kind--an old ruin, a loft in a barn or an outhouse; but above most
sites he prefers an ivyclad church-tower, on which account he has been
called the church-owl. He also inhabits caves and holes in cliffs, and
hollow trees in woods. He spends the daylight hours, standing upright
and motionless, dozing on his perch; and, where he is persecuted, he
does not stir abroad until dark. When he is not molested he leaves
his hiding-place before sunset, and is so little suspicious of man
as to appear like a domestic bird in his presence. He preys on mice,
rats, moles, insects, and even fish, which he has been observed to
take in his claws from lakes and ponds. The indigestible portions of
the small animals he swallows--the fur, feathers, bones, wing-cases,
and scales--are disgorged in compact round pellets about the size of a
cob-nut; and from an examination of a vast number of such pellets, it
would appear that about nine-tenths of the food of this owl consists of
mice.
This fact is now so generally known that the owl, from being one of
the most persecuted of birds, is becoming a general favourite; and
farmers who formerly shot it, and nailed it, with outspread wings, to
their barn-doors, in order that all might see and admire their zeal in
ridding the earth of so misshapen a pest, are now only anxious to have
the ‘feathered cats’ living in their barns again.
The owl makes no nest, and lays from two to six eggs, which are white
and nearly round. It has the curious habit of laying two or three eggs,
and, long after incubation has begun, laying others, and then others
again, so that young of different ages and eggs not yet near hatching
may be found in the nest together. The young make a curious snoring
noise, which is their hunger cry; and it has been said that this cry is
also occasionally uttered by the old bird on the wing.
Long-eared Owl.
Asio otus.
Beak blackish; eyes orange-yellow; upper parts buff, finely mottled
with brown and grey, and streaked with dark brown, especially on the
ear-tufts; facial disk buff, with a greyish black margin and outer
rim; under parts warm buff and grey, with blackish streaks and minute
transverse bars. Length, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
The long-eared owl may be described as a bird of beautiful plumage.
The hues of the upper parts--various shades of yellow, buff, and
brown, harmoniously disposed--and something, too, in the indeterminate
pattern, remind us of the colouring of some of the very handsome
cats. This cat-like colouring, long tufts of ear-like feathers, and
large, round, fiery, yellow eyes, give the bird a singular and uncanny
appearance. As a vocalist he is less interesting than the two other
most common British species--the white owl, with its sepulchral shriek,
and the tawny owl, with its mellow hoot--that mysterious sound of the
deep woods at eventide. The commonest note of the present species is a
mewing cry, heard when the birds begin to stir from their hiding-places
before going out to forage. It also emits at times a short, barking cry.
The long-eared owl appears to be more gregarious than other species,
except, perhaps, the short-eared owl. Mr. Abel Chapman writes: ‘A
peculiarity of the habits of these owls after the breeding-season
deserves a remark. As soon as the young were fledged the whole of the
owls associated together, perhaps three or four broods, old and young,
in a single family, and chose a thick black Scotch fir for their abode.
Here they all passed the day. To this particular tree the whole of the
owl-life of these woods resorted regularly at dawn, and in it slept
away the hours of daylight, hidden amongst the deep evergreen recesses.
At the particular tree of their choice (it varied in different years)
the owls could invariably be interviewed during the summer and autumn,
though to a casual eye it was difficult, amidst the deep shadows of the
foliage, to distinguish their slim forms, pressed closely against the
brown branches of the pine. Towards dusk their awakening was notified
by the querulous cat-like cry; ten minutes later their silent forms
appeared outside the wood, and, after a few rounds of preliminary
gyrations, it was dark enough to commence operations in earnest.’
[Illustration: LONG-EARED OWL. CHAFFINCH. GREAT, BLUE, AND COAL
TITS. GOLDCREST.]
Field-mice and rats are its principal food; it also preys a good deal
on insects, and kills more small birds than does the white owl. It
is an early breeder, laying its eggs in the deserted nest of a crow,
magpie, rook, or heron, or in a squirrel’s drey, or even making use of
the slight platform-nest of the wood-pigeon. The eggs are four to six
in number, nearly round in shape, and have smooth white shells.
Short-eared Owl.
Asio brachyotus.
Face whitish; beak black; iris yellow; tufts on the head small,
composed of black feathers; eyes encircled by brownish black; upper
parts dusky brown edged with yellow; under parts dull yellow streaked
with brown. Length, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
In its habits the short-eared owl offers a strong contrast to the
species last described. It is a bird of the moors and fens, laying its
eggs on the ground, and never, or very seldom, perches on trees. In
appearance it is less owl-like and uncanny-looking than the long-eared
owl, the colouring and markings being less rich, the head smaller, and
the ear-tufts so small that at a distance of twenty-five yards they are
scarcely visible. It is migratory in its habits, and as it arrives on
the east coast at the same time as the woodcock, it is often called the
woodcock-owl.
As a winter visitant it is found in most places in the British Islands,
but it breeds with us only in Scotland and a few localities in the
north of England. As I have said in the history of the barn-owl, the
present species ranges over a large portion of the globe, and on the
continent of America it is found from Greenland to the Straits of
Magellan. It is not so nocturnal in its habits as the majority of owls,
and may often be seen, an hour or two before sunset, beating over the
rough ground like a hen harrier in search of prey. It feeds on small
rodents of all kinds, and on birds. The eggs are three to five in
number, and in some instances as many as seven or eight are laid, and
are placed in a slight clearing among the herbage on marshy ground, or
under the heather on a moor.
There is some variety in the language of this species: it hisses and
makes a sharp clicking sound when angry, and has a loud, startling
cry, a note repeated three or four times, like a ghostly laugh; and it
also hoots, this performance sounding like the baying of a dog in the
distance.
An interesting and curious fact in the history of this owl is that it
is known to appear, often in considerable numbers, in any district
where, owing to a great increase of field-mice or other small rodents,
its favourite food is for the time abundant. This phenomenon has been
observed in various parts of the world, in this country on several
occasions; and during the late great plague of short-tailed voles in
the south of Scotland (1891–92), large numbers of short-eared owls
appeared, and remained to breed in the district. As long as the plague
lasted they remained in the country, and were most prolific. When the
voles disappeared the owls departed.
Tawny Owl.
Syrnium aluco.
Beak greyish yellow; iris bluish dusky; upper parts reddish brown,
variously marked and spotted with dark brown, black, and grey;
large white spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts; primaries and
tail-feathers barred alternately with dark and reddish brown; under
parts reddish white, with transverse brown bars and longitudinal dusky
streaks; legs feathered to the claws. Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
The tawny owl, named also brown owl and wood-owl, is by a little the
largest of the four British species. In his colouring, as well as his
woodland habits, he comes nearest to the long-eared owl, but he has
no ear-tufts like that bird to add to his strangeness, nor is he in
appearance so ghostly and grotesque as the white owl. This species
alone of the British owls is unknown in Ireland. In England, Wales,
and the south of Scotland it is to be met with in all well-wooded
districts, and in some localities it is said to be the most common owl.
But, unhappily, in many places where it was formerly common it has
been extirpated by gamekeepers. Owls are not very social birds, and
the tawny owl is the most unsocial of all. He inhabits the deep wood,
where he lives solitary or with his mate, and he is said to be very
jealous of the intrusion of another individual of his species into his
hunting-grounds. His chief distinction is his powerful, clear voice:
heard in the profound silence of the woods at eventide the sound is
wonderfully impressive, and affects us with a sense of mystery. This
may be due to imagination, or to some primitive faculty in us, since
the feeling is strong only when we are alone. If we are in a merry
company, then the wood-owl’s _too-whit, too-who_, may even seem to
us ‘a merry note,’ as Shakespeare described it.
The tawny owl sometimes breeds, like the barn-owl, in ruins, outhouses,
disused chimneys, and such places; but the usual site is a hollow tree,
all the more liked if it is overgrown with ivy. Sometimes he takes
possession of a deserted nest of a magpie or crow to breed in. The
three or four eggs laid are white, and nearly round in shape.
The tawny owl is strictly nocturnal in habits, and preys on mice, rats,
moles, young rabbits, squirrels, and birds; and he also, like most
owls, occasionally takes fish.
* * * * *
Besides the species described, no fewer than seven others have been
included in books on British birds, and if these seven were not rare
accidental visitors to our island we should indeed be rich in owls. It
will be sufficient to give their names:--
Snowy owl (_Nyctea scandiaca_).
European hawk-owl (_Surnia ulula_).
American hawk-owl (_Surnia funeria_).
Tengmalm’s owl (_Nyctala tengmalmi_).
Scops owl (_Scops giu_).
Eagle owl (_Bubo ignavus_).
Little owl (_Athene noctua_).
It is possible that the last species may one day come to be ranked as
a British bird, like the pheasant and red-legged partridge, as several
attempts have been made to introduce it into this country, first by
Waterton, in 1843; and, in recent years, by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin in
Yorkshire, and Mr. Meade-Waldo in Hampshire.
Hen Harrier.
Circus cyaneus.
Upper parts of adult male bluish grey; lower parts white; beak black;
irides reddish brown; legs and feet yellow; claws black. _Female_:
upper parts reddish brown; under parts pale reddish yellow, with deep
orange-brown, longitudinal streaks and spots. Length: male, eighteen
inches; female, twenty inches.
* * * * *
This very handsome and graceful hawk was fairly common within recent
times in the British Islands. But the incessant persecution of all
birds of prey by game-preservers is having its effect. It is plain to
see that as British species they are being extirpated; and the first
to vanish are the harriers, owing to their fatal habit of breeding in
the open country on the ground. For while most birds have a close time
allowed them, the hawks are sought out and destroyed, old and young,
during the breeding season. Thus the marsh-harrier, which should have
come first in this place, is now extinct in this country, and cannot
be introduced into a work on British birds which does not include the
great auk, the bustard, the spoonbill, and many other species which
have been exterminated in England. The hen harrier is at the present
time very nearly in the same case; it is only included here because a
few pairs probably still breed on the wildest and most extensive moors
in Wales, the north of England, and the Highlands of Scotland.
The nest is a slight hollow in the ground, scantily lined with a little
dry grass; and the eggs are four or five, and rarely six, in number.
These are pale bluish white in colour, and in some cases have pale
brown markings.
The male hen harrier, seen on the wing when quartering the ground in
quest of prey, keeping but a few feet above the surface, is certainly
one of our handsomest hawks. Its flight, although not wavering, is
as buoyant as that of the common tern, and the pale colouring--soft
blue-grey above and white beneath--seems in harmony with its slender
figure and airy, graceful motions. On account of its blue colour it
has been called the dove-hawk. It preys on small birds, mammals, and
reptiles, dropping suddenly upon them in the manner of the kestrel,
but from a less height. The origin of its name of hen harrier is not
known. Yarrell conjectured that it was on account of its predilection
for the produce of the farmyard; which seems unlikely, as the harriers
are usually hunters of very small deer. A more probable explanation
is that the male bird was formerly supposed to be the female of the
ringtail-harrier; but we know now that the hen harrier is the cock
bird, and the ringtail the hen.
Montagu’s Harrier.
Circus cineraceus.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--MONTAGU’S HARRIER. ⅑ natural size.]
Upper parts bluish grey; primaries black; secondaries with three
transverse dark bars; lateral tail-feathers white barred with reddish
orange; under parts white variously streaked with reddish orange.
_Female_: upper parts brown of various tints; under parts pale
reddish yellow, with longitudinal bright red streaks. Beak black; legs
and feet yellow. Length, eighteen inches.
* * * * *
This hawk was named by Yarrell after the well-known ornithologist,
Colonel Montagu, who was the first to distinguish between this species
and the hen harrier, which it so closely resembles. Seen on the wing
at a distance of two to three hundred yards, the sharpest-sighted
ornithologist would probably be unable to say whether the bird was a
hen harrier or a Montagu’s harrier. The present species is slimmer
bodied; but, owing to the greater comparative length of its wings, it
appears, when flying, as large as the hen harrier. It is a spring and
summer visitor to this country, and in its flight, and preying and
breeding habits, closely resembles the species last described. Small
birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects form its prey. It breeds, or
formerly bred, in suitable localities in most English counties from
the south coast northwards to Norfolk, making its slight nest on the
ground, among the furze-bushes or heather. The eggs resemble those of
the hen harrier in colouring, but are smaller in size.
Buzzard.
Buteo vulgaris.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--BUZZARD. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Upper parts, neck, and head dark brown mottled with brown of a darker
shade; tail marked with twelve transverse bands; beak lead-coloured;
cere, irides, and feet yellow. Length: male, twenty inches; female,
twenty-two inches.
* * * * *
It is impossible for anyone who loves wild bird life to write about the
buzzard without a feeling of profound melancholy. For this hawk, too,
like the harriers, although once common, and still called in books the
common buzzard, is a vanishing species. Howard Saunders writes: ‘Fifty
years ago it used to breed in Norfolk and in other counties abounding
in partridges and ground game, without being considered incompatible
with their existence; but with the increase of pheasant-worship the
doom of the buzzard was sealed, for, the larger the “hawk,” the worse
it must necessarily be!’
My one consolation in this sad portion of my work, which tells of the
noble and useful species whose ‘doom is sealed,’ is, that I am not
writing for grown men, but for the young, who are not yet the slaves of
a contemptible convention, nor have come under a system which has been
only too mildly described as ‘stupid’ by every British ornithologist
during the last five or six decades.
This once common bird is now almost unknown in England, and must be
sought for in the wildest forest districts of Wales and Scotland.
It is of a somewhat sedentary disposition, and in seeking its food
displays little of the dashing and courageous spirit of the falcons.
Small mammals, especially moles, reptiles, birds of various kinds, and
insects, are its prey, which in all cases it drops upon and seizes on
the ground. It is strongly attached to one favourite spot, and will
return day after day to the same perch, where it will sit for hours at
a stretch. All the buzzards show best when flying, and the appearance
of the present species was thus described by Sir William Jardine:
‘The flight is slow and majestic; the birds rise in easy and graceful
gyrations, often to an immense height, uttering occasionally their
shrill and melancholy whistle. At this time, to a spectator underneath,
and in particular lights, they appear of immense size; the motions of
the tail when directing the circles may be plainly perceived, as well
as the beautiful markings on it and the wings, sometimes rendered very
plain and distinct by the body being thrown upwards, and the light
falling on the clear and silvery tints of the base of the feathers. The
buzzard is a fine accompaniment to the landscape, whether sylvan or
wild and rocky.’
It nests both on crags and in forest trees, and sometimes makes use
of the old nest of some other bird. The nest is of sticks, and is
sometimes very large, lined with wool or some other soft material, and
often with green leaves. Two to four eggs are laid, but three is the
usual number. They vary from white, suffused with reddish brown, to
bluish green, spotted, streaked, and clouded with reddish brown, with
purple-grey under-markings.
Golden Eagle.
Aquila chrysaëtus.
Head, back of the neck, and legs lustrous reddish brown; the rest of
the body dark brown; primaries nearly black; secondaries brownish
black; tail dark grey, barred and tipped with brownish black; beak
bluish at the base, black at the extremity; iris brown; cere and feet
yellow; claws bluish black. Length of male, three feet.
* * * * *
This noblest of the British birds of prey used at one time to breed in
some localities in England and Wales, but it has gradually retreated
farther and farther north, and is now restricted (as a breeder) to
the Highlands and the western islands of Scotland. Fortunately, it
now receives protection from the owners of large deer-forests in
its northern habitat, and there is reason to hope that it will long
continue to exist as a British species.
This species is very dark in hue, and is known in Scotland as the
‘black eagle.’ The colour is a very deep brown, the feathers of the
head and nape tinged with reddish gold--hence its name of golden eagle.
It preys on hares, rabbits, grouse, ptarmigan, and other birds, and
occasionally destroys lambs and fawns, and will even attack full-grown
ewes and deer.
The nest is a bulky structure of sticks, placed, as a rule, on a crag,
sometimes in a tree, and the same nest is used year after year. Two
or three eggs are laid, white or pale bluish green in ground-colour,
blotched, spotted, and clouded with reddish brown and purple-grey
under-markings.
Owing to his great size, dark colour, and power of wing, this eagle
makes a very noble figure when flying. But he is noble in appearance
at other times as well, and in this he differs from many of the
larger species that are equally strong on the wing, or even much
stronger--condors, vultures, albatrosses, and others. These, when they
fold their pinions, lose all their majesty. But the golden eagle has
just as grand a presence when perched as when soaring. The pleasure
produced in us by the sight of this creature appears to differ in
character from that which we find in contemplating such species as
excel in elegance and grace, or in rich colouring--the mute swan
glassed in the water it floats upon, and the peacock with splendid
starry train. He is built on different lines, that indicate power
and rapine; but his appearance in repose is not less attractive than
theirs, and, in a sense, not less beautiful. Tennyson, in a few
well-known lines, has described it better, perhaps, than any other
writer--the majestic bird and the nature it inhabits, and is in harmony
with--its sublimity and desolation:--
He grasps the crag with hooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed by the azure world he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls:
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
White-tailed Eagle.
Haliaëtus albicilla.
Upper parts brown, head and neck lightest; under parts chocolate-brown;
tail white; bill, cere, and feet yellowish white; claws black. In the
young the tail is brown. Length of the male, two feet four inches; of
the female, two feet ten inches.
* * * * *
Immature specimens of the white-tailed, or sea-eagle, or erne, are from
time to time obtained in England during the autumn and winter months.
They are, probably, in nearly all cases migrants from northern Europe
on their way south. The British race--the sea-eagles that bred formerly
in many localities on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, and in the
northern islands--is now all but extinct. The bird no longer breeds
anywhere on the mainland, and but one or two pairs are known to inhabit
the islands.
The sea-eagle has a more varied dietary than the species last
described, and he hunts for food both on sea and land. In his habits
he is by turns osprey, falcon, and raven. Like the osprey, he drops
from a considerable height on to a fish seen near the surface, and,
striking his talons into it, bears it away to land. But he preys more
on puffins, guillemots, and other sea-fowl, than on fish. Like the
golden eagle, he destroys mountain hares, grouse, and ptarmigan, and
is regarded by the shepherd as the worst enemy to the flock. But the
shepherd has his revenge, for the erne is a great lover of carrion, and
may be easily poisoned.
The breeding habits of this species are similar to those of the golden
eagle. The eggs, two in number, are white, without markings.
Its yelping cry is very powerful, and shriller than the scream of the
golden eagle.
Sparrow-Hawk.
Accipiter nisus.
Upper parts dark bluish grey, with a white spot on the nape; under
parts reddish white, transversely barred with deep brown; tail grey,
barred with brownish black; beak blue, lightest at the base; cere,
irides, and feet yellow. _Female_: upper parts brown, passing into
blackish grey; under parts greyish white, barred with dark grey. Length
of male, twelve inches; of female, fifteen inches.
* * * * *
The sparrow-hawk is found in wooded districts in all parts of Great
Britain and Ireland, and is, perhaps, the most generally diffused
species of the diurnal birds of prey in this country, and, compared
with most other species, may be said to be almost common. In reality it
is becoming rare; which is not strange considering that, next to the
carrion crow, it is the most persecuted of all the feathered creatures
whose existence is an offence to the gamekeeper. In Yarrell’s ‘British
Birds’ it is said that the female sparrow-hawk is, indeed, the only
bird of prey which the game-preserver nowadays need fear; and there
is no doubt that it is immeasurably more destructive to the chicks of
pheasant and partridge than any other raptor. It preys by preference
on birds, as the kestrel does on mice, and in pursuit is capable of
rapid flight and quick doublings; but its chases are short and near
the surface of the earth. In habits it is a prowler, a stealthy flier
among woods, by coppices and hedges, and takes its victims by surprise.
It also dashes suddenly on them from its perch, where it has stood
concealed by the foliage, keeping a sharp watch on the feathered
creatures in its vicinity.
The sparrow-hawk is said to make a nest for itself, but it is more
probable that in nearly all cases it takes possession of an old nest
of some other bird. The eggs are four or five in number, and sometimes
six, pale bluish white in ground-colour, blotched and spotted with
various shades of reddish brown.
Kite.
Milvus ictinus.
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--KITE. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]