through the winter in suitable localities in various parts of the
coast, from the Orkneys and Shetlands in the north to the Channel
Islands; it is, however, most abundant on the north-east coast
of England. In most years old and young birds arrive together in
flocks; in other years only adults appear, and it is supposed that
in such seasons exceptionally cold weather has prevented the eggs
from hatching. The brent differs from its nearest ally, the barnacle
goose, in its slightly smaller size, darker plumage, which is nearly
black, and its more marine habits. With us it spends most of the time
out at sea, visiting the tidal flats early and late in the day, and
at night, to feed on the wrack grass (_Zostera marina_). Mr.
Abel Chapman has graphically described this goose in his ‘Bird Life
on the Border.’ It is, he says, the last of our winter visitors to
arrive, seldom coming in force until the new year. Their affections
are so hyperborean that they will come no farther south than they are
actually compelled by food requirements, being driven reluctantly
southwards, point by point, before the advancing line of the winter’s
ice. He writes: ‘On alighting at the feeding-grounds the geese at once
commence greedily to pull up and devour the blades of the sea-grass,
the whole flock advancing in the closest order over the green oozy
mud, all heads down except the sentries, of which an ample number
are always discernible.... After finishing their morning meal, about
noon, the geese are disposed to rest, and spend the middle of the
day floating about on the water, preening themselves, and, in mild
weather, splashing about, and chasing each other in sheer exuberance
of spirit.... Towards evening the geese recommence feeding, and so
intensely eager are they about sunset to utilise the few remaining
minutes that they then, perhaps, offer the most favourable chance to
get within shot.... Just at dark the whole host rise on wing together,
and make for the open sea. In the morning they come in by companies
and battalions, but at night they go out in a solid army; and a fine
sight it is to witness their departure. The whole host, perhaps ten
thousand strong, here massed in dense phalanxes, elsewhere in columns,
tailing off into long skeins, V’s, or rectilinear formations of every
conceivable shape, but always with a certain formation--out they
go; ... while their loud clanging _honk honk_, and its running
accompaniment of lower croaks and shrill bi-tones, resound for miles
around.’
Barnacle Goose.
Bernicla leucopsis.
[Illustration: FIG. 77.--BARNACLE GOOSE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Head, neck, and throat black; forehead, cheeks, and chin white; a black
stripe between the eye and bill; mantle lavender-grey barred with
bluish black and white; wing and tail feathers blackish; breast and
belly greyish; vent and tail-coverts pure white; flanks barred with
grey; bill, legs, and feet black. Length, twenty-five inches.
* * * * *
The present species is not nearly so abundant as the brent, and not so
exclusively marine in its habits. It sometimes visits inland districts,
and although it feeds on the mud-flats like the brent, it leaves them
as soon as the tide rises, and repairs to some grassy bank of a river
or lake, where it feeds. The breeding habits of this species are not
known; it is believed to have its nesting-grounds in Spitzbergen and
Nova Zembla.
Mute Swan.
Cygnus olor.
Bill reddish orange; the nail, nostrils, lores, and basal tubercle
black; plumage pure white; legs and feet black. Length, sixty inches;
weight, about thirty pounds.
* * * * *
The mute, or tame swan, is as well known to most people as the turkey,
goose, and pheasant, and, like the pheasant, is supposed to be a
foreign species, said to have been first brought from Cyprus to this
country, by Richard I., about the end of the twelfth century. As a
semi-domestic species it exists throughout the British Islands, but
whether wild birds of its species visit us or not is not known, since
wild and semi-wild birds are indistinguishable. The wild mute swan
breeds in Denmark and South Sweden, in South Russia and the valley
of the Danube, and many other localities, and in winter visits the
Mediterranean. The breeding habits of the wild and tame bird are the
same, but, according to Naumann, the wild bird in the pairing season
has a loud, trumpet-like note, resembling the cry of a crane or whooper
swan.
The cygnet is sooty grey in colour, but in the so-called ‘Polish swan’
(_Cygnus immutabilis_) of Yarrell, which is now regarded by most
ornithologists as a variety of the mute swan the cygnets are white.
Whooper Swan.
Cygnus musicus.
Beak: anterior part depressed and black, basal part quadrangular and
lemon-colour; plumage white; legs and feet black. Length, sixty inches;
weight, about twenty-four pounds.
* * * * *
The whooper, also called the wild swan and the whistling swan, is a
not uncommon visitor to our coasts in winter, and a little over a
century ago had a breeding-station in the Orkneys. It is very closely
related to the mute swan, but it ranges very much farther north in
summer, its breeding-grounds being north of the arctic circle. The
nest is bulky, composed of sedge and coarse herbage, and the eggs are
four or five in number, and white. Seebohm, who observed its habits
in its breeding-grounds, says: ‘The whooper is a ten times handsomer
bird than a tame swan in the eyes of an ornithologist, but is not
really so graceful--its neck is shorter, and its scapulars are not so
plume-like. Instead of sailing about with its long neck curved in the
shape of the letter S, bent back almost to the fluffed-up scapulars,
the whooper seemed intent on feeding with his head and neck under
water.’ He compares the notes of the whooper to a bass trombone; but
the notes are short--three or four trumpet-blasts, keeping time with
the upward and downward beat of the wings. He adds: ‘The extermination
of the whooper in so many of its breeding-places has arisen from the
unfortunate habit, which it evidently acquired years ago, before men
came upon the scene--a habit which it shares with the goose. Most birds
moult their quills slowly, in pairs, so that they are only slightly
inconvenienced by the operation, and never without quills enough to
enable them to fly. Swans and geese, on the other hand, drop nearly all
their flight-feathers at once, and for a week or two, before the new
feathers have grown, are quite unable to fly. In some localities the
whoopers have had the misfortune to breed where the natives have been
clever enough to surround them at the critical period of their lives,
and stupid enough to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded
of killing the geese that laid the golden eggs.’
Bewick’s swan (_Cygnus Bewickii_), named by Yarrell after Thomas
Bewick, author of a well-known ‘History of British Birds,’ is of
frequent occurrence in the British Islands in severe winters, but is
not a regular visitant. It is a third smaller than the whooper, which
it resembles in figure and habits.
Common Sheldrake.
Tadorna cornuta.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.--SHELDRAKE. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Beak and basal knob bright red; head and upper neck dark glossy
green, followed by a white collar, below which is a chestnut band;
wing-coverts white; speculum green; scapulars, part of the secondaries,
and the primaries black; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers
white, the latter tipped with black; lower, central line of the breast
and belly dark brown, the rest of the under parts white; legs and feet
pink. Length, twenty-six inches. The female is without the knob at the
base of the bill, and her colours are not so bright.
* * * * *
The sheldrakes, or sheld-ducks, are curious and interesting birds, and
form a connecting-link between the geese and ducks; but they are more
like the former than the latter, and sheld-gander, or sheldgoose,
would perhaps be a more suitable name. The common sheldrake is,
perhaps, the most duck-like in appearance of all the birds of this
genus, and the common name, sheld, which means parti-coloured, really
applies to this species only. As in the geese, the male and female
sheld-ducks are nearly alike in plumage, and the male does not change
colour; and, like the gander, he assists his mate in rearing the
young. In the true ducks the drake changes his plumage in summer,
becoming like the female in colour, and in most cases (for there
are exceptions) he remains apart from the duck from the time that
incubation begins until the young are fully grown. Of the seven known
species of sheldrake, only one is indigenous to the British Islands.
A second species, the ruddy sheldrake (_Tadorna casarca_), is a
rare visitor, or straggler, to our coasts, and it is probable that most
of the sheldrakes of this species that are shot from time to time in
England are escaped birds.
The common sheldrake is a bird that, once seen, cannot be easily
forgotten, its strange guinea-pig arrangement of three colours--black,
white, and red--making it one of the most strikingly conspicuous fowls
in this country. On account of its handsome and singular colouring it
is much persecuted, and as a breeding species is becoming increasingly
rare with us. It inhabits sandy sea-coasts, and is only seen as a rare
straggler on inland waters. It feeds close to the shore where the sea
is shallow, and is partial to coasts where wide stretches of sand,
mixed with rocks, are uncovered at low water. It feeds, both in the
water and on the flats, on marine insects and molluscs, and breeds in
the sandhills along the coast. The nesting-hole is in most cases a
deserted rabbit-burrow, but it also burrows for itself, and is known
as the ‘burrow-duck’ on many parts of the coast. The hole is six to
twelve feet in length, ending in a chamber lined with dry grass and
moss. Seven to twelve creamy white eggs are laid, sometimes a larger
number. The eggs are enveloped in a quantity of down, which the bird
plucks from her own body. It is said that the male takes no part in
incubation, but remains near the burrow on guard, and gives timely
warning of danger, and when the young are hatched and taken to the sea,
assists in rearing and protecting them.
The sheldrake has a harsh cry, but in the breeding season the drake
utters a soft, tremulous, whistling note.
Wigeon.
Mareca penelope.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.--WIGEON. ⅐ natural size.]
Bill dull blue; forehead and crown cream-white; chin, neck, and throat
chestnut; the cheeks and hind neck minutely spotted with deep green;
breast white; under parts grey, the flanks pencilled with dark grey;
mantle vermiculated grey; shoulder white, with a terminal bar of
black, followed by a green speculum tipped with black below; wing- and
tail-feathers dark brown; legs and feet dark brown. Length, eighteen
inches. _Female_: above, mottled greyish brown; shoulder whitish;
speculum greyish green; under parts mottled buffish white. The drake
assumes female plumage in July.
* * * * *
Next to the mallard, the wigeon is the most familiar freshwater duck in
the British Islands. Its abundance, handsome plumage, peculiar voice,
and interesting habits, to say nothing of its excellence as an article
of food, contribute to make it well known. It is a visitor in winter
in very large numbers to our coasts, and seeks its food both on the
tidal flats and on inland waters throughout the country, but is always
most abundant in the vicinity of the sea. In April and May it migrates
to higher latitudes: in Scotland it is partly a resident species, and
breeds in many localities; and, in less numbers, it also remains to
breed in Ireland. The wigeon differs a good deal from other ducks in
its feeding habits: it feeds both by day and night, in the water and
on land. On land it is, like the goose, a grass-eater, and in Lapland
is known from this habit as the ‘grass-duck.’ In disposition it is one
of the shyest and wariest; and at the same time the most gregarious,
among the waterfowl, and often unites in immense flocks. It is also
very loquacious: its loud, prolonged whistle in two syllables, strongly
accented on the first, is described by Seebohm as being ‘very wild
and weird, as it startles the ear on the margin of a mountain tarn or
moorland lake--a solitary cry, very high in key, not unmusical in tone,
but loud and piercing.’ It is called ‘whew duck’ in some localities,
from its whistling cry.
The nest is placed amidst coarse grass or heather, and is deeply lined
with down. The eggs are seven to ten in number, and cream-coloured.
* * * * *
A few specimens of the American wigeon (_Mareca americana_) have
been obtained in various parts of Great Britain.
Pintail.
Dafila acuta.
Head and neck bronze-brown, black on the nape; a white stripe down the
neck on each side, extending to the white breast and under parts; back
and flanks mottled grey; greater wing-coverts buff; speculum green
margined with black and white; tail black, the two middle feathers
greatly prolonged; under tail-coverts black; bill, legs, and feet slaty
grey. Length, twenty-eight inches. _Female_: mottled brown above
and greyish white below; speculum green. In July the male assumes the
female dress, and retains it until October.
* * * * *
The pintail, although not so handsomely coloured as the shoveler,
mallard, wigeon, and teal, is the most elegant of the freshwater
ducks, being slim and graceful in form, with the two slender middle
feathers of the tail greatly elongated. Sea-pheasant is one of its
local names, but the same name is sometimes given to the long-tailed
duck (_Harelda glacialis_) on the north-east coast. The pintail
is a winter visitor only to the British Islands, appearing in October,
and is most common on the south coast. It is found in small flocks, and
prefers shallow waters with muddy bottoms, and feeds on aquatic weeds,
insects, and crustaceans. It is always most abundant near the shore,
but is also met with on inland waters. It has a rapid flight, and is a
comparatively silent bird by day; its cry by night is a low quack, and
in spring, during courtship, the drake utters soft and inward notes,
which he accompanies with some curious gestures and antics. The pintail
breeds freely in a semi-domestic state, and lays seven to ten eggs,
pale buffish green in colour.
[Illustration: FIG. 80.--PINTAIL. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Mallard, or Wild Duck.
Anas boscas.
Bill yellowish; head and neck glossy green, followed by a white ring;
hind neck and breast deep chestnut; across the secondaries a greenish
purple speculum, bordered above and below with white: rump, upper
tail-coverts, and the four middle curled tail-feathers black; the
rest of the tail-feathers grey; flanks and belly greyish white; under
tail-coverts velvet-black; legs and feet orange-red. Length, two feet.
_Female_: smaller; bill greenish; crown dark brown; general
plumage mottled brown and buff; speculum green.
* * * * *
The mallard is the most common and best-known freshwater duck in
Britain, and is a resident species, breeding in suitable localities
throughout the country; but the birds that breed and remain all the
year are few in number compared to the migrants that come to us in
winter from more northern regions. In the domestic state the mallard
is, next to the fowl, the most abundant and familiar bird we possess.
The tame duck differs from the mallard only in its heavier body and
shorter wings, and in being polygamous instead of monogamous in its
habits. The tendency to vary in colour is a result of domestication in
all species. It was from observing the annual change in the plumage
of the domestic drake that the discovery was made that ducks differ
from other birds in the manner of their moult. The period of the moult
does not coincide in the drake and duck; and this discrepancy in the
sexes has caused ducks to differ in their breeding habits from all
other birds. Thus, in most birds, male and female share the labours of
incubation, and of rearing and protecting the young; and the moult,
which is always a period of danger, during which the bird is obliged
to go into hiding, takes place some time after the young are able to
shift for themselves--in other words, the family tie is broken after it
has ceased to be necessary; and the female of the mallard, and of other
ducks, moult in this way. Not so the male. He is smitten by the change
after the eggs are all laid and incubation begun; with the result that
the marriage tie is dissolved just at the period when his help is
most needed. This is one of the strangest things in bird history; for
up to the time when the physical change begins the drake is not less
loving and solicitous than any other male bird, and if by chance the
moulting period is delayed, he continues to guard the nest and share
the labours of incubation; so that we may say, without straining a
metaphor, that the drake is forcibly torn away from his marital duties,
just as the late-breeding swift or swallow is sometimes forced by an
overpowering migratory instinct to abandon its helpless young in the
nest. The action of the swift in leaving its helpless young to perish
of starvation in the nest is painful to contemplate, since we are
accustomed to look on the parental affection as the most powerful of
all; and in this case there is a conflict between this emotion and
another--the desire for another climate; and the last conquers, and the
young are forsaken. In the drake it is not a case of a conflict between
two emotions or two instincts, but of a physical change, which kills
or makes nugatory the instinct and emotion; for it is certain that
the moulting period in all species that, like the duck, change their
whole plumage in a short time, is not only a period of danger, but
of suffering. When the change comes the bird acts like the ‘stricken
deer,’ and like animals afflicted with some fatal disease: he goes
apart, and remains in hiding until his new plumage has grown, and with
renewed health his social instincts are restored. It is only in the
case of the male duck that this change from health and strength to
sickness and impotence falls in the midst of the breeding season.
[Illustration: MALLARDS. PEREGRINE FALCON. HERON. COOT.]
Another extraordinary fact about the moulting of the drake is that, in
moulting, he puts on the dress of the female. The moult is complete,
but only after the whole of the small feathers have been changed are
the wing- and tail-feathers shed, and as these are all shed at once,
the bird is for some time incapable of flight. But while in this
incapable condition he is no longer a drake in appearance--a bird of
rich and conspicuous colouring--but has a dull mottled brown like the
duck. This annual ‘eclipse,’ as Waterton called it, lasts for three
or four months; and then there is a second, autumnal moult, of the
body-feathers only, in which the rich colours of the male sex are
recovered.
The duck, in the meantime, moults only once in the year.
A slight difference has been noted between the resident mallard that
breeds in the British Islands and the mallard from the north that
visits us in winter, the native bird being heavier.
Gadwell.
Chaulelasmus streperus.
Beak lead-colour; head and upper neck light brown with darker
mottlings; back marked with crescents of light grey on a dark ground;
median wing-coverts chestnut; greater coverts blackish; primaries
brown; secondaries brown and black, the outer webs forming a white
speculum; rump and upper tail-coverts bluish black; tail-feathers dark
brown with pale edges; lower neck dark grey, each feather with a
pale grey margin; breast and belly white; flanks and vent grey; under
tail-coverts bluish black; legs and feet orange. Length, twenty-one
inches. _Female_: head and upper neck light brown mottled with
dark; lower hind neck and upper parts brown; speculum and under parts
white.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 81.--GADWELL. ¹⁄₁₀ Natural Size.]
The gadwell most nearly resembles the mallard, but is not so richly
coloured, and is smaller in size. It is a widely distributed species,
ranging over a greater portion of the northern hemisphere. In the
British Islands it is a winter visitor in small numbers, very few pairs
remaining to breed, except in one locality in Norfolk, where it has
been strictly protected for the last forty years, with the result that
it breeds regularly, and is abundant. Elsewhere it is the rarest of the
British freshwater ducks. The wings are long and sharply pointed, and
the flight exceedingly rapid. When flying it frequently utters its cry,
which resembles that of the mallard, but is shriller in tone. Like the
mallard, it is a night feeder; during the daylight hours it usually
remains concealed in the closest cover. Its nest, lined with dry grass
and a quantity of down, is placed on the ground at some distance from
the waterside. Eight to twelve buffish white eggs are laid.
Garganey.
Querquedula circia.
[Illustration: FIG. 82.--GARGANEY. ¹⁄₁₁ natural size.]
Bill black; forehead, crown, nape, and back dark brown; from the eye
a white stripe extending to the back of the neck; cheeks and neck
light brown with short hair-like lines of white; scapulars black,
with central white stripe; wing-coverts bluish grey; speculum green
between two bars of white; primaries and tail dull brown; chin black;
breast pale brown with dark crescentic bands; belly white; flanks with
transverse black lines; under tail-coverts black and white; legs and
feet greyish brown. Length, sixteen inches. _Female_: mottled
brown; stripe over the eye yellowish white; speculum dull metallic
green between two white bars.
* * * * *
The garganey, or summer teal, or cricket teal, as it is sometimes
called, on account of the low, jarring note of the male in the pairing
season, differs considerably from its nearest relation, the common
teal, both in its larger size and its colouring, which a little
resembles that of the shoveler. It is an early spring visitor to the
British Islands, rare in England, and still rarer in Scotland and
Ireland. It remains to breed in suitable localities in this country,
and is perhaps most common in the district of the Broads in Norfolk. It
flies swiftly, and utters on the wing a sharp, quacking cry, sometimes
repeated twice. Its feeding habits are similar to those of the teal,
but it is not esteemed a good bird for the table. The nest is made
among the coarse grass and herbage in swampy ground; eight or nine
creamy white eggs are laid sometimes a larger number.
Teal.
Querquedula crecca.
Bill blackish; crown, cheeks, neck, and throat chestnut; round and
behind the eye an elongated patch of glossy green margined with
buff; upper parts and flanks delicately marked with black and white;
speculum black, green, and purple, tipped with yellowish white; rump
and tail-coverts black; tail-feathers brown; front of neck spotted with
black on a buff ground; breast and belly white; legs and feet brownish
grey. Length, fourteen inches and a half. _Female_: mottled brown;
little or no purple on the speculum. The female dress is assumed by the
drake in July, and is kept until October.
* * * * *
The handsome and natty little teal is the smallest of our ducks, its
weight being only one third that of the mallard. In appearance it is a
small wigeon, but whereas the wigeon is the wildest of our wild ducks
in disposition, the teal is the tamest. It is chiefly a winter visitor
to this country, and from September until spring is found throughout
the British Islands. A considerable number of pairs remain to breed in
suitable localities throughout England, and more numerously in Scotland
and Ireland. The nest is placed on the ground on the borders of a
marsh or bog, and sometimes at a distance from water, among heather or
herbage; it is made of dry grass and leaves, and, later on, down from
the bird is added. The eggs are creamy-white or pale buff in colour,
with a tinge of green, and eight or ten in number, sometimes as many as
fifteen. The teal feeds chiefly by night, on aquatic plants, insects,
slugs, and small crustaceans. Its call-note is a short, sharp quack,
and in the pairing-time the drake emits a low, jarring note. The drake
does not moult so early as most ducks, and remains longer with the
female during the breeding season, leaving her only when the young are
partly grown.
* * * * *
Two American species of teal--the blue-winged teal (_Querquedula
discors_) and the green-winged teal (_Q. carolinensis_)--have
been obtained in Great Britain, one specimen of each.
[Illustration: PLATE X. TEAL (MALE AND FEMALE). ⅓ NAT. SIZE.]
Shoveler.
Spatula clypeata.
Bill lead-colour, very broad at the tip; head and upper neck green;
lower neck and scapulars white; middle of the back dark brown;
shoulders pale blue; greater wing-coverts white; secondaries dark brown
with a green speculum; primaries, rump, upper and under tail-coverts,
and tail-feathers, blackish; breast and belly rich chestnut; flanks
freckled with dark brown on a paler ground; vent white; legs and feet
reddish orange. Length, twenty inches. _Female_: brown with dark
and light mottlings. In summer, the male in moulting assumes the
colours of the female.
* * * * *