Birds.--Great Variety and vast Numbers of Birds.--Flocks of
Geese.--Employment for the Sportsman.--The Captive Crane.--Wild
and tame Geese.--The pious and profane Ancestors.--List of Birds
found at Erzeroom.
I now enter upon a subject to which I fear I have neither time
nor power to do justice. The number of various kinds of birds which
breed on the great plain of Erzeroom is so prodigious as to be almost
incredible to those who have not seen them, as I often have, covering
the earth for miles and miles so completely that the color of the
ground could not be seen; particularly at one period, when the whole
country had a rosy appearance, from the countless flocks of a sort of
red goose, which I take to be the ruddy sheldrake--a splendid bird,
though not good to eat. It is about the size of a small goose or a
Muscovy duck, almost entirely clothed in various shades of red. Troops
of the two varieties of the wild gray goose form whitish spots in the
animated landscape, their wild cries and noises sounding in every
direction. So closely covered was the plain with this prodigious
multitude of every kind of wild fowl, that I have galloped among them
for some distance, the birds getting up about one hundred yards in a
circle round my horse, and settling again behind me with loud cries,
while the air rustled with the beating of innumerable wings of those
birds which had been disturbed by my approach. The sportsman may
imagine what shooting there is at Erzeroom, for when one genus has
reared its young and flown away to far and distant lands, another
takes its place. Quails are at one time almost as thick as flies;
and numerous varieties of small birds, among which the horned lark
and the red-winged finch flew in clouds. That beautiful variety, the
rosy starling, has been often shot, as well as the merops, and so many
other little fowls of varied plumage, that I must refer the reader to
the accompanying list, for it would fill a book to give even a slight
description of them all. On the banks of the river I used to shoot all
sorts of waders, particularly spoonbills, and that most delicate of
birds, the egret or white heron, famous for its plumes. I must own
to being a bad shot, having been more accustomed to the rifle, but
these white herons afforded me great practice; as they flapped along,
I shot numbers of them, as well as many and many a quaint fellow with
long legs, whom I brought home merely to make out who he was, and to
write down his name. Later in the year I risked my neck by riding
as hard as I could tear over the rocky, or rather stony, plains at
the foot of the mountains after the great bustard. I have more than
once knocked some of the feathers out of these glorious huge birds,
as they ran at a terrible pace, half flying and scrambling before my
straining horse, but I never succeeded in killing one, though I have
constantly partaken of those which had fallen before more patient
gunners, who stalk them as you would a deer, and knock them over with
a rifle or swan-shot from behind a stone or bank.
I had more success with the great cinereous crane, which runs much
faster than a horse. I shot one at full gallop with a rifle, in a place
overgrown with reeds. This was a mighty triumph, for, though my game
was about five feet high, he was so very long in the legs and neck,
that the body offered but a small mark to be brought down under such
circumstances, and the pace he was going at the time, and I after
him, was, as they say, "a caution." This is a bird with whom it is
requisite to be wary: if he is down, and not killed outright, like
the heron and the stork he makes a dart with his sharp, long bill at
the eyes of his enemy, and its strength is such that it might easily,
I should think, penetrate the brain; at any rate, the eye would be
picked out at once, and that would suffice for that time.
A man brought in a crane which he had winged, and we turned him out
into the yard with the poultry, where he stalked up and down with a
proud, indignant air. He soon became pretty quiet, and ate his corn
with the rest, while he had a deep bucket of water for his own use,
into which he used to poke his head continually. One day a stupid,
heavy servant went into the yard, and, not knowing that the bucket
was placed there for the stork, he took it up to carry it away, when
the bird flew at him and pecked at his face, but, missing his eye,
seized him tightly by the nose, and there he held him for a good
while. The poor man halloed loud enough, but those who came to his
assistance could not help him at first for laughing; and though he
kept beating at the crane with the bucket, which he held in his hand,
his long neck enabled him to keep so far off that he escaped all
the frantic attempts of his prisoner to reach him. The man's nose was
swelled and very sore for some time, and he never got over the ridicule
which attached to him for his perilous adventure with the crane. It
was touching to watch this crane: when the time for its emigration
arrived, a flock of its magnificent companions every day used to fly
high up in the air, in a wheeling circle, above its head. This circle
of flying birds has a very striking effect. The cranes above called
to their friend to join them for their distant journey to a happier
climate, and the poor helpless crane below, stretching its long neck
up toward the sky, answered the appeal in a singularly mournful cry.
Various kinds of partridge exist, and the lesser bustard, called,
in Turkish, Mesmeldek, is an excellent bird for the table. They have
a curious method of catching the mesmeldek in some of the steppes in
Southern Russia. At the commencement of winter, parties of horsemen
gallop out upon the plains before sunrise, at which hour the wings of
these birds are frozen to their sides, and, the hunters stretching out
their horses in a line, the birds are driven by them into the villages,
and secured, before the warmth of the sun releases their wings and
restores their powers of flight. Great flocks of the lesser bustard
have been driven in this manner occasionally into Odessa. Hawks and
stately falcons hover over head, and prey upon their defenseless
brethren at their ease.
Storks build upon the chimneys; and among the sticks of which their
huge nest is formed, the sparrows make their nests, stealing, when
they can, any food, which the old birds bring for their young.
Here, as in all other parts of the world, this impertinent race of
little birds dispute possession of the house with mice and other
intruders; but at Erzeroom they are hardly put to it sometimes for
want of twigs to perch upon, and they sit usually, instead, upon
the iron bars of the windows in the town. Here I have often watched
them chirping in the cold, as they sat by the dozen on the bars of
my window, dressing their feathers, and jabbering to each other,
like true Koordish sparrows, about the corn that they stole from my
chickens yesterday, and how, with case-hardened consciences, they
intend to steal as much more as they can get to-day.
This is a subject on which I could dilate to any length, but at
present I must conclude with the following list of the various tribes
of birds who, in thousands and millions, would reward the toil of
the sportsman and the naturalist on the plains and mountains of the
high lands of Armenia; merely adding to this brief notice of the
birds of this country the following veracious anecdote, as perhaps
hitherto naturalists may not all of them be aware of the origin of
the separation of the wild and tame goose:
In former days, two geese agreed to take a long journey together:
the evening before they were to set out, one said to the other, "Mind
you are ready, my friend, for, Inshallah, I will set out to-morrow
morning!" "And so will I," replied he, "whether it pleases God or
not!" The sun rose the next day, and the pious goose, having ate his
breakfast, and quenched his thirst in the waters of the stream, rose
lightly on the wing, and soared away to a distant land. The impious
bird also prepared to follow him; but, after hopping and fluttering for
a long while, he found himself totally unable to rise from the ground;
and his evolutions having been observed by a fowler who happened to be
passing that way, he was presently caught, and reduced to servitude,
in which his race have ever since continued, while the descendants
of the religious goose still enjoy that freedom in which they were
originally created.
LIST OF BIRDS FOUND AT ERZEROOM.
Raptores (Birds of Prey).
Vultur fulvus Fulvous vulture.
Aquila fulvus Fulvous eagle.
Aquila Eagle.
Accipiter fringillarius Sparrow-hawk.
Falco tinnunculus Kestril.
,, osalon Hobby.
,, subbuteo Merlin.
,, rufipes Orange-legged hobby.
,, peregrinus Peregrine falcon.
,, peregrinus Falcon.
Milvus ater Common kite.
Buteo ater (?) Common buzzard (?).
,, ater Marsh buzzard.
Circus pallidus White hen harrier.
,, rufus Marsh hen harrier.
Noctua Indica Small Indian owl.
Strix Indica Another owl.
Insepores (or Perchers).
Deutirostres.
Lanius excubitor Great strike (or butcher-bird).
,, collurio Red-backed strike.
Collurio minor Small strike.
Musicapa grisola Spotted fly-catcher.
,, luctuosa Pied fly-catcher.
Turdus merula Blackbird.
,, torquatus Ring-ouzel.
,, pilaris Fieldfare.
,, musicus Song-thrush.
Petrocinela saxatilis Rock-thrush.
Cinclus aquaticus Water-ouzel (or dipper).
Oriolus galbula Golden oriole.
Motacilla alba White wagtail.
,, flava Yellow wagtail.
Saxicola rubicola Stonechat.
,, rubetra Whinchat.
,, ænanthe Wheatear.
Sylvia trochilus Willow wren.
,, hippolais Willow wren.
Salicaria phragmitis Sedge-warbler.
,, cetti(?) Sedge-warbler(?).
Curruca cineria Whitethroat.
,, atricapilla Blackcap.
Phoenicura ruticilla Redstart.
,, tilkys Black redstart.
,, succica Bluebreast.
Erythaca rubecula Redbreast.
Troglodytes Europæus Wren.
Rudytes melanocephala Wren.
Anthus arboreus Tree-pipit.
,, pratensis Pipit-lark.
,, rufescens Pipit-pipit.
Fissirostres.
Hirundo riparia Saced martin.
,, rustica Swallow.
Cypselus murarius Swift.
Caprimulgus Europæus Goat-sucker.
Conirostres.
Alanda arvensis Skylark.
,, arborea Woodlark.
,, calandra Calandre.
,, brachydactila Little lark.
,, penicillata Horned lark.
,, rupestris Rock lark.
,, rupestris (?) (An Albino variety).
,, rupestris Albino lark.
Parus major Great titmouse.
,, coeruleus Blue titmouse.
Emberiza citrinella Yellow-hammer.
,, hortulana Ortolan.
,, miliaria Common bunting.
,, cia Meadow bunting.
Fringilla coelebs Chaffinch.
,, montefrengilla Mountain-finch (or brambling).
,, nivalis (?) Snow-finch (?)
,, sanguinea Bloody-finch.
Pyrgita domestica House-sparrow.
,, petronea Stone-sparrow.
Carduelis communis Goldfinch.
Pyrrhula communis (?) (A variety of the bullfinch).
Linaria montuim Mountain linnet (or twite).
,, cannabina Greater redpole.
Coccothraustes chloris Greenfinch.
,, vulgaris Hawfinch.
Loxia curvirostra Crossbill.
Sturnus vulgaris Common starling.
Pastor roseus Rosy-pastor.
Corvus modedula Jackdaw.
,, frugeleus Rook.
,, cornix Hooded or Royston crow.
Pica candata Magpie.
Garrulus melanocephalus Black-headed jay.
Coracias garrula Roller.
Tenuirostres.
Upupa epops Hoopoe.
Merops apiaster Bee-eater.
Alcedo ispida Kingfisher.
Scansores (or Climbers).
Yuux torquilla Wryneck.
Cuculus canorus Cuckoo.
Cuculus (?) Cuckoo.
Rasores (allinaceous Birds).
Otis tarda Great bustard.
,, tetrax Small bustard.
Pterocles arenarius Sand-grouse.
Perdix saxatilis Red or Greek partridge.
,, cineria Gray or English partridge.
Coternix vulgaris Quail.
Columba ænos Stock-dove.
,, turtur (?) Turtle-dove (?).
Grallæ (or Waders).
Charadrius morinelles Dotterel.
,, minor Small ring-plover.
,, major Large ring-plover.
Ædienenuus crepitans Stone-curlew.
,, crepitans Stone-curlew.
Vanellus cristatus Crested lapwing.
,, keptuschka Crested lapwing.
,, keptuschka Crested lapwing.
Grus cineria Gray crane.
Ardea alba White heron.
,, cineria Gray heron (two sorts very large).
,, cineria Night heron.
,, cineria Black heron.
,, cineria Black and gray heron.
Botaurus stellaris Bittern.
Nycticorax Europæus Night heron.
Ciconia alba White stork.
Platolea leucorodia White spoonbill.
Scolopax rusticola Woodcock.
,, major Double snipe.
Gallinago media Common snipe.
,, minima Jack-snipe.
Ibis falcinellus Marone ibis.
,, falcinellus (?) Marone ibis.
Limosa melanolensa
Tringa subaiquata Curlew tringa.
,, minuta Small tringa.
,, variabilis Changeable tringa.
,, pugnax Ruff and reve.
,, pugnax Ruff and tringa.
Totanus hypolencos Common sandpiper.
,, ochropus Green sandpiper.
,, glotis Green shankpiper.
,, calidris Red shankpiper.
Himantopus melanopterus Stilts.
Rallus crec Corn-crake.
,, crec Corn-rail.
,, crec Corn-rail.
Zapornia pusilla Corn-rail.
Fulica atra Coot.
Gallinula chloropus Water-hen.
Glareola limbata Pratin cole.
,, torquata Austrian cole.
Palmipedes (Web-footed Birds).
Podiceps cristatus Crested grebe.
,, rubricollis Red-necked grebe.
,, auritus Eared grebe.
Larus ridibundus Laughing gull.
,, argentatus (?) Herring gull (?).
Sterna hirundo Common tern.
,, leucoptera Common tern.
,, nigra Black tern.
Pelicanus onocrotalus Pelican.
Carbo cormoranus Cormorant.
Anas boschas Wild duck.
,, boschas Wild duck.
Cygnus ferus Wild swan.
Anser ferus Gray-leg goose.
,, albifrons White-fronted goose.
Fuligula rufina Red-headed pochard.
,, rufina Common pochard.
,, cristata Tufted duck.
Querquedula cinerea Summer teal.
Querquedula crecca Common teal.
Dafila caudacuta Pintail duck.
Chaulelosmus strepera Gadwall.
Rynchapsis clypeata Black-headed shoveler.
Tadorna rutila Ruddy sheldrake.
,, vulpanser Common sheldrake.
Mergus albellus Smew.
For this list of birds I am indebted to the kindness of my friend
Mr. Calvert, of Erzeroom, to whom I take this opportunity of expressing
my best thanks for a communication so interesting to lovers of
natural history.