roosting-time—which formerly led to the supposition that they actually
retired under water for the winter—may be easily accounted for by the
circumstance that the willow branches not only afford them most
convenient perches, but enable the birds to crowd close together, and so
secure greater warmth to individuals than they could possibly enjoy if
each roosted upon a separate twig in trees or shrubs of different
growth.
[Illustration: MARTIN]
THE MARTIN.
(_Hirundo urbica._)
Although arriving in this country somewhat later than the Swallow, the
Martin may be said to have nearly the same geographical range. Mr.
Yarrell thought that the Swallow did not go so far north as the
Martin,[70] but both are found in summer in Iceland and the Faroe Isles.
Mr. Dann remarked that there was no want of food for them in Norway and
Lapland, as the morasses in the sheltered valleys swarm with insects.
During the season that it is absent from England it resides in North
Africa, Egypt, Nubia and Abyssinia, Palestine, Arabia, and North-west
India. Capt. Irby states (“Ibis,” 1861, p. 233) that it is common in the
cold season in Oudh, and Col. Tickell observed great numbers at
Moulmein; but they appeared from time to time, and not constantly, like
_H. rustica_.[71] With regard to Palestine, it seems probable that the
Martin spends the greater portion of the year there, for Canon Tristram
found it breeding in colonies on the sheltered faces of cliffs in the
valleys of Northern Galilee. Mr. Wright says (“Ibis,” 1864, p. 57) that
in Malta it is seen at the same seasons as the Swallow, but stays part
of the winter, when _H. rustica_ has departed. Dr. Giglioli observes
that it arrives at Pisa at the end of March, at which time it has also
been noticed at Gibraltar.
The movements of this bird and others of the genus have been concisely
illustrated by Mr. Forster in a communication to the Linnæan Society, in
the following table, giving the mean date of arrival:
Naples. Rome. Pisa. Vienna. Bruges. London.
Swallow Feb. 27. Mar. 3. Mar. 5. Mar. 25. Ap. 5. Ap. 15.
Sand Martin Ap. 3. Ap. 5. Ap. 8. Ap. 12. Ap. 25. Ap. 25.
House Martin Ap. 10. Ap. 15. Ap. 16. Ap. 20. May 1. May 1.
Swift Ap. 15. Ap. 18. Ap. 20. Ap. 23. Ap. 30. May 3.
The spring tide of migration appears to set in along the entire
coast-line of the Mediterranean, and in a direction almost due north. I
do not remember to have seen any record of the occurrence of the Martin
on the west coast of Africa, although there seems to be no reason why it
should not accompany the Swallow there in winter.
Both species will rear two broods in a season; and this fact, doubtless,
will account for the prolonged stay in autumn of the later fledged
birds, which are not sufficiently strong on the wing to join the main
body of emigrants at the usual time of their departure.
[Illustration: SAND MARTIN]
THE SAND MARTIN.
(_Cotyle riparia._)
This little bird has a much more extensive range than either of the
foregoing species, being found in the New as well as in the Old World.
In British North America M. Bourgeau obtained both birds and eggs on the
Saskatchewan plains. Dr. Coues met with it in Arizona, and Professor
Baird has recorded it from California. He says: “It furnishes almost a
solitary instance amongst land birds of the same species inhabiting both
continents permanently, and not as an accidental or occasional visitor
in either.”[72] Mr. H. E. Dresser found it common in Southern Texas, and
Mr. O. Salvin obtained several specimens in Guatemala. It has even been
met with in the Bermudas, 600 miles from Cape Hatteras, the nearest
point of the North American coast.[73]
In Europe the Sand Martin generally makes its appearance in the spring
somewhat earlier than any of the other Swallows, and departs sooner.
From different stations on the Mediterranean large flocks have been
observed at the period of the vernal migration winging their way
northward, returning even in greater numbers in the autumn. Mr. O.
Salvin saw this species between Tunis and Kef during the third week in
March. Canon Tristram, who found it abundant in Palestine in the sandy
banks of the Jordan, has suggested that it is double-brooded, since he
found it nesting in Egypt in February. The same observer met with it in
November on its autumn migration through the Sahara. When passing down
the Red Sea, early in November, Mr. Swinhoe saw numerous Sand Martins,
which followed the ship for some days, and on arriving at his
destination found these birds very common about the marshes at Takoo and
before Tientsin in North China. Dr. Leith Adams says[74] that Sand
Martins build in numbers along the banks of the Indus, and that in
consequence in some places the banks are quite riddled with their holes.
Hence it will be seen that this delicate little bird enjoys a more
extensive range than any other species of the family.
Before leaving this country in autumn, they assemble in vast flocks, and
go through a variety of evolutions on the wing, as if practising for a
long flight, alighting from time to time upon the ground, or on willows
or reeds by the river-side, to rest. Swallows and Martins do the same,
but never congregate—so far as I have observed—in such large
numbers.[75]
The Purple Martin (_H. purpurea_) of America is recorded to have been
procured once at Kingstown near Dublin; and Yarrell included it in his
“History of British Birds,” relying on a statement that two specimens
had been shot at Kingsbury Reservoir, in Middlesex, in September, 1842.
It has since been ascertained, however, that he was misinformed on the
subject. A specimen of this bird, said to have been shot near
Macclesfield, was sold at Stevens’s, with other birds from the
Macclesfield Museum, on the 14th June, 1861, and realized twenty-eight
shillings. With these exceptions, so far as I am aware, no other
instance of its occurrence in Europe has been published.
[Illustration: Decorative glyph]
[Illustration: COMMON SWIFT]
THE COMMON SWIFT.
(_Cypselus apus._)
To ordinary observers a Swift appears so much like a Swallow, that the
only difference discernible by them is a difference of colour. To the
inquiring naturalist, however, a much more important distinction
presents itself in the peculiar and remarkable anatomy of the former
bird. Not only has it a greater extent of wing, moved by larger and more
powerful muscles, but the structure of the foot is curiously adapted for
climbing within the narrow crevices which are usually selected as
nesting-places. In the Swallow and other _Hirundines_ the toes are long
and slender—three in front and one behind in the same plane, as is usual
with insessorial birds. In the Swift we find the toes short and stout,
and all four directed forwards; the least toe (which should be the hind
one) consisting of a single bone, and the other three of only two bones
apiece—a peculiar construction, but well adapted for the purposes for
which the feet are employed.
This singularity of structure has induced naturalists to consider the
Swifts (for there are several species) generically distinct from the
Swallows; and the former, therefore, are now placed by common consent in
the genus _Cypselus_, a name adopted from Aristotle, and suggested by
Illiger, as indicating the bird’s habit of hiding its nest in a hole.
The remarks which have been made upon food in the case of the Swallows,
apply equally in the case of the Swifts. The latter have so frequently
been observed in localities presenting very different species of
insects, and sweeping in the summer evenings through the midst of little
congregated parties of various kinds, that there is little doubt that
the nature of the food differs very considerably. In corroboration of
this it has been shown that anglers have repeatedly captured these birds
with artificial trout-flies of very different appearance.[76] Isaak
Walton informs us that Swifts were in his time taken in Italy with rod
and line; and, according to Washington Irving, one of the sports of the
Alhambra was angling for swallows from its lofty towers.[77] There are
several species of Swifts distributed throughout the world, but only two
visit the British Islands, and of these one is but a rare and accidental
visitant.
The Common Swift is the last of the _Hirundines_ to arrive in this
country, and the first to leave it. Its habits are very different from
those of the Swallows. As a rule it makes no nest, but only lines a
hole, into which it creeps; it lays but two eggs (rarely three), instead
of five or six like the Swallows; it rears but one brood in the summer,
instead of two, or even three, as Swallows often do. The late Mr. J. D.
Salmon described[78] some nests of the Swift which he found at Stoke
Ferry, Norfolk, and which were composed of bits of straw and dry grass,
“closely interwoven and held firmly together by an adhesive substance
very much resembling glue, and so disposed round the inner edge of the
nest as to hold the straws in their places; the whole forming quite a
cup of an oval shape, of about four inches in length, not very deep.” I
have often observed the straw and dry grass, with the addition of
feathers, but never noticed the “adhesive substance.” Gilbert White
thought that the Swift paired on the wing. They may do so occasionally;
but, from what I have observed, I feel sure that they pair much oftener
in the hole which has been selected to nest in.
Although usually preferring lofty towers and church turrets, the Swift
frequently nests under eaves at a comparatively short distance from the
ground; and I have had excellent opportunities for some years past of
observing Swifts during the breeding season under the eaves of some old
cottages in Sussex and Middlesex. By means of a short ladder I have been
enabled to inspect many nests both before and after the young were
hatched; and, out of a score or more examined, seldom more than one
contained three eggs. Sometimes I observed that Sparrows were ejected
and their nests appropriated, amidst much remonstrance and screaming;
but, as a rule, I have found that Swifts, having once reared their young
safely in a new locality, will return to the same hole year after year.
Birds have been marked by having their claws cut, and, on being set at
liberty, were caught the following year in the holes from which they had
first been taken. Unlike most insectivorous birds, which bring but a
single insect (or at most two or three) to the nest at a time, the Swift
visits its young less frequently in the day, but brings a large store at
each visit. The mouth is often so crammed with small black flies, that
the bird presents the appearance of having a pouch under the chin, from
which it ejects the insects in a lump the size of a boy’s marble.
As a general rule, the Swift is not observed in this country before the
third week in May, and is seldom seen after the third week in August. It
is found throughout the mainland of the British Islands, and breeds also
in Mull and Iona, but not in Orkney or Shetland, nor in the Outer
Hebrides. It does not travel quite so far north as either the Chimney
Swallow or the Martin, but the late Mr. Wolley saw it on the Faroes,[79]
and Mr. Wheelwright frequently observed it hawking over the high fells
at Quickjock, Lapland, during the summer.[80]
If we look for the bird during the months that it is absent from Great
Britain, we find that it is very abundant at the Cape of Good Hope in
winter, arriving about September 5, and departing northwards in April.
It is seen in Natal more or less all the year round, but more
plentifully during the summer.[81] The climate of Lower Egypt is
apparently too cold for this species in winter, but at that season it is
resident and abundant in Upper Egypt.[82]
As winter disappears it gradually moves northward, and a month before it
arrives in England it is found in some numbers along the entire
coast-line of the Mediterranean. Mr. Osbert Salvin saw it at Tunis on
the 8th March, and subsequently numerous at Algiers. In the middle of
March, Mr. Chambers found it plentiful at Tripoli, and at the end of the
same month it was observed by Mr. Howard Saunders at Gibraltar. In the
middle of April, Lord Lilford remarked that it was common in the
neighbourhood of Madrid; about which time, according to Messrs. Elwes
and Buckley (“Ibis,” 1870, p. 200), it usually makes its appearance in
Turkey, arriving there doubtless from the Ionian Islands,[83] Egypt and
Palestine, where it is said to appear in the last week of March.[84]
From Spain, through France, to England is but a short journey for a bird
with powers of wing like the Swift; and hence one is not surprised to
see hawking over the South Downs in May the birds which but a week
previously were circling round the Moorish towers of Spain. Its return
southward in autumn is apparently by the same route as that chosen for
its northward journey in spring, and in this respect it differs in habit
from many other species.[85]
In India its place is to a certain extent taken by a non-migratory
species, _Cypselus affinis_, but it has nevertheless been met with in
that country. An Indian specimen was received from Dr. Jerdon,
presumably from the north-west.[86] It has also been forwarded from
Afghanistan,[87] and Dr. Stoliczka found it at Leh, in Western Thibet. I
am aware that some naturalists have expressed doubts as to the identity
of the Swift found at the Cape of Good Hope with _Cypselus apus_; but,
after an examination of several examples of the African bird, I have
been unable to discover that it differs in any material respect from our
well-known summer migrant.
THE ALPINE SWIFT.
(_Cypselus alpinus._)
So rare a visitant to this country is the Alpine Swift that not more
than a score of individuals have been met with since the first specimen
was captured in 1820. In that year a bird of this species was killed at
Kingsgate, in the Isle of Thanet, during the month of June, and since
that time the following examples are recorded to have been met with:—
One, Dover, Aug. 20, 1830; “Note-book of a Naturalist,” p. 226.
One, Buckenham, Norfolk, Oct. 13, 1831; Yarrell, “Hist. Brit. Birds,”
vol. ii. p. 266.
One, Rathfarnham, near Dublin, March, 1833; “Dublin Penny Journal,”
March, 1833. Yarrell, “Hist. Brit. Birds,” vol. ii. p. 266.
One, Saffron Walden, Essex, July, 1838; Macgillivray, “Hist. Brit.
Birds,” iii. p. 613.
One, Leicester, Sept. 23, 1839; Macgillivray, “Hist. Brit. Birds,” iii.
p. 613.
One, seen forty miles west of Land’s End, in June, 1842; Couch, “Cornish
Fauna,” p. 147.
One, Cambridge, May, 1844; E. B. Fitton, “Zoologist,” 1845, p. 1191.
One, near Doneraile, co. Cork, June, 1844; Thompson, “Nat. Hist.
Ireland” (Birds), vol. i. p. 418.
One, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, Oct., 1851; Ellman, “Zoologist,” 1852, p.
3330.
One, Mylor, Cornwall, 1859; Bullimore, “Cornish Fauna,” p. 24.
One, Hulme, near Manchester, Oct. 18, 1863; Carter, “Zoologist,” 1863,
p. 8846.
One seen at Kingsbury Reservoir, Aug., 1841, and one shot near Reading
the next day; Harting, “Birds of Middlesex,” p. 128.
One, near Lough Neagh, May, 1866; Howard Saunders, “Zoologist,” 1866, p.
389.
One, near Weston-super-Mare; Cecil Smith, “Birds of Somersetshire,” p.
287.
Several seen, Isle of Arran, July, 1866; H. Blake Knox, “Zoologist,”
1866, p. 456.
Several seen, Achill Island; H. Blake Knox, “Zoologist,” 1866, p. 523.
One, near the Lizard, Cornwall; Rodd, “List of the Birds of Cornwall,”
2nd ed. p. 23.
One, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, Sept. 8, 1870; Hele, “The Field,” Sept. 17,
1870.
One seen, Colchester, June 8, 1871; Dr. Bree, “The Field,” June 17,
1871.
One seen, South Point, Durham, July 24, 1871; G. E. Crawhall, “The
Field,” Aug. 5, 1871.
In all the above instances the birds were shot, except where stated to
have been seen only.
The term “Alpine Swift” is unfortunately a misnomer, since the bird is
in no way confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the Alps. The name
“White-bellied Swift” is not inappropriate, as indicating a peculiarity
which distinguishes it from the common species. It is a migratory bird,
like the last-named, and, like it, visits the Cape of Good Hope in
winter, and penetrates into North-west India.
It is a summer migrant in Palestine, where Canon Tristram observed it
nesting near Mar Saba, and in the tremendous ravine above the site of
Jericho. It arrives at Constantinople from its winter quarters towards
the end of April, and is common in Corfu from May to September, nesting
annually in the Citadel Rock (Lord Lilford, “Ibis,” 1860, p. 234). It
breeds in great numbers along the Etruscan coast, and is occasionally
seen at Pisa (Dr. Giglioli, “Ibis,” 1865, pp. 51-52). It has been
observed on passage in Tangier and Eastern Morocco, and Mr. O. Salvin
remarked that it was common about the plains of the Salt Lake district,
Eastern Atlas, and breeding in most of the rocks of that country
(“Ibis,” 1859, p. 302). Mr. Howard Saunders saw hundreds at Gibraltar
towards the end of March, and in June it was observed by Lord Lilford
amongst the peaks of the Sierra near San Ildefonso. To England, as we
have said, it rarely strays. In habits it is described, by those who
have had opportunities for observing it, as resembling very much the
Common Swift. Like this species, it nests in holes and crevices, and
lays two white eggs of a similar shape to those of its congener, but
much larger. Its cry is said to be very different. Its vastly superior
size and white belly serve at all times to distinguish it from the
smaller and more sable bird with which we are so familiar.
The Spine-tailed Swift (_Acanthylis caudacutus_), a bird which is found
in Siberia, Persia, India, China, and Australia, has in one single
instance been met with in the British Islands. A specimen was killed at
Great Horkesley, near Colchester, on July 8, 1846, as recorded in the
“Zoologist” for that year (p. 1492), and was fortunately examined in the
flesh by Messrs. Yarrell, Fisher, Hall, Doubleday, and Newman.
[Illustration: NIGHTJAR]
THE NIGHTJAR.
(_Caprimulgus europæus._)
In order of date, the Nightjar is one of the latest of the summer birds
to arrive, being seldom seen before the beginning of May, although, as
in the case of other species, one now and then hears of an exceptionally
early arrival. In 1872, for example, Mr. Gatcombe informed me that he
had seen a Nightjar in the neighbourhood of Plymouth on the 10th of
April, at least a month earlier than the usual time of its appearance.
By the end of September, or the first week in October, these birds have
returned to their winter quarters in North Africa. Colonel Irby, in his
recently-published volume on the “Ornithology of the Straits of
Gibraltar,” states, on the authority of M. Favier, that Nightjars cross
the Straits from Tangiers to Gibraltar in May and June, and return the
same way between September and November. They have been seen on the
passage. Dr. Drummond informed the late Mr. Thompson of Belfast,[88]
that when H.M.S. “San Juan,” of which he was surgeon, was anchored near
Gibraltar, in the spring of the year, a few Nightjars flew on board.
During the passage of H.M.S. “Beacon” from Malta to the Morea, in the
month of April, some of these birds appeared on the 27th, and alighted
on the rigging. The vessel was then about fifty miles from Zante (the
nearest land), and sixty west of the Morea.
They came singly, with one exception, when two appeared in company. A
couple of them were shot in the afternoon. A few others had been seen
about the vessel on the two or three days preceding. On the evening of
the 1st of June, two were killed and others seen in the once celebrated
but now barren and uninhabited island of Delos.
The Nightjar, although tolerably dispersed throughout North Africa
during certain months of the year, does not, apparently, travel so far
down the east or west coasts as many of our summer migrants do. In Egypt
and Nubia, according to Captain Shelley,[89] it is only met with as a
bird of passage, but how much further south it goes he does not say. Mr.
Blanford did not meet with it in Abyssinia, where its place seems to be
taken by two or three allied species.[90] The same remark applies as we
proceed eastward. In Syria and Palestine, Canon Tristram did not observe
the European Nightjar, but found a smaller and lighter-coloured species,
on which he has bestowed the name _Caprimulgus tamaricis_.[91]
Between the months of April and October, our Nightjar is generally
dispersed throughout the British Islands, even to the north of
Caithness, extending also to the inner group of islands, but not
reaching the Outer Hebrides. Mr. Robert Gray, of Glasgow, reports that
it is not uncommon in Islay, Iona and Mull, and also in Skye, in all of
which islands eggs have been found.
Stragglers have been observed in summer and autumn for several years in
Shetland. The late Dr. Saxby saw it at Balta Sound about the end of
July, skimming over the fields, and now and then alighting on the dykes,
but he regarded its appearance in Shetland as merely accidental.
In Ireland this bird is considered to be a regular summer visitant to
favourite localities in all quarters of the island, but of rare
occurrence elsewhere.[92]
In colour this bird resembles a large moth, being most beautifully and
delicately streaked and mottled with various shades of black, brown,
grey, and buff, but in appearance it is not unlike a hawk, having long
pointed wings more than seven inches in length, and a tail about five
inches long. The male differs from the female in having a large
heart-shaped spot upon the inner web of the first three quill feathers,
and broad white tips to the two outer tail feathers on each side.
The mottled brown appearance of the bird when reposing either on the
ground or on the limb of a large tree, is admirably adapted to screen it
from observation even within a few yards of the observer. It delights in
furzy commons, wild heathery tracts, and broken hilly ground covered
with ferns, particularly in the neighbourhood of woods and thickets, and
is especially partial to sandy soils. I have frequently seen this bird
upon the bare sand, either in a sandpit or under the lee of a
furze-bush, where it appeared to be basking in the sun, and from the
disturbed appearance of the soil in some places, I imagine that it dusts
itself as the Skylark does, to get rid of the small parasites with
which, like many other birds, it is infested. On the 16th of May this
year, at Uppark, Sussex, I found one asleep on the carriage drive within
twenty yards of the house. The gravel was quite warm, and the bird was
so loth to be disturbed that I almost succeeded in covering it with my
hat before it took wing. On another occasion in September, when
strolling along the beach near Selsea, I came suddenly upon a Nightjar
sitting below high-water mark on the warm shingle, where it appeared to
be thoroughly enjoying the afternoon sun. It dozes away the greater part
of the day, and if disturbed only flies a short distance before
re-alighting. Its loud and peculiar whirring note, reminding one of the
noise made by a knife-grinder’s wheel, is never heard until the evening,
when, in districts where the bird is common, it resounds far and near.
There is something occasionally quite ventriloquial in the sound, caused
by the bird turning its head from side to side, both up and down, and
scattering, as it were, the notes on every side.
It makes no nest, but scraping a hollow on the bare ground deposits two
ellipse-shaped eggs beautifully mottled with two shades of grey and
brown, and quite unlike those of any other British bird. The young are
hatched in about a fortnight or rather more, and until fully fledged
their appearance is singularly ugly. They are covered with a grey down,
and their enormous mouths and large prominent eyes give them an
expression which is almost repulsive. By pegging the young down with
long “jesses,” as one would a Hawk, I have secured them until fully
fledged, the old birds feeding them regularly; but on taking them home
and turning them into an aviary I could not succeed in keeping them long
alive, owing to the difficulty in procuring suitable food, and my
inability to give them constant attention.