March, and depart in October; some years, a few individuals remain during
winter. The nests are composed of grass and seaweed, generally placed on
the bare rock or earth elevated in the form of a truncated cone, of which
the base is about twenty inches in diameter, with a shallow terminal
cavity. On the summit of the island are numerous holes in the turf, formed
by the Gannets in pulling away grass and turf for their nests; these are
placed in all parts of the rock where a convenient spot occurs, but are
much more numerous towards the summit. Some of them, which have been
occupied for years on the face of the cliff, or in a shallow fissure, are
piled up to the height of from three to five feet; but in this case they
always lean against the rock. The egg, which is solitary and presents
nothing remarkable in its position, is of an elongated oval form, white,
dull, with a chalky surface, usually sullied or patched with yellowish
brown dirt. It is subjected to rough usage, for the bird when alighting,
flying off, or disturbed by the intrusion of human visitors, tosses it
about, and often stands upon it. All the movements of the Gannets on land
are very awkward; it hobbles or waddles when it tries to walk, stares at
you with its white goggle eyes, opens its ugly black throat, and emits a
torrent of crackling sounds.
"When sitting, the Gannets allow a person to approach within three feet,
sometimes much nearer, so that one may even touch them. When approached,
they merely open their bill and utter their usual cry, or rise to their
feet and express some degree of resentment, but little apprehension of
danger. They take advantage of the absence of their neighbours to pilfer
the materials of their nests; frequently two join in the same act, and
occasionally two may be seen at the same bunch, endeavouring to wrest it
from each other. They are constantly repairing their nests, which, being
composed in a great measure of seaweeds, shrink up in dry weather and
decompose in wet; and when seated close together have frequent quarrels.
I saw one seize its neighbour by the back of the neck, and hold fast
until the assaulted bird, I may say, roared out; but in general they
are satisfied with menacing each other with their open bills and loud
clamour." Owing to their so often interfering with each other, a constant
noise is kept up amongst them. Their cry is hoarse and harsh, and may be
expressed by the syllables, "Carra, carra," or "Kirra, kirra;" sometimes
it is "Crac, crac," or "Cra, cra," or "Cree, cree." The cry varies
considerably in different individuals, some having a sharper voice than
others, and when unusually irritated they repeat it with great rapidity.
When first hatched they have a smooth, bare, black skin; this soon becomes
covered with white down, which thickens until the nestlings present the
appearance of a powder-puff; through this down the true feathers, which
are black, appear, and are followed by the adult white plumage.
"The old bird," says Macgillivray, "at first feeds its young with a
kind of fish-soup, prepared in its own gullet and stomach, and which
it introduces, drop by drop as it were, into its throat; but when its
nursling is pretty well grown, it places its bill within its mouth and
disgorges the fish, either whole or in fragments. It never carries fish to
the rock in its bill. Upon the Cornish coast these birds are most abundant
in autumn and winter."
"The fishermen," says Mr. Couch, "learn by their actions when shoals of
pilchards are present, and what course they are pursuing. The Gannet takes
its prey in a different manner from any other of our aquatic birds; for,
traversing the air in all directions, as soon as it discovers the fish, it
rises to such a height as experience shows best calculated to carry it by
a downward motion to the required depth, and then, partially closing its
wings, it falls perpendicularly on the prey, and rarely without success,
the time between the plunge and immersion being about fifteen seconds."
THE FRIGATE BIRD.
The FRIGATE BIRD (_Tachypetes aquila_) has deservedly been called the
"Eagle of the Sea." The most conspicuous feature whereby it may be
distinguished among all allied species, is the enormous development of
its wings. Its body is slim, the neck powerful, and the head of moderate
size; the beak is half as long again as the head, somewhat depressed at
its base, vaulted above, and strongly hooked at the tip; the apex of the
under mandible is bent downwards in a corresponding manner; the space
beneath the lower mandible is large, broad, and denuded of feathers; the
gape extends backwards to beneath the eyes; the tarsus is very short,
powerful, and covered with feathers as far as the feet; the web between
the toes is extremely narrow, looking as if a portion of it had been cut
away; the toes are furnished with strong, sharp, curved claws, that on the
inner side being toothed; the wing is of inordinate length, and sharply
pointed at the tip, the first quill being the longest; the tail consists
of twelve feathers, and is very long and deeply forked; the general
plumage is compact, smooth, and glossy; upon the head, neck, and breast
the feathers are elongated, upon the mantle round, and upon the breast
fur-like; the throat and a space around the eyes are naked. The colour of
the plumage of the adult male is brownish black, shimmering with metallic
green and purple on the head, nape, back, and sides; upon the wings it is
shaded with grey; and upon the secondary quills and tail with brown; the
eye is deep or greyish brown, the naked space around the eye purple-blue,
the beak light blue at the root, white in the middle, and dark horn-colour
at the point; the sac beneath the throat is orange-yellow. The length of
the Frigate Bird is forty-one inches, the spread of the wings twenty-five
inches, length of tail eighteen inches. The weight of the entire bird is
only a little more than three pounds. The female is distinguishable by
her lighter tint and duller colours, and by her breast being more or less
covered with white feathers.
The Frigate Bird is to be found in the same latitude as the "Sons of
the Sun," braving with them the fervour of inter-tropical heat, but it
seldom wanders so far from land as they. It has indeed been reported to
have been seen at a distance of from six hundred to seven hundred miles
from the nearest coast, but generally speaking, it seldom flies to more
than from twenty to fifty miles from the shore, to which it usually
resorts in stormy weather. At the earliest dawn of morning it leaves its
sleeping-place, and may soon afterwards be observed making broad circles
in the air, or flying rapidly against the wind towards the sea in search
of food. After catching fishes until satisfied, it returns to the dry
land, which it reaches, should the weather be stormy, about noon, but
if fine, not until later in the day. Mr. Gosse, wishing to know at what
time this species retired to their resting-places, visited one of these,
arriving there just at sunset, but found to his mortification that he was
too late; already the Frigate Birds, Gannets, and Pelicans that resorted
to the spot, had retired to roost. At his approach, however, the whole
assembly rose as it were in a mass from the trees where they had been
reposing, the Frigate Birds instantly flying far out to sea, or sailing in
beautiful circles high in the air, neither did they return until darkness
had completely set in. A few days later, the same observer visited the
place at an earlier hour, arriving about three or four o'clock in the
afternoon, but even then he found that the greater number of them had got
home, and were quietly digesting the result of their day's employment.
[Illustration: THE FRIGATE BIRD (_Tachypetes aquila_). ONE-FIFTH NATURAL
SIZE.]
This bird, according to Bennett, being incapable of swimming and diving,
may generally be seen on the alert for flying-fish, when these are started
into the air by Albicores and Bonitas, and when unsuccessful it is
compelled to resort to a system of plundering other sea-birds. The quiet
and industrious tribes, the Gannets and Sea Swallows (_Sterna hirundo_,
Linn.), are generally selected as objects of attack, and on returning to
their haunts to feed their young brood, after having been out fishing all
day, are stopped in mid-air by the marauding Frigate Bird, and compelled
to deliver up some of their prey, which, being disgorged by them, is most
dexterously caught by the plunderer before it reaches the water. A Frigate
Bird has been observed to soar over the mast-head of a ship, and tear away
the pieces of coloured cloth appended to the vane.
"About the middle of May," says Audubon, "a period which to me appeared
very late for birds found in so warm a climate as the Florida Keys, the
Frigate Pelicans assemble in flocks of from fifty to five hundred pairs
or more. They are seen flying at a great height over the islands on
which they have bred many previous seasons, courting for hours together,
after which they return towards the mangroves, alight on them, and at
once begin to repair the old nests or construct new ones. They pillage
each other's nests of their materials, and make excursions for more to
the nearest Keys. They break the dry twigs of a tree with ease, passing
swiftly on wing and snapping them off by a single grasp of their powerful
bill. It is indeed a beautiful sight to see them when thus occupied,
especially when several are so engaged, passing and repassing with the
swiftness of thought over the trees whose tops are blasted; their purpose
appears accomplished as if by magic. It sometimes happens that this bird
accidentally drops a stick while travelling towards its nest, when, if
this should happen over the water, it plunges after it, and seizes it with
its bill before it has reached the waves. The nests are usually placed on
the south side of the Keys, and on such trees as hang over the water, some
low, others high; several in a single tree, or only one, according to the
size of the mangrove, but in some cases lining the whole island. They are
composed of sticks crossing each other, to the height of about two inches,
and are flattish, but not very large. When the birds are incubating, their
long wings and tails are seen extending beyond the nest for more than a
foot. The eggs are two or three--more frequently the latter--in number,
measure two inches and seven-eighths in length, two in breadth, being thus
of a rather elongated form, and have a thick smooth shell of a greenish
white colour, frequently soiled with the filth of the nests. The young are
covered with yellowish white down, and look at first as if they had no
feet. They are fed by regurgitation, but grow tardily, and do not leave
the nest until they are able to follow their parents on the wing."
"The Frigate Pelican," continues the same authority, "is possessed of a
power of flight which I imagine superior perhaps to that of any other
bird. However swiftly the Cayenne Tern, the smaller Gulls, or the Jager
move on wing, it seems a matter of mere sport to it to overtake any of
them. The Goshawk, the Peregrine, and the Gyr Falcon, which I conceive to
be the swiftest of our Hawks, are obliged to pursue their victim, should
it be a Green-winged Teal, or Passenger Pigeon, at times for half a mile
at the highest pitch of their speed before they can secure it. The bird
of which I speak comes from on high with the velocity of a meteor, and on
nearing the object of its pursuit, which its keen eye has spied out while
fishing at a distance, darts on either side to cut off all retreat, and
with open bill forces it to drop or disgorge the fish which it has just
caught. Upon one occasion I observed a Frigate Bird that had forced a
Cayenne Tern, yet in sight, to drop a fish, which the broad-winged warrior
had seized as it fell; this fish was rather large for the Tern, and might
probably be about eight inches in length; the Frigate Bird mounted with
it across his bill about a hundred yards, and then, tossing it up, caught
it as it fell, but not in the proper manner; he therefore dropped it,
but before it had fallen many yards caught it again. Still it was not
in a good position, the weight of the head, it seemed, having prevented
the bird from seizing it by that part. A second time the fish was thrown
upward, and now at last was received in a convenient manner, that is, with
its head downwards, and swallowed. These birds are gregarious, and utter
a rough croaking cry."
The Society Islanders ornament the head-dresses of the chiefs with the
feathers of these birds, climbing the cliffs, where they are congregated
during the breeding season, in order to procure them. The eggs are laid
on the sand, beneath a sheltering ledge in the lofty cliffs of Ascension
Island and other coasts, and in the low islands of the South Pacific.
According to Dr. Bennett, they roost and build in lofty trees. Mr. Burton
states that the female deposits one egg, and the male bird sits, a fact
clearly established, as one was absolutely taken by the hand while sitting.
* * * * *
The CORMORANTS (_Haliei_) are peculiarly-constructed birds, easily
recognisable by the following characters:--Their body is very much
elongated, almost cylindrical in shape, and powerfully built. Their neck
is very long, slender, or thin; their head small. The beak is of moderate
length, and either straight and sharp-pointed, or strongly bent down and
hooked at the end. The tarsus is short and compressed at the sides; the
toes large. The wings are long, but blunt at their extremity, owing to
the shortness of the primaries, of which the third is the longest. The
tail, which consists of twelve or fourteen feathers, is of medium size, or
moderately long, and scarcely at all arched; so that it looks very oddly
put on. The quills of the wings and tail are very hard, with the barbs
broad and strongly connected, the shafts being strong but flexible; the
feathers of the under side are loose and silky, those of the upper side
closely imbricated.
The members of this numerous family are to be met with in all parts of
the world, living equally well in the sea or in fresh water. Some species
are resident in the northern seas, but the greater number frequent the
temperate and torrid zones. Their habitat is very diversified; some
species seldom remove far from the sea, where they take their station on
some rocky island, others dwell in reedy marshes or in lakes formed by
rivers, only casually visiting the sea-coast; or follow the course of
rivers very far into the interior, where they remain during the breeding
season. The northern species are regular birds of passage, but those in
southern climates only wander from place to place.
The Cormorants are peculiarly adapted to an aquatic life; they are the
most gifted divers belonging to their order, and are almost equally
qualified for any other kind of locomotion. They walk tolerably on
level ground, and although their gait is somewhat vacillating, they are
strikingly at home amongst the branches of trees. Their flight is much
better than their appearance would seem to indicate, although when flying
they always look as if they were fatigued. As far as is possible, they
spend their time in the water, where they swim and dive with such skill
and perseverance as astonishes anyone who watches their exertions.
The name of these birds is indicative of their voracity, which it seems
impossible to satisfy; they will eat as much and as long as they can, and
immediately attack any other food that may happen to come within their
reach. They seem to rest simply for the purpose of again enabling them
to eat, and, with the exception of the very short period they employ in
pluming their feathers, their whole time is usually employed in eating
and sleeping. The expansiveness of their gullet enables them to swallow
fishes of considerable size, but these are rapidly digested, and their
craving appetite must again be satisfied. In lands occupied by man, their
presence is not tolerated, seeing that they do unspeakable damage to
fisheries, but in the ocean, where they can gorge _ad libitum_, without
interfering with mankind, they are at least of some service; they devour
fishes and convert them into guano. All the birds belonging to this family
build their nests in company with others of their race, and sometimes the
numbers thus congregated together amount to several thousand pairs. Their
nests are placed either on rocky islands, where they build in the clefts
and fissures, or upon the ledges of the rocks, or else in inland places
upon trees, forty or fifty of them together. When obliged to build their
own nests, they construct a rude framework of thick twigs, upon which
they pile sedges and other kinds of grass, which are heaped together in a
very slovenly manner, and moreover kept so wet that the contents literally
lie in a sort of puddle. Their eggs, generally from two to four in number,
are proportionately very small, and much elongated, they have a strong
white shell generally covered with soft chalky matter. Both sexes brood
alternately, with much self-devotion, and both assist in the nurture of
their young ones, which when first hatched are nearly naked, but at a
later period become clothed with a thick coat of dusky-coloured down. They
cannot be said to be fledged till they are nearly half grown, at which
period they begin to follow their parents into the water, by whom they are
instructed for a few days, and then left to their own devices.
* * * * *
The DARTERS, or SNAKE-NECKS (_Plotus_), we consider as indubitably
belonging to the family of the Cormorants, from which they are principally
distinguishable by the conformation of their neck and bill; in other
particulars of structure, more especially in their internal anatomy, they
resemble them so closely that to separate the two races, as many English
ornithologists have done, is out of the question. Cormorants they are in
their shape and the coloration of their plumage, and they are Cormorants
likewise in their habits and mode of life.
The Darters are characterised by the extraordinary elongation of their
bodies; the thinness of their snake-like necks; their small head and
straight, slender, acutely-pointed beak, the cutting edges of which
towards the apex are finely toothed. The legs are short, thick, strong,
and placed very far backwards; the feet are provided with long toes. The
wings are long, but rounded at their apices, their third quill being the
longest. The tail is long, and consists of twelve quill-feathers, each of
which becomes considerably increased in breadth towards its extremity. The
general plumage is handsome, and brightly coloured, the feathers upon the
upper surface being much elongated, while those on the under side of the
body are so lax as to resemble fur. In their internal structure, as we
learn from Audubon's dissections, these birds present all the anatomical
peculiarities of the Cormorants, the most considerable differences
being the smallness and slenderness of the skull and the structure of
the cervical vertebræ, which, from their great elongation, remind us of
those of the Herons. At the present time we are acquainted with four
distinct species of Snake-necks, which belong respectively to America,
Africa, Southern Asia, and New Holland; these differ considerably amongst
themselves, not only in shape and colour, but also in their mode of life.
THE ANHINGA.
The ANHINGA (_Plotus Anhinga_) has the head, neck, and all the under side
of the body velvet-black, shaded with green, the top of the head and
forehead being slightly speckled with greyish brown. The upper back and
upper surface of the wing are marked with patches of a lighter colour. The
shoulder and hinder wing-covers are longitudinally streaked with white,
the quills and tail-feathers are black, the latter shading into greyish
brown towards their apices. The eye is bright orange-red, or in some cases
dirty orange-yellow; the inner side of the leg is dingy yellowish brown,
its external surface dirty greyish brown. The length of this species is
thirty-five inches, breadth forty-five inches; length of wing thirteen
inches, length of tail, ten inches. In the female the head, hinder neck,
and back are of a grey-brown, the under surface is tawny, and the belly
brownish black.
Both the present species, and those inhabiting South Asia and Australia
live, if not exclusively, at least preferably, in fresh water. Tschudi,
indeed, asserts that the Anhinga has at times been met with on the open
sea fishing in company with twenty or thirty others, but we are very
doubtful as to the correctness of this statement.
In remote districts, seldom visited by man, these birds evince so little
shyness, that it is not difficult to procure specimens; all that is
requisite is to find out the trees upon which they sleep and towards
evening to take up a position in the vicinity and patiently await their
coming. When one of them is shot, all the survivors tumble, as if dead,
into the water below, where they immediately dive, and when they come up
again, only show their necks above the surface; moreover they generally
ensconce themselves among the floating weeds, where they are hidden
from observation. The Prince von Wied, when travelling in Brazil, tried
to shoot Anhingas from a boat, laying himself down at the bottom, and
allowing it to float with the stream until he came close to some of them,
at which he instantly fired; he found, however, that it was easier to
waste his shot than to kill the birds, as their bodies were completely
hidden in the water, and to hit their slender necks before they could be
withdrawn was a very different matter. Dr. Bachmann gives the following
interesting account of two Snake Birds which he brought home and kept with
a view to taming them:--
[Illustration: LE VAILLANT'S SNAKE BIRD, OR DARTER (_Plotus
Levaillantii_).]
"While these two birds," he says, "were yet in the same cage, it was
curious indeed to see the smaller one, when hungry, incessantly trying
to force its bill into the mouth and throat of the other, which, after
being thus teased for a short time, would open its mouth, to suffer the
little one to thrust its whole head down the throat of its brother,
from which it would receive the fish which the latter had swallowed. In
this singular manner did the larger bird--which after awhile proved to
be a male--continue to act as the foster-parent of his weaker sister,
which indeed seemed to be thrown on his protection. The one still in my
possession is fed on fish, which it picks up, tosses a few times in the
air, and swallows at the first convenient opportunity--that is, when
the fish falls towards its mouth head-foremost. At the outset, when the
fish was large, I had it cut into pieces, thinking that the apparent
slenderness of the bird's neck could not expand enough to swallow it
whole; but I soon ascertained that this was not necessary. Fish three
times the size of the neck were tossed up, seized by the expanded jaws and
gobbled at once, and immediately after, the bird would come to my feet,
clicking its bill in such an unequivocal manner that I never failed to
give it more. My pet was tame from the beginning of its captivity, and
followed me about the house and garden until it became quite troublesome
from its attachment to me. It was not until the bird was fully fledged
that I found it willing or anxious to go into the water; and then whenever
it saw me go towards the pond, it accompanied me as far as the gate of
the garden, seeming to say, 'Pray let me go.' On my opening the gate, it
at once followed me, waddling like a Duck; and no sooner was it in sight
of its favourite element than it immediately let itself in, not with a
plunge, but by dropping from a plank into the stream, where for awhile
it would swim like a Duck, then dipping its long neck, it would dive for
the purpose of procuring fish. The water was clear enough to enable me to
see all its movements; and after many devious windings, it would emerge
at the distance of forty or fifty yards. This bird sleeps in the open
air during warm nights, perched on the highest bar of the fence, with
its head under its wings, and in rainy weather it often sits in the same
position for nearly the whole day. It appears to be very susceptible of
cold, retreating to the kitchen and near the fire, battling with the cook
or the dogs for the most comfortable place on the hearth. Whenever the sun
shines, it spreads its wings and tail, rustles its feathers, and seems
delighted with our warmest sunny days. When walking, and occasionally
hopping, it does not support itself by the tail as Cormorants sometimes
do. When fishes are presented to it, it seizes and swallows them greedily;
but when these cannot be procured, we are forced to feed it on meat, when
it opens its mouth and receives the food placed in it. Occasionally it has
spent several days without any food; but in those cases the bird became
very troublesome, harassing all around by its incessant croakings, and
giving blows to the servants, as if to remind them of their neglect."
LE VAILLANT'S SNAKE BIRD.