these probably had been driven eastward by storms from North America,
where alone they are found in any numbers. In habits and food the Surf
Scoter resembles the common species, deriving its name from the
pertinacity with which it selects, as its feeding-ground, a sandy
beach over which surf rolls. It rarely or never visits the salt
marshes.
THE GOOSANDER
MERGUS MERGANSER
Head and crest greenish black; back black; speculum (not barred
with black), under parts, wing-coverts, outer scapulars, and
some of the quills, buff; bill red, the ridge and nail black;
feet vermilion. Length twenty-four to twenty-eight inches.
_Female_ and _young_--head and crest reddish brown; breast and
flanks pale buff; upper plumage dark ash; bill and feet dull
red. Eggs dull white.
The Goosander is a regular winter visitor to the shores of Great
Britain and Ireland, frequenting bays and estuaries, but preferring
fresh-water rivers and lakes, where it makes great havoc among trout
and other fish. It is far more abundant in the north than in the
south, and, according to Macgillivray, is sometimes seen even in
summer in the Scotch lochs. It has been known to breed in the outer
Hebrides, and of late years in several parts of the Highlands, but the
general summer residence of this species is much farther to the north,
both in the eastern and western hemispheres. The habits of the
Goosander and Merganser are so much alike that further detail is
unnecessary.
The females and young birds of the Goosander and Merganser are
popularly called Dun-divers.
THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER
MERGUS SERRATOR
Head, crest, and neck black, with greenish reflections; a white
collar round the neck; breast reddish brown, spotted with
black; near the insertion of the wing several white spots,
edged with black; speculum white, divided by two transverse
black bars; back black; belly white, barred on the flanks and
rump with wavy grey lines; bill and irides red; feet orange.
Length twenty-two inches. _Female_ smaller; head and crest
reddish brown; breast mottled with ash and white; upper plumage
and flanks deep ash-colour; speculum with one black bar; bill
and feet dull orange; irides brown. Eggs whitish ash.
This large and handsome bird is not uncommon in the estuaries and
rivers of Great Britain, but is most frequent in the north. It is
resident in Scotland and Ireland. The adult male is less frequently
seen than females and young males, which closely resemble one another
in size and plumage, both being inferior to the first in brilliancy of
colouring. Their food consists of fish, especially sand-eels, and,
when they find their way into fresh-water lakes and rivers, of eels
and trout, which they capture by diving, and retain with ease by the
help of their strong bills notched throughout like a saw.
In birds of the first year the tuft of feathers on the head is barely
perceptible, and there is but a slight tinge of red on the lower part
of the neck. Most of the Mergansers which resort to our shores during
winter visit us from high latitudes; but a few remain to breed in the
Scotch and Irish lakes, making their nests of dry herbage and moss
mixed with down from their own breasts.
The name Merganser, that is, 'Diving Goose', has reference to the size
of the bird and its habit of diving for its food. Its flight is strong
and rapid, but differs somewhat from that of the Ducks, the neck being
not stretched out to its full length, but slightly folded back. After
the young are hatched the male deserts the female and leaves her to
bring off her brood without assistance.
THE SMEW
MERGUS ALBELLUS
Crest, neck, scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and all the under
parts white; cheeks and back of the head greenish black; two
crescent-shaped marks advancing from the shoulders on each side
to the breast black; tail ash coloured; bill and feet bluish
grey, the membranes black; irides brown. Length seventeen
inches. _Female_ smaller; head and cheeks reddish brown; under
parts white, clouded on the breast, flanks, and rump, with
ash-grey; upper plumage and tail greyish black; wings
variegated with black, white, and grey. Eggs whitish.
The birds of this genus, though placed among the Anatidæ, or Duck
tribe, are so strongly marked by the conformation of the bill that a
simple examination of the head alone will enable the student to
distinguish either of the species from the true Ducks already
described. On the coast of Norfolk the popular name 'Smee Duck'
includes several kinds of Ducks, and I presume the present species;
but the bill, in the form of an elongated and almost cylindrical cone,
with the edges of both mandibles furnished with saw-like teeth pointed
backwards, cannot fail to distinguish the genus _Mergus_.
The Smew, or Smee, properly so called, is a winter visitor with us,
more impatient of cold than the Duck-tribe generally, and consequently
frequenting the southern more than the northern parts of the island.
In open weather it resorts to our rivers and fresh-water lakes, where
it feeds on small fish and other aquatic animals, which it obtains by
diving. In severe frosts it either flies farther south or repairs to
tidal rivers and harbours. Though not a rare bird, it is sparingly
distributed. It is found on many of the continental rivers, even those
which are far distant from the sea, but is not often killed, as it is
shy of being approached, readily takes wing, flies swiftly, and as a
diver is most rapid and expert. It is, however, little sought after,
for, in spite of its relationship, its strong fishy flavour prevents
it from passing muster as a Duck. Of its nesting little or nothing is
known. In the north of Devon it is called, according to Montagu, 'Vare
Wigeon', from the supposed resemblance of its head to that of a 'vare'
or weasel. I have also heard it called the 'Weasel Duck' in Norfolk,
and on the south coast the 'Weasel-headed'.
ORDER COLUMBÆ
FAMILY COLUMBIDÆ
THE WOOD PIGEON OR RING DOVE
COLUMBA PALUMBUS
Head, cheeks, neck, and upper part of the tail, bluish grey;
back and wing-coverts darker; a white crescent-shaped spot on
each side of the neck surrounded by scale-like feathers with
green and purple reflections; primaries grey towards the base,
white in the middle, and dusky towards the extremity, with the
outer web white; tail barred with black at the end; abdomen
whitish; bill orange, powdered with white at the base; iris
light yellow; feet blood-red; claws brown. Length sixteen and a
half inches. Eggs pure white.
Two hundred and fifty years ago the taste for keeping different sorts
of Pigeons was as strong as it is in the present day, and the popular
names of Runts, Croppers, Shakers, Carriers, Jacobins, Turbits,
Barbaries, Tumblers, Horsemen, Spots, etc., modern though they may
sound, were then applied to the very same varieties which are
described under these names in recent _Guides to the Poultry-yard_.
Many of these were of foreign origin, and were known at a remote
period in various eastern countries, so that there can be no doubt
that the custom of keeping tame Pigeons is of very ancient date.
The Pigeons in some of their habits approach the gallinaceous birds,
with which accordingly they are classed. They are furnished with long
and powerful wings, by help of which they can sustain a rapid and
continuous flight. They seek their food mostly on the ground, but do
not scratch with their feet, and are more given to bathe in water
than to flutter in a bath of dust, though in this habit also they not
unfrequently indulge. They are furnished, moreover, with a large crop,
in which the food supplied to their young is partially macerated and
reduced to a kind of pulp before the latter are fed. This process is
carried on more by the agency of the receiver than of the giver, as
the young birds, instead of opening their mouths and allowing the food
to be dropped in, help themselves by inserting their bills into the
sides of the old bird's mouth. Their mode of drinking differs from
that of the true gallinaceous birds; they do not take short sips,
lifting the head after every draught, but satisfy their thirst by one
continuous immersion of the whole bill. They build their nests of a
few sticks, and lay two white eggs.
Some of the foreign species are distinguished by their brilliant
plumage. Those inhabiting Britain are unmarked by gaudy tints, but
redeemed from plainness by the metallic glossy lustre of their neck
feathers.
The Wood Dove, called also Wood Pigeon and Ring Dove, is the largest
British species, exceeding in dimensions most varieties of the
domestic Pigeon. The summer wanderer through a wood in almost any part
of the country can scarcely fail to have been disturbed in his
meditations by the sudden flapping of wings of some large bird, which,
without uttering any note, dashes through the foliage of a
neighbouring tree, and makes off with hurried flight for some distant
part of the wood. Seen through the openings of the trees, its
predominant tint is blue-grey, but a large patch of white is
distinctly perceptible on each wing. It might be mistaken for a hawk,
so rapidly does it cleave its way through the air; but birds of prey
are too wary to betray their movements by the sound of their wings;
they, too, rather launch into the air, than start with a violent
clapping of their pinions. A Jay might make a similar noise; but when
alarmed it always utters its harsh scream, and, if it comes in sight,
may at once be distinguished by the striking contrast of its white and
black feathers. The bird just disturbed can scarcely, then, be
anything but a Wood Dove, perhaps frightened from its nest, perhaps
attending on its mate, or it may have been simply digesting its last
meal, or waiting until sent forth by the cravings of hunger in quest
of a new one; for the bird, though exemplary as a spouse and parent,
has a large crop which is never allowed to remain long empty. The food
and habits of Wood Pigeons vary with the season. In spring and summer
they are most frequently seen alone or in pairs. They then feed
principally on the tender leaves of growing plants, and often commit
great ravage in fields of beans and peas. Spring-sown corn is attacked
by them both in the grain and the blade, and as soon as young turnips
have put forth their second pair of leaves, they, too, come in for
their share of devastation. As the season advances, they visit the
corn-fields, especially those in the vicinity of their native woods,
preferring, above all, those parts where the corn has been laid, and
where a neighbouring grove or thicket will afford them a ready retreat
if disturbed. They are very partial also to oily seeds of all kinds,
and it is said that since colza has been extensively grown in the
south of France, Wood Pigeons have become a scourge of agriculture,
and that consequently war is waged on them unsparingly. It has been
remarked also, that they have become much more abundant in Scotland in
consequence of 'the great increase in the cultivation of turnips and
clover, which afford them a constant supply of food during winter, and
the great increase of fir woods, which are their delight both for
roosting and rearing their young'. At the approach of autumn they
assemble in small flocks, and resort to oak and beech woods,
especially the last, where acorns and beech-mast, swallowed whole,
afford them an abundant and generous diet. They are now in great
demand for the table, but, being very cautious and shy, are difficult
of approach. A good many, however, are shot by men and boys, who
discover beforehand in what particular trees they roost, and, lying in
ambush to await their arrival, fire at them as they drop in small
parties. In winter, the small flocks unite and form large ones. So
large, indeed, are these sometimes in severe seasons, that it is fair
to suppose that their numbers are considerably augmented by subsidies
from colder climates, driven southwards perhaps by scarcity of food.
In districts abounding in oak and beech woods, they find abundance of
food during the greater part of the winter; but when this supply is
exhausted, or the ground is covered with snow, they repair once more
to the turnip-fields, and feed on the green leaves. Hunger, however,
does not rob them of their shyness, nor make them confiding; for let a
human figure appear in ever so large a field where a flock is feeding,
the alarm is at once caught and communicated to the whole party, who
lose no time in displaying the white bar on the wing, and are soon
beyond the reach of fowler and gun.
Among the first woodland sounds of spring and the last of autumn is
the note of the Ring Dove, often continued for a long time together,
always monotonous, but never wearisome. It is generally considered to
be tinged with melancholy, and on this account the bird itself is
supposed to have been named the Queest or Cushat
Deep toned
The Cushat plains; nor is her changeless plaint
Unmusical, when with the general quire
Of woodland harmony it softly blends.
GRAHAME.
Wordsworth celebrates it under a name generally given to the next
species:
I heard a Stock Dove sing or say
His homely tale, this very day;
His voice was buried among trees,
Yet to be come at by the breeze.
It did not cease; but cooed and cooed,
And somewhat pensively he wooed;
He sang of love with quiet blending.
Slow to begin, and never ending;
Of sorrows, faith, and inward glee;
That was the song, the song for me.
And again, still more happily:
Over his own sweet voice the Stock Dove broods.
The note may be imitated by attempting to whistle, in a very deep
tone, the syllables 'cooe-coo-roo-o-o-o'; or still more closely by
clasping the hands together, so as to form a hollow, open only between
the second joints of the thumbs, and blowing the same words over the
orifice. With a little practise so close an imitation may be produced,
that a genuine cooer may be beguiled into giving an answer. I may add,
too, that with the same natural instrument and with a greater
expenditure of breath the hoot of the Owl may be imitated; with a
gentler effort and a quiver of the tongue the coo of the Turtle Dove
may be nearly approached.
The Wood Dove has never been considered to be the origin of the
domestic Pigeon, nor will it breed in captivity. There is no
difficulty, however, in rearing birds taken young from the nest; and
birds so brought up will alight with perfect confidence on the person
of their foster nurse, and feed from his hand or mouth. The nest of
the Wood Dove is an unsubstantial structure, composed of sticks so
loosely put together that the eggs or young birds are sometimes
visible from below. It is placed in a fork or among the branches of a
tree; a thick fir is preferred; but nests are to be met with in ivy
and thorn bushes either in a wood, coppice, or, more rarely, in a
hedgerow. The number of eggs is always two. The male bird assists in
the office of incubation.
THE STOCK DOVE
COLUMBA OENAS
Head, throat, wings, and lower parts, bluish grey; the lower
parts of the neck with metallic reflections, no white spots;
breast wine-red; a black spot on the two last secondaries and
some of the wing-coverts; primaries grey at the base, passing
into dusky; tail grey barred with black at the extremity, the
outer feather with a white spot on the outer web near the base;
irides reddish brown; bill yellow, red at the base; feet red;
claws dusky. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.
The Stock Dove is by some persons supposed to be so called from its
having been believed at one time to be the origin of the domestic
Pigeon; but as it bore the name before the above question was mooted,
it is more reasonable to suppose that it derived its name from its
habit of nestling in the _stocks_ of trees, and not on the branches
like the Ring Dove, nor in caves like the Rock Dove. Ray and
Willughby, who treat the domestic Dove as a distinct species, gave it
the name of Oenas (from the Greek _oinos_, wine), and Vinago (from
the Latin _vinum_), from the purpled or wine-red hue of its breast and
wings. Temminck does not hesitate to identify the domestic Pigeon with
the Rock Dove, without even hinting the possibility of its having
derived its origin from the Stock Dove. Since, therefore, the two
birds have no marked resemblance, it may be reasonably supposed that
the relationship between them rests solely on the narrow foundation
that there exists a wild Pigeon, popularly called a Stock Dove, and
that the word 'stock' has among other meanings that of 'parentage' or
'origin'. Thus the name gave rise to a theory which, having a
plausible show, was hastily assumed, and was then employed to prove a
fact which will not bear the test of examination. The Stock Dove in
its habits closely resembles the Ring Dove, from which it cannot
easily be distinguished at a distance. When tolerably near, a sharp
eye can detect the absence of the white patch on the wings and of the
ring round the neck. Its flight is more rapid, and it rarely perches
on a slender bough, preferring to alight on a main branch or stump.
Its note is softer, and approaches that of the tame Pigeon. But the
great mark of distinction is that on which I have supposed its name to
be founded; that it does not build its nest among the branches of
trees, but in the side of a stump, or other locality, where no one
would even think of looking for a Ring Dove's nest. Yarrell states
that 'in the open counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, this species
frequently makes its nest in holes in the ground, generally selecting
a rabbit's burrow'. It has greatly increased in the south of England
of late, and it nests along the Moray and Dornock Firths. White, who
had never seen its nest, says that it used to be abundant at Selborne
'from November to February'. Yarrell saw two old birds exposed for
sale with Ring Doves, in London, on January 4. It resorts in spring to
the neighbourhood in which it was bred, as a convenient place for
rearing its own young, and at the end of summer repairs to woods and
groves better adapted for supplying it with its favourite food, acorns
and beech-mast. There it flocks together with Ring Doves, vast numbers
of which assemble in winter in some districts, and when the fowler
plies his occupation, shares their fate. It is, however, by no means
so common a bird as the Ring Dove at any season, nor is it so
generally distributed. In the North it is certainly only a summer
visitor; and, on the other hand, it is most abundant in the south of
Europe and in Africa during winter.
[Illustration:
Turtle Dove [M] [F]
Stock Dove [F] Rock Dove [M]
Wood Pigeon [M]
[_face p. 208_]]
[Illustration:
Red-legged Partridge [F]
Grouse [M]
Partridge [M]
Black Grouse [M] [F]]
THE ROCK DOVE
COLUMBA LIVIA
Plumage bluish ash, lighter on the wings; rump white; neck and
breast lustrous with green and purple reflections, without a
white spot; two transverse black bands on the wings; primaries
and tail tipped with black; rump white; outer tail-feather
white on the outer web; irides pale orange; bill black; feet
red. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white.
The Rock Dove, though a bird of extensive range, is less generally
known in its natural condition than either of the other British
species. As its name imports, its favourite place of resort is the
rocky coast; but this it frequents, not because it has any predilection
for the sea-shore and its productions, but that its instincts
teach it to make lofty rocks its stronghold, just as the natural
impulse of the Ring Dove is to find safety in the forests. If this
species is the original of all the numerous varieties of tame Pigeon,
it must inhabit most countries of the eastern hemisphere; for a
pigeon-fancier's dove-cot, to be complete, must contain several
sorts which were first brought from remote regions; and we know
that in Egypt, Phoenicia, and Persia, Pigeons had a mythological
importance at an early date. It is said that the Pigeons which
have established themselves in various public buildings of continental
cities, as Saint Mark at Venice, and Pont Neuf at Paris,
are exclusively Rock Pigeons; and I have seen it stated that they
frequent the towers of Canterbury Cathedral; but it is possible
that these may be in all cases derived from tame birds escaped
from domestication, and resuming, to a certain extent, their wild
habits and original plumage. That they resort to ruinous edifices
near the sea in retired districts is beyond question, as I have seen
them flying about and alighting on the walls of an old castle in the
island of Kerrera, near Oban, in the Western Highlands, indifferent,
seemingly, whether they nestled in the lofty cliffs on the
mainland, where they are numerous, or on the equally secure ruins
of masonry in the opposite island. That they are truly wild here
there can be no doubt. Indeed, the precipitous shores of Scotland,
the Hebrides, and Orkneys, afford them exactly the kind
of retreat that suits their habits; and here among inaccessible
rocks they build their nests and on their return from their inland
marauding expeditions, pass their nights. Their attitudes, mode
of flight, progression when on the ground, note, and manner of
feeding, are the same as those of the common tame Pigeon; and,
as might be expected, both wild and tame birds agree in declining
to perch on trees.
Macgillivray, who had opportunities of watching them in their native
haunts at all seasons, informs us that they leave their caves in the
crags at early dawn, and, proceeding along the shore, unite with other
parties on their way till they reach the cultivated grounds, where
they settle in large flocks, diligently seeking for grains of barley
and oats, seeds of wild mustard and other weeds, picking up also the
small snails[38] which abound in sandy pastures near the sea. In
summer they make frequent short visits of this kind, returning at
intervals to feed their young. In winter they form much larger flocks,
and, making the best use of their short day, feed more intently, thus
holding out a temptation to the fowler, who, if sufficiently wary, can
sometimes approach near enough to kill a large number at a shot. They
are supposed to pair for life; and this, I believe, is generally the
case with tame Pigeons. They lay two eggs, and sit for three weeks.
The male and the female sit, alternately relieving each other. They
breed twice a year, but the number of eggs never exceeds two. Hence
the old Scottish saying, 'a doo's cleckin', for a family of only two
children--a boy and a girl. They may be distinguished from the other
common species while flying, by showing a large patch of white between
the back and the tail.
[38] _Helix ericetorum_, a flattish, striped shell; and
_Bulimus acutus_, an oblong, conical shell, mottled with
grey and black.
THE TURTLE DOVE
TURTUR COMMÚNIS
Head and nape ash, tinged with wine-red; a space on the sides
of the neck composed of black feathers tipped with white; neck
and breast pale wine-red; back ash-brown; primaries dusky;
secondaries bluish ash; scapulars and wing-coverts rust-red
with a black spot in the centre of each feather; abdomen and
lower tail-coverts white; tail dusky, all but the two middle
feathers tipped with white, the outer feather edged with white
externally; irides yellowish red; feet red; bill brown. Eggs
white.
Nearly three thousand years ago the Turtle Dove had the distinction of
being enumerated among the pleasant things of spring: 'Lo, the winter
Is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle
is heard in our land.'[39] Less sweetly, but to the same effect, sings
a poet of the last century:
The cuckoo calls aloud his wand'ring love.
The Turtle's moan is heard in ev'ry grove;
The pastures change, the warbling linnets sing.
Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring!
PHILIPS.