EAGLES AND FALCONS.
THE EAGLES--THE BEARDED EAGLE, OR LÄMMERGEIER--A Visit to
their Nest--Habits--A Little Girl carried off alive--Habits
in Greece--Appearance--Von Tschudi’s and Captain Hutton’s
Descriptions of its Attacks--THE TRUE EAGLES--THE WEDGE-TAILED
EAGLE--Eye--Crystalline Lens--How Eagles may be Divided--THE IMPERIAL
EAGLE--THE GOLDEN EAGLE--In Great Britain--Macgillivray’s Description
of its Habits--Appearance--THE KITE EAGLE--Its Peculiar Feet--Its
Bird’s-nesting Habits--THE COMMON HARRIER EAGLE--THE INDIAN SERPENT
EAGLE--THE BATELEUR EAGLE--THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE--A Sea Eagle--Story
of Capture of some Young--THE SWALLOW-TAILED KITE--On the Wing--THE
COMMON KITE--THE EUROPEAN HONEY KITE--Habits--ANDERSSON’S PERN--THE
FALCONS--The Bill--THE CUCKOO FALCONS--THE FALCONETS--THE PEREGRINE
FALCON--Its Wonderful Distribution--Falconry--Names for Male,
Female, and Young--Hawks and Herons--THE GREENLAND JER-FALCON--THE
KESTRELS--THE COMMON KESTREL--Its Habits and Disposition.
THE THIRD SUB-FAMILY OF THE FALCONIDÆ.--THE EAGLES (_Aquilinæ_).
As already explained, the Eagles may be distinguished from the Buzzards
by their reticulated tarsus; otherwise the proportions of the leg-bones
are similar, the tibia being considerably longer than the tarsus.
THE BEARDED EAGLE, OR LÄMMERGEIER (_Gypaëtus barbatus_).
The generic name of this Eagle is derived from two Greek words (γύψ,
a Vulture, ἀετός, an Eagle), and no name could have been better
chosen, for with the structure of an Eagle it combines many of the
habits of a Vulture, and has many ways in common with the Egyptian
Vulture (_Neophron percnopterus_). In Europe it is found only in the
mountainous parts of those countries bordering the Mediterranean basin,
and is now nearly extinct in Switzerland. In the mountains of Spain,
however, it is still to be met with in some quantities, and Mr. Howard
Saunders states that one or two pairs may be found in every range of
mountains. In Sardinia it is said by Mr. Basil Brooke to be decidedly
common, and during one of his visits to that island he obtained a very
curious nestling bird covered with down. “A pair of these birds,” says
Mr. Brooke, “are in possession of every separate range of hills, which
they appear to regard as their own territory, and from which they are
seldom to be found far distant. They are generally to be seen singly or
in pairs; but now and then I have observed three, and on one occasion
four together. As a rule they are most decidedly mountain birds, but
occasionally a single bird may be seen hunting over the plains and
cultivated lands, not flying more than one hundred yards high. The
nest of one found on the 18th of April was built on a broad ledge of
a precipitous cliff, about three hundred feet high, within twenty
feet of the top, and was completely sheltered from the severity of
the weather by a large overhanging piece of rock. After some trouble
I discovered a way by which, with a little care, I managed to get on
the ledge, much to the discomfort of the solitary inmate--a young
nestling, covered as yet with a pale yellowish-brown down. The nest
itself was an accumulation of dried sticks, with a cup-shaped hollow
in the middle, and had evidently been used for years. In it, and on
the surrounding ledge, were great quantities of the leg-bones and
feet of goats, &c., and a part of a fox’s lower jaw; these being in
all stages of putrefaction, the smell was abominable. The old female
on my first visit to the nest sat extremely close, and although I was
standing over her within seven or eight yards, would not leave her
young until I fired a shot, upon which she dashed off, dropping almost
perpendicularly, and was out of range before I could fire. She flew
over the valley and lit upon a high-projecting, rocky pinnacle, upon
which I could see her through the telescope, sitting quietly watching
all my proceedings. She returned to the nest shortly afterwards, on my
having retired to a little distance.”
In Algeria the Lämmergeier is said to feed largely on Land Tortoises,
which it carries to a great height in the air, and drops upon a
convenient rock, so as to break the shell. So much has been written
upon the habits of this bird that it would be impossible to give here
one tithe of the interesting notes which have been published in various
works and periodicals; but no history of the species, however brief,
would be complete without a passing mention of the little girl who
was said to have been carried off in childhood by one of these birds.
The history, believed by him to be well authenticated, is related by
Naumann as follows.--“Anna Zurbuchen, of Hatchern, in Bern Oberland,
born in 1760, was taken out by her parents, when she was nearly three
years old, when they went to collect herbs. She fell asleep, and the
father put his straw hat over her face and went to his work. Shortly
after, when he returned with a bundle of hay, the child was gone; and
the parents and peasants sought her in vain. During this time Heinrich
Michel, of Unterseen, was going on a wild path to Wäppesbach, and
suddenly heard a child cry. He ran towards the sound, and a Bearded
Vulture rose, scared by him, from a mound, and soared away over the
precipice. On the extreme edge of the latter, below which a stream
roared, and over whose edge any moment would have precipitated it,
Michel found the child, which was uninjured, except on the left arm and
hand, where the bird had probably clutched it; its shoes, stockings,
and cap were gone. This occurred on the 12th of July, 1763. The place
where the child was found was about 1,400 paces distant from the
tarn where it had been left asleep. The child was afterwards called
_Lämmergeier-Anni_, and married Peter Frutiger, a tailor in Gewaldswyl,
where she was still living in 1814.”
The circumstantial way in which the above narrative runs appears to
leave little doubt of its reality, but it is difficult to give it
credence, as the Lämmergeier has but little power in its feet, which
resemble those of the Vultures; and most of the stories of its prowess
have been discredited by the researches of modern naturalists. Dr.
Brehm observes:--“To my intense astonishment, the Spanish hunters did
not regard this bird in the slightest degree as a bold, merciless
robber: all asserted that it fed on carrion, especially bones, only
attacking living animals when driven by necessity. They called it
‘Quebranta-Huesos,’ or the ‘Bone-smasher,’ and assured me that this
favourite food was broken in a singular manner. My later observations
proved nothing which would justify my treating their statements as
otherwise than correct, so I was forced to come to the conclusion that
the Lämmergeier had been much maligned. Since my first account of this
bird, I have read a number of communications from other observers, and
gather from the whole that the Bearded Vulture is nought else than a
weak, cowardly bird of prey, gifted neither in mind nor body to any
great extent, and one that but rarely carries away small mammals. Its
food usually consists of bones and other carrion.”
Mr. Hudleston met with the Lämmergeier in Greece, where, however, it
was not common, and he writes of its habits as observed by him:--“He
is not a demonstrative bird like the Griffon, who may be seen sailing
about at a great height in the air, sometimes alone, but more often
in troops of from half a dozen to fifty, revolving in endless circles
round each other, that no corner may remain unseen. The Lämmergeier,
on the contrary, may be observed floating slowly, at a uniform level,
close to the cliffs of some deep ravine, where his shadow is perhaps
projected on the wall-like rocks. If the ravine has salient and
re-entering angles, he does not cut across from point to point, but
preserves the same distance from the cliff; and when he disappears
in any natural fissure, you feel sure of the very spot where he will
emerge on turning the corner of the precipice. Marrow-bones are the
dainties he loves the best; and when the other Vultures have picked the
flesh off any animal, he comes in at the end of the feast and swallows
the bones, or breaks them and swallows the pieces, if he cannot get the
marrow out otherwise. The bones he cracks by taking them to a great
height and letting them fall on a stone. This is probably the bird that
dropped a Tortoise on the bald head of poor old Æschylus. Not, however,
that he restricts himself, or the huge black infant that he and his
mate are bringing up, in one of the many holes with which the limestone
precipice abounds, to marrow, turtle, bones, and similar delicacies:
neither lamb, hare, nor kid comes amiss to him--though, his power of
claw and beak being feeble for so large a bird, he cannot tear his
meat like other Vultures and Eagles. I once saw a mature bird of this
species which had evidently swallowed a bone, or something uncommonly
indigestible, close to the _abattoir_ at Athens. He was in a very
uncomfortable attitude, and appeared to be leaning on his long tail for
support. After riding round in gradually decreasing circles till within
ten yards, I dropped off horseback and made a rush at him, but he just
managed to escape, and then rising slowly till about the height of the
Acropolis, made off towards the gorge of Phylæ, where there is an eyry.
“The Lämmergeier has an extremely ugly countenance; this becomes
perfectly diabolical when he is irritated, and shows the bright
red round his eyes. Altogether, what with his black beard, rufous
breast, and long, dark tail, he is an awful-looking beast, and has the
reputation of committing divers evil deeds--such, for instance, as
pushing lambs and kids, and even men, off the rocks, when they are in
ticklish situations. Nevertheless, he is a somewhat cowardly bird, has
a feeble, querulous cry, and will submit to insults from a Falcon not a
fourth his size or weight.”
[Illustration: BEARDED EAGLE, OR LÄMMERGEIER.]
Von Tschudi says that in Switzerland it will capture Hares, Martens,
Squirrels, Crows, and Woodcocks, and he states that a stomach was found
to contain five pieces of Bullock’s ribs two inches thick and from six
to nine inches long, a lump of hair, and the leg of a young Goat from
the knee to the foot. The bones were perforated by the gastric juice,
and partly reduced to powder. The stomach of another Lämmergeier,
examined by Mr. Schinz, contained the large hip-bone of a Cow, the
skin and fore-quarters of a Chamois, many smaller bones, some hair,
and a Heath-cock’s claws. Should a Lämmergeier see an old Chamois or a
Sheep or Goat grazing near a precipice, it will whirl round and round,
trying to torment and frighten the creature till it runs to the edge of
the cliff; and then, falling down upon it, the bird not unfrequently
succeeds in pushing it into the abyss below with one stroke of its
wings. Diving down after its mangled victim, it will begin by picking
out its eyes, and then proceed to tear open and devour the body. It
is only the smaller class of booty, such as Foxes, Lambs, or Marmots,
which can be carried off by the Lämmergeier, as its feet and claws, as
we have already remarked, are comparatively weak.[183]
In the Himalayas, where the species is also tolerably plentiful,
its habits vary somewhat, and it not unfrequently comes close to
habitations for offal or bones, and behaves in a very Vulturine manner.
Captain Hutton writes:--“Marvellous, indeed, are the stories told,
both by natives and Europeans, of the destructive habits of this bird,
and both accounts, I fully believe, have scarcely a grain of truth in
them: all I can positively say on the point, however, is that I have
known the bird well in its native haunts for thirty years and more,
and never once, in all that time, have I seen it stoop to anything but
a dead carcase. As to carrying off hens, dogs, lambs, or children, I
say the feat would be utterly impossible, for the creature does not
possess the strongly-curved, sharp-pointed claws of the Eagle, but the
far straighter and perfectly blunt talons of the Vulture. Day after
day I have seen them sweeping by along the face of the hill, like the
wandering Albatross at sea, and, like it, ever in search of offal,
which, when found, is not swept off the ground after the manner of the
Kite, but the bird alights upon it, as it would upon a Bullock, and
then, if the morsel is worth having, devours it on the spot, and again
launches itself upon its wide-spread wings and sails away as before.
There is no sudden stooping upon a living prey, as with the Falcon
tribe, but its habits and manners in this respect are, as far as I have
seen, entirely Vulturine.”
The Lämmergeier measures about three feet and a half in length, and
its outspread wings often extend to as much as nine feet in expanse. A
second species is found in Africa, the Southern Lämmergeier (_Gypaëtus
ossifragus_), which differs from the European one, in having the tarsus
bare, instead of being feathered to the toes.
THE TRUE EAGLES (_Aquila_).
In Australia no true Eagle is found, but a very powerful bird called
the WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE (_Uroaëtus[184] audax_[185]) inhabits that
country, differing from all its more northern relations in its very
long and wedge-shaped tail, which is like that of the Lämmergeier.
The true Eagles have a very powerful bill, with a festoon distinctly
marked in the edge of the upper mandible, which is, however, different
from the toothed bill of the Falcons, to be considered presently. They
nearly all possess a large bony shelf over the eye, which may serve
to protect that organ from the sunlight during some of the aerial
excursions the bird makes.
[Illustration: EYE OF EAGLE, SHOWING CRYSTALLINE LENS. (_After
Yarrell._)]
The orb of the eye in the Eagles is supported by a ring of bony plates,
numbering fifteen in the Golden Eagle. These bony plates are capable of
slight motion upon each other. The figure represents the crystalline
lens of the same bird, the lens being subject to great variety of form
in different birds. In the Eagle the proportion of the axis to the
diameter of the lens is as 3-8/10 to 5-7/10; in the Eagle Owl, which
seeks its prey at twilight, the relative proportions of the lens are as
6-7/10, to 7-8/10; and in the Swan, which has to select its food under
water, the proportions of the lens are as 3 to 3-8/10. Birds have also
the power of altering the degree of the convexity of the cornea. With
numerous modifications of form, aided by delicate muscular arrangement,
birds appear to have the power of obtaining such variable degrees of
extent or intensity of vision as are most in accordance with their
peculiar habits and necessities.[186]
In these birds is found a return of that difference in the size of
the sexes which was so noticeable in the Sparrow-Hawks, for in the
Eagles the female is decidedly larger than the male. There are two
convenient groups into which the Eagles may be divided, according as
they have feathered or unfeathered legs. All the true Eagles belong
to the first section, all the less noble and Serpent-eating kinds to
the latter section. Although they are birds of grand physique, it is a
question whether Eagles deserve the position they enjoy for nobility
of disposition: they are rapacious it is true, but not always brave,
for one Golden Eagle will give way to a Peregrine Falcon, while the
grand-looking IMPERIAL EAGLE (_Aquila heliaca_, see figure on p. 235)
is said by a good observer in India, Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B., to be no
better than a great hulking Kite. He adds:--“Much has been written
about the daring and fierceness of this Eagle. I can only say that in
India (where possibly the climate is subversive of courage), I have
never seen the slightest indications of these qualities. I have driven
the female off hard-set eggs, and plundered the nest before the eyes of
the pair, without either of them flapping a pinion even to defend what
a little Shrike will swoop at once to save; and I have seen a couple
of Crows thrash one of them soundly. As a rule, this species with us
is an ignoble feeder. I have generally found them gorged with carrion,
and after a good meal they will sit stupidly on a tree, or any little
mud pillar, and permit you to walk within thirty yards of them; but
before feeding they are somewhat wary, and can by no means always be
secured, even when seen sitting. On more than one occasion I have seen
Desert Rats (_Gerbillus erythrurus_) in their crops, and I once shot
one of a pair which were busy, on the line of rail at Etawah, devouring
a Bandicoot Rat (_Mus bandicota_), which some passing train had cut in
two. Occasionally, but rarely, I found that they had eaten Quails and
other birds. Once I shot a male which was dancing about on the ground
in such an astounding fashion that I killed it to see what the matter
was. The bird proved to have been choking. It had swallowed a whole dry
shin-bone and foot of an Antelope. The bone apparently could not be got
down altogether, and in trying to void it, the sharp points of the hoof
had stuck into the back of the roof of the mouth.”[187]
THE GOLDEN EAGLE (_Aquila chrysaëtus_[188]).
The Golden Eagle is so called from the tawny or golden-brown colour
which pervades the feathers of the neck in the old bird. Excepting in
certain places in “Caledonia stern and wild,” where it is protected, it
is a species which is becoming very rare in Great Britain, and but for
the intervention of a few large-minded proprietors in Scotland would
doubtless ere this have been extinguished. It is a much rarer bird
now than the White-tailed Eagle, and the last-named species is often
mistaken for it; but a little attention to one point will obviate all
fear of a mistake in this respect, the Golden Eagle having at all ages
the tarsus feathered to the toes, whereas the Sea Eagle belongs to the
bare-legged section of these birds.
A better description of the habits of the Golden Eagle probably does
not exist than that given by the late Professor Macgillivray:--
“See how the sunshine brightens the yellow tint of his head and neck,
until it shines almost like gold! There he stands, nearly erect, with
his tail depressed, his large wings half raised by his side, his neck
stretched out and his eye glistening as he glances around. Like other
robbers of the desert, he has a noble aspect, an imperative mien, a
look of proud defiance; but his nobility has a dash of clownishness,
and his falconship a vulturine tinge. Still, he is a noble bird,
powerful, independent, proud, and ferocious, regardless of the weal
or woe of others, and intent solely on the gratification of his own
appetites; without generosity, without honour, bold against the
defenceless, but ever ready to sneak from danger. Such is his nobility,
about which men have so raved. Suddenly he raises his wings, for
he has heard the whistle of the shepherd in the corry, and bending
forward, he springs into the air. Oh, that this pencil of mine were a
musket charged with buck-shot! Hardly do those vigorous flaps serve
at first to prevent his descent; but now, curving upwards, he glides
majestically along. As he passes the corner of that buttressed and
battlemented crag, forth rush two ravens from their nest, croaking
fiercely. While one flies above him, the other steals beneath, and
they essay to strike him, but dare not, for they have an instinctive
knowledge of the power of his grasp, and after following him a little
way they return to their home, vainly exulting in the thought of having
driven him from their neighbourhood. Bent on a far journey, he advances
in a direct course, flapping his great wings at regular intervals, then
shooting along without seeming to move them. In ten minutes he has
progressed three miles, although he is in no haste, and now disappears
behind the shoulder of the hill. But we may follow him in imagination,
for his habits being well known to us, we may be allowed the
ornithological licence of tracing them in continuance. Homeward bound,
his own wants satisfied, he knows that his young must be supplied with
food.
“Over the moors he sweeps, at the height of two or three hundred feet,
bending his course to either side, his wings wide spread, his neck
retracted, now beating the air, and again sailing smoothly along.
Suddenly he stops, poises himself for a moment, stoops, but recovers
himself without touching the ground. The object of his regards, a
Golden Plover, which he had spied on her nest, has eluded him; and
he cares not to pursue it. Now he ascends a little, wheels in short
curves, presently rushes down headlong, assumes the horizontal position
when close to the ground, prevents his being dashed against it by
expanding his wings and tail, thrusts forth his talons, and grasping
a poor terrified Ptarmigan that sat cowering among the grey lichens,
squeezes it to death, raises his head exultingly, emits a clear, shrill
cry, and springing from the ground pursues his journey.
[Illustration: GOLDEN EAGLE.]
“In passing a tall cliff that overhangs a small lake, he is assailed
by a fierce Peregrine Falcon, which darts and plunges at him as if
determined to deprive him of his booty, or drive him headlong to the
ground. This proves a more dangerous foe than the Raven, and the
Eagle screams, yelps, and throws himself into postures of defence;
but at length the Hawk, seeing the tyrant is not bent on plundering
his nest, leaves him to pursue his course unmolested. Over woods,
and green fields, and scattered hamlets speeds the Eagle, and now he
enters the long valley of the Dee, near the upper end of which is dimly
seen through the grey mist the rock of his nest. About a mile from it
he meets his mate, who has been abroad on a similar errand, and is
returning with a white Hare in her talons. They congratulate each other
with loud yelping cries, which rouse the drowsy shepherd on the strath
below, who, mindful of the lambs carried off in spring-time, sends
after them his malediction. Now they reach their nest and are greeted
by their young with loud clamour.
“Let us mark the spot. It is a shelf of a rock, concealed by a
projecting angle, so that it cannot be injured from above, and is
too distant from the base to be reached by a shot. In the crevices
are luxuriant tufts of _Rhodiola rosea_, and scattered around are
many alpine plants, which it would delight the botanist to enumerate.
The mineralogist would not be less pleased could he with chisel and
hammer reach that knob which glitters with crystals of quartz and
felspar. The nest is a bulky fabric, five feet at least in diameter,
rudely constructed of dead sticks, twigs, and heath; flat, unless in
the centre, where it is a little hollowed and covered with wool and
feathers. Slovenly creatures you would think these two young birds,
clothed with white down, amid which the larger feathers are seen
projecting, for their fluid dung is scattered all over the sticks,
and you see that, had the nest been formed more compactly of softer
materials, it would have been less comfortable. Strewn around, too, are
fragments of Lambs, Hares, Grouse and other birds in various stages of
decay. Alighting on the edges of the nest, the Eagles deposit their
prey, partially pluck off the hair and feathers, and rudely tearing up
the flesh, lay it before their ever-hungry young.”
The length of a male Golden Eagle is a little more than two feet and
a half, while the female attains at least three feet in dimensions,
with a wing three inches longer than that of her mate. The colour of
the plumage is dark brown, with a rich tawny hue on the back of the
neck and nape, the feathers of these parts being streaked with darker
brown; the tail is more or less mottled with grey at the base, and is
whiter in younger birds. The latter are often popularly distinguished
as the Ring-tailed Eagles. By some authors the Eagle which frequents
the mountains is considered to be a different species from that which
inhabits the plains, but as far as present experience goes it is the
younger birds which are more often met with in the latter localities,
being probably driven from their mountain homes by the older birds.
The Golden Eagle varies his choice of an eyry in different localities,
building in the British Islands generally on a rock, but in many other
countries nesting on a tree. It is found all over Europe and Northern
Asia, in mountainous districts, extending into China and even into the
Himalayas, whence the finest specimens are obtained. In North America
also the examples of the Golden Eagle seem to be very large, but are
not to be otherwise distinguished from European specimens.
THE KITE EAGLE (_Neopus[189] malayensis_).
This extraordinary bird bears the above name from its resemblance
generally to a Kite, and also from its plumage, which in the young bird
is wonderfully Kite-like, so that a dead specimen carelessly examined
might be taken easily for one of the latter birds. One moment’s search,
however, would dispose of the illusion, for no one who has once heard
of the foot of this Eagle could ever forget it or mistake it for that
of any other raptorial bird, the talons being longer and more slender
in proportion to the size of the foot than in any known Eagle; they
are also nearly straight. The inner claws are the longest, and that
excellent observer, Captain Vincent Legge, points out that they seem
“especially adapted for the work of carrying off loose and fragile
masses, such as the nests of small birds, as they would naturally form
its chief means of grasp when such an object was being held by both
feet during the process of flight.” This last sentence gives an insight
into the habits of the bird, which are on a par with its remarkable
structure. It might well be called the “Bird’s-nesting Eagle,” for it
seems to be the only bird of prey which systematically lives by the
robbery of smaller birds’ nests; only on very rare occasions, and when
pressed by hunger, has it been known to attack larger game or worry the
poultry-yard. It is almost always on the wing, and the Lepcha-hunters
near Darjeeling speak of it as the bird “that never sits down.” It
is found in the Himalayas and in other wooded districts of India,
and occurs but more sparingly in the Malayan peninsula and islands,
ranging to some of the Moluccas, but probably visiting the latter only
on migration. But it is in Ceylon that it is, perhaps, more plentiful
than in any other locality, and the best account of its habits is
that given by Captain Legge, whose words are subjoined. “This fine,
long-winged Eagle is, on account of the singular structure of its feet
and its curious habits, one of the most interesting, but, at the same
time, perhaps the most destructive of raptors to bird-life in Ceylon.
It subsists, as far as can be observed, entirely by birds’-nesting,
and is not content with the eggs and young birds which its keen sight
espies among the branches of the forest-trees, but seizes the nest in
its talons, decamps with it, and often examines the contents as it
sails lazily along. Furthermore, Mr. S. Bligh informs me that he once
found the best part of a bird’s nest in the stomach of one of these
Eagles which he shot in the Central Province. Its flight is most easy
and graceful. In the early morning it passes much of its time soaring
round the high peaks or cliffs on which it has passed the night, and
about nine or ten o’clock starts off on its daily foraging expedition.
It launches itself with motionless wings from some dizzy precipice,
and proceeding in a straight line, till over some inviting-looking
patna-woods it quickly descends with one or two rather sharp gyrations,
through, perhaps, a thousand feet, and is in another moment gliding
stealthily along just above the tops of the trees. In and out among
these, along the side of the wood, backwards and forwards over the
top of the narrow strip, it quarters, its long wings outstretched
and the tips of its pinions wide apart, with apparently no exertion;
and luckless indeed is the Bulbul, Oriole, or Mountain Finch whose
carefully-built nest is discovered by the soaring robber.”[190]
The size of the Kite Eagle is about thirty inches in length, and the
colour is entirely black, with some indistinct bars of ashy-grey on the
tail. Besides the Eagles that have been alluded to already, there are
the Hawk-Eagles (_Nisaëtus_), remarkable for their long legs, and the
Crested Eagles (_Spizaëtus_), which have a beautiful long crest hanging
from the hinder part of the head.
THE COMMON HARRIER EAGLE (_Circaëtus[191] gallicus_).
This, which is also called the “Jean-le-Blanc,” is one of the
best-known of all the bare-legged section of the Eagles. The genus
_Circaëtus_, to which it belongs, contains five species, of which four
are peculiar to Africa, the _C. gallicus_ being found all over Southern
and Central Europe, and extending into India, where it is not at all
unplentiful. In its nature this bird is rather sluggish, though in
confinement it is very untamable, and wears a thoroughly fierce aspect,
as could be seen by any one who examined the specimen in the Zoological
Gardens. Its ferocious appearance was heightened by its peculiar eye,
which is very large, of a bright yellow, with a very small black pupil,
whereas the pupil in most birds of prey is rather large.[192]
THE INDIAN SERPENT EAGLE (_Spilornis cheela_).
This is a beautiful bird, having the under surface mottled with white
spots or “ocelli.” All the Serpent Eagles, of which there are several
species, are characterised by a similar style of plumage, and by a
full, thick crest of feathers springing from the occiput and hind
part of the head. They are found all over India and Ceylon, Southern
China, and the Burmese countries, the Malayan Peninsula, Sunda Islands,
Borneo, and Celebes. The Ceylonese species, which is a small race of
the Indian bird, is stated by Layard to feed on Snakes, Lizards, and
other reptiles and insects, and to be particularly partial to the large
trees on the banks of tanks, from them swooping down on the frogs which
came up to sun themselves on the floating logs or reeds. The Indian
species of Serpent Eagle is a powerful bird, and is said to capture
Pheasants during the breeding season and bring them to the nest. Mr.
Hume has generally found small Snakes in their stomachs; once as many
as fifty together were found, all scarcely bigger than large Worms; and
an instance was brought to his knowledge of a Cobra some two feet and a
half long having been found dead, but uninjured, in one of these birds’
stomachs. Mr. Thompson, a frequent contributor to Mr. Hume’s “Rough
Notes,” tells of one which he had alive, and which was kept along with
two little Indian Owls (_Carine brama_), a Carrion Crow, and three
large green Woodpeckers, and who killed and ate up every one of the
latter, though well supplied with other fresh meat.
THE BATELEUR EAGLE (_Helotarsus[193] ecaudatus_[194]).
This is a very remarkable bird, which might also with propriety be
called the Short-tailed Eagle, as it is the only species known in which
the wings exceed the tail in length. It is found in Africa only, where
it is by no means rare in the southern and north-eastern quarters of
the continent. In Damara Land, according to Mr. Andersson, it builds
its nest on trees, selecting generally one of such a terribly thorny
nature that the nest is always difficult of access. Occasionally,
however, a rock is selected for the breeding-place. When in captivity,
this bird changes the colour of the face, exactly as the Brazilian
Caracara already alluded to; the bare skin round the nostrils and eyes,
which is generally brilliant coral-red, fading to pale orange-yellow.
[Illustration: BATELEUR EAGLE.]
The Bateleur Eagle is about two feet in length, and has an enormous
crest of plumes. The colour is black, with a large maroon-coloured
patch on the shoulders and on the back, the tail being also of this
colour. Sometimes individuals with pale, cream-coloured backs are
found; but at present it is not known whether these are a different
species, or whether they constitute only a pale variety of the ordinary
Bateleur.
THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE (_Haliaëtus albicilla_[195]).
Sea Eagles are absent from South America, but probably from no other
country of the globe. Both Europe and North America are inhabited
by large and powerful species; and throughout Africa and Madagascar
the handsomely-marked species _H. vocifer_ occurs. One of the most
widespread is the White-bellied Sea Eagle; it is found round the coasts
of Australia and all the Molucca Islands, ranging as far as India and
Ceylon, and as high as Cochin China.
The White-tailed Eagle, which, from its being an inhabitant of the
British Islands, is the species most familiarly known of all the Sea
Eagles, is still met with in some of the northern parts of Scotland,
and in the Hebrides; but as it is a bird which creates a good deal
of havoc among lambs at certain periods of the year, the war of
extermination which has been waged against it has now contributed
considerably to the increasing rarity of the species on these coasts.
The breeding of this Sea Eagle has been well described by Mr.
Woolley.[196] He says:--“On the coasts, the Sea Eagle chooses a roomy
and generally sheltered ledge of rock. The egg which Mr. Hewitson
figures (Eggs, Br. B., ed. 3, pl. iv., fig. 2) is one of two which I
took on the 23rd April, 1849, on one of the most northern points of our
island. The nest was very slightly made of a little grass and fresh
heather loosely put together, without any sticks; but two or three
‘kek’ stalks were strewn about outside. There was a good thickness of
guano-like soil upon the rock, which made much nest unnecessary. Two
or three Guillemot’s beaks, the only unmanageable part of that bird,
were not far off. The eggs were laid two days before when I went to
reconnoitre; and I never shall forget the forbearance which a friend
who was with me showed, at my request, as he lay, gun in hand, with
the hen Eagle in full view upon her nest not forty yards below him.
Her head was towards the cliff, and concealed from our sight; whilst
her broad back and white tail, as she stood bending over her nest on
the grassy ledge, with the beautiful sandstone rock and sea beyond,
completed a picture rarely to be forgotten. But our ears, and the
air we breathe, give a finish to Nature’s pictures which no art can
imitate; and here were the effects of the sea, and the heather, and
the rocks, the fresh warmth of the northern sun, and the excitement
of exercise, while the musical yelping of the male Eagle came from
some stand out of sight. Add to all this the innate feeling of delight
connected with the pursuit of wild animals, which no philosopher has
yet been able to explain further than as a special gift of our Great
Maker, and then say whether it is not almost blasphemy to call such a
scene a ‘picture!’ Upon this occasion, I made some remark to my friend,
when the hen Eagle showed her clear eye and big, yellow beak, her head
full of the expression of wild nature and freedom. She gave us a steady
glance, then sprang from the rock, and with ‘slow winnowing wing’--the
flight-feathers turning upwards at every stroke--was soon out at sea.
Joined by her mate, she began to sail with him in circles farther and
farther away, till quite out of sight, yelping as long as we could
hear them, Gulls mobbing them all the time. To enjoy the beauties of
a wild coast to perfection, let me recommend any man to seat himself
in an Eagle’s nest. The year before this I took the young ones out
of the same eyry late in July. It was my first attempt at an Eagle’s
stronghold, and I shall never forget the interest of the whole affair;
a thunderstorm coming on just before, making it necessary to cut drains
in the peat with our knives, to divert the torrents of water; our
councils about the best mode of attaching the ropes; the impertinence
of a young lad who, stationed to watch for my signals, was rendered
quite useless by his keen sense of the ridiculous on seeing me, in my
inexperience, twisting round and round at the end of the rope; the
extraordinary grandeur everything assumed, from the nest itself; the
luxurious feeling of exultation; the interest of every plant about
it--I know them all now; the heaps of young Herring-Gulls’ remains, and
the large fish-bone; but, above all, the Eaglets fully able to fly, and
yet crouching side by side, with their necks stretched out and chins on
the ground, like young Fawns, their frightened eyes showing that they
had no intention of showing fight.
“Very gently, as a man ‘tickles’ trout, I passed my hand under them,
and tied their legs together, and then tried to confine their wings.
They actually allowed me to fasten a handkerchief round them, which,
however, was soon shaken off when they began to be pulled up. When the
men had raised me, the string attached to my waist lifted one Eaglet,
and presently the second came to the length of his tether. Great was
the flapping of wings, and clutching at rocks and grass. I had many
fears that the string or the birds’ legs must give way; but, after much
hard pulling, I got them safely to the top, and they are now (1853)
alive at Matlock amongst rocks, where I hope they may breed; but,
though five years old this season, they have not yet quite completed
the adult plumage. Their dutiful parents never came near them in their
difficulties; but I am happy to say that in 1850 (the year after I took
their eggs), they carried off their young, through the interest I was
able to exert in their favour. They had shifted their position; and
they changed again in 1851 to a rock with an aspect quite different,
and more than a mile away. In 1847, to please the shepherds, the young
were shot in the nest, which was built in the spot where I visited it
the two following years. There was no sea-weed about this nest either
time that I saw it; but a friend writes me word, that two which he
examined last year on the sea-cliffs of this island, and which he
carefully described to me, were principally made of that material, as
Mr. Hewitson also had found them in the Shetland Islands. On one of
these two occasions, the old Eagle made a dash near my informant, with
a ‘fearful scream,’ and such was the tremendous character of the rocks,
that his ‘hair gets strong’ when he thinks of them. These two nests,
both occupied, were not more than a mile and a half apart.”
[Illustration: WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.]
THE SWALLOW-TAILED KITE (_Elanoides furcatus_).
The forked tail which is characteristic of the Kites reaches in
the present species its greatest development, so that the name of
Swallow-tailed Kite is by no means inappropriate. On five occasions
the bird has been captured in England, and it is doubtless during its
migration that the bird is driven to Britain by some adverse wind.
Its range is extensive, as it is numerous during the summer in some
of the southern States of North America, and it migrates to South
America, whence it frequently appears in collections from Brazil and
Columbia. Mr. Audubon gives the following account of the Swallow-tailed
Kite:--“The flight of this elegant species of Hawk is singularly
beautiful and protracted. It moves through the air with such ease and
grace, that it is impossible for any individual, who takes the least
pleasure in observing the manners of birds, not to be delighted by
the sight of it whilst on the wing. Gliding along in easy flappings,
it rises in wide circles to an immense height, inclining in various
ways its deeply-forked tail, to assist the direction of its course;
dives with the rapidity of lightning, and, suddenly checking itself,
re-ascends, soars away, and is soon out of sight. At other times, a
flock of these birds, amounting to fifteen or twenty individuals, is
seen hovering around the trees. They dive in rapid succession amongst
the branches, glancing along the trunks, and seizing in their course
the insects and small lizards of which they are in quest. Their motions
are astonishingly rapid, and the deep curves which they describe, their
sudden doublings and crossings, and the extreme ease with which they
seem to cleave the air, excite the admiration of him who views them
while thus employed in searching for food.
“In the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, where these birds are
abundant, they arrive in large companies in the beginning of April, and
are heard uttering a sharp plaintive note. At this period I generally
remarked that they came from the westward, and have counted upwards of
a hundred in the space of an hour, passing over me in a direct easterly
course. At that season, and in the beginning of September when they
all retire from the United States, they are easily approached when
they have alighted, being then apparently fatigued, and busily engaged
in preparing themselves for continuing their journey, by dressing and
oiling their feathers. At all other times, however, it is extremely
difficult to get near them, as they are generally on wing through the
day, and at night rest on the highest pines and cypresses, bordering
the river-bluffs, the lakes, or the swamps of that district of country.
“They always feed on the wing. In calm and warm weather they soar to an
immense height, pursuing the large insects called _Musquito Hawks_, and
performing the most singular evolutions that can be conceived, using
their tail with an elegance of motion peculiar to themselves. Their
principal food, however, is large Grasshoppers, Grass Caterpillars,
small Snakes, Lizards, and Frogs. They sweep close over the fields,
sometimes seeming to alight for a moment to secure a Snake, and
holding it fast by the neck, carry it off, and devour it in the air.
When searching for Grasshoppers and Caterpillars, it is not difficult
to approach them under cover of a fence or tree. When one is then
killed, and falls to the ground, the whole flock comes over the dead
bird, as if intent upon carrying it off. An excellent opportunity is
thus afforded of shooting as many as may be wanted; and I have killed
several of these Hawks in this manner, firing as fast as I could load
my gun.
“The Fork-tailed Hawks are also very fond of frequenting the creeks,
which, in that country, are much encumbered with drifted logs and
accumulations of sand, in order to pick up some of the numerous
Water-snakes which lie basking in the sun. At other times they dash
along the trunks of trees, and snap off the pupæ of the Locust, or that
insect itself. Although when on the wing they move with a grace and
ease which it is impossible to describe, yet on the ground they are
scarcely able to walk.
“I kept for several days one which had been slightly wounded in the
wing. It refused to eat, kept the feathers of the head and rump
constantly erect, and vomited several times part of the contents of its
stomach. It never threw itself on its back, nor attempted to strike
with its talons, unless when taken up by the tip of the wing. It died
from inanition, as it constantly refused the food placed before it in
profusion, and instantly vomited what had been placed down its throat.”
THE COMMON KITE (_Milvus ictinus_[197]).
Times have changed in England since the number of Kites to be seen
flying about London Bridge could form a subject of astonishment to a
foreign traveller visiting that country; but less than three hundred
years ago this was the case, though now the species has been all but
banished from the land. It may still occasionally nest in some parts of
Wales and of Scotland; but in the latter country places where formerly
the species bred plentifully now know it no more. The Kite builds its
nest of sticks on a large tree, but occasionally also on rocks, and it
is generally composed of a mixture of materials, such as bones, &c.,
and the lining usually contains a good many rags; so that Shakspere,
with the knowledge of natural history which always distinguished him,
was quite right when he said--
“When the Kite builds, look to lesser linen.”
The presence of the Kite in London was useful in the old days, as its
food consists by preference of offal, though it also devours Moles,
Frogs, and unfledged nestlings, Rabbits, Snakes, and fish. The forked
tail of this species--which serves as a rudder to the bird when flying,
as it often does, in circles aloft--easily distinguishes it from all
other British birds of prey. The length of the bird is about two feet,
and the general colour of the upper plumage is rufous, most of the
feathers being edged with that colour. Below, it is rufous-brown, with
a narrow streak of blackish down the feathers; the quills are black;
the tail rufous-brown, deeply forked, and crossed with seven or eight
bars of black. The species is found all over Europe, but becomes
gradually rarer in the eastern parts.
THE EUROPEAN HONEY-KITE (_Pernis apivorus_).
This bird is generally known as the Honey-Buzzard, though from the
reticulations on the hinder aspect of the tarsus it has evidently
nothing to do with those birds, even if its soft and kite-like plumage
did not show its affinities to the Kites. Its nostril is also peculiar,
and is closed in by a membrane, which doubtless forms a protection
from the stings of insects when the bird is attacking a Bee’s or
Wasp’s nest. Its habits have been well described by Brehm.[198] This
bird is, perhaps, the most timid of all European birds of prey, but
is remarkable for its good temper. Its movements are in the highest
degree clumsy; its flight is bad, heavy, and slow, and is generally a
short one, and the bird shows a great disinclination to rise to any
considerable height in the air; in short, its whole bearing evinces the
most lazy disposition. It will sit for hours on a stone boundary wall,
on a solitary tree or sign-post, or on some other elevated spot, quite
contented, watching its prey, which consists of the following:--Insects
of all descriptions, Beetles, Caterpillars, Dragon-flies, Gadflies,
Worms, Frogs, Snakes, Lizards, and destructive Rodents, which form its
principal food; besides which it is very fond of hunting for the nests
of the Humble-bee and Wasp, and of feeding on their larvæ. This bird
also, unfortunately, destroys the young, and especially the eggs, of
such of the smaller birds as it comes across while hunting for insects;
this causes it to be looked upon as a disagreeable and hateful enemy
by all birds. Crows and Rooks mob the Honey-Buzzard with almost the
same eagerness as they chase the Eagle-Owl, and all small birds make
a great noise at its appearance. In the summer it also feeds on buds,
blossoms, bilberries, other wood-berries, and even leaves. This habit
distinguishes it from all other German birds of prey.
[Illustration: COMMON KITE.]
“The Honey-Buzzard reaches us somewhat late in the year, and commences
to build its nest when the other Raptors have hatched their broods. The
nest is very flat, and is placed on the highest of our forest trees;
it is principally constructed of green twigs, mixed with dead sticks,
and is lined with moss, hair, and feathers. It generally contains three
eggs, of a rusty yellow ground, very thickly blotched and spotted with
dark reddish-brown. They are somewhat small and rather long in shape.
Of these rarely more than two are hatched. The young ones are at first
fed with Caterpillars, Flies, Beetles, Worms, &c., which the old birds
collect in their crops, and then throw up; later they are treated to
pieces of Wasps’ nests filled with larvæ, Frogs, Mice, young birds,
&c. The parent birds still continue to feed their young long after the
latter have left the nest. Both young and old birds remain in company
almost till the moulting season comes round, when they migrate more to
the southward.”
The Honey-Kite inhabits, during the summer, the greater part of Europe,
and flies away to Africa to pass the winter. In India it is represented
by a species which goes through similar changes of plumage, but may
always be recognised by its long crest. The phases through which the
Honey-Kite passes are most remarkable, the bird being sometimes nearly
all white, at other times all black; and this plumage seems to occur
at any age, sometimes in youth, sometimes in old age; and hence this
is called a melanism (μέλας, black). Many birds of prey are subject
to this melanism, but none more so than the Honey-Buzzards, and their
representatives in America, the Tooth-billed Kites (_Leptodon_).
ANDERSSON’S PERN (_Machærhamphus[199] Anderssoni_).
This remarkable bird bears the name of one of the most intrepid, as
well as one of the most unassuming, of African travellers, the late
Charles John Andersson, who discovered it during his residence in
Damara Land in South-western Africa. So rare is it, and so difficult to
obtain, that he only managed to procure two specimens in the space of
ten years, though constantly on the look-out for the bird. He writes
concerning it:--“On the 10th of March, 1865, I obtained one specimen,
a female, of this singular bird at Objimbinque, Damara Land. It was
shot by my servant, who observed another, probably the male. I imagine
that I have myself observed it once or twice in the neighbourhood
of Objimbinque just before dusk. When brought to me I instinctively
suspected the bird to be a feeder at dusk or at night, and called
out, ‘Why, that fellow is likely to feed on Bats!’ And truly enough
so it turned out; for on dissection an undigested Bat was found in
the stomach; and in another specimen, subsequently killed by Axel,
there were several Bats in the stomach.”[200] It is probably owing to
this habit of feeding in the evening that the bird is so difficult
to procure, as is the case with many of the Goat-suckers, which are
also night-feeding birds. Since Mr. Andersson’s death, two or three
specimens of his Pern have been sent from Madagascar, but in the
intervening portions of the African continent it is as yet unknown.
The colouring of this species is plain, being of a chocolate-brown
colour, with a long crest springing from the back of the head; above
the eye is a white spot, and another below the eye; the throat and
chest are white, with a streak of dark brown down the centre of the
throat; the quills and tail are banded the bars showing paler below.
The length of the bird is about seventeen inches.
Only one other species of the genus _Machærhamphus_ is known, and this
is Westermann’s Pern (_M. alcinus_), which is an inhabitant of Malacca,
where it is almost as rare as Andersson’s Pern is in Africa. It has
lately been sent from South-eastern New Guinea, and may ultimately be
found to inhabit some of the Moluccas.
THE FIFTH SUB-FAMILY.--THE FALCONS (_Falconinæ_).
In all the true Falcons and in the allied genera the bill, which was
simply festooned in the Eagles, Kites, and Buzzards, becomes very
distinctly toothed, and in some genera even two teeth are present. In
these birds, too, the cere is strongly shown, and is generally of a
bright yellow colour.
THE CUCKOO-FALCONS (_Baza_).
These birds have the soft plumage of a Honey-Kite, and yet possess the
toothed bill of a Falcon, so that they are placed among the Falconinæ;
but, because of their Kite-like plumage, they follow close to the
Perns and Honey-Kites. They not only possess the usual tooth of the
Falcon’s bill, but a second is actually present, so that there is no
difficulty in recognising a member of the genus _Baza_. The American
Cuckoo-Falcons (_Harpagus_) are the only other birds of prey which have
a double-toothed bill.
The name of “Cuckoo”-Falcon has been given to these birds on account
of their actual resemblance to a Cuckoo, in the grey colour of the
back with the reddish bars on the under surface. They have also a very
large yellow eye. The distribution of the genus _Baza_ is singular, and
it is one of those forms which does not occur in Europe, but exhibits
the affinity which is often seen between certain African and Indian
birds. About nine different kinds are known, each having its own
limited range. Thus Swainson’s Cuckoo-Falcon (_B. cuculoides_[201])
is found in the forest country from Senegambia to Gaboon in West
Africa, and is replaced by _Baza Verreauxi_ in the forests of Natal.
In Madagascar a third species (_B. madagascariensis_) occurs, and on
crossing the Indian Ocean a fourth kind (_B. ceylonensis_) is found
inhabiting Ceylon. Malacca and the Sunda Islands have their own Baza
sumatrensis, the Philippines _B. magnirostris_, the island of Celebes
_B. erythrothorax_, the Moluccas and New Guinea _B. Reinwardti_, and
Northern Australia, _B. subcristata_. None of these birds appear to
be migratory, and their geographical distribution is interesting when
traced out on a map of the world.
From their shy and retiring habits, but little has been recorded of
their life. Verreaux’s Cuckoo-Falcon is said to frequent the dense bush
in Natal, and Captain Harford shot one in that country while engaged
upon an ant-hill, and their food appears to consist of Grasshoppers
and Mantidæ, while another observer took from the stomach of one of
these birds remains of a green Mantis, of Locusts, and of a Chameleon.
This species is one of the largest of the Cuckoo-Falcons, measuring
seventeen inches in length, and the colour is dark ashy-grey; deeper
ash-colour on the head and crest; the sides of the face, throat, and
chest, are clear ashy; the breast white, banded across with pale rufous
brown; the under tail-coverts being pure white; both the wings and tail
are barred with dark brown. The sexes of these birds differ very little
in size.
THE FALCONETS (_Microhierax_[202]).
This name is applied to a genus of tiny Falcons, which are peculiar
to the Indian region. One of them, the Indian Falconet (_Microhierax
cærulescens_), is found in the Himalayas and the Burmese countries. A
second one is peculiar to Assam, a third to the Philippine Islands,
and a fourth to the interior of China, while the fifth and remaining
species is found in the Malayan Peninsula and the Sunda Islands.
Not one of these little Hawks is seven inches in length, and even to
this day there are many authors who think that they are Butcher-birds
or Shrikes, and not Hawks at all. They are, however, true Falcons,
though of very small size, and are said to be used by native chiefs for
hawking insects and Button-quails, being thrown from the hand like a
ball; but this story has been discredited of late, the Besra, a small
Sparrow-Hawk, being probably the bird alluded to. The Falconets are
known to sit solitary on high trees, and according to native accounts
they feed on small birds and insects.
THE PEREGRINE FALCON (_Falco peregrinus_[203]).
This noble bird justifies his name of _peregrinus_, by his distribution
over the earth’s surface. The ordinary Peregrine, which is still
found in suitable places breeding on British coasts, is met with all
over Europe and Northern Asia, ranging into South Africa and India
in winter, extending throughout China to the Sunda Islands, and the
Philippine Archipelago. In North America he is also widely distributed,
and is as plentiful as in Europe. In the southern hemisphere the
Peregrines, though strictly of the same type as the European bird,
are always darker in colour, and have blacker faces and heads. The
Australian Peregrine is called _Falco melanogenys_,[204] and extends
its range from the Australian continent to New Caledonia and the New
Hebrides, and as far north as Java. In South Africa the resident
Peregrine is a very small, dark-coloured bird, and is called _Falco
minor_. This species is also met with in North-eastern Africa, and even
ranges into the Mediterranean, as it has been shot in Rhodes, Sardinia,
and Morocco. Again, in Chili, another dark-faced form occurs, the
_Falco nigriceps_,[205] not unlike its Australian relative.
To write a history of the Peregrine Falcon would be almost to write
a history of falconry, and although it would be beyond the limits
of the present work to enter deeply into the subject, a few words
must be said about it here. The art of falconry probably came from
the East, where it is still practised, and an ancient bas-relief was
found by Sir Austen Layard, among the ruins of Khorsabad, depicting a
falconer with a Hawk on his wrist, thus proving the antiquity of the
pursuit. In Great Britain it was formerly much in vogue, and in Salvin
and Brodrick’s work on “Falconry in the British Islands” there will
be found an interesting _résumé_ of the art, as performed in Great
Britain, from ancient times down to the present. It is lamentable
to think of the way in which these noble birds, once the pride and
favourite of monarchs, are now shot down and classed as vermin. The
strict way of preserving game which has been common of late years, and
the general use of firearms, have, no doubt, been the chief causes of
the destruction of the larger Falcons, and it will take some time to
disabuse the vulgar prejudices of gamekeepers, and of some proprietors,
as to the mistake that is made in killing off every kind of raptorial
bird indiscriminately. A protest which was penned by Mr. G. E. Freeman,
in his “Falconry,” is worthy of reproduction here:--“All Hawks, when
they have a choice, invariably choose the easiest flight. This fact is
of the last importance in the matter before us. I confess that I at
once give it the chief place in this argument. Who has not heard of the
Grouse disease? It has been attributed, sometimes respectively, and
sometimes collectively, to burnt heather; to heather poisoned from the
dressings put on Sheep; to the Sheep themselves cropping the tender
shoots and leaves of the plant, and thus destroying the Grouse’s food;
to the tape-worm; to shot which has wounded but not killed; and perhaps
to other things besides. It may be, I doubt not, correctly referred to
any or to all of these. Of this, however, there appears no question
that from whatever cause it springs it is _propagated_. A diseased
parent produces a diseased child. Now, I say that when every Hawk is
killed upon a large manor, the balance of Nature is forgotten, or
ignored; and that Nature will not overlook an insult. _She_ would have
kept her wilds healthy; destroy her appointed instruments, and beware
of her revenge!”
[Illustration: PEREGRINE FALCON.]
The Peregrine Falcon has always been celebrated with falconers for
its superior dash and courage. The female is much the larger and
more powerful bird, and is called the “Falcon,” the male being known
as the “Tiercel.” The young birds reared from the nest are called
“Eyes,” and the immature specimens, from their more rufous colour, are
distinguished as the “Red Falcon” and the “Red Tiercel.” When a bird
has been caught wild in the full plumage it is called “Haggard.” The
principal flight of the “Falcon” was at the Heron, and many anecdotes
are told of the encounters between these two antagonists in mid-air.
The evidence of Falconers, however, goes to show that the impalement
of the Hawk by the Heron’s bill is a rare occurrence, and it is only
when the birds come to the ground that the presence of the man is
required to rescue the Falcons from their dangerous foe. The Heron,
on being pursued, endeavours to avoid his pursuer by mounting high
into the air, the Falcon meanwhile doing his best to rise above him
and strike the quarry to the ground. Generally, two Falcons were
employed in the chase, and while the Heron avoided the stoop of one
by changing his position suddenly, the other was ready to stoop from
above, until, by a successful swoop, the Heron would be mastered and
borne to the ground with the two Falcons in close embrace. Then was
the time for the good falconer to be at hand to save his Hawks from
the Heron. In a wild state the Peregrine feeds on Grouse of all kinds,
Pheasants, Partridges, Ducks, Pigeons, Plovers, &c., but it does not
so often visit the poultry-yard as the other Hawks, preferring the
open country or the sea-coast. In this latter locality, the Falcon
feeds on the various sea-birds, such as the Puffins, Auks, Guillemots,
and as it flies back to its nest with food for its young, it will
sometimes in very wantonness rip up a Gull or other sea-bird if it
happens to get in the way as it rushes by. The nest is generally large,
and composed of sticks and herbaceous plants, excepting in localities
where none of the latter exist, when it is made of grass. The site
chosen is some sea-cliff or high precipice inland, where there is
sure to be some difficulty in reaching the nest, which is generally
harried by means of a rope. They build in the same localities for years
together, and Professor Newton gives an interesting record of such
an occurrence,[206] when he mentions a hill in Lapland, where a pair
of Falcons had a nest when it was visited by the French astronomical
expedition in 1736, a nest being re-discovered in the same place in
1799 by Captain Skjöldebrand, and again by the late Mr. Woolley, in
1853. Near the site of its nest the Peregrine brooks no intruder,
and will even attack an Eagle, an instance having been recorded of
one of the latter birds being stunned and brought to the ground by a
Peregrine, who broke its own wing in the attempt, and was liberated
by the shepherds to mend its wing as best it could, in gratitude for
having delivered their aquiline enemy into their hands.
[Illustration: HOODED FALCON.]
In Holland, where until recent years hawking was largely carried on
under the auspices of the king, there is a well-known place, called
Valkenswaard, where a good many Hawks are trapped every autumn during
migration, and it is from the neighbourhood of this village that many
of the most celebrated falconers have come. At the same time England
has also produced many celebrated adepts at the art, which is generally
carried on from father to son; and one of the Barr family, with a high
reputation as a falconer, a few years ago exhibited his trained birds
in the neighbourhood of London. The writer has also seen some fine
sport in Huntingdonshire, with Lord Lilford’s Hawks, in a large extent
of open country near Great Gidding.
[Illustration: FALCON’S HOOD.]
The male Peregrine is of a bluish-grey colour, narrowly barred with
black, the wings darker; the cheeks, ear-coverts, and moustache, black,
the entire sides of the head being sometimes of this dark aspect;
underneath, the body is white, with more or less of a reddish tinge,
and crossed with black bars; tail grey, broadly barred with black and
tipped with white. The length is about fifteen inches, that of the
female about seventeen; and the wing is fourteen inches and a half in
length instead of about twelve, as in the male. In plumage the hen bird
is very similar, but is generally of a richer rufous hue below.
Besides the Peregrine Falcons there are a host of smaller species
of the genus _Falco_, varying much from the above birds in size and
style of colour, but of exactly the same form, and having much the
same habits. The Hobby (_Falco subbuteo_) and the Merlin (_F. æsalon_)
represent these smaller Falcons in the British Islands.
THE GREENLAND JER-FALCON (_Hierofalco candicans_).[207]
Besides the Peregrine, there were used in falconry, in England, the
Noble, or Jer-Falcons, birds which were much prized, although they did
not possess the same fire and dash in pursuit of their quarry exhibited
by the former bird. There are five distinct kinds of these northern
Jer-Falcons, without mentioning the Saker Falcon of South-eastern
Europe, which also belongs to the genus _Hierofalco_. The best known
is the Greenland Jer-Falcon, which, as its name implies, is an
inhabitant of Greenland and North America, young birds only occurring
in the British Islands during migration. This species is nearly pure
white in colour when fully adult, the back and wings retaining small
spots of black, the entire head and breast, and especially the tail,
becoming pure white as the bird gets older and loses the spots and
bars which characterise its immature dress. An unfailing mark by which
a Greenland Jer-Falcon can be told at any age is the light yellowish
bill and cere, and the absence of arrow-shaped bars on the flanks,
which in young birds are longitudinally streaked with brown, but are
never barred. All the other Jer-Falcons have distinct bars across the
flanks, as well as bluish bills and regularly barred tails. They are
four in number, the Norway Jer-Falcon (_H. gyrfalco_), the Iceland
Jer-Falcon (_H. islandicus_), Holböll’s Jer-Falcon (_H. Holbölli_), and
the Labrador Jer-Falcon (_H. labradorus_). They are nearly all peculiar
to the countries whose names they bear, the Norway bird not occurring
anywhere out of Europe and Northern Asia, one specimen having been
known to occur in England; it seems also to emigrate to Central Asia,
as a single bird was procured during the last Yarkand Mission. All the
Jer-Falcons have shorter toes than the Peregrines, in which the outer
toe is very long, while in the other birds the outer and inner toes are
about equal in length.
When in a wild state the Greenland Falcon feeds upon Ptarmigan, Geese,
and on the sea-birds which frequent the cliffs where it takes up its
abode. It evinces great courage in defending its nest.
THE KESTRELS (_Cerchneis_).
These form a group of short-toed Hawks, like the foregoing, but are
much more numerous in species, and are found distributed all over the
world, with the exception of some of the Oceanic Islands. More than
twenty different kinds of Kestrel are recognised by naturalists, and
they are more insect-feeding birds than the bolder and nobler Falcons
which have just been spoken of. The commonest and best known of all is
THE COMMON KESTREL, OR WIND-HOVER (_Cerchneis tinnunculus_).[208]
This species gains its name of Wind-hover from a very pretty and
graceful action with which it hangs suspended in the air, as if by a
thread, keeping itself balanced by a constant winnowing of the air
by its wings, and from this position it scans the ground below for
a stray Mouse which may venture out of its hole, for mice and small
birds constitute its principal food. It is frequently to be seen in
the autumn hovering about a field of sheaved corn in the twilight,
selecting a position about forty feet in the air, and occasionally
stooping down on some prey in the stubble below. Should it not succeed
in its pounce, it flies a little way in a few easy circles, and
again commences to hover over a new part of the field. Insects also
form a staple article of food to the Kestrel, who devours them while
in full flight, passing its leg up to its bill, and the author has
met with an instance of a Kestrel hawking for insects over a stream
in the late evening. This Hawk is, unfortunately, often confounded
through the ignorance of gamekeepers with the Sparrow-Hawk, and
suffers consequently for the misdeeds of the latter, a fact much to be
regretted, for it is a very useful bird, owing to the number of mice it
destroys; indeed, a writer in Macgillivray’s “British Birds” computes
that a single Kestrel would destroy upwards of ten thousand mice
during its stay in Britain. It will also catch birds, but in limited
numbers, and then generally only during the breeding season, when its
young require constant food. Although of a less ferocious nature and
aspect than the Falcons, the Kestrel, nevertheless, often shows forth
his accipitrine temperament in a way that would scarcely be expected
from his mild-looking dark eye, which has nothing of the ferocity of
the yellow iris of the Sparrow-Hawk. Some young birds belonging to the
writer, consisting of three females and a male, being left without
food for a few hours by the person in whose charge they were placed,
forgot their fraternal affection, and the larger hen birds set upon
the male, who was not so large or strong as they were, and devoured
him completely. When shooting in a sandy island near Heligoland also,
the writer wounded a Dunlin, which floated on the water a considerable
distance out at sea, and whilst waiting for the waves to bring the bird
in to land a Kestrel hove in sight and made a swoop at the Dunlin,
which the latter avoided by a rapid dive. Twenty-three times the Hawk
repeated the manœuvre without success, until the poor little wader
became exhausted, and was borne in the talons of his relentless foe
towards the rock of Heligoland, about a mile off. This action had been
witnessed also by Messrs Seebohm and Nicholson, from other parts of
the same sandy island, and the latter kept pace with the Kestrel as it
skirted the beach, in the hopes that it might cross the island when a
shot would perhaps have caused the bird to drop his exhausted quarry.
The Hawk, however, kept well out at sea, and regained his rocky home,
though he was several times seen to pause in his flight and take a
tighter grasp of his victim.
[Illustration: COMMON KESTREL.]
The nest of the Kestrel is often placed in towers and old buildings,
and the bird is sometimes to be seen round the Nelson monument in
Trafalgar Square, but a tree is more frequently the site selected, when
an old Crow’s or Raven’s nest is often chosen. The hen bird, as is the
case with most Hawks, sits very close, and will often require a stick
or stone to be thrown close to the nest before it will move off, and
the sudden drop which it gives is often the means of saving its life,
as the chance of a successful shot is difficult. The eggs are from four
to six in number, and are rather handsomely coloured, being blotched
with rufous on a white ground, and are not unfrequently entirely rufous.
In most of the Kestrels the sexes differ conspicuously in colour, the
females being barred. This is the case in the common species, where
the male has a blue head and tail. In the size of the sexes there is
little or no difference, each measuring about twelve inches and a half.
In winter, when there are fewer mice and beetles about, the Kestrel
shifts his quarters, and becomes to a certain extent migratory: at this
season of the year it visits India and Africa, not extending, however,
so far down the latter continent as some of the European birds go. It
is abundant at certain seasons in north-eastern Africa and Senegambia,
but seldom goes as far as the Cape. The most easterly occurrence that
is known of the Common Kestrel is the island of Borneo, though it is a
common bird in China. It should be mentioned, however, that the Kestrel
is always darker in colour from Japan and China, so much so that many
naturalists consider it to be a distinct species from the British bird.
[Illustration: OSPREY.]
THE SECOND SUB-ORDER.--PANDIONES.