (1875, p. 4723), bodies of the
great tit, blue tit, long-tailed tit, robin, hedge-sparrow, and young
of blackbirds and thrushes, were found. The indigestible portions
swallowed--bones, fur, and wing-cases of large beetles--are cast up in
pellets.
In the pairing season the shrike utters at times a chirruping song, not
unlike the attempted singing of a sparrow in sound. The nest is large,
and placed in a thick bush or hedge, and is composed outwardly of
stalks, and inside of fibrous roots and moss, lined with fine bents and
a little horsehair. Four to six eggs are laid; these vary a good deal,
the ground being pale green, pale buff, cream or pale salmon-colour,
spotted and blotched, principally at the large end, with reddish brown
and purplish grey.
After leaving the nest the young keep company with their parents until
their departure in September and October.
* * * * *
There are four more species of Lanius in the list of British birds, all
stragglers--the great grey shrike (_Lanius excubitor_), a breeder
in Central Europe; Pallas’s great grey shrike (_Lanius major_),
from North Scandinavia and Siberia; the lesser grey shrike (_Lanius
minor_), from Central and Southern Europe; the woodchat (_Lanius
pomeranus_), also from Central and Southern Europe.
Spotted Flycatcher.
Muscicapa grisola.
Upper parts ash-brown; feathers of the head marked with central dark
line; under parts white, the sides marked with longitudinal brown
streaks; flanks tinged with red. Length, five and a half inches.
* * * * *
The spotted flycatcher is one of our commonest summer migrants, and at
the same time one of the least remarked. He is a late comer, arriving
about the middle of May; but he does not come after the leaves are out,
to conceal himself among them, after the manner of the wood-wren and
of other small insect-eaters. From the day of his arrival he is exposed
to sight in the places he frequents--parks, skirts of woods, orchards,
gardens, and the borders of fields and meadows. The area inhabited by
each bird, or pair, is very circumscribed, and contains a few favourite
perching-places, which are regularly occupied at different hours of
the day. The perching-place is on a projecting branch, or, better
still, a dead branch of a bush or tree, a wire fence, or a paling or
gatepost. He comes near houses, and he may have a stand within twenty
or thirty yards of the door, from which those who come and go may have
him full in sight for several hours each day. But little or no notice
is taken of him. And it is not strange, for of all our birds he is
the least attractive, in his pale, obscure plumage, as he sits silent
and motionless, listless and depressed in appearance, showing neither
alarm nor curiosity when regarded. Seen thus he is like a silent grey
ghost of a little dead bird returned to haunt the sunlight. Despite
this listless appearance he is keenly alive to outward things. As the
motionless heron watches the water, with the creatures that move like
vague shadows in it, the flycatcher watches the air and the living
things, minute and swift-winged, that inhabit it. At intervals he quits
his perch and makes a dash at some passing insect, which he captures,
his mandibles closing on it with an audible snap; then returns to his
stand and his watching once more.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. ¼ natural size.]
His call-note is a feeble chirp, two or three times repeated; and he is
said to have a song, which few have heard, composed of a few rambling
notes in a low tone.
The flycatcher begins to build soon after its arrival, and a favourite
site for the nest is in the ivy growing against a wall; nests are
also made in holes in walls and in the trunks of trees, on horizontal
branches, and in a variety of situations. The nest is composed of dry
grass and moss, mixed with a few feathers, and lined with rootlets and
horsehair. Five or six eggs are laid; they are bluish white or pale
green in ground-colour, clouded, blotched and spotted with reddish
brown.
Flycatchers return to the same nesting-place year after year. One brood
only is reared, and the birds leave us by the third week in September.
Pied Flycatcher.
Muscicapa atricapilla.
Upper parts and tail black; wings black, with the central coverts
white; scapulars edged with white; under parts white. _Female_:
greyish brown instead of black; the white dingy; the three lateral
tail-feathers edged with white. Length, five inches.
* * * * *
The pied flycatcher is comparatively a rare bird, and is unknown to a
great majority of the inhabitants of this country, being restricted to
a few localities in the north of England and the south of Scotland,
and to some parts of North Wales, and the English counties bordering
on Wales. In its nesting and feeding habits, and its partiality for
orchards and gardens, it is like the spotted flycatcher; but it arrives
earlier than that species, usually during the last week in April or
the first week in May. Its black-and-white plumage gives it a very
different and a much more attractive appearance. The only other point
in which the two species differ greatly is in the number and colour
of the eggs. Those of the pied flycatcher number from five to eight,
and are very beautiful, being of a uniform delicate pale blue, and
unspotted.
* * * * *
A third species, the red-breasted flycatcher (_Musicapa parva_),
has been included in the list of stragglers from Central and Eastern
Europe to this country.
Swallow.
Hirundo rustica.
Forehead and throat chestnut-brown; upper parts, sides of neck, and
a bar across the breast black, with violet reflections; lower parts
dull reddish white. Tail long and forked. _Female_: less red on
the forehead and less black on the breast; under parts white; outer
tail-feathers shorter. Length, seven and a half inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--SWALLOW. ¼ natural size.]
The swallow, as we usually see him, gliding and doubling in the air
with a freedom surpassing that of other birds, has considerable beauty,
being richly coloured and of an elegant figure, with sharply forked
tail and long, pointed wings. But this is not the reason of the charm
he has for us, since there are other more beautiful birds that inspire
no such feeling. He is loved above most species on account of his
domestic habits and familiarity with man. There would be few swallows
in a dispeopled and savage England, with all its buildings crumbled
to earth, for he would then be compelled to return to the original
habits of the wild swallow, and build his mud cradle in rocky cliffs
and caverns. As things are he is not dependent on cliffs, for he has
taken kindly to human habitations, and increases with the increase
of house-building, until he has become one of the commonest and most
generally diffused species. And being a house-bird, and accustomed
to the human form, when our summer migrants return to us with the
return of the sun, and the others seek their customary homes in woods
and groves by the sides of streams and marshes, and on downs and
waste lands, the swallow alone comes direct to us to deliver the glad
message, so that even the sick and aged and infirm, who can no longer
leave their beds or rooms, are able to hear it. What wonder that we
cherish a greater affection for, and are more intimate with, the
swallow than with our other feathered fellow-creatures!
The swallow is very evenly distributed over the whole of Great Britain
and Ireland, but the date of his arrival varies considerably in
different districts. In the south of England he makes his appearance
early in April, and arrives in the northern counties about the middle
of that month, but in the north of Scotland not until the first week in
May. He is most abundant about villages and large country-houses and
farms; but wherever human habitations exist, however modest in size
they may be, he is to be met with. Swallows are eminently gregarious,
and even during the breeding season all the birds inhabiting one
neighbourhood are accustomed to feed and practise their aërial
exercises in company. At this season their gatherings are, however,
intermittent, and in part accidental. Where flying insects are abundant
the swallows quickly gather. At one time of the day they may be seen
coursing up and down the lanes and roads and village streets, gliding
close to the ground with great speed; in rough weather they will
assemble in scores or hundreds on the sheltered side of a wood, or
lane, or a row of elms; but on a warm, damp day, they frequent the
meadows and low grounds near the water, where insects are most abundant.
The swallow has a variety of sharp little chirps and twittering notes,
and a loud, startled, double alarm-note, uttered at the appearance of
a hawk speeding through the air, or at sight of a prowling cat. The
appearance of a hawk excites as much anger as fear, and he generally
goes in pursuit of it; but the note is understood by other small birds,
and has the effect of sending them quickly into hiding. The song,
uttered sometimes on the wing, but more frequently when perched, is
very charming, and seems more free and spontaneous than that of any
bird possessing a set song, the notes leaping out with a heartfelt
joyousness which is quite irresistible. The sound differs in quality
from that of other birds; it is, perhaps, more _human_: a
swallow-like note may be heard in some of the most beautiful contralto
voices. The dozen or more notes composing the song end with a little
jarring trill, so low as to be hardly audible.
A favourite site for the swallow’s nest is the top of a joist
supporting the rafters of a barn or other outhouse to which there is
free access. It is a saucer-shaped rim of mud or clay, placed on the
wood. The inside is lined with dry grass and feathers. It is quite open
at the top, but usually close to the roof. The eggs are four to six in
number, and vary much in shape and disposition of markings. They are
pure white, spotted with rich coffee-brown, light reddish brown, and
purplish grey. During incubation the sitting-bird is fed at intervals
by her mate.
Two broods are reared in the season, and the young are fed for some
days after quitting the nest. The early broods are believed to leave
this country in advance of the adults and the young of the later
broods. The final and principal migration takes place at the end of
September or early in October, the birds congregating some days before
departure in large flocks, sometimes numbering many thousands.
Martin.
Chelidon urbica.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--MARTIN. ⅓ natural size.]
Head, nape, and upper part of the back black, with violet reflections;
lower parts of the back and under parts pure white. Feet and toes
covered with downy feathers; tail forked. Length, five and a half
inches.
* * * * *
The martin, or house-martin, is as common and widely diffused in the
British Islands as the swallow, and as it lives with man in the same
way, making use of houses to build its nest on, it shares the affection
with which that bird is generally regarded. Most people, in fact,
regard them as one and the same species; for both are of one type,
and are domestic in habit, and associate together, and unless looked
at with attention they are not seen distinctly, and consequently not
distinguished. The martin differs from the swallow in its slightly
smaller size; in having its feet feathered and the rump and entire
under parts pure white; and in its less sharply forked tail and shorter
wings. On the wing it is not so perfectly free as the swallow: it
cannot double so quickly, nor fly with such speed and grace.
The martin cannot be called a songster. His most common expression is a
somewhat harsh note, often uttered as he sports with his fellows in the
air; in the pairing and nesting time he occasionally attempts to sing,
usually when clinging to a wall and to the rim of his nest, and emits a
slight warbling sound, somewhat guttural, and so low that it can only
be heard at a distance of a few yards.
He arrives in this country a little after the swallow, and immediately
sets about making a new nest or repairing an old one. This is formed
outwardly of mud or clay, and is placed under the eaves of a house,
against the wall. He is able to build against a smooth brick or stucco
wall, but prefers stone, which has a rougher surface. It is usual to
find several nests near together, and the reason is, probably, that
the surface of the wall is suitable to build on, and not, as is often
stated, because the martins prefer to nest close to each other. The
outer shell of the nest, like that of the swallow, is formed of mud
or clay, mixed with hairs and fibres to strengthen it, and is placed
against the wall at the side and the projecting eaves above, and forms
a half or a portion of a hemisphere, a small opening being left at the
top for entrance. The lining is composed of feathers and a little dry
grass. Four or five pure white, unspotted eggs are laid. Two broods,
and often three, are reared in the season.
For some days after the young are able to fly the whole family roost at
night in the nest. The young of the first brood, as in the case of the
swallow, are the first to migrate. The old birds and the young of the
later broods take their departure about the middle of October.
Sand-Martin.
Cotile riparia.
Upper parts, cheeks, and a broad bar on the breast mouse-colour;
throat, fore part of the neck, belly, and under tail-coverts white.
Legs and feet naked, with the exception of a few small feathers near
the insertion of the hind toe; tail forked, rather short. Length, five
inches.
* * * * *
The sand-martin, although common enough in some localities, and found
throughout the British Islands, including the Outer Hebrides and
the Orkneys, is not a very well-known bird; for, however populous
the country may be, and though other hirundines become increasingly
domestic and breed under eaves, in porches, barns, and chimneys,
he always preserves his original wild character. He is a swallow
that is a stranger to man, and breeds in holes and crevices in
precipitous cliffs on the sea-coast. But he prefers to excavate a
breeding-hole in a perpendicular bank of clay not too stiff for his
weak mining implements. Earth-cliffs on the banks of rivers and lakes
and on the sea, are resorted to for this purpose, and he also takes
advantage of the steep sides of railway-cuttings and sand and gravel
pits. A suitable bank or cliff will often attract a large number of
sand-martins, and the surface will appear riddled with their holes. It
has always caused surprise in those who have observed this bird that it
should be able with its small, weak bill to form such deep tunnels in
the hard earth. The hole once made is, however, often used by the same
birds for several years. They do not work by digging into the earth
with their bills as a man digs with a knife or other implement. They
perch against the surface and pick out small particles, and by means
of this slow, laborious process accomplish their great work. The hole
slants upwards, and is from three to four feet in length and two or
three inches in diameter. At its extremity the gallery is widened to
form a chamber about six inches in diameter, where the bed is made of
dry grass, with a few feathers for lining. Male and female take turns
in boring, working only in the morning, the rest of the daylight hours
being spent in feeding and play. It sometimes happens that in boring
their hole a sunken boulder or vein of impenetrable earth is met with;
the hole is then abandoned and a new one begun in another place. By the
end of May the eggs are laid. These are four to six in number, and are
pure white.
When hovering before their holes, and passing to and fro with wavering
flight along the face of the bank, the sand-martins have a curious
moth-like appearance. While flying about in company they constantly
utter a low monotonous note; and this sound is prolonged to a scream
when the birds are excited by the presence of some enemy. The male
has, besides, a twittering song, uttered on the wing while hovering
before the nesting-hole.
Two broods are reared, and as soon as breeding is over the birds
forsake the bank and scatter about the country, and may then be seen
associating with house-martins and swallows.
The sand-martin is the earliest of the swallows to arrive in this
country, and the first to depart; it is rare to meet with them after
the middle of September.
Tree-Creeper.
Certhia familiaris.
Upper parts mottled with yellowish brown, dark brown, and white; a
pale streak over the eye; throat and breast buff-white, becoming
dusky on the belly; wings brown, tipped with white, and barred with
white, brown, and dull yellow; tail-feathers reddish brown, stiff, and
pointed. Length, five inches.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--TREE-CREEPER. ⅓ natural size.]