SWIMMING BIRDS
In the birds belonging to this group the feet are webbed, so that they
may be used as paddles. And some of them are very curious indeed.
FLAMINGO
First of all, there is the well-known red and white flamingo, which is
quite an extraordinary bird, for it has extremely long, stilt-like legs,
and an extremely long, snake-like neck, which it can twist and coil
about as easily as if it were just a piece of rope. There is no part of
its body which a flamingo cannot reach with its beak, so that it can
preen its feathers quite easily. And when it wants to feed it wades into
the water, bends down its long neck, turns its head upside down, so that
its forehead rests upon the bottom, and scoops up great mouthfuls of
mud. Then, by means of the grooves at the sides of the bill, it gets rid
of the mud, while all the grubs, etc., which were lying buried in it,
are left behind to be swallowed.
The nest of the flamingo is a cone-shaped heap of mud, sometimes as much
as two feet high, with a little hollow at the top to contain eggs.
Thousands of these birds nest together, and when they are sitting they
look just like a great rosy-white cloud resting upon the ground. And if
they are startled and fly away, their nests look as though hundreds of
children had been making big sand-pies on the beach and neatly arranging
them in rows. But such a sight as this can now be seen only in some
almost inaccessible tropical islands, for these birds have been greatly
persecuted by feather-hunters and others, and are rare everywhere near
civilization. They used to be common in Florida and all about the Gulf
of Mexico, where now only a few exist.
Flamingoes are found in the warmer parts of all the great continents
except Australia. Nine different kinds are known, some of which stand
well over six feet in height.
GEESE, SWANS, AND DUCKS
Of wild geese there are at least forty species, which are found in
almost all parts of the world.
The graylag goose which breeds in the British Isles, seems to be the
ancestor of the domestic geese that we see in every farmyard. It lives
in flocks, which frequent marshes, lakes, and boggy moors during the
greater part of the year, but often visit the sea-coast in winter.
Sometimes, too, they may be seen near the mouth of a great river. They
are very shy birds, and when sportsmen wish to shoot them they have to
resort to all kinds of tricks in order to approach them without being
seen.
When wild geese fly, they generally do so in the form of a half-opened
pair of compasses, with the angle in front. But now and then they may be
seen in the air in an irregular wavy line. As they fly they make a
curious "gaggling" cry, which can be heard from a very long distance.
The nest of this goose is made of grass and flags, and is generally
placed at the base of a tussock of coarse grass. It usually contains six
plain white eggs.
Swans, too, are found wild in many parts of the world, and used to be
almost as numerous as ducks or geese both on the inland lakes and along
the coasts of the United States, but now have become rare and shy. All
the species breed in the arctic regions, and appear among us only on
their migrations in spring and fall.
Swans are most graceful birds in the water, and as their limbs are set
very far back they can swim with great ease. But for the same reason
they are very clumsy upon dry ground, and waddle along in the most
awkward way, seeming to find it very difficult to keep their balance.
All those in our parks are tame; but during the nesting-season the male
swan generally becomes very savage, and will attack any one who ventures
too near to his nest. And as a single stroke from his wing is
sufficient to break a man's arm, he is apt to be dangerous when
unfriendly.
The nest of the swan is a very large structure of reeds, rushes, and
grass, and is generally placed quite close to the water's edge. It
contains six or seven large greenish-white eggs.
A great many kinds of duck are known, but we can only mention the common
wild duck, which still visits rivers and lakes every winter in
considerable numbers, a few of which remain to breed.
The male duck is called the mallard, and from October till May he is a
very handsome bird, with a dark-green head and neck, a white collar
round the lower part of his throat, brownish-gray wings, chestnut-brown
breast, and white hinder parts. But when he moults he puts off this
beautiful plumage, and for the next five months is mottled all over with
brown and gray, just like his mate.
Wild ducks are found chiefly in marshes and fens, and on the borders of
rivers and lakes. But when they come over in the autumn they often spend
the daytime out at sea resting on the water. They make their nests of
grass, lined with down from the mother bird's own breast; and the little
ones are able to swim as soon as they leave the egg-shell. When they are
about half grown they sometimes use their wings in diving, and you may
see them flapping their way along beneath the surface, and really flying
under water.
CORMORANTS
In Great Britain, due to its northern latitude, cormorants are commonly
seen where the coast is high and rocky; but in America they are less
often visible because they dwell mainly in the far north. They are very
odd birds. Sitting on rocks which overhang the water, every now and then
one will drop into the sea, splash about for a moment or two, and then
return to his perch. Then you may be quite sure that he has caught and
swallowed a fish. Sometimes you may see them swimming along with their
heads under water, watching for victims in the depths below.
Cormorants are famous for their big appetites--perhaps it would be more
correct to say for their horrible greediness, for they will go on eating
till they simply cannot swallow another morsel, and yet will try hard to
catch every fish that comes near them. The little ones feed in a most
extraordinary way, for they actually poke their heads down their
mother's throat, and take as much food as they want from her crop!
When these birds really feel that they have had enough to eat, they sit
upon a rock for an hour or two while they digest their dinners. They
also take this opportunity to dry their wings, and spread them out to
the fullest extent on either side, so that they look very much like rows
of black clothes hung out to dry!
In China cormorants are often trained to catch fish for their masters, a
strap being fastened round the lower part of the neck to prevent them
from swallowing their victims. They were formerly used in England in
just the same way.
PELICANS
More curious still are their cousins the pelicans, which have a pouch of
naked parchment-like skin under their long bills, capable of holding
quite two gallons of water. This pouch, as a rule, is folded closely up
under the beak, but when the bird is fishing, it packs victim after
victim into it until it is quite full, when it really looks almost half
as big as the body.
In this way pelicans carry back food for their hungry little ones. But
on their way they are sometimes robbed, for there is a kind of large
hawk which is very fond of eating fishes, but is not at all fond of the
trouble of catching them. So he waits till he sees a pelican returning
home from a fishing expedition, and then dashes at it, and begins to
beat it about the head with his wings. The poor frightened pelican,
thinking that it is about to be killed, opens its beak to scream. This,
of course, is just what the hawk wants, and snatching a fish out of the
pelican's pouch, he flies off with it in triumph.
Pelicans are very plentiful in many parts of the world, and are often
seen in vast flocks. We have two kinds in the United States and
Canada--the white and the brown. Both are more numerous on the marshes
and around the shallow lakes of the northwestern plains than anywhere
else, because they have been driven from their former coast-resorts. All
the birds in a flock will sometimes go out fishing together. Arranging
themselves in a great semicircle, about a yard apart, they all paddle
slowly forward, and in this way will drive a great shoal of fish into
shallow water, where they may be snapped up without difficulty.
SEA-GULLS
These you know very well by sight, for they are common on all parts of
our coasts, and on many of our lakes, while numbers of them may be seen
even on the ornamental waters in the parks of New York and other
seaboard cities. In stormy weather, too, they often fly inland, and
sometimes great numbers of them may be seen in newly plowed fields,
hunting for worms and insects. Most of them go north for the
breeding-season, some visiting certain islands and rocky cliffs in
immense numbers, and making their nests of seaweed; while others, like
the black-headed gull, and the ringbill nest in marshes, merely
trampling down the broken tops of sedges and reeds, and so forming a
slight hollow in which to lay the eggs.
At least fifty different kinds of gulls are known. But many of them are
very difficult to distinguish, for their summer plumage may be quite
unlike that with which they are clothed during the winter, while the
young birds are not marked like their parents till they are two or even
three years old. Those which are most common on the Atlantic coast are
two or three kinds of herring-gulls, which formerly bred in great
numbers on all our sandy shores and islets, but now have been driven to
quieter regions in the far north. On the western plains, around certain
shallow lakes, live great colonies of ring-billed and other small gulls,
breeding in the extensive marshes.
Flying to and fro over the sea, or over a large inland lake, you may
sometimes see a number of birds which look like gulls, but are much
smaller, and have long, forked tails like swallows. These are terns,
or sea-swallows, as they are often called, and are most elegant and
graceful in their movements, gliding and sweeping through the air, and
twisting and turning with the most wonderful swiftness and ease. They
are summer visitors only, coming to us in May and flying south again in
September, and they breed on flat shores, generally laying their two or
three eggs in a small hollow in the shingle. They feed on small fishes
and shrimps, and also on the sandhoppers and the various insects which
are so plentiful upon the beach.
[Illustration: AMERICAN WADING BIRDS.
1. Great White Egret. 2. Sandhill Crane.
3. Great Blue Heron. 4. Whooping Crane.
5. White Pelican (Male). 6. Snow Goose.]
GUILLEMOTS
Very common are guillemots on some coasts where there are sea-fronting
cliffs, and freedom from disturbance. Thus they abound along the shores
of Labrador and Greenland, and many varieties are to be found along the
northern coasts of Alaska, and about the borders of the Arctic sea,
often thronging in great numbers together with puffins, kittiwakes,
petrels, and gannets, each kind occupying separate parts of the cliffs
and living on friendly terms with their neighbors.
Guillemots feed entirely upon fishes, which they chase under water,
using both their wings and feet, just as dabchicks do. They do not make
any nest, but lay a single egg on a bare ledge of rock which is often
only a very few inches wide. One would think that this egg would be in
great danger of being knocked over the edge. But it is very large at one
end and very much pointed at the other, so that if it is struck it only
rolls round and round. In color it is green or blue, blotched and
streaked with black.
THE ALBATROSS
One of the largest of all the sea-birds is the albatross, which is found
chiefly in the tropical seas. When the wings are fully spread, they
sometimes measure nearly twelve feet from tip to tip. Yet the entire
weight of the bird is not more than sixteen or seventeen pounds. It
often remains at sea for weeks or months together, sometimes remaining
in the air all through the night as well as all through the day, and
following ships for hundreds of miles in order to feed upon the refuse
which is thrown overboard. Its appetite is enormous, for it has been
known to gulp down a great piece of whale's blubber, weighing between
three and four pounds, and then to return almost immediately for more!
Great numbers of albatrosses nest together on uninhabited islands, each
pair scooping together a quantity of clay, grass, and sedge, which they
arrange in a conical heap about ten or twelve inches high, with a little
hollow at the top. Only a single egg is laid, which is quite white, and
is rather larger than that of a goose.
THE PUFFIN AND THE PENGUIN
Two most curious birds must be mentioned in conclusion. The first of
these is the puffin, which is found plentifully in one or another
species on all northern coasts where there are bold cliffs. An odder and
more quaint-looking bird it would be difficult to imagine, for it has a
beak quite large enough for a bird six times its size, while that beak,
which is banded with bright crimson, gray, and brilliant yellow, looks
just as if it had been stuck on with glue! More than that, it does not
appear to fit very well; so that altogether, with its short, squat body
and stout little legs, the puffin is by no means a graceful bird. It is
often known as the sea-parrot.
On dry land, the puffin is very awkward, and can only waddle along
slowly and clumsily. But it is a good swimmer and diver, and can chase
and overtake small fishes with the greatest of ease. It is also able to
fly very well, and takes long journeys over the sea when it comes to us
in the spring, and again when it goes southward in the autumn. It makes
no nest, but finds a cranny, digs out a hole in the face of a cliff to
the depth of about three feet, and lays a single grayish-white egg at
the end of the hole.
Odder still is the penguin, whose wings are but little more than
flippers, with scales on their upper edges instead of feathers! It
cannot fly, of course; but it uses its wings for two purposes. For if it
is frightened upon land it throws itself down on its breast and
scuttles along on all fours, just as though its wings were legs, and if
it wants to chase a fish in the sea it swims with them, just as though
they were paddles.
There are a good many different kinds of penguins, all of which are
found in the southern hemisphere. On some of the islands in the Pacific
and Antarctic oceans they are found in immense numbers, and have a
curious way of standing side by side upon the shore in long rows, with
their flippers hanging down on either side of their bodies. From a
distance, indeed, they might almost be mistaken for lines of soldiers
standing at attention. When the breeding-season begins they become very
busy, picking up stones, carrying them about with a great deal of fuss,
and then carefully arranging them in position, every now and then
turning their beaks up to the sky, waving their flippers, and making a
curious gobbling noise. If a sitting hen leaves her nest for a little,
all the other hens become greatly excited, and peck at her as she passes
by in order to drive her back again, croaking loudly in chorus, and
evidently feeling extremely indignant with her for neglecting her
duties.
When these odd birds are sitting on a ledge of ice, and want to get down
into the sea, they often throw themselves upon their breasts, and
"toboggan" down the slope into the water!
REPTILES