_STORKS, HERONS, AND PELICAN TRIBE._
The Storks, Herons, and Pelican Tribe form a group of closely allied but
externally very unlike birds, distantly related to the Petrels on the one
hand, and the Cranes and Hawk Tribe on the other.
THE STORKS.
[Illustration: _Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S._] [_North Finchley._
FULMAR PETREL.
Like the vulture, this bird will so gorge itself with food as to be unable,
for a time, to fly.]
There are few birds which have figured more prominently in the realms of
fairy-tale and fable than the WHITE STORK. Today it is almost universally
held in affectionate regard, and in Holland, Denmark, and Germany is
afforded the strictest protection, every effort being made, in localities
where it is plentiful, to induce it to build its nest upon the house-roof.
Sometimes, to effect this, its fondness for a stage of some sort being
known, a cart-wheel is set up, and this generally proves successful, the
grateful bird erecting thereon its nest. Once occupied, it may be held by
several generations of tenants; and year by year additions are made to the
nest, so that the original shallow structure at last attains a height of
several feet. The material used in its construction consists of sticks and
other substances. He considers himself a fortunate man indeed who can boast
a stork's nest on his house.
To show how widespread is the regard in which this bird is held, we may
mention that in Morocco, according to Colonel Irby, "almost every Moorish
hovel has its stork's nest on the top, a pile of sticks lined with grass
and palmetto-fibre," and he goes on to relate that in "Morocco and Fez, and
some other large towns in the Moorish Empire, there is a regular storks'
hospital, and that, should one be in any way injured or fall from the nest,
it is sent to this institution, or rather enclosure, which is kept up by
subscriptions from wealthy Moors, who regard the stork as a sacred bird."
Though the nest appears to be generally placed upon buildings, it is, when
these fail, built in trees, and the selection of such sites must be
regarded as representing the original practice of the species.
The stork is one of the very few birds which appear to be quite dumb. It
supplies the want of a voice by a very remarkable clapping noise made by
the long, horny beak. But even this noise is rarely made, and appears to be
prompted by unusual excitement. "During the breeding-season," Mr. Howard
Saunders tells us, "storks keep up a clappering with their bills, and this
sound may frequently be heard proceeding from a number of birds circling in
the air at such a height as to be almost invisible."
The affection displayed by storks for their young is proverbial. They feed
them by thrusting their beaks down into the gaping little mouths, and
injecting the half-digested remains of their last meal, which may represent
reptile, frog, or fish, varied by a small mammal, young bird, worms, or
insects.
The white stork is a really beautiful bird. Except the quill- and some of
the smaller wing-feathers, which are black, the plumage is snow-white,
whilst the bill and the legs are bright red. Like the swallow, it performs
extensive migrations, travelling in flocks, numbering many thousands, at an
immense height.
Scarcely less beautiful is the BLACK STORK, and, like its white-plumaged
ally, it is also an occasional visitant to Britain. It is a handsome bird,
having the plumage of the upper-parts black, richly glossed with purple,
copper, and green; the under-parts pure white; and the legs and beak red.
But it is far less sociable, and consequently less known, than the white
stork, shunning the haunts of men, and seeking seclusion for its nest in
the lofty trees of large forests.
[Illustration: _By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, Tring._
WHALE-HEADED STORK.
A rare species, remarkable for the huge size of the beak.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
WHITE STORKS.
The right-hand figure shows the bird making the curious clappering with its
beak.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
WHITE STORK.
A parent bird returning with a frog for its young.]
The largest members of the Stork Tribe are the ADJUTANT-STORKS and JABIRUS.
The adjutants are also, to our eyes at least, singularly ugly birds. In
spite of this very natural disadvantage, they have won a very high place in
the regard of the people among whom they dwell, on account of the fact
that, both in Africa and India, they perform, with the vultures, the work
of scavengers. Yet there is something of quaintness about these birds, if
they are watched from a distance too great to reveal the character which
imparts the ugliness to which we have referred, and their actions not
seldom border on the grotesque. The name Adjutant has been bestowed upon
them on account of the peculiar gait, which bears a fanciful resemblance to
the measured pacing of an officer on parade. Like all the Storks, they have
large bodies and very long legs, but they have outstripped all their
relatives in the enormous size of the beak. The features which have earned
this unenviable reputation for ugliness are the peculiarly unkempt and
unwashed appearance of the head and neck. These are but scantily clothed in
very shabby, brown-looking down-feathers; and the neck is made still more,
we might almost say, repulsive by the presence of a large bare pouch, which
can be distended with air to an enormous size at will. The Arabs, on
account of this pouch, call the species resident with them "The Father of
the Leather Bottle." Some, however, say that the correct translation of the
native name would be "The Father of the Beak." But it is not only on
account of their scavenging propensities that the adjutants are esteemed,
for it is from the under tail-coverts of these birds that the much-prized
"marabou" or "comercolly" feathers are obtained--at least the finest kinds;
for some appear to be furnished by that chief of scavengers, the vulture.
More precious still "is the celebrated stone called Zahir mora, or
poison-killer, of great virtue and repute as an antidote to all kinds of
poison," to be procured only by splitting open the head of the bird before
death. Needless to say, the existence of this stone lives only in popular
superstition, though how many poor birds have fallen victims thereto is not
pleasant to contemplate.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park._
ADJUTANT-STORK.
The curious wind-bag is well shown.]
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park._
ADJUTANT-STORK.
This shows the bird in a rather unusual attitude.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co., Parson's Green._
JABIRU STORK.
This bird stands between 4 and 5 feet high.]
Adjutants choose almost inaccessible pinnacles of rock on which to build
their nests, though they sometimes nest in trees. From two to four white
eggs are laid, from which, if all goes well, as many young, covered with
fluffy white down, are hatched.
The JABIRUS are distant relatives of, and scarcely inferior in size to, the
Adjutants. There are three species, one occurring in the Indian Peninsula,
New Guinea, and Australia, one in Africa, and one in South America. It is
to this last species that the name Jabiru correctly applies. Furthermore,
there can be no doubt that it is one of the handsomest of its tribe. The
whole plumage is pure white, and the upper-parts are made additionally
resplendent by an indescribable satin-like gloss. The beautiful whiteness
of its plumage is enhanced by the fact that the head and neck, bill and
feet, are jet-black. Some would give the palm of beauty to the AFRICAN
SADDLE-BILLED STORK. Black and white, as in the American form, are the
contrasting "colours"; but the plumage of the body, instead of being pure
white, is plentifully enriched with black, with beautiful purple
reflections.
[Illustration: _Photo by D. Le Souef_] [_Melbourne._
FLAMINGOES.
In flight the long neck and legs are fully extended, giving the bird a very
remarkable appearance.]
More or less nearly allied to the Storks are several species familiar
enough to the professional ornithologist, but not very well known
generally. One of the rarest and most interesting of these is the
WHALE-HEADED or SHOE-BILLED STORK of the Nile, remarkable for its enormous
boat-shaped bill. More common but equally interesting are the beautiful
FLAMINGOES. Apart from the brilliancy of their colour, the most noticeable
feature of these birds is the curious beak, which is bent downwards at a
sharp angle, and provided on its inside with horny plates resembling those
of the Ducks and Swans. The tongue of this bird, unlike that of the Stork
Tribe generally, is thick and fleshy, and also resembles that of the duck.
The flamingo is the only member of the Stork Tribe which builds a mud-nest.
Its foundation laid often in as much as 15 inches of water, and rising
above the surface from 6 to 8 inches, with a diameter at the top of 15
inches, it forms a pile of no mean size. Strangely enough, though these
birds are never so happy as when wading "knee" deep in water, yet after the
construction of the nest the incubation of the eggs is delayed so long that
before they are hatched the water has disappeared, leaving a burning plain
of sun-baked mud. On the top of this nest the parent sits with its long
neck neatly curled away among the back-feathers, with its long legs doubled
up, and projecting behind her for some distance beyond the tail. Until
quite recently it was believed that the bird incubated its eggs by sitting
_astride_ the nest, the length of the legs forbidding any other position:
this has now been proved beyond cavil to be an entirely erroneous opinion.
[Illustration: _Photo by Charles Knight_] [_Aldershot._
FLAMINGOES.
On account of the swan-like neck and "strainers" along the edges of the
beak, these birds have been regarded as long-legged members of the Duck
Tribe, but they seem more nearly related to the Storks.]
The eggs, two in number, are peculiar in that they are encased in a thick
outer chalky coat, which on removal reveals a greenish-blue shell.
The characteristic crooked beak of the adult is not at all apparent in the
young bird, and only appears as it approaches maturity.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._
EUROPEAN FLAMINGOES.
These birds breed in the South of France and Spain.]
The huge flocks in which these birds consort are graphically described by
Mr. Abel Chapman as follows: "In herds of 300 to 400, several of which are
often in sight at once, they stand feeding in the open water, all their
heads under, greedily tearing up the grasses and water-plants from the
bottom. On approaching them, which can only be done by extreme caution,
their silence is first broken by the sentries, who commence walking away
with low croaks; then hundreds of necks rise at once to full extent, every
bird gaggling its loudest, as they walk obliquely away, looking back over
their shoulders, as though to take stock of the extent of the danger.
Pushing a few yards forward, up they all rise, and a more beautiful sight
cannot be imagined than the simultaneous spreading of the crimson wings,
flashing against the sky like a gleam of rosy light. In many respects these
birds bear a strong resemblance to geese. Like them, flamingoes feed by
day; and great quantities of grass, etc., are always floating about the
muddy water when a herd has been feeding. Their cry is almost
indistinguishable from the gaggling of geese, and they fly in the same
catenarian formations."
The SPOONBILLS and IBISES also belong to the Stork Tribe. The former are
remarkable chiefly for the strange spoon-shaped bill: one species, a few
hundred years ago, nested in England. This remarkable beak is associated
with a peculiar method of feeding, well described by the late Mr. Wolley.
During the operation, he says, "the beak was passed sideways through the
water, and kept open till something palatable came within its grasp; but
the action by which the bird effected this was most singular; for instead
of turning only its head and neck, it turned its whole body from left to
right and from right to left, like the balance-wheel of a watch; its neck
stretched out and its beak immersed perpendicularly to about half its
depth: this semicircular action was kept up with great vigour and at a
tolerably quick march."
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._
SPOONBILL.
So called on account of its spoon-shaped bill.]
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._
SACRED IBIS.
Sacred to the ancient Egyptians, it is known to the Abyssinians to-day as
"Father John."]
A graphic description by Mr. Alfred Crowley of a visit to the
breeding-haunts of the spoonbill, about fifteen miles from Amsterdam, in
1884, is well worth reproducing here: "Taking a small boat in tow, we were
punted across the open water, over which were flying numbers of
sand-martins, swifts, common and black terns, and black-headed gulls, the
reeds being full of coots, moorhens, sedge- and reed-warblers, etc., and in
the distance we saw, rising above the reeds occasionally, a small spoonbill
or purple heron. On nearing a large mass of reeds, one of the boatmen
struck the side of the punt with the pole, when up rose some fifty
spoonbills and eight or ten purple herons; and as we came closer to the
reeds there were soon hovering over our heads, within easy shot, some 200
of the former, and fifty or sixty of the latter. Strange to say, not a note
or sound escaped from the spoonbills, and only a few croaks from the
herons. On reaching the reeds, we moored our punt, and two of the men,
wading in the mud, took us in the small boat about fifty yards through the
reeds, where we found ourselves surrounded by spoonbills' nests. They were
placed on the mud among the reeds, built about 1 foot or 18 inches high and
2 feet in diameter at the bottom, tapering to 1 foot at the top, where
there was a slight depression, in which lay four eggs, or in most cases
four young birds, many ready to leave the nest, and several ran off as we
approached. In the nests with young there was a great difference in age and
size, one being about a day or so old, and the oldest nearly ready to leave
the nest--some two or three weeks old--so that evidently the birds lay
their four eggs at considerable intervals, and begin to sit on depositing
the first. After wandering about, a matter of difficulty on account of the
mud, we found a clutch of only three eggs, and one of four, which I managed
to blow. We also obtained two clutches of eggs of the purple heron, but
some of the latter had young."
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
YOUNG HERONS FOURTEEN DAYS OLD IN NEST.
Photographed in the top of a pine-tree 60 feet from the ground, in Lord
Clarendon's Park.]
The IBISES, though much alike in form, are strangely diverse in colour. One
species was sacred to the ancient Egyptians. The reverence and affection
they showed to this bird, above all others, is probably largely due to its
migrating habits, which obtained in that far past just as they do to-day.
The naturalist Brehm says on this subject: "When the Nile, after being at
its lowest ebb, rose again, and the water assumed a red tinge, then the
ibis appeared in the land of the Pharaohs as a sure guarantee that the
stream--the giver and preserver of life, which the people in their profound
reverence raised to the rank of a god--would once again empty the
well-spring of plenty over the thirsty land. The servant and messenger of
an all-bounteous Deity commanded of a necessity a reverence of a poetic and
distinguished character, by reason of its importance: he too must be a
god."
Another species, the GLOSSY IBIS, occurs sometimes in Britain. Perhaps the
most beautiful of all is the SCARLET IBIS of America, numbers of which can
be seen in the Zoological Gardens of London. On account of the curved,
sickle-shaped bill the Ibises were at one time believed to be related to
the Curlews: this, however, is now known to be quite incorrect.
It was at one time believed that "the ibis [was] adopted as a part of the
arms of the town of Liverpool. This bird is termed a _Liver_, from which
that flourishing town derived its name, and is now standing on the spot
where the _Pool_ was, on the verge of which the _Liver_ was killed." The
arms of the town of Liverpool, however, as Mr. Howard Saunders points out,
are "comparatively modern, and seem to have no reference to the ibis. The
bird which was adopted in the arms of the [extinct] Earls of Liverpool was
described in a former edition of 'Burke's Peerage' as a cormorant, holding
in the beak a branch of seaweed. In the Plantagenet seal of Liverpool,
which is believed to be of the time of King John, the bird has the
appearance of a dove, bearing in its bill a sprig of olive, apparently
intended to refer to the advantages that commerce would derive from peace."
The glossy ibis has been found breeding in colonies of thousands in
Slavonia. The nests are large structures formed of sticks and a few weeds,
never far from the water, and many even, in the colony referred to, were so
near the surface that they appeared to be floating. The eggs, three or four
in number, are of a beautiful greenish blue. The young, while still unable
to fly, climb actively among the branches of the trees in which the nest is
placed, clinging so firmly with the feet as to be removed with difficulty.
[Illustration: _By permission of Professor Bumpus_] [_New York._
GREAT BLUE HERON.
This bird ranges from the Arctic regions to the West Indies and South
America.]
THE HERONS AND BITTERNS.
In the first mentioned of these two groups the COMMON HERON is the best
known in the British Islands. Indeed, there must be few who have not
encountered it in a wild state at some time or another. In suitable spots
it may occasionally be met with standing mid-leg in water on the look-out
for eels and other fish and frogs, a diet varied by an occasional young
bird or small mammal. Sometimes this prey is hunted, so to speak, the bird
walking along with a slow, measured step, striking with lightning rapidity
and wonderful precision the moment its victim is sighted, whilst at others
it stands motionless, as when fishing, striking the instant the
unsuspecting eel or flounder comes within range.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._
COMMON NIGHT-HERON.
This bird occasionally visits the British Islands.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
YOUNG COMMON HERONS.
These birds have not yet acquired their full plumage.]
From the earliest times until the reign of William IV. the heron was
specially protected by law, being held in high regard both as an object of
sport and a desirable addition to the dinner-table. So late as James I.'s
time an Act was passed making it illegal to shoot with any gun within 600
paces of a heronry. The favourite way of taking the heron was by hawking, a
sport which has furnished material in abundance both for poet and painter.
Herons breed in more or less extensive colonies, the nests--somewhat bulky
structures, made of sticks and lined with twigs--being placed in the tops
of high trees. From four to six is the normal number of eggs, and these are
of a beautiful sea-green colour. The young are thinly clad in long,
hairy-looking down, and for some considerable time are quite helpless.
Similar in appearance to the common heron is the American GREAT BLUE HERON,
though it is by no means the largest of the herons, as its name might seem
to imply. This distinction belongs to the GOLIATH HERON. A native of
Africa, it is remarkable not only for its size, but for an extraordinary
development of long, loose feathers hanging down from the lower part of the
breast, and bearing a strange resemblance to an apron, concealing the upper
part of the legs.
Passing over many species, we pause to descant on the EGRETS. These are
numbered amongst the most unfortunate of birds, and this because of the
gracefulness and beauty of certain parts of the plumage worn during the
breeding-season, which are coveted alike by Eastern magnates and Western
women. The feathers in question are those known as "egrets," or, more
commonly, "ospreys"; and their collection, as Professor Newton points out,
causes some of "the most abominable cruelty practised in the animal world."
The wearing of these feathers can no longer be excused; for Sir William
Flower in England, and Professor W. E. D. Scott in America, have given the
greatest publicity to the horrible barbarities and sickening scenes which
are perpetrated by the men sent to gather in this harvest. The egrets,
however, are not the only victims, as a glance at the milliners' windows
will show, the distorted and mangled bodies of almost every known species
of the smaller birds being therein displayed! Many of those who wear these
"ornaments" offend unwittingly; it is certain that if they realised the
suffering and waste of life that this method of decoration entails they
would eschew any but ostrich feathers for ever.
[Illustration: _Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt_] [_Washington._
GREEN HERON.
This is a North American bird of skulking and nocturnal habits.]
The CATTLE-EGRET, better known as the BUFF-BACKED HERON, breeds in the
southern portion of the Spanish Peninsula, where from March to autumn it is
very common in the marshes of Andalusia, thousands congregating there,
herding with the cattle, from the backs of which they may be often seen
picking off the ticks; hence the Spaniards give them a name meaning
"cattle-cleaners."
The NIGHT-HERONS are comparatively small birds, and derive their name from
their habit of turning night into day, waking up only as the shades of
evening fall to hunt for food; only during the breeding-season is this
habit broken through, when they are obliged to hunt for food for their
young during the daytime. They breed in colonies, in bushes or low trees in
the neighbourhood of swamps. In some places they are protected--as, for
instance, round the Great Honam Temple at Canton, where these birds are
held sacred.
Colonel Swinhoe, says Mr. Howard Saunders, describes the nests "as placed
thickly in some venerable banyans, the granite slabs that form the pavement
beneath the trees being bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while
from the nests arose the chattering cry of the callow broods, for which the
parent birds were catering the whole day long, becoming more active at
sunset. As darkness set in, the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a
fearful pitch."
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._
BUFF-BACKED HERON.
This bird habitually picks insects from the backs of cattle.]
In Hungary large numbers of herons and egrets breed together in the
marshes, egrets and night-herons breeding together with the common and
purple herons. Landbeck, an enthusiastic ornithologist, writes of such
heronries: "The clamour in these breeding-places is so tremendous and
singular in its character as almost to defy description; it must be heard
before a person can form any idea of what it is like. At a distance these
hideous noises blend with a confused roar, so as in some way to resemble
the hubbub caused by a party of drunken Hungarian peasants; and it is only
on a nearer approach the separate notes of the two species, the common and
the night-heron, can be distinguished--namely, 'craik' and 'quack,' to
which the notes of the young, 'zek-zek-zek,' ... in different keys, serve
as an accompaniment. When close to, the noise is tremendous and the stench
unbearable. This, together with the sight of dozens of young herons in
every stage of putrefaction and teeming with maggots, is perfectly
sickening, though the contemplation of life and movement in this immense
heronry is a matter of interest to the true ornithologist.... The tops of
the highest trees are usually occupied by the nests of the common heron; a
little lower down is the habitation of the shy and beautiful GREAT EGRET,
while in the forks of the lowest branches the night-heron takes up her
abode. All these species build in one and the same tree, the nests
numbering not infrequently as many as fifteen in a single tree, and yet
peace invariably reigns amongst all these varieties. High over the trees
appears the common heron, laden with booty, announcing his arrival with a
hoarse 'craaich,' when, changing his note to a goose-like 'da-da-da-da,' he
either jerks the provender down the throats of the ever-hungry youngsters
or throws it up before them, when the fish are greedily swallowed, amid a
desperate accompaniment of 'gohé-é-é-é, gohé-é-é-é',' a sound much
resembling the frantic cry of a calf which is being lifted into a farmer's
market-cart. The conduct of the more cautious egret is very different.
Circling far above the nest, she first satisfies herself that no foe is
hidden below before she alights among her family, which are much quieter
and less hasty than their cousins. The night-herons, on the contrary,
approach their nests from all sides, high and low, their crops filled with
frogs, fish, and insects. A deep 'quâk' or 'gowek' announces the arrival of
the old bird already from some distance, to which the young answer, while
feeding, with a note resembling 'queht, queht,' or 'quehaoâheh, quehoehah'.
As soon as the parents have taken their departure the youngsters recommence
their concert, and from every nest uninterrupted cries of 'tzik, tzik,
tzik, tzek-tzek, tzek,' and 'gétt, gétt-gétt,' are the order of the day.
This amusement is varied by the nestlings climbing out among the branches
till they reach the top of the tree, whence they can have a good look-out,
and can see the old birds returning home from a long distance, though they
are in many cases often mistaken in their identity."
A common North American bird is the so-called GREEN HERON, known by many
local aliases, such as "Fly-up-the-Creek," "Chalk-line," and
"Chuckle-head." Seen at short range, its plumage is lustrous and beautiful,
but this disappears as soon as the bird takes wing. The nest is of very
loose construction; and a story is told of one which was such a shaky
concern that every time the old birds jarred it a stick fell off, and the
structure grew smaller and smaller, until the day when the young were ready
to fly there were but three sticks left; finally these parted, and the
little herons found themselves perching on the branch that once held the
nest!
THE BITTERNS.
These are birds of a remarkable type of coloration, adapted to aid their
skulking habits. The coloration partakes so completely of the nature of the
undergrowth among which they dwell, that, aided by certain peculiar habits
described below, they succeed in harmonising so perfectly with their
surroundings as to render themselves invisible to their enemies.
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
INDIAN CATTLE-EGRET.
This is a species of buff-backed heron, and earns its name from its habit
of hovering round cattle for the sake of picking off the ticks by which
they are infested.]
The best-known species is the COMMON BITTERN, though this epithet is no
longer applicable, for at the present time it is but an occasional visitant
to Britain. Once it was plentiful enough, as the frequent references both
in prose and poetry bear witness. These references have been inspired
mainly by its very peculiar note, made apparently only during the
breeding-season. This sound is variously described as "booming,"
"bellowing," and "bumping," and many are the theories which have been
invented to account for its origin. Thomson, in "The Seasons," says that it
is made whilst the beak is thrust into the mud:--
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulf'd
To shake the sounding marsh.
Chaucer, that it is caused whilst it is immersed under water; and Dryden
represents it as made by thrusting the bill into a reed. Mr. J. E. Harting
is one of the few who have actually watched the bird during the production
of the sound, and from him we gather that it is made by expelling the air
from the throat whilst the head is held vertically upwards.
The protective coloration and the peculiar habits associated therewith have
only recently been recognised. These birds, when threatened, do not take
flight, but immediately bring the body and the long neck and pointed head
into one vertical line, and remain absolutely motionless so long as the
cause of alarm persists. The peculiar coloration of the body harmonises so
perfectly with the surrounding undergrowth, that, as just remarked,
detection is well-nigh impossible. Although the pattern and tone of the
coloration vary in the various species of bittern--which occur all over the
world--this principle of protection obtains in all.
The drainage of the fens is answerable for the extinction of the bittern in
England.
We would draw special attention to the great length of the feathers on the
neck, which, when the bird is excited, are extended on either side to form
an enormous feather shield. This is admirably shown in the photograph
below, which represents a bittern preparing to strike. It is a curious fact
that, when extended, the hind part of the neck is protected only by a thin
coat of down. When the excitement has passed, the elongated feathers fall
again, and, curling round the unprotected area, give the bird the
appearance of having a perfectly normally clothed neck.
A wounded bittern will strike at either man or dog, and is extremely
dangerous, owing to the sharpness of its dagger-like bill. If a dog
advances on one not entirely disabled, the bird immediately turns itself
upon its back, and fights with beak and claws, after the fashion of a
wounded hawk or owl. Owing to the way in which the neck can be tucked up,
by throwing it into a series of curves, and then suddenly extended, great
danger attends the approach of the unwary.
The bittern is by no means particular in its choice of food, small mammals,
birds, lizards, frogs, fishes, and beetles being alike palatable. The
writer remembers taking from the gullet and stomach of one of these birds
no less than four water-voles, three of which had apparently been killed
only just before it was shot, for the process of digestion had hardly
begun.
On migration these birds appear to travel in flocks of considerable size,
since Captain Kelham reports having seen as many as fifty together high up
in the air, when between Alexandria and Cairo. Curiously enough, they flew
like "a gaggle" of geese--in the form of a V; but every now and then he
noticed they, for some reason or other, got into great confusion.
At one time the flesh of the bittern was much esteemed as food for the
table, being likened in taste and colour to the leveret, with some of the
flavour of wild-fowl. Sir Thomas Browne, who flourished during the middle
of the seventeenth century, says that young bitterns were considered better
eating than young herons.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. L. Bonhote, Esq._
COMMON BITTERN.
Preparing to attack (side view).]
In the fourteenth century it bred in considerable numbers in the fens of
Cambridgeshire, and was so highly esteemed as a bird for the table that the
taking of its eggs was forbidden. At a court-baron of the Bishop of Ely,
according to Mr. J. E. Harting, held at Littleport in the eleventh year of
the reign of Edward II., several people were fined for taking the eggs of
the bittern and carrying them out of the fen, to the great destruction of
the birds. Decreasing steadily in numbers, the bittern continued to breed
in Britain till the middle of the nineteenth century, one of the last nests
being taken in Norfolk in 1868.
[Illustration: _Photo by Henry King, Sydney._
AUSTRALIAN COCKATOO.
The sulphur-coloured crest of this bird is arranged in the form of a
horse-shoe.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin._
MACAW.
Next to the brilliancy of its colouration, the most striking feature about
this bird is its huge beak.]
[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville Kent, F.Z.S._
MALE RUFF IN FULL BREEDING PLUMAGE.
This wonderful plumage is worn only for a few weeks in the year.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Henry King, Sydney._
LAUGHING JACKASS.
This bird is a species of Kingfisher, and has acquired its name on account
of its most extraordinary cry.]
_Printed at Lyons, France._
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._
EGYPTIAN PELICAN.
In the Pelicans the two sexes are coloured alike.]
THE PELICAN TRIBE.
[Illustration: _Photo by the Duchess of Bedford_] [_Woburn Abbey._
CRESTED PELICAN.
This bird derives its name from the curiously curled feathers on the top of
the head and nape of the neck.]
The members of the Pelican Tribe may be readily distinguished from other
living birds by the fact that all their toes are united in a common fold of
skin or web. In the Ducks and other web-footed birds only the front toes
are so united.
The Pelican Tribe embraces several apparently dissimilar forms, whose only
claim to be grouped together, judged from a superficial point of view, lies
in the fact that they possess the peculiar type of foot above mentioned.
With the general appearance of the Pelican itself probably every one is
familiar, but we had better mention here that the other representatives of
the group with which we have now to deal are the Cormorants and Gannets,
common on the British coasts, and the less-known Darters, Frigate-birds,
and Tropic-birds; these, as we know from their anatomy, are all closely
allied forms, and with the Pelicans make up a somewhat isolated group whose
nearest allies appear to be the members of the Stork Tribe.
The PELICAN figures largely in ecclesiastical heraldry as the type of
maternal tenderness. Tradition has it that the bird, in admonishing its
young, occasionally did so with such violence as to slay them. Remorse
immediately following, the distracted parent drew blood from its own
breast, and therewith sprinkled the victims of its wrath, which thereupon
became restored to life again. The exhaustion following on this loss of
blood was so great that the young had perforce to leave the nest to procure
food for themselves and the sinking parent. If any, through lack of filial
affection, refused to aid in this good work, the mother, on recovering
strength, drove them from her presence, but the faithful children she
permitted to follow her wherever she went.
One of the most remarkable features of the pelican is the pouch which hangs
suspended from the under side of the beak. This is capable of great
distension, and is used, when fishing, as a sort of bag-net, of which the
upper jaw serves as the lid. The young are fed by the female, which,
pressing her well-filled pouch against her breast, opens her mouth and
allows them to take their fill therefrom.
Pelicans display great sagacity when fishing, a flock often combining to
form a horseshoe, and, driving the fish into a mass, take their fill. This
method, of course, is only possible when fishing in the estuaries of rivers
or lakes, where the fish can be "rounded up," so to speak. Clumsy as the
pelican looks, it is yet capable of wonderful powers of flight; indeed, it
shares the honour with the vultures, storks, and adjutants as an expert in
the peculiar form of flight known as "soaring."
A North American species of pelican is remarkable in that during the
breeding-season the beak is ornamented with a peculiar horny excrescence,
which is shed as soon as that period is over.
[Illustration: _Photo by D. Le Souef_] [_Melbourne._
YOUNG AUSTRALIAN PELICAN.
Pelicans, like gannets and cormorants, are hatched perfectly naked and
quite blind.]
Pelicans are natives of the tropical and temperate regions of the Old and
New Worlds, and live in flocks often numbering many thousands. The nest is
placed on the ground, and therein are deposited two white eggs. The young
are helpless for some time after hatching.
In all some six-and-thirty species of CORMORANTS are known to science, of
which two are commonly to be met with round the British coasts, one of
which also travels inland to establish itself on such lakes and rivers as
may afford it support.
In various parts of the world cormorants are taken when young and trained
to catch fish: sometimes for sport, or--as in China--to furnish a
livelihood for their owners. At one time the Master of the Cormorants was
one of the officers in the Royal Household of England, the post having been
created in 1611 by James I. The method of hunting is as follows:--After
fastening a ring around the neck, the bird is cast off into the water, and,
diving immediately, makes its way beneath the surface with incredible
speed, and, seizing one fish after another, rises in a short space of time
with its mouth full and throat distended by the fish, which it has been
unable to swallow by reason of the restraining ring. With these captures it
dutifully returns to its keeper, who deftly removes the fish, and either
returns the bird to the water, or, giving it a share of the spoil, restores
it to its perch.
Cormorants nest either in trees or on the ground; they lay from four to six
eggs, and the young feed themselves by thrusting their heads far down the
parents' throats and helping themselves to the half-digested fish which
they find there.
The cormorant has a certain sinister appearance equalled by no other bird,
so that its introduction in Milton's "Paradise Lost" (Book IV., 194) seems
particularly appropriate. Satan, it will be remembered, is likened to a
cormorant:--
So clomb this first grand Thief into God's fold
. . . . . . .
Thence up he flew, and in the Tree of Life,
The middle tree and highest there that grew,
Sat like a cormorant.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._
YOUNG PELICANS.
Young pelicans never develop long down-feathers, like gannets and
frigate-birds.]
The curious bottle-green plumage, green eyes, long hooked beak, and head
surmounted by a crest of the smaller sea-loving representative of the two
British species were doubtless familiar enough to Milton before blindness
overtook him.
Some of our readers may have made the acquaintance of the cormorant's
nearest ally, the DARTER, or SNAKE-NECK, in the Fish-house at the
Zoological Gardens of London. For the sake of those who have not, we may
say that the darter may be described as a long-necked cormorant, with
somewhat lighter plumage. The head is small and flat, and armed with a
pointed, dagger-like bill, whose edges are finely toothed, with needle-like
points projecting backwards. The neck is very long and slender; hence its
name of Snake-neck. Furthermore, it is remarkable for a very strange
"kink," formed by a peculiar arrangement of the neck-bones--an arrangement
intimately associated with its peculiar method of capturing its prey,
which, as with the cormorant, is pursued under water. How dexterously this
is done may be seen any day in the Fish-house at the Zoological Gardens,
where, as we have already mentioned, these birds are kept. At feeding-time
they are turned loose into a large tank into which a number of small fish
have been placed. The birds dive as soon as they reach the water, and with
surprising speed chase their prey till within short range. Then, by a
sudden bayonet-like lunge, made possible by the peculiar "kink" in the
neck, a victim is transfixed, brought to the surface, released from the
bill by a series of sudden jerks, tossed into the air, and dexterously
caught and swallowed.
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
CORMORANT.
In the spring a slight crest is developed, and a white patch appears on the
thigh.]
The darter is found in Africa, India, the Malay region, Australia, and
South America, frequenting the banks of rivers, lakes, and swamps,
sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs or in immense flocks.
Very different from either of the foregoing species, both in build and
coloration, is the GANNET. In its habits it is also different. The adult
bird is about the size of a goose, white in colour, and armed with a
powerful pointed bill. The young have a quite distinct plumage, being deep
brown, speckled with white, this livery being worn for nearly three years.
The greater part of a gannet's lifetime seems to be spent upon the wing, a
fact which implies a very different method of feeding from that followed by
the cormorant and darter; and this is actually the case. Preying upon
shoals of herring, mackerel, sprats, or pilchards, the birds, flying singly
or in flocks, as soon as the fish are discovered, rise, soar in circles to
such a height as experience shows best calculated to carry them by a
downward motion to the required depth, and then, partially closing the
wings, plunge upon their prey, and rarely without success, the time which
elapses between the plunge and the immersion being about fifteen seconds. A
flock of gannets feeding is a really wonderful sight, and can be witnessed
in many places around the British coasts, for the gannet is one of the very
common British birds. The pilchard-fishermen off the Cornish coast learn
when the shoals are at hand, and the direction in which they are
travelling, by the actions of these birds. A very cruel experiment is
sometimes practised upon the gannet, based upon its well-known method of
fishing. A herring is tied to a beam and set adrift, and the bird, not
noticing the trap, plunges with its usual velocity upon the fish, with the
result that it is killed instantly by the shock of the contact.
[Illustration: _By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild_] [_Tring._
FRIGATE-BIRDS AT HOME.
The feathers of frigate-birds are used for head-dresses in the Pacific
Islands.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
YOUNG GANNETS, FIRST YEAR.
The plumage at this stage is very dark brown, each feather being tipped
with white.]
Gannets breed in colonies of thousands on the islands off the east and west
coasts of Scotland. They lay but a single egg, in a nest composed of
seaweed deposited in inaccessible crags of precipitous cliffs. The young
are at first naked; later they become clothed with long white down. "At one
time," says Mr. Howard Saunders, "young gannets were much esteemed as food,
from 1,500 to 2,000 being taken in a season during the month of August.
They are hooked up, killed, and flung into the sea, where a boat is waiting
to pick up the bodies. These are plucked, cleaned, and half roasted, after
which they are sold at from eightpence to a shilling each.... The fat is
boiled down into oil, and the feathers, after being well baked, are used
for stuffing beds, about a hundred birds producing a stone of feathers."
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
GANNET, SECOND YEAR.
The white plumage of the neck is just beginning to appear.]
Gannets present one or two structural peculiarities of sufficient interest
to mention here. In most birds, it will be remembered, the nostrils open on
each side of the beak; but in the gannet no trace of true nostrils remains;
and the same may almost be said of the cormorant and darter. In gannets,
however, a slight indication of their sometime existence remains, though
the nostril itself no longer serves as an air-passage; and these birds are
compelled to breathe through the mouth. Again, the tongue, like the
nostrils, has also been reduced to a mere vestige. Stranger still is the
fact that immediately under the skin there lies an extensive system of
air-cells of large size, which can be inflated or emptied at will. Many of
these cells dip down between the muscles of the body, so that the whole
organism is pervaded with air-cells, all of which are in connection with
the lungs.
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
GANNET, FULL PLUMAGE.
The fully adult plumage is not attained till the bird is three years old.]
The FRIGATE- and TROPIC-BIRDS, which now remain to be described, are
probably much less familiar to our readers than the foregoing species.
[Illustration: _Photo by Valentine & Sons, Ltd._] [_Dundee._
GANNETS ON THE BASS ROCK.
The Bass Rock is the only breeding-station of the gannet on the eastern
coast of the British Islands.]
FRIGATE-BIRDS are remarkable in more ways than one. To begin with, their
general appearance may be described as that of a small, long-winged,
fork-tailed albatross, mounted upon particularly diminutive legs, so short
as to do little more than raise the body off the ground. Their flight is
wonderfully graceful, and capable of being sustained for considerable
periods; for, like the gannets, they pass most of their time on the wing.
They feed upon surface-fish, which they capture from the surface of the
water without alighting, or upon fish which they take from the gannets of
the neighbourhood.
Frigate-birds build their nests in trees, on low bushes, or on the ground,
and sometimes upon ledges of precipitous cliffs. The nest is a loose
structure composed of sticks, and its construction is accompanied by much
pilfering from one another. Only a single egg is laid.
About the beginning of January the male acquires a very remarkable pouch of
brilliant scarlet skin, which hangs beneath the beak. Frigate-birds are
found all over the world within the tropics.
The TROPIC-BIRDS, or BOATSWAIN-BIRDS, as they are sometimes called, are
more like gulls or the heavier species of terns in general appearance, and
in no way resemble superficially the forms with which they are associated,
save in the fact that all the toes are enclosed in the same web. A study of
their anatomy, however, leaves little doubt that these birds are really
members of the Pelican Tribe.
Either pure white, relieved with black, or of a beautiful apricot-yellow,
with similar black markings, with a powerful bill and long tapering tail,
the tropic-bird is one of the most beautiful of sea-birds. There are
altogether about six species of tropic-birds, distributed over the Pacific
and Indian Oceans. They nest in hollows of cliffs or holes in trees, and
lay a single egg, which bears some resemblance to that of a kestrel.
----