plumage from brown in summer to snow-white in winter, and of the fact
that it inhabits only the summits and slopes of high mountains. These
two things--the white winter plumage and the mountain habit--have a
close connection. The periodical change to white is a common phenomenon
in arctic animals, both birds and mammals, and all the species of
grouse of the genus to which the ptarmigan belongs assume the white
dress in winter, with one exception--the red grouse of the British
Islands. Thus, in Britain we have two grouse of this group (Lagopus),
one of which turns white like the continental grouse, while the other
keeps its brown dress throughout the year. To explain this difference
it must be assumed that both species inhabited Britain at a period
when its climate was an intensely cold one, and that both species
changed their colour to protective white in the season of snow. When
the British climate changed, and became so mild that the snow no longer
remained unmelted for months at a time on the lower levels, all such
creatures as had the arctic habit of becoming white in winter would be
in danger of extermination, since their intense whiteness on the brown
or green earth would make them fatally conspicuous to their enemies. A
white grouse on a brown moor would be visible for miles to high-soaring
birds of prey. The red grouse escaped destruction by losing its white
winter dress: the change in it from two distinct liveries to one colour
for all seasons was doubtless gradual, extending over a period of very
many centuries, keeping pace with the slowly improving climate. He
ended by becoming a bird that was wholly brown in winter, while the
willow-grouse of northern Europe and Asia--the continental form, and,
it may be added, the parent, form of our bird of the moors--continued
to change to white periodically. Meanwhile no such change took place in
the ptarmigan’s plumage: he alone continued to assume the pure white
winter dress, as if to keep alive the tradition of an ancient arctic
Britain; and yet he survived. He escaped destruction because he was a
hardier bird, and preferred the higher grounds, where the snows never
melted in winter. At the northern limit of its range, north of the
arctic circle, the ptarmigan inhabits the fells and level country;
in Europe it is everywhere confined to the higher slopes of lofty
mountains; in other words, wherever found--and it ranges as far south
as the mountains of Spain--it still has an arctic climate. The bird
exists ‘islanded’ on high mountains, separated from the rest of its
kind by wide spaces of low-lying country as impassable to it as the
sea.
The ptarmigan breeds in May. Its nest is well concealed, and is merely
a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a little dry grass. Eight
to ten eggs are laid, of a yellowish white blotched with dark brown.
In autumn or early in winter the birds pack, and sometimes as many as
fifty are seen in one flock. Macgillivray has the following interesting
account of the bird in its mountain haunts: ‘These beautiful birds,
while feeding, run and walk among the weather-beaten and lichen-crested
fragments of rock, from which it is very difficult to distinguish them
when they remain motionless, as they invariably do should a person be
in sight. Indeed, unless you are directed to a particular spot by their
strange low, croaking cry, you may pass through a flock of ptarmigans
without observing a single individual, although some of them may not
be ten yards distant. When squatted, however, they utter no sound,
their object being to conceal themselves; and if you discover the one
from which the cry has proceeded, you generally find him on the top
of a stone, ready to spring off the moment you show an indication of
hostility. If you throw a stone at him, he rises, utters his call, and
is immediately joined by all the individuals around, which, to your
surprise, if it be your first _rencontre_, you see spring up one
by one from the bare ground.’
Red Grouse.
Lagopus scoticus.
Plumage reddish brown on the head and neck, and chestnut brown, barred
and speckled with black, on the upper parts; the feathers of the breast
almost black, with white tips. In summer the general colour is lighter;
in winter the under parts are frequently mottled with white. Length,
sixteen inches. _Female_: more reddish yellow in colour.
* * * * *
One sunny morning a few months ago, as I stood on a mountain slope
among bracken, ling, and furze, and scattered masses of grey rock,
watching a small party of grouse near me, it struck me that I had
never looked on a more beautiful creature than this bird:--so finely
shaped and richly coloured, and proud and free in carriage, and in such
perfect harmony with the rough vegetation and that wild and solitary
nature amid which it exists. It is not strange that this species
should have a fascination above all others for the sportsman that he
is willing to go farther and spend more in its pursuit; for it is not
the bird only that draws him: the fascination is of that unadulterated
nature of which the bird is a part, and the sense of liberty and savage
life that returns to man in the midst of mountain and moorland scenery.
To the ornithologist the grouse has another great distinction: it
is the only species of bird exclusively British. It is generally
distributed in Scotland and its islands, the Shetlands excepted. It
also inhabits the moors in the northern counties of England, and of
Wales as far south as Glamorgan; and of Ireland, where, unhappily, it
is decreasing in numbers.
The grouse feeds principally on the tender shoots of the heather;
and also eats leaves and buds of other plants, and such wild fruits
as grow on or near the moors. In autumn and winter it is gregarious,
and in some localities the males and females pack separately. Pairing
takes place very early in the spring, and the male, as is usual in the
grouse family, courts the female with curious sounds and a fantastic
dancing performance. The wooing takes place very early in the morning,
before there is light enough to feed. Flying up to a height of fifteen
or twenty feet into the air, he drops down uttering a succession of
powerful ringing notes, which end as the bird reaches the ground. This
is repeated again and again until daylight and feeding-time suspend
the performance. The red grouse is strictly monogamous, and each pair
retires to its own chosen nesting-place, where a slight hollow is
scratched under a tuft of ling, and five or six to twelve eggs are
laid. They are pale olive in ground-colour, blotched with dark red. The
female alone incubates, but the male assists in rearing and protecting
the young. The chicks when small feed chiefly on small caterpillars.
Black Grouse.
Tetrao tetrix.
Black with violet reflections; a broad white band on the wings;
secondaries tipped with white; lower tail-coverts white; eyebrows
naked, vermilion; a white spot beneath the eye. Length, twenty-three
inches. _Female_: head and neck rust-red barred with black; rump
and tail-feathers black barred with red; belly dusky brown with red and
whitish bars.
* * * * *
The black grouse is most abundant and generally distributed in Scotland
and the northern counties of England, but is everywhere decreasing
in numbers. In England its decline has been most marked, and in the
southern counties, where it was formerly common, it ceased to exist,
except in the New Forest, where a few birds survive. It has been
reintroduced in some localities, but so far has not thriven well. In
Ireland it is not indigenous.
[Illustration: FIG. 93.--BLACKCOCK. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Its large size, rich blue-black plumage, white wing-bar, scarlet
wattles, and strange lyre-shaped ornament, formed by the
outward-curving feathers of the tail, give the black cock an
exceedingly fine appearance, and he is, perhaps, the handsomest of
our game-birds. He inhabits both woods and moors, but is most partial
to grounds of a mixed character, such as are found on the fringe of a
moor, where woods and thickets are broken and varied with patches of
heath.
The black cock is polygamous; and at the end of winter many birds
meet together at an early hour of the morning, when the males utter
their powerful call-notes, and strut to and fro, with tail expanded
and trailing wings, in the presence of the hens. These ‘matrimonial
markets’ are scenes of desperate combats between rival cocks. In the
end each male retires with the females he has secured for his harem.
The hen makes a slight nest under the shelter of a bush, and lays six
to ten eggs, yellowish white, with orange-brown spots. The young feed
principally on larvæ of ants and other insects. Grain, seeds, berries
and buds, and shoots of many kinds, are eaten by the old birds.
Capercaillie.
Tetrao urogallus.
[Illustration: FIG. 94.--CAPERCAILLIE. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Feathers of the throat elongated, black; head and neck dusky; eyes with
a bare red skin above and a white spot below; wings brown speckled
with black; breast lustrous green; belly black with white spots; rump
and flanks marked with undulating lines of black and ash colour; tail
black with white spots; beak horn-white. Length, two feet ten inches.
_Female_: a third smaller, barred and spotted with tawny red,
black, and white; throat tawny red; breast deep red; tail dark red with
black bars, white at the tip.
* * * * *
North Britain, with its islands, although poor in species
comparatively, has one glory which her larger, richer neighbour is
without: her wilder districts still afford breeding-places to several
of the larger species which have long ceased to exist in England.
Of these are the osprey, sea-eagle, golden eagle, ptarmigan, and
capercaillie, the last the finest game-bird of Europe, with the sole
exception of the great bustard. The story of the capercaillie in Great
Britain is singularly interesting. It became extinct about the middle
of the last century, and was recovered some eighty or ninety years
later, when it was reintroduced from Sweden in 1837–8, and has since
spread over a large portion of Scotland, and continues to extend its
range.
The difference in size between the cock and hen capercaillie is greater
than in any other game-bird. In Scotland, the weight of the male is
from ten to eleven pounds, that of the female about four pounds and a
half. In northern Europe the cock weighs as much as seventeen pounds.
It is curious to find that in a large number of gallinaceous birds,
the pheasants and grouse more especially, the females have a near
resemblance in size, form, and colouring. The divergence is mostly in
the males, and is greatest in the polygamous species. Thus, it would be
difficult to find two birds in the same order more utterly unlike in
appearance than the cock pheasant and capercaillie; yet the females of
the two species preserve a strong family likeness.
The capercaillie feeds on the tender shoots of the Scotch fir, and
on buds and shoots of other trees and plants, and berries of various
kinds. He is an early breeder, and in spring the cock is heard uttering
his powerful double cry, several times repeated in succession, from a
lofty perch in a pine-tree. While calling he puffs out his plumage and
expands his tail like an angry turkey-cock. The call, which is uttered
early in the morning, is a summons to the hens, who are not slow to
obey it, and is also a challenge to other males. The same spot is
used morning after morning for meetings, displays, and combats, until
each male has secured his tale of hens, whereupon breeding begins.
The nest is a slight hollow scratched in the ground under a bush, and
the eggs are six to twelve in number. They are pale reddish yellow in
ground-colour, spotted and blotched with brown.
The male does not assume the mature plumage until the third year.
Water-Rail.
Rallus aquaticus.
Bill red; crown, hind neck, and upper parts olive-brown, a black streak
in the centre of each feather; cheeks, neck, and breast grey; flanks
blackish, barred with white; legs and feet brownish flesh-colour.
Length, eleven inches and a half. _Female_: duller in colour, the
wing-coverts sometimes barred with white.
* * * * *
The water-rail inhabits fens, marshes, and watercourses, moving rapidly
in the rank vegetation, swimming and diving with ease, flying only when
compelled, and rising heavily, with fluttering wings and dangling legs,
and after a short flight dropping again into cover. Its shy, skulking
habits make it appear a very rare bird, but it is found, although
in small numbers, in most suitable localities in Great Britain and
Ireland. Although it is met with throughout the year in this country,
it is believed to be migratory, the birds that breed with us moving
southwards in winter, when their places are taken by migrants arriving
from more northern regions.
The nest is made of reed-leaves, and is placed among coarse herbage or
in a tussock of sedge. Seven to eleven eggs are laid, in colour pale
creamy white, thinly flecked with reddish brown and grey. The nestlings
are covered with black down. During the pairing and breeding time the
rails are loquacious, frequently uttering their loud peculiar cry.
* * * * *
Three other rails (genus Porzana) occur in the British Islands, one a
regular visitant. They inhabit marshes, but in form are more like the
corncrake than the water-rail.
Spotted crake (_Porzana maruetta_).--A summer visitor, breeding
sparingly in different parts of Great Britain. On account of its
skulking habits and small size it is rarely seen. It lays eight to ten
eggs, olive-buff in ground-colour, spotted with dark reddish brown. In
size it is about a fourth less than the water-rail; the upper parts are
olive-brown spotted with white; crown dark brown; face and neck dull
grey; breast brown spotted with white.
Baillon’s crake (_Porzana bailloni_).--A somewhat rare visitor to Great
Britain, but known to have bred in Norfolk. General colour warm brown
flecked with black and white. Length, seven inches.
Little crake (_Porzana parva_).--A rare visitor to the British Islands,
chiefly to the east coast. Upper parts olive-brown; under parts
slate-grey. Length, eight inches.
Corncrake.
Crex pratensis.
[Illustration: FIG. 95.--LANDRAIL. ⅐ natural size.]
Ash-grey patches above the eyes and on the cheeks; feathers of the
upper parts yellowish brown with dark centres; wing-coverts and quills
chestnut; throat white; breast greyish buff; belly white in the centre,
and flanks broadly barred with brown and buff; bill and feet pale
brown. Length, eleven inches.
* * * * *
The corncrake is one of the commonest British birds. It is as large as
a partridge and more brightly coloured; it lives on the ground, and,
like the partridge, is to some extent a bird of the homestead. Yet
it is rarely seen, for, of all skulking creatures, it is the shyest,
swiftest of foot, and most elusive. Its narrow, wedge-like shape
fits it to pass through the close, upright stems of the grass with
perfect ease, and, with head and neck extended as if flying, it runs
in the grass as rapidly as a plover or partridge over the smoothest
ground. But though not seen it is heard, its low creaking cry sounding
incessantly from morning till night in spring from the meadows and
fields. This curious sound may be imitated by rapidly passing the
thumb-nail along the teeth of a fine comb. The note is said to be
uttered by the male, and is not often heard after breeding begins. The
nest is made at the end of May, or in June, and is placed among growing
corn or meadow grass, and is formed of dry grass and leaves. Seven to
ten eggs are laid, reddish white in ground-colour, spotted with bright
brown and grey.
The corncrake, or landrail, is found throughout the British Islands,
and is most abundant in rich pastures; in southern England and in
Ireland it appears to be most numerous. At the beginning of October
it migrates, but birds are not unfrequently met with in winter,
particularly in Ireland.
Moorhen.
Gallinula chloropus.
Fore part of the bill yellow; base and frontal plate red; irides red;
upper parts dark olive-brown; head, neck, and under parts slate-grey,
with some white streaks on the flanks; under tail-coverts pure white;
legs greenish yellow, red above the tarsal joint. Length, thirteen
inches. In this species the female is larger and more brightly coloured
than the male.
* * * * *
The moorhen is one of our most familiar wild birds; for not only is
it common and generally distributed in the British Islands, but where
it is not molested, and the stream, or pond, or ditch it inhabits is
close to the homestead, it becomes almost domestic in its habits, and
will freely mix with the poultry and share their food. Furthermore, it
attracts a good deal of attention, and is something of a favourite with
most people, on account of its pretty appearance and quaint, graceful
carriage, as it moves over the turf with measured steps, nodding
its head and jerking its tail in order to display the conspicuous
snow-white under-coverts.
The name of moorhen, which some writers dislike, is old English for
marsh-hen, from _moorish_, which had the same meaning as marshy.
Water-hen, another time-honoured name for this bird, is still in common
use; but mot-hen, or moat-hen, from the bird’s habit of frequenting
moats when moated houses were common in England, is now obsolete.
The moorhen swims and dives with ease, and feeds a good deal in the
water, usually keeping near the fringe of weeds, in which it takes
refuge on the slightest alarm. When hunted it dives, and is able to
remain submerged for an indefinite time by grasping the weeds at the
bottom with its claws and keeping its nostrils above the surface.
The nest is generally placed on the ground among the reeds or rushes,
but many other sites are used; and sometimes it is built in a tree
several feet above the ground. Seven or eight eggs are laid, reddish
white in ground-colour, thinly speckled and spotted with orange-brown.
The young when hatched are covered with a black hairy down. Two or
three broods are reared in the season, and it has been observed that
the young of the first brood sometimes assist the parents in making a
new nest and in rearing the young of the second brood.
The moorhen feeds on worms, slugs, insects of all kinds, and vegetable
substances.
Coot.
Fulica atra.
Beak pale flesh-colour; bald patch on the forehead white; irides
crimson; under parts sooty black; above, slate-grey with a narrow white
bar across the wing; legs and feet dark green. Length, eighteen inches.
* * * * *
In its appearance the coot is a large plain-coloured moorhen. It is
more aquatic in its habits than that bird, keeping almost as constantly
on the water as a diving duck. Like its smaller relation, it prefers
stagnant meres or ponds, or sluggish streams with marshy borders and
a deep fringe of reeds for cover; and it is to be met with in all
suitable localities throughout the British Islands. It is resident all
the year, but in the north, when the watercourses are frozen over in
winter, it migrates to the tidal estuaries and the sea-coast, where it
feeds on the mud-flats. The nest is a large structure, placed among the
reeds or rushes, and built up to a height of several inches above the
water. Seven to ten eggs are laid, of a light stone-colour, speckled
with dark brown. The coot was formerly much more abundant than it is
now in England, and was, perhaps, most numerous in the district of the
Broads in Norfolk. Sir Thomas Browne, writing of the birds of Norfolk
two centuries and a half ago, gives the following account of a singular
habit of this bird: ‘Coots are in very great flocks on the broad
waters. Upon the appearance of a kite or buzzard I have seen them unite
from all parts of the shore in strange numbers; when, if the kite stoop
near them, they will fling up and spread such a flash of water with
their wings that they will endanger the kite, and so keep him off again
and again in open opposition.’ This story, which reads like a fable,
was found to be plain truth by Lord Lilford, who observed the coots on
the lakes of Epirus, a district where birds of prey are abundant. He
writes: ‘I have several times observed the singular manner in which a
flock of these birds defend themselves against the white-tailed eagle.
On the appearance over them of one of these birds they collect in a
dense body, and when the eagle stoops at them they throw up a sheet
of water with their feet, and completely baffle their enemy; in one
instance ... they so drenched the eagle that it was with difficulty
that he reached a tree on the shore not more than a hundred yards from
the spot where he attacked them.’
* * * * *
The order Alectorides, which follows, includes two noble forms once
common, but now extinct in this country. One is the crane (_Grus
communis_), which was abundant in the fen country down to the latter
end of the seventeenth century. The other, finest of British birds,
is the great bustard (_Otis tarda_), which lived in all suitable
localities in England, from the southern counties to Yorkshire, and was
wantonly extirpated during the first half of the present century.
The little bustard (_Otis tetrax_) occurs as a rare straggler in the
eastern half of England.
A single example of Macqueen’s bustard (_Otis macqueeni_), an
Asiatic species, was obtained in England half a century ago.
Stone-Curlew.
Œdicnemus scolopax.
[Illustration: FIG. 96.--STONE-CURLEW. ⅐ natural size.]
Beak black, yellowish at the base; irides, orbits, legs, and feet
yellow; upper parts mottled pale brown; wing-coverts with white tips,
forming two narrow bars; quill black; throat and stripe beneath the eye
white; neck and breast buff streaked with dark brown. Length, seventeen
inches. Sexes alike.
* * * * *
The stone-curlew owes its name to a superficial resemblance in its
size and pale brown, mottled plumage to the common curlew, and to its
preference for a sandy or stony soil. It is also called the thick-knee,
from the curious conformation of its knees, which are very massive,
and have a somewhat bulbous appearance. Its other common names are
big plover and Norfolk plover, Norfolk and Suffolk being now the
headquarters of this species in England, although it is still found in
small and, sad to say, diminishing numbers in suitable localities from
Hampshire and Dorsetshire in the south to the wolds of Lincolnshire
and the East Riding of Yorkshire in the north. It does not occur in
Ireland. It is a bird of a somewhat singular appearance, and is the
sole representative of its family in Europe. It is a summer visitor to
England, a few birds remaining to winter in the southern counties, and
inhabits extensive heaths where there are patches of stony or pebbly
ground; and it also frequents fallows and downs. In its habits it is
semi-nocturnal, feeding principally by night; it is by night that its
wild, clear, ringing cry is usually heard. Its breeding-time is about
the middle of April, when it deposits its two eggs in a slight hollow
in the ground, among the flint pebbles and scanty vegetation. The eggs
are buff-coloured, spotted and streaked with grey and brown, and are
very hard to discover, so well do they harmonise in hue and markings
with the sandy and pebbly ground on which they are placed.