head and neck long, and tapering to a point, greyish white, streaked
lengthways with brown; under parts rust-colour with longitudinal brown
streaks; tail reddish orange, barred indistinctly with brown; beak
horn-colour; cere, irides, and feet yellow; claws black. _Female_:
upper parts a deeper brown, the feathers pale at the extremity; head
and neck white. Length, twenty-five inches.
* * * * *
The kite, or glead, is another melancholy example of the effect of the
pitiless persecution of some of our finest birds by game-preservers,
and, as the species became rare, by collectors of ‘British-killed’
specimens and ‘British-taken’ eggs. Once a common species in the
British Islands, it is now reduced to a miserable remnant, composed of
a few breeding pairs in Wales and Scotland.
Among the various types of diurnal birds of prey, the kite is one
of the finest; the great extent of his sharp-pointed wings and his
long, forked tail, fit him for an aërial life. In appearance he is a
swallow-shaped eagle; and few birds equal him in grace and majesty
of motion when he soars at a vast height. Like the eagles, buzzards,
and other strong-fliers among the raptors, he soars for exercise and
recreation; but, vulture-like, when soaring he is ever on the watch
for a meal. And, like the vulture, he will feed on garbage; for though
of so noble an appearance, and possessed of such great power, he has,
compared with the falcons, a poor spirit, and his name is a term of
reproach that signifies cowardice and rapacity. A carrion-eater, he
also preys on small mammals, reptiles, and birds, in most cases the
young, the sickly, or wounded.
The nest of the kite is placed in a tree, and is a bulky structure of
sticks, mixed with much rubbish--bones, turf, scraps of paper, and old
rags--and is lined with wool and moss. Two to four eggs are laid, three
being the usual number. In size, colour, and markings they closely
resemble those of the buzzard.
Peregrine Falcon.
Falco peregrinus.
Upper parts dark bluish grey, with darker bands; head bluish black, as
are also the moustaches descending from the gape; under parts white;
breast transversely barred with brown; beak blue, darker at the point;
cere yellow; iris dark brown; feet yellow; claws black. _Female_:
upper plumage tinged with brown, the under parts with reddish yellow.
Length, fifteen inches; female, seventeen inches.
* * * * *
This famed bird is of a handsome appearance, not swallow-like as
is the kite, nor so massive as the eagle; but nature in fashioning
it has observed the golden mean, and the result is a being so
well-balanced in all its parts and so admirably adapted for speed,
strength, and endurance, that to many minds it has seemed the most
perfect among winged creatures. When standing perched on a crag,
erect and motionless, as its custom is, its smooth and compact figure
looks as if carved out of a stone or marble of a beautiful soft grey
tint. The wings are sharp-pointed, and the flight is exceedingly
rapid. In South America, where I first observed its habits, it
used always to seem to me that the peregrine, alone among hawks,
possessed a courage commensurate with its strength; and, in hunting,
an infallible judgment. However swift of wing its quarry might be,
it was almost invariably overtaken and struck to the earth; and the
bird thus vanquished was in many cases the equal, and sometimes even
the superior, in weight to the falcon. All other hawks make frequent
mistakes, and often fail in their efforts: they chase birds they
cannot overtake, and attack others that are too strong for them; and
occasionally their courage fails, and they pass by the healthy and
strong to attack the wounded or weak that are incapable of making an
effort.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--PEREGRINE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
In the British Islands the peregrine is an inhabitant of the
iron-bound coasts, where it is still able to find comparatively safe
breeding-sites. It makes no nest, the eggs being deposited in a slight
hollow scratched in the soil on a ledge of a cliff. When it breeds in a
tree it makes use of the deserted nest of some other bird. Two to four
eggs are laid, yellowish white in ground-colour, mottled and spotted
with reddish brown and orange-brown.
The peregrine preys almost exclusively on birds--ducks, waders,
pigeons, grouse, partridges--and it has been seen to kill kestrels,
jays, and magpies.
It has a sharp, powerful cry, uttered two or three times in rapid
succession on the wing.
Hobby.
Falco subbuteo.
Upper parts bluish black; under parts reddish yellow with longitudinal
brown streaks; moustaches broad, black; lower tail-coverts and legs
reddish; beak bluish, dark at the tip; cere greenish yellow; iris dark
brown; feet yellow; claws black. _Female_: colours less bright,
and the streaks below broader. Length, twelve to fourteen inches.
* * * * *
The hobby in appearance is a lesser peregrine, being about one-fifth
smaller than that bird. It differs from the peregrine in having a
softer plumage and a comparatively greater length of wing. It is
probably the fastest flier among rapacious birds, being capable of the
marvellous feat of capturing swallows and martins in the air. It is
a summer visitant to this country, and is most often met with in the
southern counties of England, where, however, it is a rare species;
and the farther north we go the rarer it becomes. In Scotland it is
not known to breed, and it does not range to Ireland. It inhabits
woods, and breeds in an old nest of the carrion crow, jay, or some
other bird, which it does not re-line. Three eggs are usually laid, and
in some rare instances four or five. In size and colour they are not
distinguishable from those of the kestrel.
The hobby is a spirited bird, but in courage and power greatly inferior
to the peregrine. He preys principally on dragon-flies, beetles, and
other large insects, and on small birds, such as skylarks and buntings.
In falconry, the hobby was trained to fly at such small game as larks,
snipe, and quail.
Merlin.
Falco æsalon.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--MERLIN. ⅛ natural size.]
Upper parts greyish blue; under parts reddish yellow with longitudinal
dark brown spots; tail barred with black; beak bluish, darker at
the tip; cere yellow; iris dark brown; feet yellow; claws black.
_Female_: upper parts tinged with brown; lower parts yellowish
white. Length, eleven to twelve inches.
* * * * *
The merlin is a third less than the peregrine in size, and has the
distinction of being the smallest of the British birds of prey, But in
courage it is second to none, and Yarrell relates an instance in which
this small bird, weighing itself no more than six ounces, struck down
and killed a partridge twice as heavy. It is a resident throughout
the year of the British Islands, from the north of Yorkshire to the
Shetlands, and the mountainous parts of Ireland.
The merlin is an inhabitant of the moors and mountains, and nests on
the ground among the tall heather. The eggs are laid in a slight hollow
with little or no lining, and are four or five in number, smaller than
those of the kestrel, but similar in colour. It sometimes, but very
rarely, breeds in the nest of a carrion crow or other bird, in a tree.
It preys chiefly on small birds, and it was formerly trained to pursue
snipe, pigeons, larks, blackbirds, &c.
Kestrel, or Windhover.
Tinnunculus alaudarius.
Upper plumage, neck, and breast dark lead-grey; sides, under
tail-coverts, and thighs light yellowish red, with longitudinal,
narrow, dark streaks; beak blue; cere and feet yellow; irides brown;
claws black. _Female_: upper plumage and tail light red, with
transverse spots and bars of dark brown; lower parts paler than in the
male. Length, fifteen inches.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--KESTREL. ⅑ natural size.]
* * * * *
The kestrel is the best known of the British hawks, not only because
it is the most common species, but also because its peculiar preying
habits bring it more into notice. It is resident and found throughout
the United Kingdom, but undoubtedly possesses a partial migration, as
it wholly disappears from some northern districts in the winter, and at
the same season becomes more abundant in the southern counties.
When in quest of prey the kestrel has the habit of stopping suddenly in
its rapid flight, and remaining for some time motionless in mid-air,
suspended on its rapidly-beating wings, usually at a height of twenty
or thirty yards above the surface. This habit, which has won for the
species the appropriate name of windhover, is unique among British
hawks. It is this peculiar aërial feat which makes the kestrel, when
seen on the wing, so familiar a figure to country-people. The instant
that the bird pauses in his swift-rushing flight you know that it is
a kestrel, although it may be at such a distance as to appear a mere
spot, a small moving shadow, against the sky. It has shorter wings than
other falcons, and, by consequence, a more rapid and violent flight.
The kestrel preys chiefly on mice and field-voles; occasionally it
takes a small bird, and carries off young, tender chicks, if they come
in its way; but it certainly does not deserve its scientific name of
_alaudarius_ (a feeder on larks), which would have fitted the
hobby better. It also preys on frogs and coleopterous insects. Selby
relates that a kestrel was observed late one evening pursuing the
cockchafers, dashing at them and seizing one in each claw, eating them
in the air, and then returning to the charge. When on the wing the
kestrel’s downward-gazing eyes are constantly on the look-out for the
mice that lurk on the surface, and as mice are usually well concealed
by the grass and herbage, the eyes must indeed be wonderfully sharp
to detect them. After remaining suspended for some seconds, sometimes
for half a minute, or longer, during which the bird watches the ground
below, he dashes down upon his prey, or flies on without descending, as
if satisfied that what had been taken for a mouse had turned out to be
something different.
When thus hovering motionless the wings are seen to beat rapidly for
a few seconds, then to become fixed and rigid for a moment or two,
after which the beating motion is renewed. A short time ago I watched a
kestrel thus hovering in the face of a very violent wind, and it struck
me that this suspension of the wings’ motion in such circumstances
was very extraordinary and hard to explain. One can understand that,
even in the face of a violent gale, the bird is able to maintain its
motionless position by sheer muscular power; but how happened it that
in the short intervals, when the outspread wings became fixed and
motionless, the bird was not instantly blown from its position?
In its breeding habits the kestrel, like the starling and jackdaw, has
a partiality for towers and lofty ruins, and it also nests in holes
in rocks and hollow trees. In woods it frequently takes possession
of a disused nest of a crow or magpie. The eggs are four or five,
blotched with dull red on a reddish white ground; and in many eggs the
ground-colour is quite covered with red.
The kestrel, among British birds of prey, is a favourite with the
ornithologist in virtue of its interesting habits; and it deserves to
be equally esteemed by the farmer on account of its usefulness. It is,
indeed, the only bird of diurnal habits that wages incessant warfare
against the prolific and injurious mice, and thus carries on by day
the task of keeping down a pest which those ‘feathered cats,’ the owls,
so efficiently pursue at night.
The kestrel is easier to tame, and, when tame, more docile and
affectionate, than most hawks, and many accounts have appeared in print
of the bird and its ways in the domestic condition; but, to my mind,
not one so interesting as the history of a pet kestrel kept a few
years since by some friends of mine. The bird was young when it came
into their hands, and was lovingly cared for, and made free of a large
house and park, and of the whole wide country beyond. And it made good
use of its liberty. As a rule, every morning it would fly away and
disappear from sight until the evening, when, some time before sunset,
it would return, dash in at the open door, and perch on some elevated
situation--a cornice, or bust, or on the top of a large picture-frame.
Invariably at dinner-time it flew to the dining-room, and would then
settle on the shoulder of its master or mistress, to be fed with small
scraps of meat. This pleasant state of things lasted for about three
years, during which time the bird always roosted in, or somewhere near,
the house, flew abroad by day, to return faithfully every evening to
his loving human friends to be caressed, and fed, and made much of; and
it might have continued several years longer, down to the present time,
if the bird’s temper had not suffered a mysterious change. All at once,
for no reason that anyone could guess, he became subject to the most
extraordinary outbreaks of ill-temper, and in such a state he would,
on his return from his daily wanderings abroad, violently attack some
person in the room. Up till this time he had preferred his master and
mistress to any other member of the household, and had shown an equal
attachment to both; now he would single out one or other of these his
best friends for his most violent attacks; and, very curiously, on the
day when he attacked his master he would display the usual affection
towards his mistress, but on the next day would reverse the process.
And his hostility was not to be despised: rising up into the air to a
good height, he would dash down with great force on to the obnoxious
person’s head, often inflicting a lacerating blow with his claws. More
than once, the lady told me, after one of these cutting, ungrateful
blows on her forehead her face was bathed in blood.
It is pleasant to be able to relate that no feeling of resentment or
alarm was excited by this behaviour on the part of the bird; that he
was never deprived of his sweet liberty or treated with less gentleness
than before. It was hoped and believed that he would outgrow the
savage fit, and if he had confined his virulent attacks to his master
and mistress it would have been well with him. Unfortunately for him,
he attacked others who were made of poorer clay. One evening at dinner,
the butler, while occupied with his duties, was struck savagely on the
wrist by the kestrel. Like a well-trained servant, he did not wince
or cry out, but marched stolidly round the table, pouring out wine,
anxious only to conceal the blood that trickled from his wounds. But on
the following day the bird was missing, and was never afterwards seen
or heard of.
Osprey.
Pandion haliaëtus.
Feathers of the head and neck white with dark centres; on each side of
the neck a streak of blackish brown, extending downwards; upper plumage
generally deep brown; under parts white, tinged here and there with
yellow, and on the breast marked with arrow-shaped spots; tail-feathers
barred with dusky; cere and beak dark grey; iris yellow. Length, two
feet.
* * * * *
The osprey, like the sea-eagle, hen harrier, and kite, is one of the
species that linger with us on the verge of extinction; and it may
linger for many years, as in the case of the avocet, the black-tailed
godwit, and the ruff, after these species had been reduced to a few
breeding pairs; and, on the other hand, it may be gone to-morrow. That
it will remain permanently as a member of the British avifauna is
scarcely to be hoped.
The osprey, like the peregrine falcon and the short-eared owl, has an
immense range, and inhabits Europe, Africa, the greater part of Asia,
Japan, Formosa, the Australian region, New Guinea, and America. With
us it appears in autumn as a migrant in small numbers; but the birds
of the British race are now reduced to one or two pairs that breed
annually in the Highlands of Scotland, and are strictly protected in
their summer haunts.
The osprey feeds exclusively on fish, which it drops upon like a tern
or gannet; but, falcon-like, it strikes with its feet, and, with its
slippery prey gripped firmly in its sharp, crooked talons, it flies
back to land.
The nest is usually placed in a tree, and is very large, formed of
sticks, and lined with moss. Two or three eggs are laid, white or buff
in ground-colour, blotched with rich chestnut-red, and purple-grey
underlying marks.
* * * * *
Besides the twelve species of the order Accipitres described, all
of which breed in the British Islands, there are fourteen others,
which, although described as British in the standard ornithological
works, are only occasional or accidental visitors or stragglers to
our shores. There are two vultures to be mentioned: the griffon
vulture (_Gyps fulvus_), an inhabitant of Southern Europe, Africa, and
Asia, once obtained in Ireland; and the Egyptian vulture (_Neophron
percnopterus_), an inhabitant of Southern Europe and Africa, twice
obtained. The next species is the marsh-harrier (_Circus æruginosus_),
once abundant throughout Great Britain and Ireland, now, unhappily,
extinct as a British species. This harrier, which was also called the
moor-buzzard, is a graceful, handsome bird: the head creamy white;
upper parts brown; beneath, buff, streaked with brown and chestnut;
part of the wing and the tail silvery grey. In its buoyant flight and
preying and nesting habits it resembles the hen harrier, but frequents
fens and marshes instead of moors and uplands.
The rough-legged buzzard (_Archibuteo lagopus_) is an irregular
visitor, chiefly in autumn and winter, from the northern parts of
Europe. It differs from the common buzzard in having its legs feathered
to the toes--hence the specific name, _lagopus_--rough-footed like
a hare. This species is of more frequent occurrence in the British
Islands than any other occasional visitor among the diurnal raptors,
and in some years it appears in considerable numbers.
The spotted eagle (_Aquila clanga_), known to us as a rare occasional
visitor, breeds in the forests of central and south-eastern Europe.
More interesting to us is the goshawk (_Astur palumbarius_), since this
fine bird of prey, although now a very rare straggler to Great Britain,
is believed to have been formerly an indigenous species, and to have
bred in Scotland down to the beginning of the present century. In form,
colouring, and manner of preying it resembles the sparrow-hawk, but is
nearly double the size of that bird, and flies at very much larger game.
The American goshawk has been included in the list of British birds on
‘somewhat slight evidence,’ as the author of the ‘Manual of British
Birds’ says. The black kite (_Milvus nigrans_) is an African species,
a summer visitant to Europe south of the Baltic, and has once been
obtained in Great Britain. The swallow-tailed kite (_Elanoïdes
furcatus_), an American species, which I once had the pleasure of
seeing (not in a glass case, but sitting on a tree, and soaring in
the air), has also been found as a straggler in this country. The
honey-buzzard (_Pernis apivorus_) is a third species of hawk in this
list which has disappeared from this country. Like the hobby and the
osprey, it is (or was) a summer visitant, and has been known to breed
in most English and Scottish counties from Hampshire to Aberdeenshire.
Up to within four or five years ago a few pairs continued to return
to us each summer, but these, too, have now vanished. This fine large
hawk, in size the equal of the common buzzard, lived almost entirely
on insect food, wasps and wild bees especially--hence its name of
honey-buzzard.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--HONEY-BUZZARD. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
The remaining species to be noticed are all true falcons: the gyrfalcon
(_Hierofalco gyrfalco_), an inhabitant of arctic Scandinavia, only
once obtained in this country; the Greenland falcon (_Hierofalco
candicans_), a wanderer to this country from north-west America and
Greenland; the Iceland falcon (_Hierofalco islandicus_), a wanderer
from Iceland; the red-footed falcon (_Tinnunculus vespertinus_), an
occasional visitor from the warm countries of Europe; and the lesser
kestrel (_Tinnunculus cenchris_), a visitor from southern Europe, where
it breeds.
Cormorant.
Phalacrocorax carbo.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--CORMORANT. ¹⁄₁₁ natural size.]
Upper head and neck black, striated with hair-like white feathers,
those on the occiput being elongated, and forming a crest in spring;
throat white; gular pouch yellow; mantle black and bronze-brown; all
the other parts black, except a white patch on the thigh, assumed early
in spring and lost in summer; iris emerald-green. _Female_: larger
than the male, brighter in colour, and with longer crest. Length, three
feet.
* * * * *
To those who know it slightly the cormorant is a big, sombre, ugly
bird, heavy and awkward in his motions out of the water, and,
when breeding, disgusting in his habits. He improves on a closer
acquaintance. He may be easily tamed, and makes an intelligent, and
sometimes very amusing, pet, and is capable of being trained to catch
fish for his keeper. He is most frequently met with on the sea and
seashore, but is an inhabitant of inland waters as well, and sometimes
breeds beside them, making his nest on the ground or in a tree. He
feeds exclusively on fishes and eels, which he captures by diving and
pursuing them under water, sometimes for considerable distances. The
bird is proverbial for its voracity. Its ‘swallow’ is probably the
largest of any bird of its size--a fish fourteen inches long has been
taken from its gullet. When swimming he presents a curious appearance:
his body, as if too heavy for the element it floats in, sinks like a
waterlogged boat, until the flat back is on a level with the surface.
When alarmed, he sinks his body deeper and deeper at will, until the
head and long neck alone appear, looking like the head and neck of a
serpent swimming with body submerged. When resting on a rock after
feeding, cormorants stand very erect and motionless, their long,
hooked beaks much raised, and at such tunes they present a heavy,
ungainly appearance. They are fond of opening their wings out to their
greatest extent to dry their feathers, and remain for a long time in
this attitude, looking like birds with spread wings carved out of
black stone. The cormorant watches the water at times from a rock,
and dives after its prey; but it more often swims, when fishing, with
head and neck submerged. When taking wing it rises heavily and with
great labour, but when once fairly launched the flight is powerful.
Cormorants are gregarious and social birds at all seasons, and, like
gulls and herons, they breed in communities. Very early in spring, or
shortly after the winter solstice, the bird’s nuptial ornaments--a
crest on the head and a white patch on the thigh--begin to appear;
both crest and white mark disappear at the end of the breeding season.
The same nesting-place is resorted to year after year, as in the case
of most species that breed in communities. The summit of a crag not
easily accessible, or a ledge of rock on a cliff fronting the sea,
or a rocky island, are favourite sites. Here the birds, sometimes in
hundreds, live together in the greatest harmony, building their nests
close together, in some cases almost touching. The nest is pyramidal in
form, built up from the rock to a height of from six or seven inches
to a couple of feet, and is composed of sticks, coarse grass, and
seaweed. Three to five eggs are laid, very small for the bird’s size,
narrow and long in shape, of a pale greenish blue colour, overlaid with
a thick coat of a chalky substance. This substance is quite soft when
the egg is first laid; it is then white, but soon hardens, and becomes
stained, in the always wet and filthy nest, to a dirty yellowish
colour. The young birds are hatched blind, and have a naked, bluish
black skin, but they soon grow a thick, sooty black down. They are at
all stages strange and repulsive-looking creatures, and when handled or
approached by a person they become sick with fear or anger, and roll
and sprawl about on their nests, screaming harshly, and vomiting their
half-digested food.
The young are fed with fish that has already been partially digested in
the maw of the parent. It is not disgorged; the young bird thrusts his
head and neck deep down into his parent’s gullet, and feeds as a horse
does from his nose-bag.