Penguins[54] have been said to derive their name from the Latin _pinguis_

(fat) or the English "pin-wing," _i.e._ pinioned wing, but such nautical

appellations are usually obscure. The French term them "Manchots." These

birds rest on the whole metatarsus, the bill usually pointing upwards;

their gait on land is ludicrous, but often fast, a vertical position being

generally preserved, while they endeavour to waddle along on their toes

with constant flapping of the pinions, every now and then partially losing

their balance {56}and regaining it by the aid of their flippers. Several

species are called Rock-hoppers, from their manner of hopping upon the

boulders. They are, however, rarely seen on land, except in the breeding

season, though equally gregarious at all times, swimming in "schools" and

resorting in vast numbers to their "rookeries." When submerged, the wings

act as paddles with alternating rotatory action, and the feet as rudders;

but on the return to the surface the latter naturally become the

propellers. The note is a croak, a scream, a murmuring sound, or, in the

young, a whistle. The food of crustaceans, cephalopods, and other molluscs,

is varied by fish or a little vegetable matter, and accompanied by a mass

of pebbles, often ejected near the breeding places. The nest of grass and

leaves–more rarely of twigs, pebbles, clay or rubbish, when herbage is

scarce–may be in burrows, among tussocks, under stones, in caves, or in the

open; the two coarse-flavoured eggs being white or greenish-white, with a

variable amount of chalky incrustation. The male is said to assist in

incubation, which lasts about six weeks; the parents sit very closely and

feed the blind young for an exceptionally long period, by inserting their

bill in that of the nestling. Pugnacious and thievish towards one another,

Penguins are usually fearless on land, though, when they are irritated, the

beak can inflict a very severe bite.

The range extends southwards from the Galápagos round Cape Horn to the

Falkland Islands, a few stragglers reaching Brazil; thence breeding

stations are found eastwards in Tristan da Cunha, off the Cape of Good

Hope, in the Crozets, Marion, and Amsterdam Islands, Kerguelen Land, and so

on to the south of Australia and New Zealand, with the Antarctic regions as

far as man has penetrated. The largest form is _Aptenodytes forsteri_, and

the smallest _Spheniscus minor_, about 36 and 19 inches long respectively;

the sexes are alike in colour, or the female may be a little duller and

resemble the young. The bill and feet are usually reddish-brown, black or

grey, but the latter may be whitish. The nestling in down is blackish- or

yellowish-brown with white lower parts.

_A. forsteri_, the Emperor Penguin of Victoria Land and the adjacent seas,

is blackish-grey, with white breast and belly and an oval yellow spot on

each side of the head. It is particularly tame, and moves at a marvellous

rate by lying on the snow and propelling itself with its feet.[55] _A.

pennanti_, the King Penguin of {57}Kerguelen Land, the Falklands, Crozets,

Auckland, Macquarie, Campbell, and other southern islands, apparently

confounded with the last-named under the title of _A. patagonica_, is

distinguishable by the longer bill, more orange chest, and lack of feathers

on the sides of the mandible and metatarsus. The crowded breeding grounds

are flat spaces of hard soil covered with slime, and are often quite apart

from the general quarters. When disturbed the birds utter a loud

"urr-urr-urr," and run to the sea at a great pace, maintaining an upright

position; while they pass to and from the water singly, and not in flocks,

as do other species.[56] The pyriform eggs are sometimes held up by the

parents' feet. _Pygosceles taeniata_, the "Gentoo," of similar but more

restricted range, is bluish-black above and on the throat, having the lower

parts, the margins of the flippers, and a band across the crown white.

Dense colonies are found both near the sea and several miles inland, a

regular path being often beaten down by the birds traversing it in company;

the nests consist of a little herbage in a hollow, or are small conical

mounds of stones and clay, lined with feathers and down, the oval eggs

being frequently of unequal size. The note is an unmelodious bark.[57] _P.

adeliae_ inhabits the icy regions of the far south.

_Spheniscus demersus_, the Cape Penguin or Jackass, ranging from western

South America to South Africa, has bluish-black upper parts and throat, and

white lower surface crossed by a blackish band–or two in the variety

_magellanicus_. The note is a harsh bray; the eggs are either deposited in

burrows–presumably dug by the parent itself–or, as on rocky islands near

the Cape, in nests of pebbles and rubbish, commonly placed under large

stones.[58] _S._ (_Eudyptula_) _minor_ is a bluer species with white

throat, that part being dark coloured in the whole Family except here and

in _Eudyptes antarcticus_; it occupies the south of Australia and the New

Zealand area. The note is a loud croak or growl, and the oval but somewhat

pointed eggs are laid on a bed of leaves and grass in an excavation in the

soil or a crevice among rocks.[59] _S. mendiculus_, the only tropical form,

occurs in the Galápagos.

{58}The genus _Eudyptes_ contains the crested "Maccaroni" Penguins or

Rock-hoppers, of which _E. chrysocome_, figured below, extends southwards

and eastwards from the Falklands through the Indian Ocean and Antarctic

seas to the coasts of New Zealand and the neighbouring islands. It is

bluish-black with white breast and belly, and a fine orange crest on each

side of the crown, from which a broad golden streak passes over the eye to

the base of the maxilla.

[Illustration: FIG. 17.–Rock-hoppers. _Endyptes chrysocome._ (From

Thomson's _Atlantic_.)]

_E. chrysolophus_, a rarer bird of somewhat similar range, has the forehead

yellow instead of black. _E. chrysocome_ nidificates on elevated slopes,

usually near fresh water, in which it delights to bathe, the nest being

either a mere depression in the bare earth or a slight structure of

plant-stems and leaves. This is at times perfectly exposed, but is not

unfrequently among boulders or under the shade of tussocks of grass as high

as a man's head, the filthy breeding-places being intersected by beaten

pathways formed by the constant passage of troops to and from the sea. The

parent is said to sit almost perpendicularly, with the eggs closely applied

to a naked space in the centre of the abdomen, but it should be mentioned

that some observers state that the breast is lowered until it nearly

touches the ground, though there seems to be little doubt that the position

is at least half upright in the case of Penguins generally. Like other

species, Rock-hoppers swim chiefly below the surface of the sea, coming

into view only {59}from time to time to breathe; but they have a most

curious habit of stretching out the legs below the tail, laying their wings

flat to their sides, arching their necks forward, and then making a sudden

spring clear out of the waves. An occasional croak is heard while the birds

are in the water, but on land the barking noise is perfectly deafening, nor

do the severe bites with which the intruder is greeted make matters more

tolerable.[60] Among other species recognised by different writers are _E.

antarcticus_ of the Falklands, South Orkneys, South Shetlands, and New

Georgia; _E. antipodum_ of New Zealand and Campbell Island, with an almost

yellow head; _E. atratus_ of the Snares Islands, entirely of a blackish

hue, and possibly a melanistic form; _E. schlegeli_ of Macquarie Island,

_E. vittatus_ and _E. pachyrhynchus_ of New Zealand, _E. sclateri_ of the

Auckland Islands, and _E. serresianus_ of Tierra del Fuego.

_Palaeeudyptes antarcticus_[61] is a fossil form nearly 7 feet high, from

the Eocene of New Zealand, while Señores Moreno and Mercerat record

_Paraptenodytes antarcticus_, _Palaeospheniscus patagonicus_, _P.

menzbieri_, and _P. bergii_ from the Miocene of Patagonia.[62]

ORDER IV. PROCELLARIIFORMES.

The Procellariiformes, or Petrels, are archaic ocean forms with great

powers of flight, often placed near the Laridae on account of a supposed

external resemblance, though the structure of the internal parts shews this

to be misleading, and indicates rather a position between the

Sphenisciformes and Ciconiiformes.

The single Sub-Order TUBINARES, with the Family _Procellariidae_, may be

subdivided into the Sub-families: (1) _Diomedeinae_, or Albatroses; (2)

_Oceanitinae_ and (3) _Procellariinae_, or Fulmars, Shearwaters, and

Petrels proper; and (4) _Pelecanoïdinae_, or Diving Petrels.[63]

Fam. PROCELLARIIDAE.–In the larger species the bill is long, stout, and

frequently compressed, with a strong sharp hook overhanging the truncated

mandible; its size gradually diminishing throughout the Sub-Families in

very much the above order. The {60}horny sheath is separated by grooves

into more or less distinct plates, and the mandible may also be grooved, as

in _Phoebetria_; while _Prion_ is especially remarkable for the curious

fringe of transverse lamellae on the margins of the broad maxilla, which

recall those of the Duck tribe, traces of the same being exhibited by

_Ossifraga_, _Fulmarus_, _Daption_, and _Halobaena_. The most striking

peculiarity, however, is the tubular structure of the impervious nostrils,

which trenchantly divides the Petrels from all other Birds; these tubes are

far apart in the Diomedeinae, and lie laterally towards the back of the

culmen; in the remaining groups they are fused together and are situated

dorsally. In the Oceanitinae the single aperture looks forwards and

upwards, but in the Procellariinae the septum is produced to the front,

showing clearly the double nature of the formation; in _Pelecanoides_ again

the distinct openings are almost vertical, an arrangement as well adapted

to the diving habits as are the long sternum and the compressed wing-bones.

The rows of retroverted spines found on the palatal membrane in most of the

family no doubt aid in the retention of slippery prey, as do the lamellae

in _Prion_. The lower portion of the tibia is bare; the metatarsus varies

in length and stoutness according to the species, though often decidedly

slender, and is much compressed in _Puffinus_ and its nearest allies. It is

usually covered with hexagonal scales, but _Oceanites_ and _Cymodroma_ show

but one long anterior scute (_ocrea_), while _Garrodia_ and _Pelagodroma_

have a series of oblique plates instead. The hallux is absent in

_Pelecanoides_, and consists of only one phalanx elsewhere, being quite

rudimentary in the Diomedeinae; it is slightly above the level of the

anterior toes, which are connected by large webs. The claws are, as a rule,

sharp, curved, and compressed, but are blunt and much flattened in

_Pelagodroma_, _Pealea_, and _Cymodroma_, showing a similar tendency in

others of the Oceanitinae. The wings are normally long, and are very narrow

and pointed in the Diomedeinae, where the expanse is vast, but in

_Pelecanoides_ they are decidedly short: the primaries are eleven in

number; the secondaries are ten or less in the Oceanitinae, thirteen of

more in the remaining forms, and amount to more than thirty in some of the

Diomedeinae. The tail is rarely long, as in _Phoebetria_, and may be even,

rounded, graduated, or emarginated; the above species, _Bulweria_, and some

forms of _Puffinus_ have it wedge-shaped, while {61}a distinct fork occurs

in _Oceanodroma_. Sixteen rectrices are found in _Ossifraga_, fourteen in

_Fulmarus_, _Priocella_, and _Daption_, twelve elsewhere. The small tongue

is somewhat triangular, being rather larger in _Ossifraga_ and _Prion_; the

syrinx is tracheo-bronchial; and an after-shaft is present, though in some

cases rudimentary.

The soft, dense plumage shows various patterns of black, brown, grey, and

white; the bill and feet may be black, brown, flesh- or horn-tinted,

yellow, orange, or parti-coloured, but in _Prion_ and _Halobaena_ the

latter are bluish. Light and dark phases are not uncommon, as in _Fulmarus_

and _Ossifraga_; the sexes are invariably similar; and the nestlings, which

long remain helpless, are clad in thick down of a black, brown, grey, or

white hue, through which the feathers appear gradually. Some white

Albatroses have intermediate dusky stages of plumage, and do not gain the

adult coloration at once, as most of the Family seem to do.

_Diomedea exulans_ is one of the largest birds that fly, exceeding a goose

in size, while the smaller Petrels are hardly bigger than Finches. The

range of the Order is world-wide, though a majority of species frequent the

desolate tracts and islands of the southern oceans; but even Albatroses

breed in the North Pacific.

Though the members of this Family can hardly be called gregarious, flocks

of Shearwaters, Fulmars, and so forth are by no means an uncommon sight

from shipboard, and settlements are formed in the breeding season, which is

almost the only occasion on which they voluntarily seek dry land.

Albatroses, Fulmars, the "Cape Pigeon" (_Daption_), and other allied forms

are observed most commonly in the daytime, whereas those that nest under

cover are to a great extent nocturnal during incubation, and are generally

seen or heard after dusk. While the whole group is oceanic, there is a wide

difference between the powerful Albatros and its smaller and weaker

relations in that respect, the latter journeying but little from the

immediate neighbourhood of their homes, and not accompanying ships for long

distances in the same way as the former. In the larger species the flight

is strong and graceful,[64] accompanied by circling, soaring, or sailing

movements, the feet being extended below the tail; Shearwaters skim the

waves in a curious twisting fashion, and the lesser Petrels flit with

greater action of the wing close to the {62}surface, upon which they paddle

to assist themselves. The Diving Petrels–and their allies to a limited

extent–plunge through or beneath the billows, while all species may be

noticed at times resting or swimming upon the water. Equally at home in

storm or calm, they pass the greater part of their lives upon the ocean,

and it seems impossible to doubt the fact that they sleep there also. Great

difficulty is experienced in rising from a level surface, whether it be the

deck of a ship or a grassy flat; the birds scrambling along with flapping

wings and occasional aid from the bill, until some slight declivity or

broken edge enables them to obtain a start. When taken from a nest in a

burrow, they either drop to the ground like stones, or flutter off in a

dazed condition, which lasts for several seconds, and renders them

absolutely helpless. The cry is said in various cases to resemble a bray, a

croak, a harsh cackle, a diabolical scream, a puppy's whine, or a soft

whistle, while the twittering or "singing" of _Procellaria_, _Oceanodroma_,

and _Oceanites_ in their holes is well known to those who have visited a

Storm Petrel's colony. The food consists of fish, crustaceans, cephalopods

and other molluscs, jellyfish, and the like, Albatroses and Fulmars being

said to force other species to part with their booty after the manner of

Skuas, or even to devour nestlings. Herbage is rarely found in the stomach,

but blubber of dead animals and scraps thrown from shipboard are eagerly

swallowed, so that many of the largest forms are captured by concealing a

hook in a piece of pork and trailing it in the water on a cork, when the

bait is often greedily contested by every individual in the vicinity.

Albatroses and other members of the Family which will take food from the

surface of the sea descend upon it with elevated wings, to rise again with

the morsel obtained, or to float upon the waves while enjoying it;

Shearwaters commonly dash down with considerable impetus, and disappear

after their prey for the moment; while the Diving Petrels procure their

nourishment at a much greater depth. When handled, and perhaps especially

when taken from a nesting-hole, the birds bite severely, and eject a

quantity of amber-coloured or greenish oil from the beak, followed as a

rule by semi-digested food, the fluid possessing a strong smell of musk,

which is also perceptible in the feathers and the eggs. The nest of the

Albatros is usually a truncated cone or cylinder of mud, grass, leaves, and

moss, with a slight {63}depression on the top, colonies being formed on

cliffs, rocky slopes, or bare hill-tops above the limit of trees; the Giant

Petrel makes a similar structure at no great elevation; Shearwaters and

their nearest allies collect a mass of grass and rubbish in a burrow

scraped in a bank, among boulders, or in holes and crevices of rocks,

accommodating themselves to little stone huts, provided by the fishermen,

in the Canary and Salvage Islands.[65] Fulmars scrape a cup-shaped hollow

on ledges of precipices, adding little or no lining, while most of the

remaining forms utilise small burrows, or crannies among the scattered

stones which collect upon the shores or at the base of cliffs. A single

lack-lustre white egg is deposited, frequently marked with a ring of rusty

spots towards the larger end, especially in the case of the lesser species.

Adult and young Shearwaters are eaten by the natives of the Canaries, the

islands of Scotland, Ireland, and elsewhere, _Puffinus brevicauda_ being

the "Mutton-bird" of Australia, and _P. anglorum_ being termed "Fachach" in

the Hebrides and North Ireland. In the case of _Pelagodroma_, we have

positive evidence that both sexes incubate;[66] and before the eggs are

laid the parents are not uncommonly found together in the hole when such a

site is chosen. Incubation lasts from twenty-five to sixty days.

Sub-fam. 1. _Diomedeinae._–This contains two genera, _Phoebetria_ and

_Diomedea_, of which the former has one member, _P. fuliginosa_, of a sooty

grey colour, distinguished from its allies by the sulcated mandible and

cuneate tail. It frequents the South Seas, while straying to Oregon, as

does _Diomedea culminata_; and has similar manners to other Albatroses.

_Diomedea exulans_, the Wandering Albatros, or "Cape Sheep," of the

Southern Oceans generally, is white with narrow dusky undulations above and

almost black wings; and particulars of the habits having been already

given, it only remains to refer to the majestic flight, described by

Professor Hutton as follows: "With outstretched, motionless wings he sails

over the surface of the sea, now rising high in the air, now with a bold

sweep, and wings inclined at an angle with the horizon, descending until

the tip of the lower one all but touches the crests of the waves as he

skims over them. Suddenly he sees something floating on the water and

prepares to alight; but how changed he now is from the noble bird but a

moment before, all grace and symmetry.

{64}[Illustration: FIG. 18.–Wandering Albatros. _Diomedea exulans._ × ⅑.]

He raises his wings, his head goes back, and his back goes in; down drop

two enormous webbed feet straddled out to their full extent, and with a

hoarse croak, between the cry of a Raven and that of a sheep, he falls

'souse' into the water. Here he is at home again, breasting the waves like

a cork. Presently he stretches out his neck, and with great exertion of his

wings runs along the top of the water for seventy or eighty yards, until,

at last, having got sufficient impetus, he tucks up his legs, and is once

more fairly launched in the air."[67] _D. regia_, of the New Zealand seas,

has no undulations on the back; the similar _D. chionoptera_, of the

Southern Indian Ocean, has nearly white wing-coverts; and _D. albatrus_, of

the North Pacific, has buff crown and nape. Of the smaller forms, or

Mollymauks (p. 65), _D. irrorata_, of West Peru, is sooty-brown with

plentiful white mottlings and white head; _D. nigripes_, of the North

Pacific, is the same colour, but shews white only at the base of the tail

{65}and bill, and near the eye; _D. immutabilis_, found from Laysan to

Japan, is darker, with white head, neck, rump, base of tail, and lower

parts; _D. melanophrys_, of the southern oceans, which has occurred in

California, and in summer in England as well as at the Faeroes,[68] is

white, with a blackish band on each side of the eye, slaty back,

brownish-black wings, and grey tail; _D. bulleri_, of the New Zealand seas,

is greyish-brown, with white rump and lower surface, and ashy or whitish

head; _D. culminata_ and _D. chlororhyncha_, of the southern oceans, _D.

cauta_ of Tasmania, _D. salvini_ of the New Zealand Seas, and _D. layardi_

of those of the Cape, have similarly coloured plumage; the last five being

distinguished by some writers as _Thalassogeron_, and having a strip of

naked skin between the plates of the maxilla towards its base. _D. bulleri_

has red, _D. chlororhyncha_ flesh-coloured, and the others yellow feet; the

amount of yellow on the bill varying with the species.

Sub-fam. 2. _Oceanitinae._–The genera recognised are _Cymodroma_, _Pealea_,

_Pelagodroma_, _Garrodia_, and _Oceanites_; they are sooty- or slaty-black

birds, of small size, having in some cases the rump, under parts, nuchal

collar, forehead, superciliary streaks, or margins to the feathers of the

dorsal region white. Their range extends over different portions of the

southern seas, whence _Oceanites oceanicus_, Wilson's Petrel, has strayed

to Labrador and Great Britain, and _Pelagodroma marina_ to the latter and

Massachusetts, while breeding in the Salvage Islands south of Madeira and

the Cape Verds. The habits do not seem to differ appreciably from those of

the Storm-Petrel.[69]

Sub-fam. 3. _Procellariinae._–As here arranged, this comprises three groups

typified by the Fulmars, Shearwaters, and Storm-Petrels respectively. Of

the first, _Ossifraga gigantea_, the Giant Petrel, or "Nelly" of the

southern seas, recorded also from Oregon, is dark brown, often with white

on the head when immature, and sometimes almost entirely white. _Fulmarus

glacialis_ of the North Atlantic, the Fulmar of St. Kilda, and the true

Mollymauk of sailors, which is represented in the North Pacific by the

barely separable _F. glupischa_ and _F. rodgersi_, is bluish-grey with

dusky quills, white head, neck, and lower parts; the dark phase being

uniform dusky grey. It is smaller {66}than _Ossifraga_, yet equal to a

medium-sized Gull, though easily distinguished by its light gliding flight

with little motion of the wings; in rough weather it skims very near the

waves, while the croaking note is seldom heard. _Daption capensis_, the

Cape-Pigeon, ranging from Ceylon and Peru throughout the southern oceans,

is black and white above and nearly white below; it is well known as a

constant companion of ships, especially off South Africa, hovering or

swimming around, uttering its harsh cackle, or plunging into the water to

fight for scraps thrown overboard. _Halobaena caerulea_, extending from

lat. 40° to 60° S., is grey-blue above and white below, with a little white

on the head, scapulars, and tail; the habits resembling those of _Prion_, a

genus of four species, remarkable for the fringe of lamellae on the bill,

and having blue-grey upper parts varied with black, white under parts and

superciliary streak. These forms are found throughout the southern seas,

while _P. ariel_ has occurred in Madeira. _P. desolatus_, the Whale-bird of

sailors, is frequently seen flitting round vessels, uttering its whistling

or cooing note, or taking food from the water upon the wing; the slight

nest is formed in an extremely small burrow.

Little object would be served by describing in detail the twenty members of

_Puffinus_ (Shearwater) or the thirty of _Oestrelata_, the main

constituents of our second group of Procellariinae. The former are

sooty-brown or greyish, commonly with white below, and in some cases with

white or pale edges to the feathers above; all are much alike except the

uniform species, but it should be carefully noted that Petrels are often

best distinguished by the colour of the bill and feet. The habits of these

birds, which are distributed throughout the greater part of the world, have

been already sufficiently treated. _P. anglorum_, the "Manx" Shearwater,

breeds along the west of Great Britain, in the Orkneys, Shetlands, and

Ireland, _P. major_ or _gravis_, _P. griseus_, _P. obscurus_, _P.

assimilis_, and _P. yelkouanus_, the âme damnée of the Bosphorus, being

occasional visitors to our shores. In _Oestrelata_ the coloration is grey,

brown, or blackish, with a decided tendency to lighter margins on the upper

feathers, and in a few of the members more or less white on the tail, wing,

or head; the under parts, moreover, being frequently white. The various

forms reach from the southern temperate regions to Japan and also to

Britain, where _Oe. haesitata_ and _Oe. brevipes_ {67}have each been

recorded once. The latter breeds on mountain-tops in islands, and of its

other congeners some at least do likewise, many having an extremely limited

range at all seasons.

_Priofinus cinereus_, the "Night-hawk," perhaps more noisy at night than

even certain Shearwaters, is greyish-brown above and white below; it

inhabits the southern oceans. _Thalassaeca antarctica_, restricted to the

Antarctic regions, is brown with white lower parts and some white on the

wing, tail, and their coverts. _Priocella glacialoïdes_ of the southern

seas, which ranges northwards to Washington State in the Pacific, and seems

to have the habits of a Fulmar, resembles that bird in its pearl-grey hue,

with nearly white head, neck, and under surface. _Majaqueus aequinoctialis_

of the regions south of lat. 30° S., known as the "Cape Hen," is

sooty-black with a white chin, _M. parkinsoni_ of New Zealand being uniform

in tint. The cry is a soft whistle, but the manners are in other respects

as in Shearwaters, except that a conical nest is constructed in a burrow,

whence a curious cackling noise issues during the period of incubation.[70]

_Pagodroma nivea_, of the icy regions of the south, is pure white with

black bill and yellowish feet; it remains on the wing until late at night,

and resembles _Prion_ generally in its ways. _Bulweria bulweri_, met with

once in England, inhabits the temperate parts of the North Atlantic and the

North Pacific, and breeds as near us as the Desertas; it is almost uniform

sooty-brown, and has the habits of a Storm-Petrel rather than of a

Shearwater, being bold but wary, and rapid in flight, with a loud, cheerful

quadruple note. It lays its pure white eggs without any nest in crevices of

rocks, breeding as late as June near Madeira. _B. macgillivrayi_, with

stouter bill, is known from the Fijian waters.

Our third group includes the true Storm-Petrels (_Procellaria_) and their

close allies the Fork-tailed Petrels (_Oceanodroma_), as well as

_Halocyptena microsoma_, a dark blackish bird from Western America, between

California and Panama. _P. pelagica_ of the Mediterranean and North

Atlantic from Greenland to South Africa, which breeds in Scotland, Ireland,

and the West of England, is sooty-black with the tail-coverts white, except

at the tips, and a little white on the wing-coverts. Named Mother Carey's

Chicken by sailors, who look upon it with superstitious dread, it is often

seen paddling along the waves in {68}stormy weather, thus gaining the name

of "Petrel" from the Apostle Peter; while it may be heard singing among the

boulders towards the end of June in Scotland, where it breeds more than a

month later than the "Lyrie" or Manx Shearwater. The note is shrill and the

flight somewhat butterfly-like. _P. tethys_, of the Galapagos and Western

Central America, has entirely white tail-coverts. _Oceanodroma_ contains

ten members inhabiting the northern hemisphere, and ranging southwards to

Peru and St. Helena, all being sooty-black except _O. furcata_, which is

chiefly ashy-grey, and _O. hornbyi_, which is brown, with white collar,

forehead, and under surface, and blacker head and wings. _O. leucorrhoa_

(Leach's Petrel) and _O. cryptoleucura_ possess white tail-coverts tipped

with black; the former having some breeding stations in Britain at St.

Kilda and a few islands on the west of Scotland and Ireland, and the latter

as far north as Madeira, though it extends to St. Helena, the Galapagos,

and the Sandwich Islands, and has recently occurred in England. The other

species are apparently met with only in the Pacific north of Panama, while

in habits the genus is not dissimilar to _Procellaria_.

[Illustration: FIG. 19.–Storm-Petrel. _Procellaria pelagica._ × ⅖.]

Sub-fam. 4. _Pelecanoïdinae._–These Diving-Petrels include _Pelecanoïdes

urinatrix_, of the vicinity of Australia, New Zealand, Cape Horn, and the

Falkland Islands, a glossy black bird with white under parts, some grey on

the sides of the neck, and grey and white on the scapulars; _P. exsul_, of

the Southern Indian Ocean, with grey throat; and _P. garnoti_ of Western

South America, {69}which is larger and quite white below. Of the first

Darwin says[71] that it "never leaves the quiet inland sounds. When

disturbed it dives to a distance, and, on coming to the surface, with the

same movement takes flight. After flying by the rapid movement of its short

wings for a space in a straight line, it drops as if struck dead, and dives

again." The egg is deposited in a small burrow; the note is a cackle or

moan.

Fossil remains are recorded from the Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand,

which are referred to the genera _Puffinus_, _Ossifraga_, and _Diomedea_,

and probably belong to existing species; _Puffinus conradii_ is from the

American Miocene, _P. cyermani_ from Tavolara, off Sardinia; but a much

more remarkable fact is the discovery in the Suffolk Red Crag of portions

of a distinct form, named _Diomedea anglica_ by Mr. Lydekker.[72]

{70}CHAPTER IV

NEORNITHES CARINATAE _CONTINUED_

BRIGADE I–LEGION II (PELARGOMORPHAE). ORDERS: CICONIIFORMES–ANSERIFORMES–

FALCONIFORMES

ORDER V. CICONIIFORMES.

The Order Ciconiiformes is a somewhat unwieldy assemblage consisting mainly

of Water-birds, which may be classed under the Sub-Orders STEGANOPODES,

ARDEAE, CICONIAE, and PHOENICOPTERI. Of these the first contains the

_Phaëthontidae_ or Tropic-birds, the _Sulidae_ or Gannets, the

_Phalacrocoracidae_ or Cormorants and Darters, the _Fregatidae_ or

Frigate-birds, and the _Pelecanidae_ or Pelicans; the second the _Ardeidae_

or Herons and Bitterns, and the _Scopidae_ with the Umbrette; the third the

_Ciconiidae_ or Storks and Wood-Ibises, and the _Ibididae_ or true Ibises

and Spoon-bills; while the fourth comprises the _Phaenicopteridae_ or

Flamingos, and the extinct genus _Palaelodus_, for which Dr. Gadow

recognises a separate family _Palaelodidae_. Among these the greatest

affinity to the _Procellariiformes_ is exhibited by the _Steganopodes_,

whereas the _Phoenicopteri_ are so closely allied to the _Anseriformes_

that not a few writers prefer to include them in that Order.

The STEGANOPODES are aquatic and chiefly marine birds, so far homogeneous

in structure that the details may well be set forth in common; while in

some points they bear a great resemblance to the _Cathartidae_.[73] Each

Family contains a single genus, except the _Phalacrocoracidae_, where

_Phalacrocorax_ and _Plotus_ may be considered the equivalents of

Sub-families.

The sternum is long, especially in _Sula_, while the large head and short

thick neck of _Phaëthon_ and _Fregata_ may be contrasted with the small

head and remarkably long neck of _Phalacrocorax_, and still more of

_Plotus_; _Sula_ and _Pelecanus_ being moderate in {71}both respects. The

bill, which is more or less compound, is long, pretty straight, and

generally compressed: in _Phaëthon_ and _Sula_ it is strong, conical, and

pointed; in _Phalacrocorax_ either stout with a long hooked nail, or less

robust with the hook at the tip shorter, the sides being scabrous; in

_Fregata_ similar, in _Plotus_ slender and tapering, in _Pelecanus_ weak,

much flattened, hooked, and scaly. The maxilla is furrowed in _Sula_,

_Pelecanus_, and _Phalacrocorax_, with the median part concave in the

latter, while the cutting edges of both mandibles are serrated in

_Phaëthon_, _Sula_, and _Plotus_. The legs are placed far back, especially

in _Phalacrocorax_, the tibiae being partly bare in _Phaëthon_ and

_Pelecanus_, but feathered in the other forms, of which _Fregata_ has the

clothing continued to the toes. The metatarsus is short, stout, and

compressed, that of _Fregata_ being extremely abbreviated, as in the

Spheniscidae; it is entirely covered with hexagonal scales, becoming almost

reticulated behind, while the toes exhibit distinct transverse scutes in

_Phalacrocorax_, and have a similar tendency elsewhere. The hallux, which

is somewhat elevated in _Phaëthon_, is turned inwards or forwards, and is

connected with the remaining toes by full webs, except in _Fregata_, where

the membranes are excised to about half their extent; this unique

"Steganopodous" foot giving the name to the whole group. The stout curved

claws–weaker in _Fregata_–are of medium length, that of the middle digit

being serrated on the inner side in the last named, _Sula_, and

_Phalacrocorax_. The wings are long and pointed, reaching their maximum in

_Fregata_, their minimum in _Phalacrocorax_, and having a very ample spread

in _Sula_ and _Pelecanus_. There are eleven primaries, and from fifteen to

twenty-nine incurved secondaries, which may even exceed the former. In

_Pelecanus_ the short, broad, roundish tail consists of from eighteen to

twenty-four soft acute rectrices, but in the remaining genera the feathers

are strong and stiff, being particularly rigid in _Phalacrocorax_ and

_Plotus_: _Phaëthon_ has sixteen, which are moderate and graduated, with a

long filiform median pair in the adult; _Sula_ and _Phalacrocorax_ from

twelve to fourteen in a more or less wedge-shaped formation; _Fregata_

twelve, arranged in a fork; while _Plotus_ has the same number, forming a

fan, the webs being very broad and showing curious transverse corrugations

in mature birds, found also on the scapulars. The tail is fairly long in

the four last {72}mentioned, except in some members of _Phalacrocorax_. The

V-shaped furcula ancyloses with the sternum in some of the Sub-Order, but

_Fregata_ differs from all other ornithic forms in the fact that the

furcula also coalesces with the coracoids at its extremities, while the

coracoids again unite firmly with the scapula, producing an almost rigid

framework, considered by Professor Newton to be connected with the power

which the bird possesses of sustaining itself nearly motionless in the

air.[74] The peculiar angular articulation of the long eighth cervical

vertebra in _Plotus_, which causes the Z-shaped "kink" in the neck, must

also be noticed here.[75] The tongue is rudimentary; the nostrils are

pervious in _Phaëthon_, impervious elsewhere, being practically obliterated

in adults; the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, except in _Sula_ and

_Pelecanus_, where the usual muscles are entirely absent. The subcutaneous

air-cells of _Sula_ are most remarkable. The newly-hatched young are blind

and helpless, being naked and covered with blackish skin in _Sula_,

_Phalacrocorax_, _Plotus_, and _Pelecanus_, though they soon acquire a

white downy coat; in _Phaëthon_ and _Fregata_ they are similarly clothed on

breaking the shell. The down of the adults is uniformly distributed, the

aftershaft is diminutive or wanting. The gular sacs, horny excrescences on

the beak, crests, and so forth, are noted below.

Fam. I. PHAETHONTIDAE.–_Phaëthon aethereus_, _P. flavirostris_, and _P.

rubricauda_ are chiefly found in the tropical regions of the south; but the

first two species breed about as far north as the tropic of Cancer, while

they frequent the West Indies, and occasionally stray to the Eastern United

States, or even Newfoundland.[76] The third inhabits the southern seas and

the Indian Ocean. All these Tropic- or Boatswain-birds, as they are

denominated, have satin-like white plumage–often with a tinge of

pink–varied by blackish bars or patches above, and black marks near the

eye; the bill is red, or in _P. flavirostris_ yellow, the metatarsi

yellowish and the toes chiefly black. In _P. rubricauda_ the long stiff

median rectrices are dull red with black shafts and very narrow webs, in

_P. flavirostris_ they are pinkish with similar shafts, and in _P.

aethereus_ entirely white. The sexes are alike, the young being more

irregularly marked and having no long tail-feathers.

The members of this Family are true denizens of the ocean, {73}often met

with many hundred miles from land; they will then hover constantly about a

vessel, or even alight fearlessly on the rigging. They traverse the air

with rapid sweeping flight, accompanied by constant quick pulsations of the

wings; at one time soaring aloft to wheel in circles, at another plunging

into the water from an immense height, though appearing again in a moment

to float upon the surface. Their gait on land is shuffling, while they can

hardly rise from level ground; the note is a harsh croak or chatter; the

food consists of fish, squids, and other produce of the sea. No nest is

made, but a single reddish-brown or buff egg, with spots and frecklings of

red-brown, purplish or grey, is deposited in a hole or crevice in a cliff,

among rocks, or even in a cavity in a rotten tree, both sexes assisting in

incubation.[77] The parents sit very closely, screaming, pecking, and

snapping when disturbed; in some places they are habitually caught while

breeding, and deprived of the long tail-feathers, which are used for

decorations.

[Illustration: FIG. 20.–Tropic Bird. _Phaëthon aethereus._ × ⅛.]

Fam. II. SULIDAE.–_Sula bassana_, the Gannet or Solan Goose, which nests at

several stations off the west of Great Britain, in Ireland, and on the

well-known Bass Rock, extends thence to Iceland, and down the American

coast to Nova Scotia, while it strays to Greenland, and in winter reaches

the Gulf of Mexico and northern Africa. The plumage is white, with a buff

tinge on the head and neck, and black primaries; the bill is whitish, the

feet dusky, and the naked skin round the eye and down the centre of the

throat blackish-blue. _S. capensis_ of South Africa and _S. serrator_ of

Australia are similar to the above, but the former has the rectrices black,

the latter the four median feathers blackish-brown.

{74}[Illustration: FIG. 21.–Gannet. _Sula bassana._ × ⅐.]

The remaining species, often called "Boobies," have the whole lower jaw and

throat bare. Of these _S. cyanops_, common in the South Pacific and ranging

through the intertropical seas to the Bahamas in summer, is white with

sooty-brown remiges, the wing-coverts and the lateral portion of the tail

being partly of the same colour; the bill is yellow, the feet are reddish,

and the naked parts bluish. _S. leucogaster_, extending from tropical and

sub-tropical America over the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans,[78] has

the upper parts and chest brown, the remaining lower surface, and

occasionally the head and neck, white; the bill is yellow, the feet are

greenish or yellowish, the bare skin is tinged with red or yellow. _S.

piscator_, also of the intertropical seas, resembles _S. bassana_, but has

slate-grey wing-quills, purplish-grey bill, reddish feet and naked parts.

_S. variegata_, of the shores of Chili and Peru, is dark grey-brown with

white head, neck, and under parts, and white markings above. _S. abbotti_,

of Assumption Island, north of Madagascar, is allied to _S. cyanops_. In

this Family the sexes are alike, while the young are usually dusky with

white streaks and spots; but those of _S. cyanops_ are white below, and

those of _S. leucogaster_ and _S. piscator_ chiefly sooty-brown, with

{75}grey head, neck, and under surface in the latter. It apparently

requires six years to attain the full adult plumage.

Gannets are oceanic birds, only frequenting the land in stormy weather;

they traverse very great distances, and the northern species move southward

in winter. The flight is easy and powerful, with alternate flapping and

sailing motion, the head being carried in a line with the body and the feet

drawn up. The food consists of surface-swimming fish, squids, and the like,

while the young obtain their nutriment by thrusting their bills into those

of the parents, though it is disgorged for them when newly hatched. The

prey is chiefly captured by diving, the plunge being made with great

velocity from a considerable height and the body being submerged for

several seconds; on coming to the surface the bird generally remains

quiescent for a short period before again taking to the air, but

occasionally swims for a longer period. When diving the wings are kept open

until the last moment, and are then quickly closed. Gannets find the same

difficulty in rising from a level spot as do Tropic-birds, and are less

prone to perch than many other sea-birds. The note is a hoarse reiterated

sound or, less commonly, a plaintive cry, much noise being often made by

the large colonies when breeding. The nest is a mass of sea-weed and grass,

placed on a ledge of some high cliff, on the top of a stack, or even on a

low tree; while the eggs–never more than two in number–are occasionally

deposited on the bare sandy beach, and are greenish-blue, thickly coated

with a white chalky substance, which soon becomes soiled. Incubation lasts

about six weeks. The adults, especially in the case of the Boobies, are

often absurdly fearless on land, while the female, when on the nest, grunts

at an intruder, and pecks or bites sharply. They are frequently caught on

shipboard by fixing bits of fish on floating pieces of wood, in which the

beak is transfixed by the violence of the plunge; they do not, however,

afford palatable food, though in Scotland the Solan Goose is half-roasted

and so preserved for eating.

Fam. III. PHALACROCORACIDAE.–The genus _Phalacrocorax_ includes the

Cormorants and Shags, birds of similar coloration, which differ chiefly in

the brilliancy of their metallic hues and the proportion of white to black

or brown in the plumage, the following examples giving a fair idea of the

whole.

{76}[Illustration: FIG. 22.–Cormorant. _Phalacrocorax carbo._ × ⅛.]

_P. carbo_, the Common Cormorant, with fourteen rectrices, has the head and

neck glossy blue-black, interspersed with white hair-like feathers, the

remaining upper parts bronzy-black, the throat white, the bill and feet

grey-black. In spring a slight crest adorns the occiput and white patches

appear on the thighs. In common with its congeners this species has naked

lores, orbital and gular regions, which are here of a yellow colour,

becoming redder below the eye; the iris is emerald-green. The skin of the

throat is dilatable and forms a pouch for food. It breeds on most of the

British coasts, except between the Humber and the Thames, and occasionally

inland; while it ranges to Greenland northwards, and thence down the

Atlantic to New Jersey in the west, and to North and even South Africa on

the east, as well as through Europe and Asia. The Australian and New

Zealand _P. novae hollandiae_ is doubtfully distinct. _P. dilophus_, of

which several forms occur on the shores and in the interior of North

America as far south as Mexico, is not unlike _P. carbo_, but has a tuft of

long narrow recurved plumes on each side of the crown in the nuptial dress,

which are black, white, or particoloured according to the locality. The

bare loral region and gular sac are orange, and no white is visible on the

throat or flanks. The splendid _P. pelagicus_, on the contrary, has white

flank-patches in addition to white filaments on the neck and rump, the head

and {77}neck are violet-black, and a bronzy-purple tinge extends thence to

the wings, the naked areas being brownish-red. It ranges from Kamtschatka

to Western Mexico, and even winters in North Japan. _P. urile_, of the

extreme north of the Pacific, is very similar, but has the gular pouch

bluish with red hinder margin, the lores, orbits, and an additional strip

of bare skin on the forehead being orange. _P. perspicillatus_, of Bering

Island, now considered extinct, is another close ally, in which the

filamentous feathers are yellowish and the orbits white. _P. graculus_, the

Green Cormorant or Shag, breeding in Britain chiefly on the western side,

and occurring rarely on our inland waters, is found in many places along

the coasts of West Europe to Morocco and the Mediterranean; it is dark

green with black remiges and twelve black rectrices, and metallic hues on

the head, neck, and under surface, the irides being green and the bill and

feet black, as are the naked regions, which are spotted with yellow. In

spring a recurved crest overhangs the forehead. _P. lucidus_, of South,

East, and apparently West Africa, differs from the last in having a brown

head and nape, and grey tints on the mantle and tail, while the chin and

most of the lower parts are white. _P. africanus_ occupies South and East

Africa. _P. varius_, of New Zealand, is greenish-black above with grey

middles to the dorsal feathers, white cheeks and under surface; the bill is

horn-coloured, the feet black, the orbits bluish, the gular skin yellow,

with an orange spot before each eye. _P. carunculatus_, of New Zealand,

has, according to Sir W. L. Buller,[79] no crest and a white band on the

back, but otherwise resembles the crested _P. onslowi_ of the Chatham

Islands, and _P. imperialis_ of Chili and Patagonia,[80] two fine

iridescent species with the under surface and an alar bar white, the bare

papillose skin in front of the eyes, orange-red, and the bill and feet

brownish. _P. featherstoni_ of the Chatham Islands, which is remarkable for

possessing both an occipital and a frontal crest, is greenish-black and

brown above with white filoplumes on the nape, and greyish-white below; the

beak being dark brown, the feet orange-yellow, and the naked parts bluish.

Similar tufts are met with in _P. punctatus_ of New Zealand, wherein the

upper plumage is mainly brown with terminal black spots on the

{78}feathers, the thighs show a few white markings, and a broad white

stripe reaches from above the eye down each side of the neck, where the

coat is somewhat elongated and silky. _P. pygmaeus_, the Pigmy Cormorant,

which breeds across South-East Europe and South Asia to Java and Borneo, as

well as in North Africa, is greenish-black with greyer mantle,

reddish-brown head and neck, and small white spots on the lower surface,

the naked parts being black. The sexes in _Phalacrocorax_ are alike, or

nearly so. The young are browner above–with little of the characteristic

gloss–and brown, or white mottled with brown below, the bill and irides

often differing in colour from those of the adult.

The members of this family as a rule frequent salt water, yet not

uncommonly breed on inland lakes and swamps, especially in the proximity of

trees; they are often to be seen in companies, and are decidedly shy and

cautious in most cases. The heavy flight is strong, steady, and rapid,

bearing a certain resemblance to that of the Duck-tribe, while the birds

experience considerable difficulty in starting, and laboriously flap their

wings until fairly launched in the air, when they rise to some height, or

skim the waves, as fancy dictates. They swim and dive to perfection,

remaining a long time submerged, and indulging in many a turn and twist as

they pursue their slippery prey, both wings and feet lending their aid to

the performance. Ordinarily a spring precedes the plunge from the surface,

but in presence of danger they disappear more quietly. Though the gait on

land is an awkward waddle, Cormorants perch with ease on rocks, posts, and

limbs of trees, where their upright posture gives them the appearance of

black bottles or objects hung out to dry; they are stated, moreover, to be

able to cling to the face of a cliff, and certainly can climb among thick

vegetation, as in the case of _P. pygmaeus_. Not unfrequently they roost in

trees, with the head drawn back upon the shoulders. The food, normally of

fish, is varied by crustaceans, or even frogs and newts; the young are fed

by regurgitation, and, when old enough, thrust their heads into their

parents' bills to help themselves.[81] The note, comparatively seldom

heard, is a harsh guttural croak, while the female hisses during

incubation, in which she is said to be assisted by the male. The nest,

placed {79}in caves, on ledges of cliffs, tops of stacks, or low islands,

and less commonly on trees, bushes or reeds, is a mass of sticks, grass,

seaweed, rushes and the like, according to situation; the smaller species

constructing a slighter platform when the trees are chosen, and a lining of

green leaves being occasionally added. Early in spring colonies, often of

very large dimensions, are formed by many–but not all–of the species for

breeding purposes, the stench from the remains of decaying fish at such

spots being decidedly unpleasant. Incubation lasts about four weeks.

Cormorants were of old used in England for catching fish, and this has been

a regular business from time immemorial in China and Japan; but with us it

is a mere sport, the chief exponent of which is now Captain F. H. Salvin,

whose chapters on "Fishing with Cormorants" will be read with pleasure by

those interested in the subject.[82] The bird rises to the surface to

swallow its prey, but a strap round the neck allows it to dispose of the

smallest only of its captures, while it is forced by its master to disgorge

the remainder before it is rewarded with a portion of the catch.

_Plotus anhinga_, the Snake-bird or Darter of tropical and sub-tropical

America, ranging northwards to West Mexico and South Carolina, is glossy

greenish-black with beautiful silvery-grey markings on the scapulars and

wing-coverts, a broad brown tip to the tail, which becomes white

terminally, and long whitish hair-like feathers on the sides of the occiput

and neck, merging into a black mane on the nape. The filoplumes are absent

in winter, and are inconspicuous in the female, which differs, moreover, in

having a grey-buff head, neck, and breast, the latter being divided from

the belly by a chestnut band. The young resemble the mother-bird, but are

duller and lack the chestnut tint. The peculiar long thin neck and

corrugated rectrices have been mentioned above; the plumage is unusually

close, and is chiefly composed of small soft feathers of very uniform

distribution; the lores, orbits, chin, and throat are naked, the two former

being apparently greenish, and the latter, which is moderately dilatable,

orange. The bill is olive above and yellow below, the feet mainly olive

with yellow webs. Three other species are recognised, but the variability

in the amount of rufous in all makes their validity somewhat questionable.

They are _P. novae hollandiae_ of Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea,

with a {80}white stripe on the sides of the head and a white border to the

gular sac; the almost identical _P. melanogaster_ of the Indian Region,

extending to Celebes; and _P. levaillanti_ of the Ethiopian

Region–described also from Antioch as _P. chantrii_–which has a rufous

crown, buff throat, and chestnut greater wing-coverts.

[Illustration: FIG. 23.–Indian Darter. _Plotus melanogaster._ × ⅕. (From

_Nature_.)]

Darters cannot be classed as marine birds, though they frequent inlets of

the sea as well as lakes and rivers, where they sun themselves with

outspread wings on some stump, rock, tree, or even tuft of rushes, while

seldom admitting of a near approach. When disturbed, they circle in the air

with the neck drawn back upon the shoulders, as do the Pelicans; but the

flight is laboured, and they are much more at their ease in water, where

they swim very low, exposing only the head and neck, or even the bill, if

danger threatens, and having a very snake-like appearance, as they {81}sway

gracefully from side to side in their endeavours to keep the intruder in

view. Hardly a ripple follows the prolonged dive, while below the surface

the wings are but slightly used, the tail being often expanded, and the

feet acting as powerful paddles. On reappearance a fish is generally to be

seen grasped in the bill or transfixed by it, the peculiar mechanism of the

vertebrae of the neck allowing the head to be darted forward at a moment's

notice for the capture;[83] subsequently the prey is jerked up into the

air, cleverly caught and swallowed. The food, which seldom varies, is

sometimes obtained by the bird standing with the body immersed to waylay

the passing shoals; but if Gould is correct in adding frogs, newts, and

aquatic insects to the diet, these must be procured very differently. The

nest, generally situated over water, is a flat or concave fabric of sticks,

lined as a rule with leaves, moss, or roots, and often used for several

years in succession. High trees or bushes are indifferently chosen, and

colonies are usually, but not invariably, formed, several pairs being

accustomed to breed in proximity on the branches. The two to five eggs are

greenish-blue with chalky incrustation, like those of Cormorants, though

smaller and more delicate. The note is short and hoarse. Both sexes are

said to incubate, and to regurgitate food for the young.[84] Jerdon says

that the scapulars of the Indian Darter were royal badges among the

Khasias. It is tamed by boatmen in Bengal.

Fam. IV. FREGATIDAE.–_Fregata aquila_, the Frigate- or Man-of-War-Bird, the

latter of which names is sometimes transferred to the Albatroses and

smaller Skuas, is met with throughout the tropical regions, and has even

strayed as far north as Nova Scotia. It is blackish-brown with green and

purple reflexions; the bill is bluish, the feet are black, the orbits,

lores, and pouch–inflated in flight–scarlet. The female is browner above

and white below, with pinkish feet and no perceptible pouch; while the

young resemble her, but shew some white on the head and neck. _F. minor_,

found from Madagascar to Papuasia and North Australia, but seldom beyond

these limits, is smaller, with less purple gloss and a white mark on each

flank.

{82}[Illustration: FIG. 24.–Frigate Bird. _Fregata aquila._ × ⅛.]

These birds are usually seen singly or in pairs, and are pre-eminently

oceanic, seldom coming to land except near the breeding quarters, where

they roost on the trees; the normal flight is extremely rapid, graceful,

and long-sustained, with sudden deviations from the course, but they often

soar until they appear mere specks in the sky, descending thence with great

abruptness. At times they float aloft with little apparent movement of the

wide-spread wings, alternately opening and shutting the forked tail and

inclining the head from side to side, while in hurricanes they fly low

before the gale. At rare intervals they are found sitting asleep upon the

shore. Flocks frequently pursue the surface-swimming fish, constituting

their main aliment, which are seized almost without ruffling the water;

squids, small crabs, flying fish, and young turtles being also eaten. To

see a Frigate-bird plunge, however, is no uncommon occurrence, and the

habit of forcing Terns, Boobies, and the like to disgorge their prey, which

is caught before it reaches the waves, must not be forgotten.[85] If

secured in an awkward position the captures are tossed up in the air,

caught again and swallowed. The note, a harsh croak or cackle, is seldom

heard. The nest of small sticks, which the birds tear off upon the wing, is

generally in trees or bushes, though occasionally on the ground or on a

bare rock; it is often {83}very slight, and almost invariably contains one

egg, resembling that of the Cormorant. The young are fed by regurgitation,

and both sexes are said to incubate, sitting very closely, and merely

snapping at an intruder. The feathers are used for head-dresses in the

Pacific Islands.

Fam. V. PELECANIDAE.–_Pelecanus onocrotalus_, the Pelican, of South-East

Europe, North-East and South-West Africa, reported also from France,

Germany, and Denmark, is white with a rosy or salmon tinge, the primaries

being black, and the moderate occipital crest and stiff elongated feathers

of the lower fore-neck washed with yellow. The lores and orbits are naked,

while an enormous dilatable semi-transparent pouch fills the space between

the branches of the lower jaw. According to Mr. Dresser,[86] these parts

and a fleshy knob appearing on the forehead in spring are yellow, the bill

is bluish-grey with pink sides marked with red, and the feet are also pink.

These colours, however, may vary with the season. In this species, and to a

certain extent in _P. erythrorhynchus_, the feathering on the forehead ends

in a point, but elsewhere is more or less concave anteriorly. Closely

allied forms of doubtful validity are _P. minor_, with a somewhat similar

range, _P. sharpii_ of West Africa, and _P. mitratus_ of South Africa. _P.

crispus_, occupying a slightly more eastern area than _P. onocrotalus_, is

distinguished from it by the curled filamentous plumes which overhang the

sides of the head, the lack of rosy tints, and the flesh-coloured orbits.

_P. erythrorhynchus_ of temperate North America, found in winter down to

Guatemala, resembles the last-named, but has a still more pendent nuptial

crest, and in the breeding season develops a curious triangular horny

excrescence on the middle of the culmen, shed about May. The chest and

wing-coverts show a little yellow, the bill and naked parts are reddish,

the feet orange-red, while the lower jaw is densely feathered. _P.

rufescens_ of the Ethiopian Region, apparently identical with _P.

philippensis_ of South Asia, is white, with black primaries, and a grey

shade on the secondaries, tail, crested head, or even lower surface; the

back is rose-coloured; the stiff feathers on the fore-neck, the bill and

pouch, are yellowish, with vertical red lines on the latter. The remainder

of the bare skin is flesh-coloured, and the feet are pink. _P. fuscus_ of

the warmer coasts of North America, the range of which south of Panama is

uncertain, and depends upon the {84}validity of _P. molinae_ of Peru and

Chili, has a white or occasionally yellowish head, silvery-grey upper parts

with dusky streaks, and browner under parts. The crested nape is chestnut,

varying to blackish; the bill and loral region are grey or bluish, the

dark-tipped maxilla being spotted with red; the pouch is red, or dusky,

like the feet; the bare orbits are blue. _P. conspicillatus_ of Australia

and Southern New Guinea is white, with black wings and tail and a yellow

wash on the chest; the bill, feet, and naked parts are yellowish-white,

with a blue tinge on the two first and a similarly coloured ring round the

orbits, which are divided by a feathered space from the lores. In this

Family the sexes are similar; the young being usually crestless, and of a

brown hue, with yellowish or dusky pouch and occasionally white mottlings.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.–Crested Pelican. _Pelecanus crispus._ × ⅑.]

Pelicans inhabit not only tidal waters, but also swampy districts and

inland lakes, traversing in some cases vast distances on migration, and

being usually found in company. Though {85}heavy, and of enormous size,

they fly buoyantly and swiftly, with the neck drawn in upon the shoulders

and the feet extended behind; while at times they soar in spiral fashion to

great altitudes, and circle around with alternate flapping and sailing

movements. On land the gait is awkward and waddling, and great difficulty

is experienced in rising; but some species habitually perch, and all are

very proficient in the water, swimming, diving, or plunging from great

heights, according to their various customs. The food consists almost

entirely of moderate-sized fish taken by the bird either by pouncing down

sharply from above, or, when quiescent on the surface, by immersing the

head or disappearing totally from sight with a somersault. The prey is

chiefly sought in shallows, and is retained in the pouch until the birds

return to land, or until it is transferred half-macerated to the young;

occasionally the adults may be seen gorged after feeding, sitting upon the

water or basking in the rays of the sun. The deep loud note is very seldom

heard. Pelicans usually breed in colonies in wild districts, though

occasionally near villages,[87] the nest, when on the branches of trees,

being of sticks with a lining of twigs or roots, as in _P. philippensis_;

at other times it is a rough mound of gravel and rubbish on the ground with

a slight cavity above, as is often the case in the American species, which

also lay in mere depressions in the sand, the localities chosen being

generally islands in lakes or rivers; the European forms amass a pile of

reeds and grasses among aquatic herbage in like places or swamps, while the

Australian constructs a large fabric of sticks and water-plants in similar

spots or on the summits of rocky islets. The eggs, varying from one to

five, but ordinarily two or three in number, are white or bluish-white with

a chalky incrustation, soon becoming soiled and often stained with blood.

The parents are as a rule shy and easily scared from the nest, where the

smell from the refuse fish and excrement is in many cases intolerable.

Incubation lasts about four weeks. Bands of these birds sometimes unite to

systematically beat the water for their prey, stowing it in the distensible

pouch. In India they are used–frequently with the eyes sewn up–to decoy

fish by their oily secretions,[88] and in various countries they are

slaughtered for the sake of the latter. The fable of the young being fed

with blood from the {86}female's breast may have arisen from confusion of

the Pelican with the Flamingo, which ejects a blood-like liquid from its

mouth.[89]

Of fossil Steganopodes we have _Phaëthon_ from the Pliocene of India; three

species of _Pelecanus_ from the same formation of the Siwalik hills, one

from the Miocene of Bavaria, one from that of Allier in France, and one

from the Queensland drifts; while in England that genus is recorded, on the

strength of the humerus, radius, and ulna from the Plistocene of Norfolk

and from the Isle of Ely. _Sula_ has occurred in the Miocene of Carolina,

and of Auvergne and Ronzon in France; the giant _Pelagornis_–akin to _Sula_

and _Pelecanus_, but perhaps indicating a distinct family–has also been

found in the Miocene near Bordeaux; and _Argillornis_, related to _Sula_,

in the Lower Eocene (London Clay) of England. From the same beds we have

the remarkable _Odontopteryx toliapica_, with coarsely serrated edges to

the jaws; _Phalacrocorax_ has been met with in the North American Pliocene,

the same strata of the Siwalik hills, the Miocene of Allier and the

Orléannais in France, and the Pampean of Argentina, _Actiornis anglicus_ of

Lydekker being a close ally from the Hampshire Eocene; _Plotus nanus_ has

been described from the Mare aux Songes in Mauritius and from Central

Madagascar, _P. parvus_ from Queensland.

The Sub-Order ARDEAE contains the Families _Ardeidae_ and _Scopidae_, in

which the body is often compressed, the head and eyes are large, and the

neck is long. Most members of the former have a long, straight, sharp bill

with rounded culmen and flattened sides, the edges being commonly serrated

and the maxilla notched; it may be comparatively small, as in _Zebrilus_,

but is usually stout, and in _Cancroma_ is extraordinarily broad and

depressed, with prominent keel and somewhat dilatable skin beneath, the

form resembling that of an inverted boat. _Balaeniceps_ (Fig. 27) has a

huge beak, which is not only flattened and swollen, but has a ridge on the

culmen terminating in a hook, the maxilla having an undulating outline

above and following the strong upward curve of the mandible below, while

its sides are grooved. So peculiar, indeed, is this bird that it might well

stand alone in a Sub-family _Balaenicipitinae_, as opposed to the

_Ardeinae_, if not referred to the Storks, where many writers have placed

it. In _Scopus_ the bill is acute, keeled, greatly compressed, and

laterally grooved, with a small hook at the tip. The tibia is usually bare

{87}below, though occasionally feathered, as in _Ardetta_ and _Zebrilus_;

the metatarsus being remarkably long, except in such forms as _Nycticorax_,

_Botaurus_, and _Ardetta_. The latter member is covered anteriorly with

transverse or hexagonal scales, which become smaller or reticulated behind,

and show a decided tendency to fusion in many cases. The toes are long,

with a distinct web between the middle and outer; the claws are generally

short and curved, though elongated, slender, and nearly straight in

_Botaurus_ and _Ardetta_; that of the middle digit being toothed on the

inner side, save in _Balaeniceps_. The wing is somewhat rounded, yet long,

and has eleven primaries–reduced to ten in _Scopus_–and from eleven to

eighteen secondaries; the fairly even tail is short or moderate, with from

ten to twelve broad stiffish feathers, except in _Botaurus_ and _Ardetta_,

where the ten rectrices are soft and abbreviated. The tongue is usually

long and pointed, but in _Cancroma_, _Balaeniceps_, and _Scopus_ it is very

short; the lores and orbits are naked, save in _Scopus_, as is the malar

region in _Tigrornis_ and _Tigrisoma_, while the last at times has the

throat bare, or merely feathered centrally. The nostrils are impervious

only in _Cancroma_ and _Balaeniceps_. The nestlings are uniformly covered

with sparse hair-like down. The state of the chick is unrecorded in

_Balaeniceps_ and _Scopus_. The furcula is generally V-shaped, the syrinx

is tracheo-bronchial, and an aftershaft is present, the latter and the

syringeal muscles being much reduced in _Balaeniceps_. Crests and

decorative plumes are common, as will be seen below.

Of especial importance are the large, thick, "powder-down patches," or

greasy yellow spaces covered with tufts of grey or black filaments,

disintegrating into bluish or whitish powder. _Balaeniceps_ has a big pair

on the lower back, _Botaurus_ and _Ardetta_ an additional couple on the

breast, and the remainder of the Ardeidae two more on the abdomen, except

_Cancroma_ which possesses still another pair on the upper back. In

_Scopus_ they are absent. The use is uncertain, and the occurrence quite

irregular.

Fam. VI. ARDEIDAE.–There are few persons in Britain who are not to some

extent acquainted with the habits of the Common Heron or Hern, for it may

be seen on the coast as well as on inland waters, and now breeds in more

localities than formerly, though in smaller numbers; while of the remainder

of the Family the Bitterns alone differ conspicuously in their mode of

life. Herons are shy, solitary birds, frequenting lakes, fens, and rivers,

where they {88}may often be seen standing ankle-deep in the water, and

watching with untiring patience for the prey which never seems to satisfy

their appetite. They rarely swim and walk but little. The majority breed in

large colonies; but Bitterns (_Botaurus_), Little Bitterns (_Ardetta_), and

Green Herons (_Butorides_) are notable exceptions, being, moreover,

skulking and nocturnal in habit, and agreeing in the latter respect with

Night-Herons (_Nycticorax_). The mud-flats commonly found on sandy shores

provide excellent feeding ground, and thence old and young may be seen

winging their way at considerable altitudes with leisurely flapping

flight–rarely accelerated–to roost at night on the customary trees or

rocks. Bitterns and their nearest allies are seldom seen far from marshes,

flying noiselessly with laboured action and at a comparatively slow pace;

they are, however, adepts at running or climbing among the water-plants,

and perch with ease; while they often assume an upright position with the

bill vertical, and thereby closely resemble the surrounding reeds, the

deception being occasionally enhanced by the bird turning as if on a pivot

and facing the spectator constantly.[90] Herons fly with the head drawn

back, therein differing from the rest of the Order, and in some cases roost

or bask in the sun on one leg; they are usually graceful and stately, the

beautiful Egrets moving more easily on land than their kindred, and being

somewhat less wary. The voice is a harsh croak or guttural sound, that of

the Night-Heron verging upon a quack; while the Bitterns, besides the

common cry, utter a booming or bellowing note in the breeding season,

generally heard at night or early in the morning, the method of production

of which is not at present quite clear. _Ardetta_ gives vent to a somewhat

similar but weaker boom or grunt, and most species are noisy at the nest,

hissing or screaming sharply. The diet consists largely of fish, but is

varied by small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, grasshoppers and

other insects, molluscs, crustaceans, and worms, the digestion being very

rapid and the birds seldom gorged. In the shallows the majority of the

family stand motionless, and spear their prey with the beak as it passes,

occasionally mauling it before swallowing; but some move from place to

place, while the Buff-backed Heron (_Ardea bubulcus_) habitually picks

insects from the backs or sides of the cattle. The nest, commonly situated

{89}on lofty trees, though frequently on low bushes, ivy-covered cliffs,

flat rocks, or reeds and herbage in swamps, is often a large fabric of

sticks without lining or with a slight bedding of grass, leaves, and the

like, but may be a mere mass of rushes and flags; the tree-building forms

at times resorting to the ground and _vice versâ_. Bitterns generally crush

down the aquatic vegetation and add softer materials on this substructure,

depositing four or five olive-drab eggs; _Ardetta_ in some cases does the

same, but the eggs are bluish- or greenish-white; whereas those of the

Herons proper are of a greenish- or whitish-blue colour of varying depth,

and exceptionally amount to six or seven. _Butorides_ not uncommonly lays

only two. If the first set is removed a second is often produced after a

short interval; but the young remain long in the nest. Incubation lasts

from sixteen to thirty days. Herons were of old protected by law, as

affording an excellent quarry for Falcons, while the flesh was highly

esteemed; when wounded, however, they must be carefully approached, as they

use the bill with deadly effect, and aim at the captor's eye. In India they

are used as decoy-birds with the eyes sewn up.

The following will sufficiently shew the coloration; the largest species is

_Ardea goliath_; _Ardetta_ furnishes the smallest forms.

_Botaurus stellaris_, the Bittern, which bred so lately as 1868 in Norfolk,

and occurs throughout the warmer parts of the Palaearctic and the whole of

the Ethiopian Region, is buff, with black bars above and streaks below,

black crown, nape, and stripes down the side of the neck, and chestnut

bands on the primaries. _B. lentiginosus_, distinguished by the nearly

uniform brown primaries, is rarely found in Britain, but inhabits North

America, probably meeting about Nicaragua with _B. pinnatus_ of tropical

South America, which lacks the neck-stripes; while _B. poeciloptilus_ of

the Australian Region has much of the back brown. The neck-feathers in

these birds form an elongated ruff. _Ardetta minuta_ of Central and

Southern Europe, Western Asia, and the northern half of Africa, formerly

known to have bred in England, is greenish-black, with buff neck,

wing-coverts, and under surface, the latter slightly streaked with dusky.

These streaks are more decided in other species, which are often greyer,

browner, or more ruddy above; _A. cinnamomea_ of the Indian Region is

almost entirely rufous, while all have a slight head-tuft. A fuller crest

marks _Zebrilus pumilus_ of northern South America, wherein {90}the upper

parts are black with fulvous undulations, and the lower parts

correspondingly mottled. The "Tiger-Bitterns" (_Tigrisoma_) extend from

Central America to North Argentina, the four or five forms varying chiefly

in the amount of naked skin on the throat. _T. brasiliense_ is blackish

with rusty vermiculations above, and reddish-grey below, the head being

mainly chestnut, and the tips of the remiges and spots on the breast white.

_Tigrornis leucolophus_ of West Africa has a narrow white crest, the

neck-feathers hanging loosely down, as in _Tigrisoma_. _Zonerodius

heliosylus_ of New Guinea is black above with fulvous bands, and has white

bars on the wing; the rump and fore-neck are white with dusky markings, the

lower parts yellowish-white. The genus _Butorides_, connecting the Bitterns

and the Herons, exhibits somewhat elongated plumes on the crown, fore-neck,

and scapular region. These small birds, variegated with glossy green,

black, grey, and chestnut, and often streaked with white, occur chiefly in

the Neotropical and Australian Regions, though _B. virescens_ at least

inhabits North America and _B. atricapilla_ the Ethiopian countries.

_Nycticorax_ (Night-Heron) is an almost cosmopolitan genus, remarkable for

the long linear blackish or white occipital feathers, from two to ten in

number, apparently lost for a time after breeding. In our occasional

visitor, _N. griseus_, of the Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian Regions,

and the barely separable _N. naevius_ of America, the colour is

greenish-black, with grey neck, rump, wings, and tail, white cheeks and

lower parts. _N. leuconotus_ of the Ethiopian Region has the neck rufous,

the back white, and the under surface spotted with dusky; _N._

(_Pilerodius_) _pileatus_ of tropical South America is white with black

crown; _N._ (_Nycterodius_) _violaceus_ of the same districts, which

extends to the United States, is plumbeous, with yellowish-white crown and

black stripes above, the scapulars being somewhat decomposed; _N. pauper_,

confined to the Galapagos, is very similar; _N._ (_Syrigma_) _sibilatrix_

of South Brazil, Chili, and Argentina, is grey, with blackish head and

remiges, rufous markings on the face and wing-coverts, and yellowish-white

breast; _N._ (_Gorsachius_) _goisagi_, ranging from India and the Malay

countries to Japan, is red-brown, with buff and white lower parts, the

whole plumage being marked with dusky; while _N. caledonicus_ of the

Australian Region has the upper parts rich buff, the lower parts white, and

only the head black. _Cancroma cochlearia_, the Boat-billed Night-Heron of

South {91}America, is blue-grey with white on the forehead and neck; the

head, crest, and flanks being black, and the belly cinnamon. _C. zeledoni_

of Central America differs in its reddish fore-neck.

_Ardea_, another world-wide genus, may be subdivided as below if

desired,[91] but the supposed generic characters are hardly satisfactory.

_A._ (_Buphus_) _bubulcus_, the Buff-backed Heron of South Europe, Africa,

and Asia to the Caspian, is white, with buff crown and nape, and elongated

occipital, scapular, and jugular plumes of the same colour, developed in

the breeding season; _A. coromanda_, with orange head, neck, and scapulars,

replacing it from the Caspian eastward and reaching Japan. The former has

once visited Britain, while _A._ (_Ardeola_) _ralloides_, the Squacco

Heron, has done so frequently. This bird, which ranges from the Canaries

and Central Europe to South Africa and Persia, is warm buff, with white

wings, tail, breast, and belly, the darker back possessing long hair-like

plumes which cover the tail, the jugulars being buff, and the head graced

by a tuft of long white feathers, margined with black. _A._ (_Lepterodius_)

_gularis_ of tropical Africa and Madagascar, and _A. asha_, extending from

the Persian Gulf to India, are dusky-slate with white throat, and have

moderate scapular and pectoral plumes, with a nuptial crest. _A._

(_Demiegretta_) _sacra_, ranging from Bengal to Japan, Australia, and the

Pacific, differs in having only a white streak down the throat, _A. greyi_

being a white phase. _A._ (_Melanophoyx_) _ardesiaca_ of the Ethiopian

Region is almost entirely slaty-black, with elongated occipital, dorsal,

and jugular feathers; _A._ (_Notophoyx_) _picata_ of Australia, New Guinea,

and the Moluccas, is bluer, and nearly white below; while _A. pacifica_ of

that country is greener, with white head and rufescent dorsal plumes. _A._

(_Dichromanassa_) _rufa_ of the warmer parts of North America is plumbeous,

with reddish head and neck, its white phase being denominated _A. pealii_;

here nearly all the head- and neck-feathers are elongated, and the

filamentous scapulars extend beyond the tail. _A._ (_Hydranassa_)

_tricolor_, found from the Southern United States to Brazil, is grey-blue,

purple, rufous, and white, with shorter seasonal plumes than the preceding;

_A._ (_Florida_) _caerulea_, with a slightly more northern range, is

slaty-blue, with maroon head and neck, a variable amount of white when

immature, and extremely long scapulars; while _A._ (_Agamia_) _agami_ of

central and northern South America is metallic green, with rufous and white

throat, rufous belly, black cheeks and nape; the very long occipital and

dorsal plumes being grey, as is the fore-neck, and the recurved feathers of

the sides of the neck reddish.

{92}[Illustration: FIG. 26.–Common Heron. _Ardea cinerea._ × ⅐.]

_A._ (_Garzetta_) _garzetta_, the "Little Egret," which has strayed to

Britain, and extends from South Europe to the whole of Africa, India, and

Japan, is entirely white, with long filamentous scapular and moderate

jugular plumes and two lengthened crest-feathers, all of which are said to

be temporarily lost after breeding. _A. nigripes_, ranging from Java to

Australia, is barely distinguishable, but the American representative, _A.

candidissima_, has a large occipital tuft. _A._ (_Herodias_) _alba_, the

Great White Heron, another of our rare visitors, extends from the middle of

Europe to most of Africa, Central Asia, and the Burmese countries, beyond

which a doubtfully distinct species, with yellower bill, reaches Australia

and New Zealand; the American _A. egretta_, however, differs in its black

legs. The breeding adult is white, with very long decomposed scapular and

lengthened jugular plumes, but no crest. The most typical forms of _Ardea_

are large slaty-coloured birds, varied by black, rufous, and white, the

head being commonly darker and the lower parts striped; while two slender

occipital plumes are, {93}in most cases, developed in the nuptial period,

and the scapular and jugular feathers are elongated, though not decomposed.

The Common Heron (_A. cinerea_), ranging through Europe, Africa, and Asia,

to Japan and Australia, needs no description, but the Purple Heron, _A._

(_Phoyx_) _purpurea_, though it often occurs in Britain, is less well

known. It is grey, with black crown and black stripes down the sides of the

buff neck, chestnut scapulars, rufous, grey, and black jugular plumes, and

maroon breast; the range being from Central and Southern Europe to South

Africa, China, and the Philippines. _A. herodias_ of North America meets in

northern South America the white-necked _A. cocoi_, both species resembling

_A. cinerea_, but the former having rufous thighs and edge of the wing. The

white _A. occidentalis_, of Florida and Cuba,[92] was formerly thought to

be an instance of dichromatism. The African _A. goliath_ has the head and

neck rufous and the under surface chiefly maroon.

[Illustration: FIG. 27.–Whale-head or Shoe-bill. _Balaeniceps rex._ ×

1/14.]

The sexes are usually alike; but the female has ordinarily shorter plumes,

and may be duller, as may the young, though the stages of plumage are not

yet completely worked out. White or rufous markings are often noticeable,

especially in immature specimens of _Ardea_; there is little red about the

head in those of _Dichromanassa_, though in _Hydranassa_ the amount is

greater than in the adult; those of _Florida_ are generally very white;

and, conversely, white {94}species often shew grey tints in early life;

while immature examples of _Nycticorax_ differ entirely from their parents,

being brown with white or buff spotting above, and white with dusky stripes

below.

The bill, feet, naked lores, and orbits may be reddish, bluish, green,

yellow, brown, or black.

_Balaeniceps rex_, the Shoe-bill, of the White Nile, has a short crest, and

is brownish-grey with blackish wings, tail, and feet, the bill being yellow

with dusky mottlings. It usually forms large flocks, and frequents bushy

morasses. The flight is Heron-like, and the birds will often settle on

trees; the young run about with extended wings and clattering bills.[93]

The food consists of fish, frogs, snakes, molluscs, and even carrion. A

mere hole in the dry soil often contains the chalky white eggs, from two to

twelve in number, but a lining of herbage is frequently added.

[Illustration: FIG. 28.–Hammer-head. _Scopus umbretta._ × ⅙. (From

_Nature_.)]

{95}Fam. VII. SCOPIDAE.–_Scopus umbretta_, the Hammer-head, of Madagascar

and a large part of the Ethiopian Region, is purplish-brown, with black

tail-bars, wider towards the tip; the head exhibits a thick erectile crest,

generally carried horizontally; the bill is black and the feet are

brownish. It frequents wooded districts near water, and is usually found in

pairs; not being very shy, except when breeding, and being more active at

dusk than in the daytime. At night it roosts in trees. The neck is slightly

curved in flight, but the feet are outstretched, while the gait on the

ground is deliberate. The note is a harsh quack or weak metallic sound; the

food consists of fish, reptiles, frogs, worms, molluscs, and insects

captured in shallow water, and while feeding the birds have a curious habit

of skipping round each other with extended wings. The nest is an enormous

structure of sticks, lined with roots, grass, rushes, or clay, having a

hole at the side, and ordinarily a flat top; it is placed in a tree, on a

rocky ledge, or exceptionally on the ground. Three to five white eggs form

the complement. Native imagination associates this species with witchcraft.

Besides the extinct brevipennate _Nycticorax megacephalus_ of Rodriguez,

known to the first colonists, and the fossil _Butorides mauritianus_ of the

Mare aux Songes, this Sub-Order furnishes _Proherodius oweni_ from the

London Clay (Lower Eocene); _Ardea_ from the Miocene of France and Germany,

and the Pliocene of Oregon.

Fam. VIII. CICONIIDAE.–Of the Sub-Order CICONIAE, the first Family is that

of the Storks, which have long necks and also long stout beaks, usually

straight and fairly cylindrical, but occasionally compressed, as in

_Leptoptilus_, upturned towards the tip, as in _Mycteria_, or decurved, as

in _Tantalus_; in _Anastomus_ there is a wide gap between the grooved

mandibles, the edges of the maxilla possessing fine horny lamellae. Very

remarkable, moreover, are the unprotected pervious nostrils, which are mere

perforations in the bony sheath. The tibia is partly bare, while the

elongated metatarsus is covered with hexagonal scales, becoming more

reticulated behind in _Leptoptilus_ and _Mycteria_; the partially webbed

front toes and flattened claws are in most cases very short–though

lengthened and more slender in _Tantalus_–and rest upon horny pads,[94] the

hallux being slightly elevated. The wings are ample and fairly long, with

eleven stout primaries in _Ciconia_ and twelve elsewhere, and from fourteen

to twenty-five secondaries, the inner of which are often greatly

{96}developed. The short tail is normally even or slightly rounded, with

twelve broad feathers, but in _Dissura_ it is deeply forked[95] and rigid,

while the unusually stiff coverts extending from beneath are easily

mistaken for rectrices. In _Leptoptilus_ these elongated coverts are soft,

and are the genuine "Marabou feathers." The furcula is U-shaped, the tongue

rudimentary, the aftershaft present or absent, and there are no powder-down

patches; the trachea in the male of _Tantalus ibis_ has several

intrathoracic convolutions,[96] while there is an entire want of syringeal

muscles. The adults and young possess uniform down, that of the nestlings

being greyish or whitish.

Storks, though easily tamed, are naturally shy, solitary birds, which

frequent wooded or open country on plains or hills, usually near inland

waters, creeks, or salt-water lagoons; the White Stork and the Adjutant

are, however, instances of somewhat different habits, the former showing a

predilection for homesteads, and the latter being protected as a scavenger

in some parts of India; while _Ciconia abdimii_ is considered a "bird of

blessing" by the natives of Africa. Flocks are occasionally seen. The

flight is graceful and noiseless, but powerful and rapid, the neck and legs

being carried in line with the body, and immense heights being often

attained by soaring and circling movements. No difficulty is experienced in

walking, and many species stalk solemnly about in pursuit of prey, whether

in water or on dry land; not uncommonly they rest with the whole metatarsus

upon the ground, or stand on one foot with the bill touching the breast.

They are ordinarily quiescent during the heat of the day, and at night

frequently roost in trees. _Mycteria senegalensis_ and _M. indica_ are said

to dance around their mates, the former skipping and bowing, and the latter

fluttering its extended wings, which touch those of its partner, while

advancing the head and making a clatter with the bill.[97] Generally

speaking, this is the only noise Storks produce, owing to the want of

voice-muscles; but Adjutants are said to utter a loud grunting croak or

bellow, and the young of _Ciconia nigra_ to give vent to a guttural cry.

The food consists of fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs,

grasshoppers, and beetles, with small mammals, or even eggs and young of

birds; but _Leptoptilus_ is nearly omnivorous and enjoys carrion, including

human carcases, {97}_Dissura maguari_ having like habits. _Anastomus_ is

called the Shell-Ibis from its cleverness in extracting _Unio_ and other

molluscs from their shells, and _Mycteria_ thrusts its bill into the ground

in search of grubs. The nests are frequently in tall trees, but may be on

ledges or in cavities of cliffs, or on flat tops of rocky hills; the

shallow fabric, often of enormous size, being composed of sticks with or

without a lining of grass, leaves, moss, rushes, feathers, down, or,

exceptionally, clay. Colonies are in most cases formed, but White Storks

occupy separate sites on houses, farms, towers, or even cart-wheels

purposely erected, and Black Storks breed apart in woods and precipitous

gorges. On the other hand, more than thirty nests of _Anastomus_ have been

observed in one tree. The eggs, numbering from three to six, are white and

chalky, and stain easily. Incubation lasts nearly four weeks. The adult

inserts its bill into that of the helpless nestling to feed it, while the

male attends constantly upon his sitting mate; we may, however, safely

disregard the more fabulous instances of affection recorded.

Wood-Ibises are similar in habits, but they are more gregarious; and build

smaller nests of twigs lined with moss, laying as many as eight white eggs,

rarely streaked with pale brown.

_Tantalus loculator_, the "Wood-Ibis" of the warmer parts of America, is

white, with metallic greenish-black remiges and rectrices, the bare head

and upper neck being covered with dusky corrugated skin, and the crown with

a smooth plate. The beak and feet are lead-coloured, the under wing-coverts

pinkish. _T._ (_Pseudotantalus_) _ibis_ of the Ethiopian Region has only

the front of the head naked, but is rosy towards the upper and under

wing-coverts, the smooth face and feet being red and the bill yellow. _T.

leucocephalus_ of the Indian and Indo-Chinese countries differs in its

yellow face, while the Indo-Malay _T. cinereus_ has it red and black.

_Anastomus oscitans_, the "Open-bill," another Indian and Indo-Chinese

species, is white, with black scapulars, remiges, and rectrices, yellow

bill and feet; the Ethiopian _A. lamelligerus_ is metallic black varied by

a little rufous, the shafts of the feathers of the fore-neck and lower

parts in adults expanding into flat shining, horn-like plates at the tip.

_Leptoptilus dubius_, the "Adjutant" of the Indian Region, is

greenish-black above and white below, the fleshy-red head and neck being

naked with a few hairs, and a white ruff surmounting the shoulders, while a

huge ruddy pouch, communicating with the nasal cavity, hangs below the

throat. The {98}bill is greenish and the feet greyish, the former being

yellowish and the latter black in the two following species. The Ethiopian

_L. crumenifer_ has the bare portions spotted with black; _L. javanicus_ of

Manchuria and the Indian Region has some white on the wing-coverts, yellow

naked parts with a horny greenish crown, a line of hair on the nape, and a

tuft on the fore-neck.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.–White Stork. _Ciconia alba._ × ⅒.]

_Mycteria americana_, the "Jabiru," ranging from Texas to Argentina, is

white, with black head, neck, bill, and feet; the naked head having a hairy

patch on the occiput, and the bare neck a red distensible basal band. The

Australian and Papuan _M._ (_Xenorhynchus_) _australis_ is black with

purple and green gloss, except the back and lower surface, which are white;

the head and neck are feathered, the bill is black, the feet are red. The

Indian _M. indica_ is barely separable. _M._ (_Ephippiorhynchus_)

_senegalensis_, the Ethiopian "Saddle-billed Stork," differs in having a

triangular frontal shield of yellow skin, a naked crimson pectoral spot, a

crimson bill with black median band, and black metatarsi with reddish

joints. _Dissura episcopus_ of the Indian and Ethiopian {99}Regions is

metallic black with white abdomen and under tail-coverts, downy white head

and neck with black crown, reddish bill and feet. _D. maguari_ of South

America has the head and neck feathered, naked red lores and sides of the

throat, white plumage with black wings and tail, yellowish bill and red

feet.

_Ciconia_ (_Abdimia_) _abdimii_ of the Ethiopian Region is bronzy-black

with white lower surface; the chin, membranous forehead, and tip of the

bill being orange-red, the remainder of the bill greenish and the bare

cheeks bluish. _C. nigra_, the Black Stork of British lists, is iridescent

black, with white breast and belly, red bill, feet, and orbits; _C. alba_,

the White Stork, a much more common visitor here, is white with black wings

and orbits, red bill and feet. The former–reckoning for the irregular

distribution characteristic of the Family–may be said to inhabit Europe,

Palaearctic Asia, and North Africa, wintering southward to India and Cape

Colony; the latter is more abundant within a like area, and is represented

in East Siberia, China, and Japan by _C. boyciana_ with black bill and red

orbits.

The sexes in this group are similar; but when immature the whiter species

are often more dusky, and the blacker species brownish, while the bill and

legs may then be greenish instead of red, as in _C. nigra_, or the head and

neck more feathered, as in _Tantalus_.

The Fossils referred to this Family are _Propelargus_ of the Upper Eocene

of France, _Pelargodes_, _Tantalus_, and possibly _Leptoptilus_ of its

Miocene; _Amphipelargus_ of the Pliocene of Samos; _Palaeociconia_ of the

Plistocene of Brazil; _Palaeopelargus_ and _Xenorhynchus_ of that of

Queensland.

Fam. IX. The IBIDIDAE, connected with the Storks through _Tantalus_, may be

divided into the Sub-families (1) _Ibidinae_ or Ibises, and (2)

_Plataleinae_ or Spoonbills. In the former the long bill is weak, nearly

cylindrical, and strongly curved; in the latter flattened, narrowed in the

middle, and dilated into a terminal spoon, which finally turns downwards.

The nasal grooves are remarkably elongated, the skull is somewhat square in

_Thaumatibis_ and _Graptocephalus_. The tibia is partly bare, the

metatarsus of medium length and often stout, with transverse or hexagonal

scales becoming almost reticulated behind, or even in front in _Hagedashia_

and _Carphibis_; the toes are generally long, with short anterior webs and

variable claws, that of the third digit being sometimes serrated. The

moderate wings have eleven primaries and from fourteen to {100}nineteen

secondaries; the tail of twelve rectrices is usually short and even, or

slightly rounded, but may be long, as in _Comatibis_, _Geronticus_,

_Cercibis_, and _Theristicus_; in the last two of which it is cuneate. The

furcula is U-shaped, the tongue rudimentary, the nostrils are pervious, an

aftershaft is present, but there are no powder-down patches or syringeal

muscles. _Platalea leucorodia_ has the trachea convoluted like a figure of

8 in old birds. Adults and nestlings are uniformly downy, the latter

varying from black with a white band over the crown in _Plegadis_ to white

in _Platalea_.

Sub-fam. 1. _Ibidinae._–Ibises are shy birds, which inhabit not only marshy

spots and wooded country, but also the driest of plains and rocky gorges,

being found both in pairs and in flocks. The flight is tolerably high and

rapid, with extended neck and legs, most species habitually sailing or

circling aloft, though _Plegadis_ rises with a whirr and skims along at no

great elevation. On the ground the gait is graceful, and swimming is

certainly practised at times, nor are perching or roosting on trees or

reeds uncommon habits. The usual note is loud and harsh, _Ibis

melanocephala_ being said to have a booming call[98] and _Inocotis_ a

melancholy scream[99]; the food consists chiefly of aquatic insects,

molluscs, crustaceans, and worms; but small fish, lizards, newts, frogs,

grasshoppers, and beetles form part of the diet; _Geronticus_, which does

not despise carrion, acts as a scavenger. Most Ibises wade in pursuit of

prey, whether in fresh or salt water, moving the bill to and fro, and

probing the subjacent mud. Some species breed apart, others in colonies;

the nest being placed on trees or low bushes, and more rarely among reeds,

or, as in _Geronticus_ and _Comatibis_, in holes in cliffs or on ledges.

The structure is not remarkably large, and is composed of sticks or stems

of plants, with or without a lining of herbage, straw, or roots; the eggs,

from two to four in number, being deep green-blue in _Plegadis_, pale blue

in _Graptocephalus_, similar or darker in _Inocotis_, olive-green in

_Hagedashia_, and greenish-white in _Ibis_ and _Eudocimus_, or even

brownish in the last-named. In all except the first two there are generally

reddish or brownish markings. Incubation lasts about three weeks.

_Eudocimus ruber_ and _E. albus_, the Scarlet and White Ibises of tropical

America, are respectively coloured as the names import, the tips of the

longer primaries and of the bill being black, while the {101}bare front of

the head and throat, the remainder of the bill and the feet are red. The

former, of more eastern range, strays to the southern United States, the

latter occurring farther north, and breeding in Florida. _Lampribis

olivacea_ of West Africa is coppery olive-green, with buff centres to the

feathers of the loose occipital crest and under parts, the wings being more

metallic, and the naked forehead and loral region black. The bill and feet

are red. _Plegadis falcinellus_, the Glossy Ibis, which occasionally visits

Britain, is found irregularly in Northern Europe and commonly in the south,

extending through most of Asia and North Africa, and migrating as far as

Australia and Natal. It also occurs in the South-Eastern United States and

the West Indies. The head, neck, mantle, and lower surface are chestnut,

the remaining parts purplish-green and bronzy, with bare greenish lores and

blackish bill and feet; _P. guarauna_, which represents the genus from the

Western and Southern United States and the Hawaiian Islands to Patagonia,

having red lores, white feathers round the beak, and at times red bill and

feet. _P. ridgwayi_ of Peru and Chili is purplish-black below, with

reddish-grey bill and black feet. _Cercibis oxycerca_, found from Colombia

to Upper Amazonia, is dark olive-green with a little purple and blue gloss,

the naked face and throat being pinkish and the bill and feet yellowish.

The crest is slight, while a line of feathers ascends the throat.

_Lophotibis cristata_, confined to Madagascar, is reddish-chestnut, with

white wings, blue-green tail, and an enormous crest combining all three

colours; the bill is greenish, the feet and the bare orbital region are

red. _Phimosus infuscatus_, ranging from Colombia to Argentina, is

bronzy-green with purple reflexions, the feet, bill, and face being pink,

with papillae on the forehead and cheeks. The slightly crested _Harpiprion

cayennensis_, occurring from Panama to South Brazil, is similarly coloured,

but has greenish-grey bill, feet, and naked skin on the lores, chin, and

sides of the throat. _Molybdophanes caerulescens_ of Brazil and Argentina

is greyish-green with dark bluish remiges, grey-brown crown, nuchal crest

and lower parts, white frontal band, naked black chin and warty lores,

black bill and yellow feet. _Theristicus caudatus_ of Guiana is

greenish-brown, with orange-buff head and neck, blackish under parts, and

partially white wing-coverts; the papillose lores, upper throat, and orbits

being naked and black, and a whitish tuft adorning the chin. The bill is

black with greenish tip, and the feet are red. {102}_T. melanopis_,

differing in its rufous breast, inhabits America from Peru and Brazil

southwards; _T. branickii_ being probably identical. _Bostrychia

carunculata_ of North-East Africa is greenish-brown with metallic

reflexions and white on the wing-coverts, the crested head and under

surface having whitish margins to the feathers, and the bill, feet, and a

long thin gular caruncle being red. _Hagedashia hagedash_, of the Ethiopian

Region generally, is somewhat similar but brighter, with no white on the

wing and no crest or wattle; the dusky lores are bare and warty, the bill

is black with crimson base to the culmen, and the feet are chiefly red.

_Geronticus calvus_ of South Africa, except for its shorter crest and

greenish-white fore-neck, is not unlike _Comatibis comata_ of Northern

Africa, Arabia, and the Euphrates, which is metallic greenish-black with a

large bronzy-red patch on each wing, a fine nuchal tuft of narrow feathers,

red bill, feet, and bare skin of the head and throat. There is some

question here as to the colour of the naked spaces. _Nipponia nippon_, of

East Siberia, Corea, Japan, China, and Formosa, is white with pinkish

remiges and rectrices; a long pendent crest graces the nape, the bare face

is vermilion, the bill black with red tip, while the feet are lighter red.

_Graptocephalus davisoni_ of the Burmese Countries and Cochin China and

_Inocotis papillosus_ of India are both dusky brown, with bluish-black

wings and tail, a white patch on the wing-coverts, greyish bill, and red

feet; but whereas in the former the black naked head is separated by a bare

bluish-white collar from the neck, in the latter the hinder crown is dotted

with red papillae. _Carphibis spinicollis_ of Australia is black with

purple and coppery sheen, the sides of the downy neck, the tail, and the

abdomen being white, and the feathers of the chest, which are converted

into stiff straw-like processes, yellowish. The naked head and throat are

black, the bill is black with brown bars at the base, the tibiae are

crimson, and the metatarsi dusky. The huge _Thaumatibis gigantea_ of Cochin

China is blackish-brown glossed with green, and shows much grey on the

wing; the scapulars are decomposed and the head and upper neck bare; the

nape is crossed by black bars, and the bill and feet are dull red. _Ibis

aethiopica_, the Sacred Ibis of the ancient Egyptians, of which mummies are

so often found in the temples, represented to that people the moon-god

Thoth, and is now the Abou-Hannes or Father John of Abyssinia. It inhabits

the Ethiopian Region, {103}being most plentiful on the Upper Nile, though

wandering to the Persian Gulf, Egypt, and Algeria. The bare head and neck,

the bill, feet, and tips of the primaries are black; the decomposed inner

secondaries and scapulars, which in summer curve gracefully over the hinder

parts, are iridescent black, the remainder of the plumage is white. _I.

bernieri_ of Madagascar, and probably Aldabra Island, has white primaries,

as has _I. melanocephala_, ranging from India and Java to Japan. The

latter, moreover, develops in the breeding season a ruff of long plumes on

the fore-neck, similar to that of _I. molucca_ of Australia, Papuasia, and

Ceram, which is distinguished by ten pink bars crossing the occiput and

nape, and pink spots on the crown.

The sexes are similar, but young Ibises are comparatively dull, and have

feathered heads and necks, while crests and ornamental plumes are generally

absent. In immature examples of _Ibis_ and elsewhere the head and neck are

black and white, in _Nipponia_ the plumage is apparently grey, in

_Eudocimus_ chiefly brown.

Sub-fam. 2. _Plataleinae._–Spoonbills are shy gregarious birds, frequenting

creeks of the sea or marshes, where they may be seen wading ankle-deep in

water, hunting for the fish, frogs, crustaceans, molluscs, beetles, and

insect-larvae on which they live, or searching the ground in drier spots.

They walk sedately, and fly with easy flapping action and outstretched head

and legs, now and then rising spirally to float aloft; while swimming,

perching, or standing on one leg are ordinary habits. In feeding, the beak

is moved from side to side in semicircular fashion, the body acting in

unison. There are no true vocal muscles, the voice being a harsh quack or

deep Heron-like note; but a clattering of the bill is heard at times, less

noisy than in Storks. The nest, when in reed-beds, is a mass of twigs,

flags, and the like, placed on the ground or on low bushes; but it is

commonly a large platform of sticks in a tree, the three to five roughish

eggs being dull white with red-brown spotting. Colonies are nearly always

formed.

_Platalea leucorodia_, the Spoonbill, which once bred regularly in England,

ranges over Central and Southern Europe and Northern Africa, to Central

Asia, Ceylon, and China; _P. regia_ inhabits Australia, and probably

Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, and New Guinea, straying also to New

Zealand; _P. minor_ occurs in China, Corea, Japan, and Formosa; _P. alba_

in the Ethiopian Region with Madagascar. The plumage is white, with bare

lores orbits, and throat, and a fine nuchal crest in the breeding season,

the fore-neck being tinged with buff, except in the last-named.

{104}[Illustration: FIG. 30.–Spoonbill. _Platalea leucorodia._ × ⅙.]

_P. leucorodia_ has yellow naked areas, black feet and bill, with yellow

bars and tip to the latter; _P. minor_ differs in having the neck-feathers

produced to a point on the black throat; _P. regia_ has the above parts,

except a portion of the orbits, black, and _P. alba_ all of them red. The

maxilla is transversely corrugated, at least in summer.[100] _Platibis

flavipes_ of Australia is white, with no crest, but with black outer webs

to the decomposed inner {105}secondaries, and elongated straw-yellow plumes

on the fore-neck in the nuptial period; the naked forehead, ocular region,

throat, bill, and feet being yellow; while a black line separates the gorge

from the feathered parts in the adult. _Ajaja rosea_ of tropical America,

which reaches the South-East United States, is rose-pink, with white neck,

back, and breast, pinkish-buff tail, and carmine wing- and tail-coverts;

the bare head is yellowish-green, the orbits and throat are orange, the

bill is greenish-blue with grey and black base, the feet are crimson, while

a curly pink tuft is developed on the fore-neck in the breeding season.

The female Spoonbill is like the male. The young seem to be duller, with no

crest or ornamental plumes; in some cases the primaries are tipped with

black, in _Ajaja_ the head is entirely feathered.

Of fossil forms, _Ibidopsis_ occurs in the Upper Eocene of England, _Ibis_

and _Ibidopodia_, the latter of which connects the Ibises with the Storks,

in the Miocene of France, _Ibis_ also in that of Bavaria, _Protibis_ in

that of Patagonia, _Platalea_ in the Queensland drifts.

Fams. X.-XI. The Sub-Order PHOENICOPTERI, including the PHOENICOPTERIDAE or

Flamingos and the extinct PALAELODIDAE, stands midway between the Storks

and the Geese, having been on that account termed AMPHIMORPHAE by Huxley, a

term equivalent to the ODONTOGLOSSAE of Nitzsch. The extraordinary

Flamingos have very long slender necks and unwieldy-looking bills, high at

the base and abruptly bent down in the middle, the maxilla being highly

movable and in some cases smaller than the nearly immovable grooved

mandible–a condition of affairs seldom found elsewhere, and correlated with

the peculiar method of feeding. As in the Anseres, the beak–which is short

and straight in the young–is covered with a soft membrane, and ends in a

black nail-like process rich in nerves, the margins being furnished in the

adult with horny lamellae. The legs are unusually long, with nearly bare

tibiae and laterally compressed metatarsi, covered with broad scutes which

become smaller posteriorly; the hallux is absent or somewhat elevated and

reduced, while the short anterior toes are fully webbed and have flat

stunted claws. The wing is fairly long, with twelve primaries and about

twenty-two secondaries; the tail is even, with fourteen small weak

rectrices. The furcula is U-shaped, the nostrils are pervious, the tongue

is thick, an aftershaft is present, and the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial.

{106}[Illustration: FIG. 31.–Flamingo. _Phoenicopterus roseus._ × 1/11.]

_Phoenicopterus ruber_, ranging from Florida to Pará and the Galápagos, is

light vermilion with brighter wing-coverts, the yellowish bill having a

black tip and the feet being red; the other forms are rosy-white with the

coverts scarlet, while all have black remiges; the naked orbits and lores

vary from rose-coloured to yellow, _P. minor_, _P. andinus_, and _P.

jamesi_ having feathered chins. _P. roseus_, recorded thrice from Britain

and several times from North Germany, while extending from Central Europe,

the Canaries, and Cape Verds to the whole of Africa, Lake Baikal, India,

and Ceylon, has red feet and a pink bill with black tip; _P. chilensis_, of

America south {107}of Central Peru, Uruguay, and perhaps Brazil, has

green-grey metatarsi with red joints, the black on the bill reaching above

the bend; _P._ (_Phoeniconaias_) _minor_, of the Ethiopian Region,

Madagascar, and North-West India, is very like _P. roseus._ _P._

(_Phoenicoparrus_) _andinus_, of the Andes of Bolivia, Chili, and

Argentina–the largest species of the Family–and _P. jamesi_, of South Peru

and Chili, lack the hallux, and have the base of the bill yellow and the

middle red, with yellow and red feet respectively.

The young are chiefly greyish- or buffish-white, with brown or black

markings, rarely seen beneath, and duller naked parts; the adults are

uniformly downy, the nestlings white and woolly.

Flamingos are shy birds, sometimes found singly, but usually in immense

flocks, which fly gracefully in V-shaped formations with alternate flapping

and gliding motion, or circle around with outstretched neck and legs after

rising with some difficulty. They spend their time chiefly in wading, the

gait being slow and stiff; yet they can swim on occasion, and give evidence

of their Anserine affinity by loud harsh cries, much resembling the

gaggling of Geese, and by their helpless state in late summer, due to the

loss of the flight-feathers. Very curious is their method of feeding, the

head being completely inverted and directed backwards, as they tramp about

in the shallows and seek for the aquatic herbage, frogs, crustaceans,

molluscs, and so forth, which constitute their food, the lamellae of the

bill acting as a sifting apparatus. The breeding colonies are situated on

some lake, salt lagoon, or "marisma" of little depth, with bare shores, the

conical or cylindrical mud nests being slightly hollowed at the top and

varying in height from two to fifteen inches according to the amount of

water. Several hundred individuals commonly breed together, though they not

infrequently change their quarters annually; they are said to fashion the

nest with their feet, and lay one or two eggs with bluish shell and chalky

incrustation, incubation lasting four weeks or more. Mr. Abel Chapman,[101]

Sir Henry Blake,[102] and Mr. Maynard[103] have shewn that the bird sits

with her legs doubled under her, and her head directed forwards, though

reliable persons have asserted that the feet hung down, and Dampier (prior

to 1683) alleged that the parent stood erect and covered the structure with

her rump. Eggs are often dropped {108}promiscuously by the hen. The young

run from the shell, and even when fully grown can be driven in flocks by

intending captors.

Of extinct forms the allied _Agnopterus_ occurs in the Upper Eocene of

France and possibly of England; _Helornis_, with somewhat shorter bones, in

the Lower Miocene of France and the transition beds of the two formations,

as well as the Middle Miocene of Germany; and several species of

_Phoenicopterus_, in the French Lower Miocene, the Pliocene of Oregon, and

the Mare aux Songes in Mauritius. Lastly, there are five species of

_Palaelodus_, constituting the family _Palaelodidae_,[104] in which the

bill was probably straight, and the tibia and metatarsus were much shorter

than in _Phoenicopterus_, but the toes longer. They are found in lacustrine

deposits of the French Lower Miocene and the German Middle Miocene, while

remains resembling them, to which the name _Scaniornis_ has been given, are

met with in the Chalk of South Sweden.[105]

ORDER VI. ANSERIFORMES.

The Order Anseriformes consists of the Sub-Orders PALAMEDEAE and ANSERES,

each containing a single Family, _Palamedeidae_ and _Anatidae_

respectively. Lying between the Ciconiiformes and the Falconiformes, the

connexion of this group with the former is much the most easily recognised,

as it shows decided affinities to the PHOENICOPTERI, while between the

ANSERES and the Birds of Prey there occurs one of those gaps common to

every linear system of classification. All the members agree in having the

furcula U-shaped and the nostrils pervious. The large spiral penis is

unique among the Carinatae, though comparable with that of the Ratitae. The

down is uniformly distributed in both adults and nestlings, the aftershaft

is rudimentary or absent, the tongue is thick and fleshy, and has bristly

sides in the _Anatidae_; while the possession of two pairs of

sterno-tracheal muscles is a marked point of distinction from other

Carinate Birds. All the species are aquatic, and live almost entirely on

vegetable matter. The young leave the nest within a few days, or even

hours.

Fam. I. PALAMEDEIDAE.–In this group the head is small and the neck long,

while the ribs have no uncinate processes, an archaic feature only found

elsewhere among Birds in _Archaeopteryx_. The {109}bill is short and

Fowl-like, with a blunt decurved tip, a covering of soft skin, and more or

less of a cere; the tibiae are partly naked, the entirely reticulated

metatarsi moderately long and fairly stout; the toes are elongated and have

strong claws, but only rudimentary anterior webs; the wings are ample and

somewhat rounded, with eleven primaries and about sixteen large

secondaries; the tail has fourteen broad feathers in _Palamedea_ and twelve

in _Chauna_.[106] Very noticeable are the two sharp spurs on the carpal

portion of each wing, of which the foremost is the biggest; while in the

even distribution of the body-plumage this Family recalls the Ratitae and

the Spheniscidae. The sexes are alike; the nestlings, where known, are clad

in yellowish-brown and grey down, the wing-spurs being developed in the

earliest stages.

The following account of the habits of _Chauna cristata_,[107] the Chajá or

Chaka, must stand for those of the Family, in default of further details

concerning the more northern forms. This striking species is a common

resident in the swamps and brackish lagoons of Argentina, where the islands

of the intricate morasses often hold flocks of more than a hundred

individuals, the separate pairs being said to mate for life. The flight is

slow, with powerful strokes of the wing, the birds being greatly addicted

to soaring in spiral circles until they are hardly visible, and at times

floating lazily upon the breeze. They rise noisily from the ground with

laboured action, and are occasionally seen to perch in trees; but they are

by nature waders which swim with considerable facility, and, when they do

so, their bodies shew well above the water, owing no doubt to the same

pneumaticity which causes a crackling noise to be heard when the skin is

compressed. The food consists of succulent water-plants, seeds, clover, and

so forth. The loud cry, uttered with the head thrown back when the

performer is on the ground, may be heard at a distance of two miles, the

male giving vent to a "cha-ha" and the female replying with a "cha-ha-li."

The regular period for reproduction is the southern spring–September and

October–but it is a remarkable fact that breeding takes place also in

autumn and even winter; the nest being a massive structure of reeds and

rushes slightly hollowed above, and standing some two feet high with its

foundations in water, or, {110}in exceptional cases, floating. This nest is

placed in some narrow channel or near the side of a lagoon, and contains

from four to six oval buffish-white eggs. The female rises silently when

disturbed, nor do the parents usually attack an intruder; but wounded birds

are dangerous to approach, and make good use of their sharp spurs. The

voice of the young is a feeble chirp; they are often trained, as they grow

up, to act as guardians to the poultry of their owners. The flesh is coarse

and dark, with a duck-like flavour.

_Palamedea cornuta_, the Horned Screamer, found from Guiana, Venezuela, and

Amazonia to Ecuador and Eastern Peru, is glossy black with an admixture of

white on the crown, lesser wing-coverts, and carpal edge; greyish foreneck,

white abdomen, brownish-grey bill, and ashy feet. The lores are feathered,

and a long, slender, yellowish-white horn adorns the forehead. The female

is said to have buff on the wing-coverts. _Chauna chavaria_ (_derbiana_

auctt.) occurs in Venezuela and Colombia; it is glossy slate-black with

greyer head and occipital crest, white cheeks and throat, and a little

white on the wing. The naked lores are pink, the bill and feet apparently

red. _C. cristata_ (_chavaria_ auctt.) differs in being dark grey, with a

black ring round the neck and whitish-grey cheeks and throat. This is the

largest form, and is bigger than a Turkey; it ranges from South Brazil to

Argentina, and shares with _Cariama_ (p. 258) the name of Crested Screamer.

[Illustration: FIG. 32.–Chajá. _Chauna cristata._ × ⅒.]

Fam. II. The Sub-Order ANSERES contains the single {111}cosmopolitan Family

ANATIDAE, with the Swans, Geese, and Ducks; where, in spite of many

attempts at subdivision, the lines of demarcation cannot yet be finally

determined. Count Salvadori, however, having lately propounded a

carefully-elaborated arrangement,[108] I have adopted his Sub-families in

the present volume, viz. (1) _Merginae_, (2) _Merganettinae_, (3)

_Erismaturinae_, (4) _Fuligulinae_, (5) _Anatinae_, (6) _Chenonettinae_,

(7) _Anserinae_, (8) _Cereopsinae_, (9) _Plectropterinae_, (10)

_Anseranatinae_, and (11) _Cygninae_.

The skull is short and robust; while the neck is abnormally developed, with

extra vertebrae, in the Swans, and is usually long, though less so in the

Sea-Ducks; in the _Merginae_ and some _Fuligulinae_ the customary posterior

notches in the sternum are converted into two complete fenestrae or

apertures. The bill is almost entirely covered with a soft sensitive

membrane, ending in a horny process termed the nail, the skin being warty

in _Anseranas_ and _Chen rossi_; _Cereopsis_ has a large tumid cere; both

sexes of _Cygnus melanocoryphus_ and _C. olor_ have a knob at the base of

the culmen, as have the males of _Plectropterus_, _Tadorna cornuta_, and

the domesticated form of _Cycnopsis cycnoïdes_; the same sex of _Somateria

spectabilis_ has the posterior portion of the maxilla spread into a disk;

_Oedemia_ has it considerably swollen even in the female; _Cairina_ and

_Plectropterus_ have caruncles on the forehead; _Sarcidiornis_ has a fleshy

comb at the proximal extremity of the beak in the male; while _Biziura_ has

a dependent flap on the chin, and a small subgular pouch. The bill is

usually broad and depressed, and may be sub-conical, as in many Geese;

spatulate, as in _Spatula_ and _Malacorhynchus_; or somewhat less dilated,

as in _Chaulelasmus_, and so forth. There is a distinct hook at the tip in

_Mergus_, _Dendrocycna_, and _Aex_; the culmen is concave in _Marmaronetta_

and _Stictonetta_; the nail is bent inwards in the latter and _Erismatura_,

while the maxilla may overlap the mandible, or the covering membrane may

even hang over the latter, as in _Malacorhynchus_, _Hymenolaemus_, and to a

less extent in _Elasmonetta_ and _Nesonetta_. The length is very variable,

but the thin elongated "sawbill" of _Mergus_, with its serrated edges, is

especially remarkable. Most characteristic of the Family is the presence of

highly-developed lamellae or transverse tooth-like processes on both

maxilla and mandible, which are visible when {112}the jaws are closed in

many cases, and are comparable to the similar formations in _Prion_

(Procellariidae) and the Phoenicopteridae. They act no doubt as a sifting

apparatus, but may assist in nipping off herbage and gripping fish, the

piscivorous Mergansers having them directed backwards. The metatarsus is

normally short or moderate, though occasionally long, as in _Plectropterus_

and _Dendrocycna_; it may be stout and roundish, as in _Anser_, or

laterally compressed, as in _Fuligula_; and is usually reticulated with

transverse scutellae in front, though wholly reticulated in the Cygninae,

Anserinae, and _Dendrocycna_. The anterior toes are fully webbed,

_Anseranas_ and _Cereopsis_ alone having the foot semi-palmated; the hallux

is short and elevated–except in the former species, where it is long and

incumbent–and possesses a broad membranous lobe in the Merginae,

Merganettinae, Erismaturinae, and Fuligulinae, while a very narrow membrane

may be observed in the Anatinae and Chenonettinae. The claws are as a rule

small and curved, but are long and sharp in _Anseranas_, _Dendrocycna_,

_Nettopus_, and _Plectropterus_. The wings vary considerably, but are

usually ample and rather long, though short in _Cosmonetta_, _Erismatura_,

and _Tachyeres_; the number of primaries is eleven, and of secondaries from

fifteen to twenty-eight, a horny spur being developed on the pollex, or

even on the index, in _Plectropterus_, _Sarcidiornis_, _Chenalopex_, and

_Merganetta_. The tail is, generally speaking, short, and may be narrow and

pointed, as in _Anas_, _Dafila_, and _Harelda_; in _Aex_, _Querquedula_,

_Tadorna_, and so forth, it is rounded; in _Chenalopex_ squarer; and in

_Sarcidiornis_ and _Asarcornis_ more cuneate. In _Tachyeres_ the two median

rectrices are long and recurved, and in the males of _Harelda_ and

_Dafila_, they are inordinately produced; while all the feathers have spiny

shafts and narrow webs in the Erismaturinae and Merganettinae. The number

varies from twelve to twenty-four, with even more in Swans. In _Eunetta_

the upper and under tail-coverts exceed the tail itself.

The formation and disposition of the trachea[109] are of great importance.

_Cygnus musicus_, _C. buccinator_, _C. bewicki_, and _C. columbianus_ have

a peculiar cavity in the sternum, while the windpipe, entering in front of

the clavicles, traverses and retraverses the swollen keel, which in old

birds it penetrates to its furthest extremity, the direction being changed

in the two last from vertical {113}to horizontal. _Anseranas_ shews a

double loop in this organ,[110] and in the males of many Ducks an

enlargement is found at its junction with the bronchial tubes, consisting

of a round bony structure, termed the _bulla ossea_ or "labyrinth." Similar

structures have been noticed in _Chenalopex_, _Dendrocycna_, _Chloëphaga_,

_Plectropterus_, and _Sarcidiornis_; and in the Fuligulinae they shew

apertures with membranous coverings; _Metopiana peposaca_, _Mergus

merganser_, _M. serrator_, _Tadorna cornuta_, _Oedemia fusca_, and

(doubtfully) _Oe. perspicillata_ are stated to have an additional bulb, but

_Oe. nigra_ has none. _Clangula glaucion_ and the Merginae have a swelling

in the middle of the trachea.

The headquarters of the Family are in the north, while Dr. Sclater's

calculations,[111] though modified by subsequent discoveries, give a good

idea of the distribution. He assigns as residents about seventy-seven

species to the Northern Regions, forty-one to the Neotropical, twenty-nine

to the Australian, twenty-two to the Ethiopian, and twelve to the Indian;

twenty Geese out of thirty-three, seven Swans out of ten, and twenty-six

Sea-Ducks out of thirty-one belonging to the first. Polynesia is especially

poor.

The Anatidae are for the most part of similar habits, and frequent seas,

lakes, rivers, and watery spots generally, being found to a great extent in

winter on the shore, especially where mudflats are exposed by the ebbing

tide, and beds of such food-plants as _Zostera_ (grass-wrack) are

uncovered. Large flocks, which include many migrants, are formed at that

season, and in spring the ganders and drakes commonly collect into parties

while the female is incubating, which she does during twenty-one to

forty-two days. Later in summer the majority of the Family shed their

quills simultaneously, and conceal themselves until again capable of

flight, the males then becoming dull in colour for several weeks, and

resembling the other sex.[112] _Merganetta_ is found only on the torrents

of the Andes; _Hymenolaemus_ and _Salvadorina_ being also residents on

mountain streams. The noisy flight is extremely powerful, and much swifter

than it appears, the wedge-shaped formation which Geese affect being

especially noticeable; some forms, however, are practically flightless,

such as _Nesonetta_ and the adult Steamer-Duck (_Tachyeres_). All the

Anatidae swim exceptionally well, diving being carried to its perfection in

the marine Fuligulinae; while the partially-submerged {114}position with

erect tail when feeding is known to every one. The various Swans have a

whooping, trumpet-like, or hissing note; that of Geese is a harsh cackle, a

gaggling sound, a clang or a "honk." Ducks do not always quack, but have

whistling or grating cries in addition. The usual food is vegetable,

consisting of grass, _Chara_, _Zostera_, _Ulva_, and other plants; but

Mergansers live chiefly on fish, and the bill of fare is varied by grain,

pulse, berries, frogs, insect-larvae, worms, molluscs, and crustaceans. The

nest is placed on the ground in thick herbage, or sometimes almost in the

water; holes in banks, hollow trees, or even branches at a slight elevation

being chosen in certain cases: it is composed of heather, grass, moss,

leaves, or rarely seaweed and twigs, and is lined with down, added

gradually from the parent's breast during incubation. The eggs, which vary

in number from two (_Biziura_) to about a dozen, are smooth and

hard-shelled, with a plain white, creamy, or green coloration, and are

commonly covered when left. The young return for a time to the nest at

night, and are carefully tended by the female, who is occasionally assisted

by the male, especially in Swans. It is not certain how tree-building Ducks

convey the nestlings to the water, though it has been stated that they are

carried in the bill; but it is no uncommon sight to see ducklings and

cygnets climb upon their mother's back and hide beneath her wings when

danger threatens.

The sexes in Swans and Geese are usually alike, though exceptions occur, as

in _Chloephaga_; in Ducks the male is generally much the finer bird, and

has peculiar decorations, such as the elongated scapulars and rectrices of

_Harelda_ and _Dafila_; the sickle-shaped secondaries of _Eunetta_,

_Heniconetta_, _Arctonetta_, and _Somateria_; the stiff feathers on the

face in the last three and Camptolaemus; the curly tail of _Anas boscas_;

the crest, ruff, and sail of _Aex galericulata_; or the crests of many

Fuligulinae and Merginae. Some females have similar but less striking

adornments. Among the many instances of fine coloration may be mentioned

the Red-breasted and Emperor Geese, the Harlequin, Mandarin, Pink-headed

and Shoveller Ducks, the Sheld-Drake (Fig. 34), and the Goosander; while

most Swans are pure white. The blue, green, or white speculum–or

wing-bar–in various Ducks adds greatly to their appearance. The young are

comparatively dull, the nestlings being thickly covered with yellowish

down, furnished with barbs and barbules; the colour is, however, whitish or

grey {115}in Swans, and occasionally brown, blackish, or greenish

elsewhere.

Sub-fam. 1. _Merginae._–The commonest British species is _M. serrator_, the

Red-breasted Merganser, which breeds plentifully in the Scotch Highlands

and Ireland, and ranges over the northern parts of the globe, extending in

winter from the Mediterranean to China, Japan, and the Bermudas. The head

is glossy green-black with a long hairy crest, the neck is white with a

black nuchal line, the upper parts are chiefly black, the large white

wing-patch is crossed by two black bars, while white feathers edged with

black adorn the sides of the breast, which is rufous with black streaks,

and becomes reddish-white towards the abdomen. The female is brown, with

reddish head and nearly white under surface. The bill and feet are red in

this species and the next. _M. merganser_, the Goosander, nests sparingly

in North Scotland, and has a similar range to the above abroad, though less

abundant; it has a green-black head with little crest, a black back, almost

white wings, and pinkish-white lower neck and under parts. The female has a

blue-grey back, and lacks the wing-bars of the hen Merganser. The American

species, with a black alar band, is separated as _M. americanus_, and the

Central Asiatic form as _M. comatus_; _M. australis_, of the Auckland

Islands, has a brown head and neck with long crest, a dark grey body with

white bands below, a white speculum, and red-brown bill and feet; _M.

brasilianus_, of Brazil, is black above with two bars on the white

speculum, and white below barred with black, the bill and feet being

greenish-black. The female has the crown and long occipital feathers brown.

_M. albellus_, the Smew, ranging from Lapland eastward to Bering Island,

but not to North America, and found in winter from Britain and the

Mediterranean to North India, China, and Japan, is mainly white, with

blackish cheeks, occiput, back, remiges, rectrices, and two crescentic

bands on each side of the breast, the bill and feet being lead-coloured.

The female has a red-brown head and nape, brownish-grey upper parts, and a

smaller crest than the male. _Lophodytes cucullatus_, the Hooded Merganser

of North America, which has strayed to Greenland and Britain, has black

upper and white under parts; the dense compressed crest has the posterior

part white in the middle, the white speculum shows a pair of black bars,

two black crescents mark each side of the breast, the long inner

secondaries {116}are black and white, the bill is black, the feet are

brown. The female has a red-brown crest, brown chest, and upper surface.

The members of this Sub-family are shy and wary sea-birds, seldom found on

fresh water except during the breeding season; they fly well, walk

clumsily, and dive admirably, swimming low in the water. The cry is a

plaintive whistle or loud harsh note; the food consists of little but fish.

The Red-breasted Merganser breeds in holes in banks, or among grass and

heather, laying up to ten brownish-green eggs; the Goosander deposits from

eight to thirteen, of a fine creamy colour, in similar places, or in hollow

trees; the Smew and the Hooded Merganser prefer the latter, and lay some

eight creamy or ivory-white eggs respectively.

Sub-fam. 2. _Merganettinae._–_Salvadorina waigiuensis_ of Waigiou has the

head and neck blackish-brown with paler edges to the feathers, a white

chin, black upper parts barred with white, and buffish-white under parts

with brown abdominal spots; the sides are barred with black, and the black

and green speculum is bounded by two white bands. The bill and feet are

yellowish-brown. _Hymenolaemus malacorhynchus_, the Blue Duck of New

Zealand, is lead-blue, tinged with olive on the head and spotted with

chestnut on the breast, the outer secondaries shewing a little white and

the inner black. The whitish bill has the dependent membrane (p. 111)

black, the feet are brown. This peculiar and tame torrent-duck is rarely

seen on the sea, though it can fly from one gorge to another; it swims and

climbs the boulders with ease, has a whirring note, and feeds chiefly on

insect-larvae. It deposits five creamy eggs in holes or under tussocks of

grass. _Merganetta armata_, of Chili, is black above with white edges to

the feathers, and rufous with black streaks below; the head and neck are

white, with black crown, vertical eye-stripe, throat, chest, and streaks

down the back and sides of the neck; the bronzy-green speculum has a white

band on each side, the bill is yellow, the feet are reddish. _M. frenata_,

of Chili, is very similar; _M. turneri_, of South Peru, has a white throat

and rufous edges to the feathers of the back; _M. leucogenys_, of Peru, has

a whitish throat and breast; while _M. garleppi_, of Bolivia and Tucuman,

and _M. columbiana_, of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, differ but little

from the last-named. The females are grey and black above and uniform

cinnamon below. These curious Ducks are restricted to the torrents of the

Andes, where they {117}are found in pairs, plunging in the cascades, diving

below the boulders, or stemming the impetuous current with equal facility.

[Illustration: FIG. 33.–Musk Duck. _Biziura lobata._ × ⅐. (From _Nature_).]

Sub-fam. 3. _Erismaturinae._–_Biziura lobata_, of Tasmania and

Australia–except the north–is brown with buff mottlings, the bill and its

leathery appendage being greenish-black and the feet dusky. The smaller

female has less chin-lobe. This species frequents the sea as well as lakes,

roosts in trees, and when diving remains long submerged; the food consists

of mussels, leeches, and aquatic worms; the note resembles the dropping of

water. The nest, placed on a stump or in a bank, contains two olive eggs;

the musky smell of the sitting female having suggested the name of Musk

Duck.

_Erismatura_ contains seven "Lake Ducks," inhabitants of fresh-water

lagoons, which dive like Grebes, and remain with only the bill exposed;

they are often tame, and when disturbed splash along the surface like a

Moor-hen, to settle again almost immediately; in swimming the spiny tail is

carried erect, suggesting a comparison to a "two-peaked saddle." The note

is said to be a curious inward sound; the food is of fish, {118}molluscs,

and insects; while the nest, built in rushy places, contains up to ten

coarse-grained white eggs.[113] _E. leucocephala_, ranging from the

Mediterranean to Southern Siberia, and in winter to North-West India or,

exceptionally, to Holland, is rufous-brown with black vermiculations and

bars, black crown and neck-ring; the rest of the head and neck being white,

the bill blue, the feet dusky. _E. jamaicensis_, of Central and temperate

North America, _E. ferruginea_, of Bolivia and Peru, _E. aequatorialis_, of

Ecuador, _E. maccoa_, of South and East Africa, _E. vittata_, of southern

South America, and _E. australis_, of South and West Australia and

Tasmania, are brown with greyer belly mottled with dusky; the head and neck

being black, except for the white cheeks and chin in the first-named and

the chin only in the second and third. _E. aequatorialis_ has white instead

of rufous under tail-coverts; _E. maccoa_ has white axillaries as opposed

to grey in _E. vittata_; _E. australis_ is much deeper chestnut. The

females are decidedly duller. _E._ (_Nomonyx_) _dominicus_, of Central,

Southern, and, accidentally, Eastern North America, has the feathers of the

back black in the middle and a white speculum. _Thalassiornis leuconota_,

of South and East Africa with Madagascar, is variegated with black and

ochreous yellow, the rump being white, the wings, tail, and feet brownish,

the bill blue-grey. It dives much, flies little, and lays about four

greenish eggs.

Sub-fam. 4. _Fuligulinae._–_Somateria mollissima_, the Eider Duck, breeds

commonly in Northern Britain, and thence to the Taimyr Peninsula eastwards

and the Coppermine River westwards, birds from North-East America being

separated as _S. dresseri_; while _S. v-nigrum_, differing in its black

V-shaped throat mark, occupies North-East Asia and North-West America. In

winter the first-named strays as far as South Europe and the United States;

the second has occurred in Holland. The male Eider has white upper parts

and buff chest, black lower back, abdomen, and crown, the last showing a

white streak; the wing- and tail-quills are brown, the stiff nape-feathers

green, while the plumage extends in a peak on the culmen. The female is

brown, with blackish bands or stripes and two white alar bars. The bill and

feet are olive-green. _S. spectabilis_, the King-Eider of the Northern

Arctic Regions, rarely wandering in winter to Britain, France, New Jersey,

and California, has the head blue-grey with green and white cheeks, and a

black chevron on the throat; the remaining portions {119}being black except

for the buff breast, white neck, upper back, lesser wing-coverts, and a

patch on each side of the rump. The feet and the bill, with its vertical

black-edged disc at the base, are orange. The female is redder than in the

Eider, with a more feathered culmen. These species are essentially

maritime, only coming to shore to breed; they are semi-gregarious, and form

a nest of grass and rubbish, a quantity of down underlying the five to

eight oily-green eggs. Eider-down is chiefly procured from Iceland,

Greenland, and protected islands in Norway. The flight is low and heavy,

the food consists of mussels, starfish, and other sea creatures.

_Arctonetta fischeri_, the Spectacled Eider of Alaska, is chiefly white,

with dark grey rump and under parts; the head being varied with green and

decorated with pendent bristly plumes on the occiput, stiff frontal and

loral feathers, and a satin-like quadrangular patch outlined with black on

each side. The tail- and wing-quills are brown, except the falcate inner

secondaries; the feet are brownish, the bill is orange in the male. The

female is fulvous and black with bluish beak. _Heniconetta stelleri_ breeds

on the Arctic shores mainly between the Taimyr Peninsula and Alaska, and

has strayed to Britain and even France. The head, falcate scapulars, and

inner secondaries are white with blue-black outer webs to the two latter,

the rest of the wing-quills and tail brown; the back, throat, neck, and a

spot on each side of the breast purplish-black; the lores and short

occipital tuft green, the lower parts mostly tawny. The female is brown

with darker markings, and duller wing-bar. _Camptolaemus labradorius_, the

extinct "Pied Duck" of the North Atlantic coast of America, was black, with

white head, neck, chest, scapulars, and most of the wings except the

primaries; it had a black stripe down the crown and stiff cheek-feathers.

The brownish female shewed a white speculum.

_Oedemia nigra_, the Scoter or Black Duck, which nests in North Scotland,

ranges over Northern Europe and Asia to the Taimyr Peninsula, sometimes

reaching the Azores and the Mediterranean in winter. It is black, with a

yellow nasal patch and a swollen base to the culmen, the female being dark

brown with greyish face and throat, and no protuberance or yellow mark.

_Oe. americana_ of North-East Asia and North America, migrating to Japan,

California, and New Jersey, has the knob yellow with red sides, while the

female is grey-brown. _Oe. fusca_, the Velvet Scoter, extends from

Scandinavia to West Siberia, and occurs {120}exceptionally in Greenland,

visiting us in winter, though rarely reaching Spain and the Adriatic; it is

black with a white speculum and mark under each eye, the bill being orange

with black posterior swelling and lateral line, and the feet dull

crimson-red. The brownish female has the white speculum, but a brown bill.

The very similar _Oe. deglandi_, of North-East America, has the base of the

maxilla entirely feathered, as has the still blacker _Oe. carbo_, of

North-East Asia. _Oe. perspicillata_, the Surf-Scoter, accidental in

Britain and North-West Europe, inhabits the far north of America and the

Asiatic coasts of Bering Straits, wintering down to Jamaica and California.

The black plumage is relieved by white patches on the crown and nape; there

is a black mark on each side of the crimson, scarlet, and orange bill, the

feet are crimson, orange, and black. The brown female has yellowish-orange

feet. Scoters are gregarious birds, usually found some way from land except

when breeding; the flight is strong; the note guttural, but softer in

spring; the food consists of fish, molluscs, and crustaceans. They nest

near fresh-water lakes and pools, among heather or grass, and lay from five

to eight yellowish-white eggs.

_Cosmonetta histrionica_, the Harlequin Duck of Iceland, North-East Asia,

Arctic America, and possibly the Urals, which reaches Japan, the United

States, and exceptionally Britain and elsewhere in winter, is grey-blue,

curiously marked with black and white on the head, neck, wings, and chest;

the superciliary streaks and flanks are chestnut, the speculum being

purple, the bill plumbeous, the feet brown. The female is brown with

whitish cheeks and mottlings below. The habits of tumbling and diving in

rocky torrents have been well described by Mr. Belding;[114] the nest is in

banks or under boulders, and contains seven or eight buff eggs. _Harelda

glacialis_, the Long-tailed Duck of the Arctic Regions, which appears to

breed in Shetland, and in winter even reaches the Mediterranean and China,

but more commonly the Caspian, Lake Baikal, Japan, and the middle United

States, is at that season white with brownish patches on the sides of the

neck, brown-black back, wings, central rectrices, and chest. In summer the

crown, neck, and scapulars become brown, with rufous edges to the dorsal

plumage. The bill is pinkish and black, the feet are bluish. The female is

brown, with white ocular region, neck-ring, and lower parts. This noisy

species is called, from its musical chattering note, "Calloo" in Shetland

{121}and "Old Squaw" in America; it flies very swiftly and nests near

water, laying from six to twelve oblong grey-green eggs.

_Clangula glaucion_, the Golden-Eye, not yet proved to breed in Britain,

though it does so in North Germany, the Caucasus, Siberia, and Maine,

besides the Arctic Regions generally, is found in winter to the

Mediterranean, and thence to North India, China, Japan, Mexico, and Cuba.

The glossy head is green, with a slight crest and white cheek-patches; the

upper parts are black with white on the wings and scapulars, the lower

surface being white, the bill black, the iris golden, the feet orange. The

female has the head and back brown, the chest grey. Similar to _Fuligula_

in general habits, the Rattlewing, as it is often termed from its noisy

flight, is more partial to inland waters in winter, while for breeding it

prefers hollow trees, or nest-boxes set up by Lapps and Finns, the ten or

twelve eggs being bright green. _C. islandica_, the ordinary species in

Iceland, differing from _C. glaucion_ in its purplish head, inhabits Arctic

America also, and winters in the United States, rarely straying to Britain

or the rest of Europe. _C. albeola_, the Buffel-head, of North America,

which has visited the Commander Islands and Britain, has the head

purplish-green with a large white occipital patch, the iris brown and the

feet pinkish. It breeds to the northward, the eggs being whitish.

_Tachyeres cinereus_, the Logger-head or Steamer Duck, of Chili, the

Falklands, and Straits of Magellan, is grey in both sexes, with lighter

head, rufous throat, white secondaries and belly, orange-yellow bill and

feet. The narrow median rectrices are curled up, the wings very short;

while the adults apparently lose the power of flight. Darwin well describes

the noisy splashing action, the rapid and flapping swimming movements, the

weak diving powers, the strong beak adapted for extracting shell-fish, and

the voice like that of a bull-frog.[115] From seven to nine eggs are laid

among herbage or low bushes.

_Fuligula marila_, the Scaup, of Northern Europe, Asia, and America, which

migrates to the Mediterranean and Black Seas, North India, China, and

Guatemala, has the head, neck, and chest greenish-black, the back

vermiculated with black and white,[116] the wings and tail dusky, the

speculum and under parts white, the bill and feet plumbeous. The female is

chiefly brown above, with {122}white round the base of the bill. _F.

affinis_, of North America, has the head purplish; _F. cristata_, of the

whole Palaearctic area, breeding freely in Britain and apparently in the

Abyssinian highlands, while wintering in India, Japan, China, the Malay

Archipelago and Polynesia, is distinguished by an occipital crest, and in

the male by a black back. _F. novae zealandiae_, of New Zealand, the

Auckland and Chatham Islands, has a purple and green gloss above, a few

white dots on the back, and rufous-brown abdominal feathers, the latter

being brown and white in the female. _F. collaris_, of North America

generally, has a violet tinge on the black portions, a chestnut collar, a

blue-grey speculum, and white under parts barred with dusky; the bill shows

two whitish bands; the female has white lores and throat.

_Nyroca ferina_, the Pochard, which breeds not uncommonly in Britain,

ranges from Iceland to Japan, and in winter to North Africa, India, and

China; it has a chestnut head and neck, a black gorget, and upper parts

finely freckled with black and white; the speculum is grey, the

quill-feathers and rump are black, the lower parts greyish-white; the bill

is black, banded with dull blue, and the feet are bluish. In the female, or

Dunbird, the head, neck, and chest are dull reddish and the back browner.

_N. americana_, of North America, has a purple shade on the head and neck,

a white belly, and no black at the base of the bill. The female has a

grey-brown head. The larger _N. vallisneria_, the Canvas-Back of the same

country, which breeds in the north-west, has the crown and comparatively

long bill black. The female has some white on the head and neck, and is

vermiculated with white on the back. _N. baeri_, of Eastern Asia, has a

green-black head and neck, but is chiefly brown, with a black-edged white

speculum and whitish wing-quills, the female being duller with a chestnut

cheek-patch. _N. africana_, the White-eyed Duck of British Lists, breeds

from Central Europe to the Mediterranean basin, and from the Ob Valley to

Cashmere, wintering southwards to the Canaries, Abyssinia, and Arrakan. It

has a chestnut head, neck, and chest, a white spot on the chin,

blackish-brown upper parts, a brown collar, a black-edged white speculum, a

little white on the primaries, and white lower surface, the bill and feet

being plumbeous and the irides white. The female is duller with browner

head. _N. innotata_, of Madagascar, has a darker head and no chin-spot. _N.

australis_, of most of the Australian Region, is not dissimilar, but has a

brown tip {123}to the white speculum and some brown on the belly. _N.

brunnea_, of South and East Africa, is brown, mottled with grey above, the

head and upper neck being dark purplish-chestnut, the lower neck black, the

speculum white with a black posterior band. Some white shows on the

primaries, and the bill and feet are plumbeous. The female has white at the

base of the bill, on the throat, and behind the eye. _N. nationi_, of Peru,

is hardly distinct.

The majority of these two genera are wary sea-birds, though breeding

inland; they feed at dawn or dusk on aquatic plants and seeds, molluscs,

insects, and even small fish and frogs, chiefly obtained by diving, wherein

they are great adepts. _Vallisneria spiralis_, a plant largely eaten by the

Canvas-Back, accounts for its specific name and possibly for its flavour.

The note is a grating or guttural sound, varied by a low whistle; the nest

is generally close to water, and contains from six to thirteen green eggs.

_N. africana_, _N. australis_, and _Fuligula novae zealandiae_ are rather

more skulking species with weaker flight, rarely found at sea.

_Metopiana peposaca_, of South America, northward to Chili and South

Brazil, is black with grey vermiculations above and on the belly, the

cheeks and upper neck are purplish, the speculum and inner primaries

chiefly white, the bill and its swollen base carmine, the feet yellow. The

female is brown, with whitish under parts and grey on the wing. It

frequents marshes on the Pampas, has a rapid heavy flight, utters a long

hoarse note, and lays a dozen creamy eggs.

_Netta rufina_, the Red-crested Duck, found from the Mediterranean to the

Caspian and Turkestan, or to India in winter, rarely occurs in Britain or

North Europe, and is recorded once from America; it is chiefly

greyish-brown above and blacker below, with a large crest on the chestnut

head, white speculum and sides, red beak and feet. The crestless female is

duller, with whitish cheeks and throat.

Sub-fam. 5. _Anatinae_ or typical Ducks.–_Heteronetta atricapilla_, of

South Brazil, Uruguay, Chili, and Argentina, is dark brown above with black

head and rufous vermiculations, and white below with dusky markings; the

tips of most of the wing-feathers are white, the bill is blackish with

basi-lateral flesh-coloured spots, the feet are brownish. The female's head

is brown. _Stictonetta naevosa_, of West and South Australia and Tasmania,

is brown with freckles and spots of white in either sex. _Marmaronetta

angustirostris_, ranging from South Europe and North Africa to India, and

{124}occurring in the Canaries, is greyish above, with brown and buff

marblings, and whitish below with brown bars. It flies low, utters a

croaking whistle, and lays ten or eleven buff eggs in isolated tussocks.

Both sexes of _Malacorhynchus membranaceus_, the Pink-eyed Duck of

Australia and Tasmania (p. 111), are grey-brown with lighter dots, and some

white on the face, wing, and tail; the under parts are whiter with brown

bands, while behind each blackish eye-patch is a pink mark, situated below

a dark line running to the occiput and down the nape. The bill is greenish,

and the feet are emerald-coloured or yellowish. This species is a fearless

denizen of still waters, with a habit of laying its six rich buff eggs in

old Herons' nests, in holes in trees, or on flat branches.

_Spatula clypeata_, the Shoveller, which now breeds in many parts of

Britain, extends from about the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central

Asia, and the United States, wintering southward to Casamance, Somaliland,

Ceylon, Borneo, China, Japan, Colombia, and the West Indies, and visiting

the Hawaiian islands, the Gilbert Group, and Australia. It is dark brown,

relieved by a green head, white neck, chestnut breast and belly; the longer

scapulars being black with white median stripes, the wing-coverts pale

blue, the speculum green with white anterior border, the bill plumbeous,

the feet orange. The female is red-brown with duller wings, while the bill

of the young shows the spoon-shaped form in about three weeks. _S.

rhynchotis_, of Southern Australia, Tasmania, and the New Zealand area, has

a dark brown crown, and blue-grey neck, with a white lateral line, the

chest being whitish and the lower parts chestnut, both with black bands;

_S. platalea_, ranging from Peru and Paraguay to Patagonia and the

Falklands, is reddish with round black spots, having a black crown and

rump; whereas _S. capensis_, of South Africa, has a grey-brown head and

neck, and brown mantle and under parts with darker mottlings. The wings and

scapulars are similar in all the above, except in _S. capensis_, where the

latter are dark blue-green. The females hardly differ from each other, but

that of _S. rhynchotis_ is darker, that of _S. platalea_ has a shorter

bill, while in both sexes of _S. capensis_ the speculum has a blue tinge.

Shovellers are somewhat silent birds with a peculiar habit of swimming and

feeding in circles over spots where Diving Ducks are submerged[117]; the

diet includes herbage, worms, molluscs, crustaceans, and insects; the eggs

are pale green.

{125}_Querquedula circia_, the Garganey, which breeds (p. 126) regularly in

East Anglia, ranges through most Palaearctic countries, and extends in

winter to North Africa, a great part of the Indian Region, and the

Moluccas; it has a brown crown, back, and chest, the last-named with darker

crescents, a chocolate neck with white flecks, a white streak above the

eye, bluish-grey wing-coverts, green speculum with white margins, and long

black and white scapulars. _Q. discors_, its North American representative,

reaching Ecuador and Peru in the cold season, is redder, with lead-coloured

head, a white crescent before the eye, and brighter wing-coverts. The

brownish females have a dull speculum. _Q. versicolor_, of America south of

Paraguay, and _Q. puna_, of Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, have plumbeous

wing-coverts; _Q. cyanoptera_, of western and southern South America, has

the head and lower surface chestnut.

The flightless _Nesonetta aucklandica_, of the Auckland group, hardly

differs in colour from _Elasmonetta chlorotis_, of the New Zealand area,

which is brown waved with black and rufous above, chestnut and reddish with

black spots below, the speculum being green and black, the gorget whitish.

The female is rufous brown.

_Dafila acuta_, the Pintail or Sea-Pheasant of the northern regions

generally, reaching North Africa, Ceylon, the Sandwich Islands, Panama, and

elsewhere in winter, has a brown head and nape, a white line down each side

of the neck, grey upper parts vermiculated with dusky, long black scapulars

and rectrices mostly edged with white, a purple-green speculum margined in

turn with black and white, a cinnamon bar on the wing-coverts, and a white

breast. The female is greyish with brown speculum and ochraceous barring

above, the markings being oblique on the tail. It now breeds in Scotland.

_D. eatoni_, of Kerguelen Island and the Crozets, has a grey breast; _D.

spinicauda_, ranging from Peru and South Brazil to Patagonia and the

Falklands, has a rufous head and blackish speculum, the sexes being nearly

alike, as in the next genus. _Poecilonetta bahamensis_ of the Bahamas,

Antilles, and South America, _P. galapagensis_ of the Galapagos, and _P.

erythrorhyncha_ of South and East Africa with Madagascar, are somewhat

similar birds, having reddish plumage spotted with black, whitish cheeks

and throat. In the first two the tail is buff, in the third the bill is

chiefly pink, the speculum in all being much as in _Dafila_.