_ululare_; the word used to denote, and partially to imitate, the cry
of the wolf; it enjoys also the doubtful honour of giving name to the
whole tribe of 'Owls', whether they howl, hoot, or screech. This
species is much more common than the Barn Owl in many districts,
although it is decreasing in others. Owing to its nocturnal habits,
and dusky colour, it is not so often seen as heard. It has many a
time been my amusement to repair, towards the close of a summer
evening, to a wood which I knew to be the resort of these birds, and
to challenge them to an exchange of greetings, and I rarely failed to
succeed. Their note may be imitated so exactly as to deceive even the
birds themselves, by forming a hollow with the fingers and palms of
the two hands, leaving an opening only between the second joints of
the two thumbs, and then by blowing with considerable force down upon
the opening thus made, so as to produce the sound hoo-hoo-hoo-o-o-o. I
have thus induced a bird to follow me for some distance, echoing my
defiance or greeting, or whatever he may have deemed it; but I do not
recollect that I ever caught sight of the bird.
Squirrels, rats, mice, moles, shrews, and any small birds that he can
surprise asleep, with insects, form his principal food. These he hunts
by night, and retires for concealment by day to some thick tree or
shrubbery, either in the hill country or the plains. The nest,
composed principally of the dried pellets of undigested bones and fur,
which all the Owls are in the habit of disgorging, is usually placed
in a hollow tree: here the female lays about four eggs, from which
emerge, in due time, as many grotesque bodies enveloped in a soft
plush of grey yarn: destined, in due time, to become Tawny Owls. The
full-grown females are larger than the males, and, being of a redder
tinge, were formerly considered a distinct species. The old birds
utter their loud _hoo-hou!_ or _to-whit, in-who!_ chiefly in the
evening.
ORDER ACCIPITRES
FAMILY FALCONIDÆ
SUB-FAMILY BUTEONINÆ
MARSH HARRIER
CIRCUS ÆRUGINOSUS
Head, neck, and breast yellowish white, with numerous
longitudinal brown streaks; wing-coverts reddish brown; primary
quills white at the base, the rest black; tail and secondaries
ash-grey; lower plumage reddish brown; beak bluish black; cere,
irides, and feet yellow; claws black. Length twenty inches.
Eggs white.
The Harriers are bold predatory voracious birds, having somewhat of
the appearance and movements of the Hawks. On a closer inspection,
however, they are seen to approach nearer in character to the Owls. In
the first place, they hunt their prey more in the morning and evening
than at any other time of day. In the next place, these twilight
habits are associated with a large head, and a somewhat defined face
formed by a circle of short feathers; while the plumage generally is
soft and loose, and their mode of hunting resembles that of the
nocturnal predatory birds, rather than that of the Falcons. They are
remarkable for the great difference which exists between the plumage
of the two sexes, which has made the task of discriminating the number
of species very difficult. Less active than the Falcons, they yet
carry on a formidable war against small birds, reptiles, and mice. The
Harriers or Harrows are so called from their _harrying_ propensities.
Of similar import is the etymology of the English word 'havoc', which
may be clearly traced to the Anglo-Saxon _hafoc_, or hawk. The habit
of the Marsh Harrier is not to station itself on a tree or rock,
thereon to explore the country; but while hunting, it is always on the
wing, skimming along the ground, and beating about the bushes with a
noiseless, unsteady flight, and always taking its prey on the ground.
Rabbit-warrens afford this bird a favourite hunting-ground, where it
either pounces on such living animals as it can surprise, or performs
the office of undertaker to the dead bodies of rabbits killed by the
weasels, burying them in the grave of its craw. In this ignoble office
it is said to be sometimes assisted by the Buzzard, and both birds
have been accused of setting to work before their unhappy victim has
breathed its last. On the sea-shore, the Marsh Harrier commits great
depredations among young water-fowl, and is often mobbed and driven
from the neighbourhood by the assembled old birds. The Partridge and
Quail often, too, fall victims to its voracity, so that the Marsh
Harrier receives no quarter from gamekeepers. It places its nest
generally near water, in a tuft of rushes, or at the base of a bush,
constructing it of sticks, rushes, and long grass, and lays three or
four eggs.
The Marsh Harrier is a widely dispersed species, being found, says
Temminck, in all countries where there are marshes. It occurs now but
sparingly in most parts of Great Britain and Ireland. It is better
known as the Moor Buzzard.
HEN HARRIER
CIRCUS CYÁNEUS
Tail longer than the wings; third and fourth primaries of equal
length; upper plumage of the _male_ bluish grey; lower white.
Upper plumage of the _female_ reddish brown; lower, pale
reddish yellow, with deep orange brown longitudinal streaks and
spots. Beak black; cere greenish yellow; irides reddish brown;
feet yellow; claws black. Length, _male_, eighteen inches;
_female_, twenty inches. Eggs white.
The Hen Harrier and Ringtail were formerly considered distinct
species; and no wonder; for not only are they different in size, but
dissimilar in colour, one having the upper parts grey, the lower
white; and the other the upper parts reddish brown, and various parts
of the plumage of a light colour, barred and streaked with deep brown.
The experienced ornithologist, Montagu, suspecting that they were male
and female of the same species, undertook to clear up the matter by
rearing a brood taken from the same nest. The result was that at first
there was no great difference except in size, all having the dark
plumage of the Hen Harrier; but after the first moult, the males
assumed the grey and white plumage, while the larger birds, the
females, retained the gayer colouring, and the latter was the
Ringtail. In habits both birds resemble the Marsh Harrier, but do not
confine themselves to damp places. They frequent open plains,
hillsides, and inclosed fields, hunting a few feet above the surface
of the ground, and beating for game as skilfully as a well-trained
spaniel. The moment that the Harrier sees a probable victim he rises
to a height of twenty feet, hovers for a moment, and then comes down
with unerring aim on his prey, striking dead with a single blow,
Partridge or Pheasant, Grouse or Blackcock, and showing strength not
to be expected from his light figure, and slender, though sharp
talons. Not unfrequently he accompanies the sportsman, keeping
carefully out of shot, and pouncing on the birds, killing them, and
carrying them off to be devoured in retirement. He preys exclusively
on animals killed by himself, destroying a great quantity of game
small mammals, birds and reptiles. It is a generally-diffused bird, by
no means so common as the Kestrel and Sparrow-hawk, but is met with
occasionally in most countries of Europe and Asia, and in various
parts of the British Isles. It is far from improbable that this bird
may frequently be seen, without being recognized as belonging to the
Hawk tribe; indeed, the beautiful form and light blue and white
plumage, might cause it to be mistaken for a Gull. It builds a
flattish nest of sticks, just raised above the round, in a heather, or
furze-bush, and lays four to six eggs.
[Illustration:
Montagu's Harrier [F]
Kestrel [F] [M]
Peregrine Falcon [F]
Hen Harrier [F] [M]
[_face p. 148._]]
[Illustration:
Rough-legged Buzzard [F] Kite
Common Buzzard Honey Buzzard]
MONTAGU'S HARRIER
CIRCUS CINERÁCEUS
Wings a little longer than the tail; third primary longer than
the fourth and second; upper plumage bluish grey; primaries
black, secondaries with three transverse dark bars; lateral
tail-feathers white barred with reddish orange; under plumage
white, variously streaked with reddish orange. _Female_--upper
plumage brown of various tints; under, pale reddish yellow,
with longitudinal bright red streaks. Beak black; cere deep
yellow; irides hazel; feet yellow; claws black. Length
seventeen inches. Eggs bluish white.
This bird, which is of rare occurrence in Britain, resembles the Hen
Harrier very closely, both in appearance and habits, although it is
smaller and more slender, and the wings are longer in proportion. On
the Continent, especially in Holland, it is more frequent. It received
its name in honour of Colonel Montagu, who was the first to ascertain
the identity of the Hen Harrier and Ringtail, and to separate the
present species from both.
COMMON BUZZARD
BUTEO VULGARIS
Upper plumage, neck and head, dark brown; lower, greyish brown,
mottled with darker brown; tail marked with twelve dark
transverse bands; beak lead-coloured; cere, iris, and feet
yellow. Length twenty to twenty-two inches. Eggs white,
variously marked with pale greenish brown.
The Buzzard, though ranked very properly among birds belonging to the
Falcon tribe, is deficient in the graceful activity which
characterizes the true Falcons. In sluggishness of habits it
approaches the Vultures, and in its soft plumage and mode of flight
the Owls; but differs from the former in feeding on live prey as well
as carrion, and from the latter in its diurnal habits. In form indeed
it resembles neither, being a bulky broad-winged Hawk, with stout legs
and a short much-curved beak. It can fly swiftly enough when occasion
requires, but its favourite custom is to take its station on some
withered branch, or on the projecting corner of a rock, whence it can
both obtain a good view of the surrounding country, and, when it has
digested its last meal, sally forth in quest of a new one as soon as a
victim comes within its range of observation. It pounces on this while
on the ground, and pursues its chase with a low skimming flight,
keeping a sharp look-out for moles, young hares and rabbits, mice,
reptiles, small birds and insects. At times it rises high into the
air, and, soaring in circles, examines the surface of the ground for
carrion. It has neither the spirit nor daring of the noble Falcons,
submitting patiently to the attacks of birds much less than itself,
and flying from the Magpie or Jackdaw. As an architect the Buzzard
displays no more constructive skill than other birds of its tribe,
building its nest of a few sticks, either on a rock or in a tree, and
not unfrequently occupying the deserted nest of some other bird. It
has, however, a redeeming point, being a most assiduous nurse. The
female sits close, and will allow the near approach of an intruder
before she leaves her eggs. In captivity, strange to say, though by
nature having a strong inclination for the flesh of chickens, she has
been known to sit on the eggs of the domestic hen, to hatch a brood,
and to rear them with as much solicitude as their natural mother could
have shown, distributing to them morsels of raw meat, not
comprehending, of course, their repugnance to such fare, and bearing
with extreme patience and good humour their unaccountable preference
for barley and crumbs of bread. The male bird is scarcely less
affectionate as a parent: an instance being recorded of one, which, on
the death of his partner, completed the period of incubation and
reared the young brood by himself. The Buzzard rarely molests game,
and more than compensates for the mischief it does work, by the
destruction of undoubted vermin; yet the hostility shown by
gamekeepers against all birds except those which it is their business
to protect, has so thinned its numbers that the Buzzard, though once
common, is now become rare.
THE HONEY BUZZARD
PERNIS APIVORUS
Lores or spaces between eyes and bill are covered with
feathers. The head of _male_ is ash-grey, his upper parts
brown; three blackish bars cross the tail; upper parts
white-barred and spotted with brown on the breast. Length
twenty-two to twenty-five inches; _female_ slighter the larger.
This species visits us during May and June, and a few stay to nest,
placing the nest upon the remains of that of some other large bird.
Wasps, wild bees and larvæ form their food in summer, but other
insects are eaten, and sometimes mice, birds, other small mammals,
worms and slugs. From two to four eggs are laid, both male and female
taking part in the incubation. The sitting bird is regularly fed by
the other.
The Honey Buzzard has bred from the New Forest up to Aberdeenshire.
Unfortunately, as much as £5 having been offered for a couple of
well-marked eggs of this species in the New Forest by collectors,
their numbers have become very few. Nearly £40 has been offered by
extravagant collectors for a good pair of the birds. By the year 1870
nearly all were driven away from that district.
THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD
BUTEO LAGÓPUS
Tarsi feathered to the claws; plumage yellowish white,
variegated with several shades of brown; a broad patch of brown
on the breast; tail white in the basal half, the rest uniform
brown; beak black; cere and irides yellow; feathers on the legs
fawn-coloured, spotted with brown; toes yellow; claws black.
Length twenty-six inches. Eggs whitish, clouded with reddish
brown.
This bird, which is distinguished from the preceding by having its
legs thickly clothed with long feathers, is a native of the colder
countries of both Continents, being only an occasional visitor in
Great Britain during autumn and winter. It is sometimes seen in large
flights on the Yarmouth Denes in October and November, at the same
time with the Short-horned Owl. It mostly frequents the banks of
rivers, where it feeds on vermin, reptiles, and the carcases of
animals brought down by the floods. In softness of plumage and mode of
flight, it resembles the Owls even more than the preceding species,
and often extends its hunting expeditions until far into the evening.
When not alarmed, it flies slowly and deliberately, and seemingly has
neither the inclination nor the power to attack living birds, unless
they have been previously disabled by wounds or other cause. The
Rough-legged Buzzard builds its nest in lofty trees, and lays three or
four eggs; but there are no well-authenticated instances of its
breeding in this country.
THE SPOTTED EAGLE
AQUILA NÆVIA
General colour reddish brown; tail brown above; legs feathered
in front of the toes. Length twenty-six inches.
This species is only a rare straggler to Great Britain.
[Illustration:
Osprey Golden Eagle [M]
Sea Eagle. Spotted Eagle. [M] _imm._
[_p. 152._]]
[Illustration:
Marsh Harrier [M] Hobby
Merlin [M] Sparrow Hawk [F]]
SUB-FAMILY AQUILINÆ
THE GOLDEN EAGLE
AQUILA CHRYSAËTOS
Tail longer than the wings, rounded; plumage of the head, back
of the neck and legs, lustrous reddish brown, of the rest of
the body dark brown; primaries nearly black; secondaries
brownish black; tail dark grey, barred and tipped with brownish
black; beak bluish at the base, black at the extremity; iris
brown; cere and feet yellow; claws bluish black. Length of the
_male_ three feet, that of the _female_ more; breadth eight
feet. Eggs dirty white, mottled with pale reddish brown.
The fable of the Eagle soaring to a great height in order to enjoy a
gaze at the sun in his unclouded brilliancy, is founded probably on a
belief of the ancients, thus stated by the naturalist Pliny:--'Before
its young are as yet fledged, the Eagle compels them to gaze at the
rays of the sun, and if it observes one to wink or show a watery eye
casts it from the nest as a degenerate offspring; if, on the contrary,
it preserves a steady gaze, it is saved from this hard fate, and
brought up.'
'The Golden Eagle', says Macgillivray, 'seems to prefer live prey to
carrion, and easily secures Grouse, in searching for which it flies
low on the moors, sailing and wheeling at intervals. Hares, roes, and
even red deer, it also attacks, but it does not haunt the shores for
fish so much as the Sea Eagle does. There seems very little
probability that Eagles have the sense of smell very acute, but that
their vision is so is evident. I am not, however, inclined to think
that they perceive objects from the vast height to which they
sometimes soar, because I never saw one descend from such an elevation
in a manner indicating that it had observed a carcase or other eatable
object; whereas, on the other hand, I have very frequently seen them
flying along the sides of the hills, at a small height, obviously in
search of food, in a manner somewhat resembling that of the
Sparrow-hawk, but with much less rapidity.'
The Golden Eagle breeds only in the Highlands, but it is not an
unfrequent visitor to the Lowlands of Scotland in the cold season.
Those birds which have been recorded as visiting England were
generally not this species but the White-tailed or Sea Eagle in
immature plumage. It prefers mountains or extensive forests, building
its eyrie either on rocks or lofty trees. In France, Sweden, Spain,
and Switzerland, it is frequently observed. Its note, called in the
Highlands 'a bark', is sharp and loud, resembling at a distance, as,
on the only occasion I ever heard it, it seemed to me, the croak of a
Raven. It lays two or sometimes three eggs, and feeds its young, which
are very voracious, on birds and the smaller quadrupeds.
THE WHITE-TAILED (SEA) EAGLE
HALIAËTUS ALBICILLA
Tail not longer than the wings; upper plumage brown, that of
the head and neck lightest, lower, chocolate brown; tail white;
beak, cere, and feet yellowish white; claws black. In _young
birds_ the tail is dark brown, and the beak and cere are of a
darker hue. Length of the _male_, two feet four inches; of the
_female_, two feet ten inches. Eggs dirty white with a few pale
red marks.
The White-tailed Eagle, known also by the name of the Sea Eagle, is
about equal in size to the Golden Eagle, but differs considerably in
character and habits; for while the latter has been known to pounce on
a pack of Grouse and carry off two or three from before the very eyes
of the astonished sportsman and his dogs, or to appropriate for his
own special picking a hunted hare when about to become the prey of the
hounds, the White-tailed Eagle has been observed to fly terror-struck
from a pair of Skua Gulls, making no return for their heavy buffets
but a series of dastardly shrieks. The ordinary food, too, of the
nobler bird is living animals, though, to tell the truth, he is always
ready to save himself the trouble of a chase, if he can meet with the
carcase of a sheep or lamb; but the White-tailed Eagle feeds
principally on fish, water-fowl, the smaller quadrupeds, and offal,
whether of quadrupeds, birds, or fish. On such fare, when pressed by
hunger, he feeds so greedily that he gorges himself till, unable to
rise, he becomes the easy prey of the shepherd's boy armed but with a
stick or stone. The Eagle is sometimes seen on the southern sea-board
of England in autumn and winter when the younger birds that have been
reared in the north of Europe are migrating south; but its eyries are
now only on the west and north coasts, and especially the Shetland
Islands. It inhabits Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, and
the north of England, where it frequents the vicinity of the sea and
large lakes. In winter it appears to leave the high latitudes and come
farther south, not perhaps so much on account of cold as because its
ordinary prey, being driven to seek a genial climate, it is compelled
to accompany its food. Consequently it is more abundant in Scotland
during winter than summer, and when seen late in autumn is generally
observed to be flying south, in early spring northwards. It builds its
nest either in forests, choosing the summit of the loftiest trees, or
among inaccessible cliffs overhanging the sea. The materials are
sticks, heath, tufts of grass, dry sea-weed, and it lays two eggs. The
young are very voracious, and are fed by the parent birds for some
time after they have left the nest, but when able to provide for
themselves are driven from the neighbourhood to seek food and a home
elsewhere.
THE OSPREY
PANDÍON HALIAËTUS
Wings longer than the tail; feathers of the head and neck
white, with dark centres; on each side of the neck a streak of
blackish brown, extending downwards; upper plumage generally
deep brown; under white, tinged here and there with yellow, and
on the breast marked with arrow-shaped spots; tail-feathers
barred with dusky bands; cere and beak dark grey; iris yellow.
Length two feet; breadth five feet. Eggs reddish white,
blotched and spotted with dark reddish brown.
'Endowed with intense keenness of sight, it hovers high in the air,
and having descried a fish in the sea, it darts down with great
rapidity, dashes aside the water with its body, and seizes its prey in
an instant.' So says the ancient naturalist Pliny, describing a bird
which he calls _Haliaëtus_, or Sea Eagle. Eighteen centuries later,
Montagu thus described a bird, which, when he first observed it, was
hawking for fish on the river Avon, near Aveton Gifford, in
Devonshire: 'At last', he says, 'its attention was arrested, and like
the Kestrel in search of mice, it became stationary, as if examining
what had attracted its attention. After a pause of some time, it
descended to within about fifty yards of the surface of the water, and
there continued hovering for another short interval, and then
precipitated itself into the water with such great celerity as to be
nearly immersed. In three or four minutes the bird rose without any
apparent difficulty, and carried off a trout of moderate size, and
instead of alighting to regale upon its prey, soared to a prodigious
height, and did not descend within our view.' There can be no
reasonable doubt that the bird thus described at such distant
intervals of time is the same, and that the Sea Eagle of the ancients
is the Osprey of the moderns. Wilson thus eloquently describes its
habits under the name of the 'Fish Hawk': "Elevated on the high dead
limb of some gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the
neighbouring shore and ocean, the great White-headed Eagle seems
calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that
pursue their busy vocations below. High over all these hovers one
whose actions instantly arrest all his attention. By his wide
curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in air, he knows him to be
the Fish Hawk settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye
kindles at the sight, and balancing himself with half-open wings on
the branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from
heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its
wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the surges
foam around. At this moment the eager looks of the Eagle are all
ardour; and, levelling his neck for flight, he sees the Fish Hawk once
more emerge struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air with
screams of exultation. These are the signals for our hero, who,
launching into the air, instantly gives chase, soon gains on the Fish
Hawk: each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, displaying in
the rencontres the most elegant and sublime aërial evolutions. The
unincumbered Eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of
reaching his opponent, when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair
and honest execration, the latter drops his fish; the Eagle, poising
himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like
a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches the water, and
bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the woods."
The Osprey has been observed on various parts of the coast of Great
Britain and Ireland, especially in autumn, and in the neighbourhood of
the Scottish Lakes, not merely as a stray visitor, but making itself
entirely at home. It is known in Sussex and Hampshire, as the Mullet
Hawk, because of its liking for that fish. It may be considered as a
citizen of the world, for it has been found in various parts of
Europe, the Cape of Good Hope, India, and New Holland. In America, we
have already seen, it is abundant. It builds its nest of sticks on
some rock or ruin, generally near the water, and lays two or three
eggs. It has not been known to breed in Ireland.
SUB-FAMILY ACCIPITRINÆ