in his ‘Pictures in Prose’:--‘This bird, quite apart from its own very
quaint appearance and habits, must always have a great interest for
British ornithologists, as it is the nearest surviving link we have
with the great bustard, now, alas! extinct in this country. It is
nocturnal in its habits, and is extremely wary and shy. Although on its
arrival in spring it keeps well away in the open, it generally lays its
eggs not far from a belt or covert of trees. The pair of which I speak
had chosen the middle of a gravelly space among the pines. By creeping
upon hands and knees under cover of a bank one could gain a position,
just fifteen paces away from the nest, without being observed, so close
that with my glass I could see the light shine through the crystal
prominence of the sitting-bird’s great yellow eyes. At intervals one
bird would relieve the other on the nest. When disturbed the birds ran
away for shelter to a bank beneath the pines. And here the bird that
was not sitting always stood sentry. When its turn came to relieve its
mate it would walk pretty deliberately across the first part of the
open, where it was more or less screened by a fringe of trees; and
then, having reached a point that was commanded from a long way off,
it would suddenly lower its head, and run as fast as a red-leg to the
nest. When it was about a yard away the sitting-bird would slip off,
and, staying for no greetings, run past, and away to the pine-bank....
It was interesting to notice that the bird always rose backwards from
the nest, so that its long legs should not disturb the eggs; and
that the new-comer did not turn the eggs immediately, but squatted
perfectly still for perhaps a minute, as if to make sure it was not
disturbed. And after the eggs were satisfactorily disposed, and all the
coast seemed clear, the bird would close its eyes in the hot sunshine,
and appear to go to sleep. But even then I could scarcely so much as
move a finger above the ground but instantly it was off its nest and
away.’
It is very delightful to be thus let into the domestic secrets of so
shy and wary a bird by so close and sympathetic an observer as Mr.
Trevor-Battye.
When anxious to avoid being seen the stone-curlew practises the device
of squatting close on the ground with its neck extended. The South
American rheas have a similar habit, and it is, perhaps, possessed by
other large birds that have a more or less protective colouring and
inhabit the open country.
The stone-curlew feeds on slugs, worms, and insects, and also devours
mice and small reptiles.
* * * * *
The family Glareolidæ is represented in works on British birds by
one species, the collared pratincole (_Glareola pratincola_), a
rare straggler to Great Britain from Southern Europe. This bird comes
between the stone-curlew and the true plovers (family Charadriidæ),
which follow.
* * * * *
The cream-coloured courser (_Cursorius gallicus_) is another rare
straggler to England from Western Asia and North Africa.
Golden Plover.
Charadrius pluvialis.
Upper parts greyish black spotted with gamboge-yellow; above the eye a
white line, which continues down the neck to the flanks; under parts
black. After the autumnal moult the under parts are white, and the
upper parts more yellow than in spring. The female, in summer, has less
black on the breast. Length, eleven inches.
* * * * *
The golden plover has for several centuries been in great esteem
for the table, its fame in this respect being equal to that of the
dotterel, woodcock, ruff, and black-tailed godwit. The two last
named have now ceased to exist in this country as breeding species.
The golden plover, although incessantly persecuted by fowlers and
sportsmen, is still not uncommon; probably because the great majority
of the birds that visit the British islands on migration in autumn
and winter have their breeding-grounds in remote regions north of the
arctic circle, where there are no human beings to molest them. The
birds that breed with us are also migratory, and escape destruction by
going south in autumn.
[Illustration: FIG. 97.--GOLDEN PLOVER (summer plumage). ⅙
natural size.]
The golden plover gets its common name from the rich yellow spots
that decorate its upper parts. All the species of the genus to which
it belongs undergo a very remarkable change of plumage every year:
in winter the whole under parts are pure white; in spring the white
changes to intense black, and this nuptial, or summer dress, lasts
until the autumn moult, when the winter white is resumed. With us this
species breeds in suitable localities throughout the British Islands,
but very sparingly in the southern half of England. The nest is a
slight hollow among heather or short grass, sometimes on the bare
ground, and is scantily lined with dry grass. The eggs, of a yellowish
stone-colour, spotted and blotched with blackish brown, are four in
number, and are handsome, and large for the bird. The young when
hatched are pretty little creatures, orange-yellow and brown in colour.
The call-note of the golden plover, clear and wild and far-reaching, is
one of the bird-sounds that have a great charm. In the pairing season
the male emits a different sound, by way of love-song, as he rises and
flutters in the air above his mate, and reiterates a double note so
rapidly that it runs into a trill.
After the breeding season the birds unite in flocks, and leave the
moors for the lowlands and seashore.
* * * * *
The Eastern, or lesser golden plover (_Charadrius fulvus_), a form
of the British golden plover differing only in its slightly smaller
size, has been obtained on two or three occasions in this country.
Grey Plover.
Squatarola helvetica.
Fore-crown white, and upper parts mottled blackish brown and white;
lores, cheeks, throat and neck, and under parts, black. Length, twelve
inches. After the autumn moult the upper parts are more greyish, and
all the rest white.
* * * * *
This species so closely resembles the golden plover in size and
appearance, both in summer and winter, changing, like it, from black
to white, and from white to black, that it seems strange to find
it classed in a separate genus. But there is a slight anatomical
difference in the two birds: the grey plover is provided with a
rudimentary hind toe, while the golden plover has only three toes on
its foot. The present species does not breed in the British Islands.
Its summer home is in arctic Siberia. From August, when it begins to
arrive, until the following spring it is found on our coasts every year
in small flocks. It is much less common than the golden plover, and
while with us is almost exclusively a bird of the seashore.
The grey plover is considered a poor bird for the table; but in
Yarrell’s work it is stated that Englishmen have not always been of
that opinion, that it was formerly esteemed above most birds, and that
the saying, ‘a grey plover cannot please him,’ was used of a person
with an excessively fastidious palate. The bird proverbial for its
delicacy was probably our golden plover, which to this day is called
grey plover in Ireland.
Kentish Plover.
Ægialitis cantiana.
Forehead, stripe above the eye, chin, cheeks, and under parts white;
upper part of forehead, a band from the base of the bill extending
through the eye, and a large spot on each side of the breast, black;
head and nape light brownish red; upper plumage ash-brown; two outer
tail-feathers white. Length, six inches and three-quarters. The female
is without the black on the fore-crown, her neck patches are brown
instead of black, and her colours duller than in the male.
* * * * *
This species, in appearance a small and pale-coloured ringed plover,
is a summer visitor to the south-east and east coasts of England from
Sussex to Yorkshire, and received its name of Kentish plover when first
described, nearly a century ago, by Latham, from specimens obtained
at Sandwich. Its sojourn in this country is a short one, excepting on
the Sussex and Kentish coasts, where a few pairs remain to breed; but
as a breeding species the bird has now been almost extirpated by the
egg-collector--the soulless Philistine who is without any feeling for
wild nature, and whose vulgar ambition it is to fill a cabinet with the
faded shells of eggs which he can label ‘British-taken.’
The Kentish plover has a very extensive distribution in Europe, Africa,
and Asia. In its habits it resembles the ringed plover, and lays its
three, and sometimes four, eggs in a slight depression among the fine
shingle or broken shells. The eggs are of a yellowish stone-colour,
spotted and scratched with black.
Ringed Plover.
Ægialitis hiaticula.
Forehead, lores, and gorget reaching round the neck black; a band
across the forehead, a stripe over each eye, broad collar, and lower
parts, white; nape and upper parts hair brown; outer tail-feathers
white; bill, orbits, and feet orange. Length, seven inches and
three-quarters. In the female the black collar is less well defined.
* * * * *
The small ringed plover is a sprightly, prettily marked bird, with
conspicuous white and black collar, and a melodious voice. His
modulated alarm-note, somewhat plaintive in character, is familiar to
most persons who walk by the seashore, for he is a common species on
our coasts, and has the habit of betraying his presence by sounding
an alarm when approached; and if the intruder moves quietly, and
occasionally pauses in his walk, the little plover will not take to
flight, but continue running on before him, all the while playing on
his wild and sorrowful little pipe. In spring the male has a fuller,
sweeter note, by way of love-call or song, uttered occasionally on the
wing. He is an extremely active and lively bird, running rapidly on
the sands, and, when the tide is going out, often keeping close to the
water to pick up the small marine insects and crustaceans on which he
feeds. He is not, however, exclusively a bird of the seashore, but is
also found on the margins of rivers and lakes, and sometimes breeds
at a distance from the sea. As a rule the nest is placed on the sandy
beach, or fine shingle, above high-water mark. The nest is merely a
slight depression in the sand, in which four pear-shaped eggs are laid,
of a pale stone or cream colour, marked with small round, blackish
brown and grey spots. The breeding season begins in May, and as eggs
continue to be found to the end of July, it is probable that two broods
are reared in the season. When the young are hatched the parent birds
manifest the utmost anxiety, and will attempt to lead a man or dog from
the spot by fluttering as if wounded along the ground.
The ringed plovers are social in disposition, and even during the
breeding season it is common to find them in small parties. In the
autumn they unite in flocks.
This species is to be met with in this country throughout the year; but
in spring our coasts are visited on migration by a ringed plover of a
different race, smaller in size. It is with this smaller bird that the
lesser ringed plover (_Ægialitis curonica_), a rare straggler to
England from continental Europe, is sometimes confounded.
* * * * *
Another member of this genus, the North American killdeer plover
(_Ægialitis vocifera_), has been once or twice obtained in this
country.
[Illustration:
_PLATE II._
DOTTEREL. ½ NAT. SIZE.]
Dotterel.
Endromias morinellus.
Crown dusky black, bordered by a white band extending backwards from
the eye round the nape; upper parts ash-brown, the inner secondaries
margined with rufous; tail-feathers broadly tipped with white, except
the middle pair; throat dull white; upper breast ash-brown; white
gorget or band lower breast, and flanks bright chestnut; belly black;
tail-coverts white. The female is larger and brighter than the male.
Length, nine inches.
* * * * *
This is a richly coloured, handsome little plover; it was familiar to
our forbears, and is often mentioned by old British and Continental
writers as a very delicate bird to eat--a ‘very daintie dish,’ as
Drayton wrote. Much was also said, both in verse and prose, about its
supposed foolishness, which was proverbial, so that dull and weakminded
persons were compared to the dotterel. It was believed that when the
fowler, on approaching the bird, stretched forth an arm, the dotterel
responded by stretching out a wing; that when a leg was put forth,
the action was immediately copied; and that the bird, being intent
on watching and imitating the motions of the man, neglected its own
safety, and was taken in the net. The origin of this notion, which was
credited by everyone, ornithologists included, for the space of two or
three centuries, is no doubt to be found in the fact that the dotterel
is less shy and active than most plovers, and, like very many other
birds, when approached and disturbed during repose has the habit of
stretching out a wing and leg before moving away.
The dotterels arrive in this country in small flocks, called ‘trips,’
about the beginning of May. From the south-east coast, where they first
appear, they travel from place to place on their way north. Arrived
at their breeding-haunts in Westmorland and Scotland, they are seen
at first frequenting heaths, dry pasture-lands, and fallows, but soon
retire to the mountains to breed. The nest is a slight depression in
the short, dense grass on or a little below the mountain summit, and
several pairs are usually found breeding near each other. The eggs are
three in number, in colour yellowish olive, spotted and blotched with
brownish black.
In August or early in September the dotterels take their departure for
the south. It is known that this bird, which was once common in this
country, has been diminishing in numbers for many years, and that very
few pairs, if any, survive in the Lake District.
Lapwing.
Vanellus vulgaris.
[Illustration: FIG. 98.--LAPWING. ⅙ natural size.]
Crown and crest greenish black; sides of neck whitish; upper parts
metallic green with purple reflections; quills black; tail-feathers
white with a broad black band; face, throat, and upper breast bluish
black; belly and axillaries white; tail-coverts fawn-colour. Length,
twelve inches.
* * * * *
The lapwing, pewit, or green plover, as he is variously named from
his manner of flight, note, and colour, is a familiar bird to most
persons, and undoubtedly the best and most generally known member
of the order which includes plover, snipe, and their allies. He is
widely distributed in the British Islands, and fairly abundant, and,
furthermore, is a bird it is impossible to overlook, on account of his
conspicuous colouring, his singular manner of flight and appearance
on the wing, and his unique voice. A first meeting with the lapwing
invariably excites surprise in the beholder. Seen on the ground he is
a handsome bird; in plumage and long, curling crest unlike any other
British species, elegant in form, and graceful and somewhat stately in
his movements. The moment he takes flight, displaying his curiously
shaped, rounded wings, that have a heavy, flopping, heron-like motion,
he appears like a different creature: he looks awkward and strange,
like an owl or a goatsucker driven out of its hiding-place in the
daylight. But no sooner does he begin to practise his favourite
evolutions in the air than a fresh surprise is experienced. Rising
to a height of forty or fifty yards, he suddenly dashes in a zigzag,
downward flight, with a violence and rapidity unsurpassed by even
the most aërial species in their maddest moments, and, turning like
lightning when almost touching the surface, he rises, to repeat the
action again and again. The heavy appearance and slow, flopping
movement, and the marvellous wing-feats, are in strange contrast.
He is a vociferous bird, and when his breeding-ground is invaded he
circles high above the intruder, dashing down at intervals, as if to
intimidate him, and uttering all the while a wailing cry, somewhat
cat-like in character. His call, heard both by day and night, most
frequently in the breeding season, is a hollow, bubbling sound,
followed by a prolonged and modulated clear note of a peculiar
quality, not readily describable, except by the epithet ‘eerie,’ which
is somewhat vague. It is a quality heard chiefly in the voices of
nocturnal species--owls and others.
The lapwings begin to nest at the end of March on heaths and waste
lands, and in meadows, pastures, and fallows. As a rule, more than one
pair, and often several pairs, have their nests near each other; and so
gregarious are the birds at all times, that even during incubation, and
when the young are out, they are to be seen associating together when
feeding, and when indulging in their sportive exercises in the air. A
slight depression in the soil, with a few dried grass-stems for lining,
serves for nest, and the eggs are four in number, olive-green, thickly
mottled with black and blackish brown spots. False nests are often
found near the nest containing eggs, and these are said to be formed by
the male in turning round and round when showing off to his mate.
The lapwing is common throughout the year, but in autumn, when they
congregate, often in flocks of many hundreds, and even thousands,
there is a very general movement; and no doubt at this season a large
proportion of the birds that breed with us leave the country, their
places being taken by others from more northern regions. Throughout the
British Islands it is a fairly common species, but it is believed that
for many years past the lapwing has been decreasing in numbers, chiefly
on account of the demand for plovers’ eggs, and of unrestricted egging.
Turnstone.
Strepsilus interpres.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--TURNSTONE. ⅕ natural size.]
Head, neck, breast, and shoulders variegated with black and white;
upper surface black and chestnut-red; rump white; tail-feathers and
a patch on the coverts dark brown; under parts white; legs and feet
orange. _Female_: not so bright. Length, nine inches.
* * * * *
The turnstone is very nearly of a size with the song-thrush, although
its conspicuous black-and-white and curiously marked plumage causes
it to appear much bigger to the eye. The plumage is very handsome,
the upper parts being mottled with black and red--a tortoiseshell
colouring which is rare in birds. It is a visitor to our coasts after
the breeding season, the young birds arriving towards the end of
July, the adults following in August, after the moult. From the east
coast of England most of the birds depart in autumn; on the south
and west coasts many remain all winter. The return migration to the
breeding-grounds in the arctic regions takes place about the middle
of May; but it is believed that a few pairs breed annually within the
limits of the British Islands, as birds have been observed in summer
in full nuptial dress. There are few birds with so wide a distribution
as the turnstone, its range extending along the coasts of Europe,
Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, and the Atlantic and
Pacific islands.
The turnstone is a bird of the seashore exclusively, with a partiality
for rocky coasts, and feeds on marine insects and small crustaceans,
which it picks from the stranded seaweed, and on this account it is
called ‘tangle-picker’ on the Norfolk coast. It also turns over the
small stones and shells on the sand, to search for insects concealed
beneath them; and when the stone is too large to be moved by the bill,
the breast is used in pushing. Two or three birds have been observed to
unite in pushing over an object too large to be moved by one.
Oyster-catcher.
Hæmatopus ostralegus.
Plumage intense black and pure white; bill orange-yellow: irides
crimson; legs and feet purplish pink. Length, sixteen inches.
* * * * *
The oyster-catcher, or sea-magpie, is regarded by many persons as the
most beautiful of our shore-birds. When seen running on the sands with
a rapid, trotting gait, or standing motionless--a pied bird with thick,
orange-red bill and pink legs, the large head drawn in--his appearance
strikes one as singular rather than beautiful. No sooner does he take
to flight, exhibiting the sharp-pointed, wonderfully conspicuous, black
and white wings, than the beauty is revealed. The flight is rapid, and
as he wheels round the intruder in a wide circle he utters a succession
of cries, somewhat like those of the golden plover and curlew in
character, but shriller and more vehement. The oyster-catcher is a
resident species, to be met with throughout the year in all suitable
localities on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. He is most
partial to rocky coasts with patches of sand and shingle, his food
consisting chiefly of small shellfish left exposed on and among the
rocks at low water. With his strong, wedge-shaped bill he strikes the
limpets from the rocks and scoops out their contents; and he opens the
mussel-shells by driving his beak between the closed valves and prising
them apart. He also devours sea-worms, shrimps, and other crustaceans.
The nest is placed on the rocks or on rough shingle, a little above
high-water mark. It is very simple, being nothing more than a slight
depression in the shingle, with small pebbles and fragments of shells
for lining. Several false nests are sometimes made by the birds near
the one containing the eggs.
Three, or very rarely four, eggs are laid, of a pale stone-colour with
a yellowish tinge, spotted and streaked with black, blackish brown, and
dark grey. During incubation the male keeps watch, and gives warning
of danger to his mate, who quietly leaves the nest; when the spot is
approached both birds fly round the intruder, frequently alighting on
the ground within a few yards of him, uttering their shrill, distressed
cries the whole time. At all other times the oyster-catcher is an
excessively shy and wary bird, owing to much persecution.
In autumn and winter oyster-catchers gather in small flocks, and the
birds that breed on the northern coasts go south to winter, their place
being taken by migrants from the Continent.
Red-necked Phalarope.
Phalaropus hyperboreus.
_Female_: head, hind neck, and shoulders ash-grey; upper parts dark
grey mixed with rufous; a white bar on the wing; neck chestnut; upper
breast ash-grey; under parts white; bill black; legs and feet greenish.
Length, seven inches and three-quarters. _Male_: smaller, and less
brightly coloured.
* * * * *
The phalaropes are small, handsome birds that, like the plovers they
are related to, perform long annual migrations, breed in very high
latitudes north of the arctic circle, and have a distinctly different
summer and winter plumage. But in the form of their curiously lobed
feet they are like coots, while in their habits they are, perhaps,
nearest to the moorhen. There are two British species, both irregular
visitors on migration to this country; but of the red-necked
phalarope a few pairs remain to breed annually in the Hebrides and
Shetlands, consequently this species may be regarded as indigenous.
Unfortunately, the British race of this bird is now nearly extinct,
victims to the ‘cupidity of the cabinet,’ specimens of the bird and its
eggs being in great request among collectors.
The red-necked phalarope is equally at home on land or water, and
picks up its food on the sandy or muddy margins of the marshy pools it
frequents in summer, and from the surface of the water, as it swims
rapidly about, sitting high, and with head set back like a gull.
The nest is placed on the ground, among heather or herbage and grass,
at some distance from the water. The four eggs are pale brown in
ground-colour, spotted with blackish brown and grey.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--GREY PHALAROPE. ¼ natural size.]
The grey phalarope (_Phalaropus fulicarius_), irregular in its
visits like the last species, appears in larger numbers when it does
come. Its visits to the south and south-east coasts of England occur in
autumn and winter. Its range in summer is circumpolar, and it has been
found breeding as far north as latitude 82° 30′. The breeding plumage
is reddish chestnut, the female being brightest in colour. In winter,
when it arrives in this country, its under parts are pure white, and
the whole upper parts a delicate pale grey.
Woodcock.
Scolopax rusticula.
[Illustration: FIG. 101.--WOODCOCK. ⅙ natural size.]
Upper plumage reddish brown barred and vermiculated with black; under
parts wood-brown with darker brown bars. Length, fourteen inches. Sexes
alike.
* * * * *
The woodcock is a large species compared with other snipes, and a very
handsome bird in its russet-red plumage, prettily pencilled and barred
with various shades of black and brown and grey; furthermore, it is in
great esteem for the table, and it is therefore not strange that, like
the red grouse, it should be a favourite alike with the ornithologist,
the sportsman, and the lover of delicate fare.