Iris dark brown. Feet greyish-blue, claws black. The upper part of
the head is brownish-black, streaked with pale yellowish-brown, and
having an indistinct central line of the latter. The back is also
brownish-black, marked with numerous spots of light brownish-yellow,
there being several along the margin of each feather. Wing-coverts
and secondaries of a lighter brown, similarly spotted; alula, primary
coverts and quills unspotted, the shafts of most of the latter pale
brown, but of the outer white. Tail pale greyish-brown, with light
deep brown bars, and tipped with brownish-white. Sides of the head,
and the neck all round, pale yellowish-brown, striped with dark brown;
breast and sides of the same tint, with longitudinal and transverse
dark markings. Lower wing-coverts and lower tail-coverts similarly
barred; axillar feathers regularly banded, and of a deeper tint.
Abdomen without markings. Throat and a line over the eye nearly white.
Length to end of tail 14-1/2, to end of wings 14-7/8, to end of claws
16-3/4; wing from flexure 8-1/2, tail 3-1/4; extent of wings 27-3/8;
bill along the back 2-1/4, along the edge 2-1/2; tarsus 1-8/12, middle
toe 11/12, its claw (5-1/2)/12. Weight 1/2 lb.
Adult Female. Plate CCVIII. Fig. 2.
The Female resembles the male, and is scarcely inferior in size.
WILSON’S PLOVER.
_CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS_, ORD.
PLATE CCIX. MALE AND FEMALE.
Reader, imagine yourself standing motionless on some of the sandy
shores between South Carolina and the extremity of Florida, waiting
with impatience for the return of day;—or, if you dislike the idea,
imagine me there. The air is warm and pleasant, the smooth sea reflects
the feeble glimmerings of the fading stars, the sound of living thing
is not heard; nature, universal nature, is at rest. And here am I,
inhaling the grateful sea-air, with eyes intent on the dim distance.
See the bright blaze that issues from the verge of the waters! and
now the sun himself appears, and all is life, or seems to be; for as
the influence of the Divinity is to the universe, so is that of the
sun to the things of this world. Far away beyond that treacherous
reef, floats a gallant bark, that seems slumbering on the bosom of
the waters like a silvery sea-bird. Gentle breezes now creep over
the ocean, and ruffle its surface into tiny wavelets. The ship glides
along, the fishes leap with joy, and on my ear comes the well known
note of the bird which bears the name of one whom every ornithologist
must honour. Long have I known the bird myself, and yet desirous
of knowing it better, I have returned to this beach many successive
seasons for the purpose of observing its ways, examining its nest,
marking the care with which it rears its young, and the attachment
which it manifests to its mate. Well, let the scene vanish! and let
me present you with the results of my observations.
WILSON’s Plover! I love the name because of the respect I bear towards
him to whose memory the bird has been dedicated. How pleasing, I have
thought, it would have been to me, to have met with him on such an
excursion, and, after having procured a few of his own birds, to have
listened to him as he would speak of a thousand interesting facts
connected with his favourite science and my ever-pleasing pursuits.
How delightful to have talked, among other things, of the probable
use of the _double claws_ which I have found attached to the toes
of the species which goes by his name, and which are also seen in
other groups of shore and sea birds. Perhaps he might have informed
me why the claws of some birds are pectinated on one toe and not on
the rest, and why that toe itself is so cut. But alas! Wilson was
with me only a few times, and then _nothing_ worthy of his attention
was procured.
This interesting species, which always looks to me as if in form a
miniature copy of the Black-bellied Plover, is a constant resident in
the southern districts of the Union. There it breeds, and there too
it spends the winter. Many individuals, no doubt, move farther south,
but great numbers are at all times to be met with from Carolina to
the mouths of the Mississippi, and in all these places I have found
it the whole year round. Some go as far to the eastward as Long
Island in the State of New York, where, however, they are considered
as rarities; but beyond this, none, I believe, are seen along our
eastern shores. This circumstance has seemed the more surprising
to me, that its relative the Piping Plover proceeds as far as the
Magdeleine Islands; and that the latter bird should also breed in
the Carolinas a month earlier than WILSON’s Plover ever does, seems
to me not less astonishing.
WILSON’s Plover begins to lay its eggs about the time when the young
of the Piping Plover are running after their parents. Twenty or thirty
yards from the uppermost beat of the waves, on the first of June,
or some day not distant from it, the female may be seen scratching
a small cavity in the shelly sand, in which she deposits four eggs,
placing them carefully with the broad end outermost. The eggs, which
measure an inch and a quarter by seven and a half eighths, are of
a dull cream colour, sparingly sprinkled all over with dots of pale
purple and spots of dark brown. The eggs vary somewhat in size, and
in their ground colour, but less than those of many other species of
the genus. The young follow their parents as soon as they are hatched,
and the latter employ every artifice common to birds of this family,
to entice their enemies to follow them and thus save their offspring.
The flight of this species is rapid, elegant, and protracted. While
travelling from one sand-beach or island to another, they fly low over
the land or water, emitting a fine clear soft note. Now and then,
when after the breeding season they form into flocks of twenty or
thirty, they perform various evolutions in the air, cutting backwards
and forwards, as if inspecting the spot on which they wish to alight,
and then suddenly descend, sometimes on the sea-beach, and sometimes
on the more elevated sands at a little distance from it. They do not
run so nimbly as the Piping Plovers, nor are they nearly so shy. I
have in fact frequently walked up so as to be within ten yards or so
of them. They seldom mix with other species, and they shew a decided
preference to solitary uninhabited spots.
Their food consists principally of small marine insects, minute
shellfish, and sandworms, with which they mix particles of sand.
Towards autumn they become almost silent, and being then very plump,
afford delicious eating. They feed fully as much by night as by day,
and the large eyes of this as of other species of the genus, seem to
fit them for nocturnal searchings.
The young birds assemble together, and spend the winter months apart
from the old ones, which are easily recognised by their lighter tints.
While in the Floridas, near St Augustine, in the months of December
and January, I found this species much more abundant than any other;
and there were few of the Keys that had a sandy beach, or a rocky
shore, on which one or more pairs were not observed.
WILSON’S PLOVER, CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith.
vol. ix. p. 77. pl. 73. fig. 5.—_Nuttall_, Manual, vol.
ii. p. 21.
CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of
the United States, p. 296.
Adult Female. Plate CCIX. Fig. 2.
Bill as long as the head, stout, straight, cylindrical, obtuse,
and somewhat turgid at the tip. Upper mandible with the dorsal
line straight until towards the end, when it is slightly arched and
declinate, the sides convex, the edges sharp and slightly inflected.
Nasal groove extending to about half the length of the bill; nostrils
lateral, linear, direct, in the lower part of the bare membrane.
Lower mandible with the angle rounded, the dorsal line convex and
ascending, the back broad, the sides convex, the edges inflected.
Head large, a little compressed, the forehead prominent; eyes large.
Neck short. Body rather full. Wings long. Legs rather long, slender;
tibia bare a little above the joint; tarsus of ordinary length,
somewhat compressed, covered with angular scales; toes small and
slender, covered above with numerous small scutella, first toe wanting,
fourth longer than second, third longest, the two outer connected at
the base by a pretty large web; claws small, slightly arched, much
compressed, obtuse.
Plumage soft and rather blended. Wings long, narrow, primaries nearly
straight, narrow and tapering, the first longest, second a little
shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; outer secondaries very short,
inner elongated so as to extend as far as the second primary. Tail
of moderate length, straight, rounded, of twelve feathers.
Bill black. Edges of eyelids grey; iris reddish-brown. Feet light
flesh-coloured; claws dusky. The general colour of the plumage above
is light brownish-grey. Lower part of forehead and a broad streak over
the eyes white; throat white, that colour extending narrow behind
so as to form a collar, below which is another of the general tint
of the back across the fore neck. The rest of the lower parts white.
Quills and tail of a deeper greyish-brown, the shafts white, the two
lateral tail-feathers whitish.
Length to end of tail 7-8/12 inches, to end of wings 7-7/12, to end
of claws 8-8/12; extent of wings 14-1/4; wing from flexure 5; tail
2-1/4; bill along the back (9-1/2)/12, along the edges 1; tarsus
1-2/12; middle toe 10/12, its claw 2/12.
Young Male in winter plumage. Plate CCIX. Fig. 1.
The Adult Male which is represented in Plate 284, is similar in
colouring to the female as described above, but the lore is dusky,
the white band on the forehead is surmounted by one of brownish black,
and there is a half collar of the same colour across the neck in front.
THE LEAST BITTERN.
_ARDEA EXILIS_, GMEL.
PLATE CCX. MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG.
One morning while I was at the Cincinnati Museum in the State of Ohio,
a woman came in holding in her apron one of this delicate species
alive, which she said had fallen down the chimney of her house under
night, and which, when she awoke at daybreak, was the first object she
saw, it having perched on one of the bed posts. It was a young bird.
I placed it on the table before me, and drew from it the figure on
the left of my plate. It stood perfectly still for two hours, but on
my touching it with a pencil, after my drawing was done, it flew off
and alighted on the cornice of a window. Replacing it on the table,
I took two books and laid them so as to leave before it a passage of
an inch and a half, through which it walked with ease. Bringing the
books nearer each other, so as to reduce the passage to one inch,
I tried the Bittern again, and again it made its way between them
without moving either. When dead, its body measured two inches and a
quarter across, from which it is apparent that this species, as well
as the Gallinules and Rails, is enabled to contract its breadth in
an extraordinary degree.
While I was in Philadelphia, in September 1832, a gentleman presented
me with a pair of adult birds of this species, alive and in perfect
plumage. They had been caught in a meadow a few miles below the city,
and I kept them alive several days, feeding them on small fish and
thin stripes of pork. They were expert at seizing flies, and swallowed
caterpillars, and other insects. My wife admired them much on account
of their gentle deportment, for although on being tormented, they would
spread their wings, ruffle their feathers, and draw back their head as
if to strike, yet they suffered themselves to be touched by any one
without pecking at his hand. It was amusing to see them continually
attempting to escape through the windows, climbing with ease from the
floor to the top of the curtain by means of their feet and claws. This
feat they would repeat whenever they were taken down. The experiment
of the books was tried with them, and succeeded as at Cincinnati.
At the approach of night they became much more lively, walked about
the room, in a graceful manner with much agility, and generally kept
close together. I had ample opportunities of studying their natural
positions, and drew both of them in the attitudes exhibited in the
plate. I would gladly have kept them longer; but as I was bound for
the south, I had them killed for the purpose of preserving their skins.
This bird ranges over most part of the United States, but is nowhere
to be found in tolerable abundance excepting about the mouths of the
Mississippi and the Southern portions of the Floridas, especially
the “Ever-glades.” I have met with them to the eastward as far as
New Brunswick, on our large lakes, and in the intermediate portions
of the country, although I have seldom found more than one or two at
a time. In the Floridas and Carolinas they have been known to breed
in small communities of four or five pairs. One instance of this
was observed by my friend Dr HORLBECK of Charleston, and Dr LEITNER,
another friend of mine, found them quite abundant in certain portions
of the Florida marshes.
Although the Least Bittern is not unfrequently started in salt
marshes, it gives a decided preference to the borders of ponds, lakes
or bayous of fresh water, and it is in secluded situations of this
kind that it usually forms its nest. This is sometimes placed on the
ground, amid the rankest grasses, but more frequently it is attached
to the stems several inches above it. It is flat, composed of dried
or rotten weeds, and in shape resembles that of the Louisiana Heron,
although this latter employs nothing but sticks. The eggs are three
or four, seldom more, of a dull yellowish-green, without spots, an
inch and a quarter in length, almost equal at both ends.
When the young are yet quite small, their heads are covered with
large tufts of reddish down, their bill is very short, and they sit
on their rump with their legs extended on each side before their
body, in the manner of young Herons. If disturbed when about two
weeks old, they leave the nest and scramble through the grass with
celerity, clinging to the blades with their sharp claws whenever this
is necessary. At a later period they seem to await the coming of their
parents with impatience; and if no noise is made, you may hear them
calling continually in a low croaking voice for half an hour at a
time. As soon as they are able to fly, they not unfrequently alight
on the branches of trees to escape from their various enemies, such
as minxes and water snakes, the latter of which destroy a good number
of them.
In two instances, I found the nests of the Least Bittern about three
feet above the ground, in a thick cluster of smilax and other briary
plants. In the first, two nests were placed in the same bush, within a
few yards of each other. In the other instance there was only one nest
of this bird, but several of the Boat-tailed Grakle, and one of the
Green Heron, the occupants of all of which seemed to be on friendly
terms. When startled from the nest, the old birds emit a few notes
resembling the syllable _quā_, alight a few yards off, and watch all
your movements. If you go towards them, you may sometimes take the
female with the hand, but rarely the male, who generally flies off,
or makes his way through the woods. Its ordinary cry, however, is a
rough croak resembling that of the Great Blue Heron, but much weaker.
The flight of this bird is apparently weak by day, for then it seldom
removes to a greater distance than a hundred yards at a time, and
this, too, only when frightened in a moderate degree, for, if much
alarmed, it falls again among the grass in the manner of the Rail;
but in the dusk of the evening and morning I have seen it passing
steadily along, at the height of fifty years or more, with the neck
retracted, and the legs stretched out behind, in the manner of the
larger Herons. On such occasions it uttered, at short intervals, its
peculiar cry, and continued its flight until out of sight. Several
individuals were together, and I imagined them to be proceeding
in search of breeding-grounds, or on a migratory expedition. When
disturbed by day, they fly with extended neck and dangling legs, and
are easily shot, as their course is generally direct and their flight
slow. When walking, it shoots its head forward at every step, as if
about to thrust its bill into some substance; and, if you attempt to
lay hold of it when disabled, it is apt to inflict a painful wound.
The food of this bird consists of snails, slugs, tadpoles, or young
frogs and water-lizards. In several instances, however, I have found
small shrews and field-mice in their stomach. Although more nocturnal
than diurnal, it moves a good deal about by day in search of food.
About noon, being doubtless much fatigued, they are not unfrequently
observed standing erect on one foot, and so soundly asleep as to
be easily knocked down or even caught by the hand, if cautiously
approached. This very remarkable habit of both our species of Bittern
has brought upon them the charge of extreme _stupidity_, whence the
name of _Butor_ given to them by the Creoles of Louisiana. Whether or
not this term be appropriate to the case, I leave for you to determine;
but, my opinion is, that the animal truly deserving to be called
stupid, yet remains to be discovered, and that the quality designated
by that epithet occurs nowhere else than among the individuals of
that species which so thoughtlessly applies the opprobrium.
ARDEA EXILIS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of the
United States, p. 308.
LEAST BITTERN, ARDEA EXILIS, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol.
viii. p. 37. pl. 65. fig. 4.—_Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii.
p. 66.
Adult Male. Plate CCX. Fig. 1.
Bill longer than the head, slender, straight, tapering to a point,
deeper than broad at the base, compressed towards the end. Upper
mandible with its dorsal line almost straight, the ridge broad and
rather rounded at the base, narrowed towards the end, the sides
sloping, the edges very sharp, the tip acute. Nasal groove long;
nostrils basal, linear, longitudinal. Lower mandible with the angle
very long and narrow, the dorsal line sloping upwards, the sides
nearly flat, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip very acute.
Head oblong, much compressed. Neck long. Body very slender, much
compressed. Feet long, rather robust; tibia nearly entirely feathered;
tarsi covered anteriorly with broad oblique scutella; toes scutellate
above; hind toe stout, second and fourth nearly equal, third much
longer; claws long, slender, arched, compressed, acute, that of middle
toe serrated on the inner edge.
Eyelids and a large space before and beneath the eye, bare. Plumage
soft, blended; feathers of the hind head elongated, as are those of
the neck generally, but especially of its lower part anteriorly. Wings
short, broad, rounded, the second quill longest. Tail very short,
rounded, of twelve feathers.
Bill dark olive-brown above, edges of upper mandible and bare frontal
space yellow; lower mandible pale yellow, inclining to flesh colour.
Iris yellow. Feet dull greenish-yellow, claws brown. Upper part of
the head, and the back, greenish-black and glossy; sides of the head
and hind part of neck, brownish-red or light chestnut; wing-coverts
pale greyish-brown, quills purplish-grey, tipped with yellowish-brown,
the inner secondaries broadly margined with light chestnut, of which
colour also are the secondary coverts and the edge of the wing at
the flexure; the tail greenish-black. The throat and fore neck are
reddish-white; the rest of the lower parts are of the same colour,
excepting the fore part of the breast, which is blackish-brown, the
feathers tipped with reddish-yellow, and the outer tibial feathers,
which are reddish. In younger individuals the fore neck is more or
less spotted with light brown, as was the case with that represented;
but in old birds that part is unspotted.
Length to end of tail 13-1/2 inches, to end of claws 16; to end of wings
12-4/12; extent of wings 17-3/4; wing from flexure 5-1/4; tail 1-11/12;
bill along the ridge 1-3/4, along the edge of lower mandible 2-1/2;
tarsus 1-8/12; middle toe 1-1/2, its claw 5/12. Weight 4-3/4 oz.
Adult Female. Plate CCX. Fig. 2.
The Female is smaller, and differs considerably from the male in
colour. The bare parts and iris are the same. The upper part of the
head is reddish-brown, with a tinge of green; the back and scapulars
are dark chestnut, and there is a line of yellowish-white along each
side of the back, formed by the outer edges of the feathers. The rump
is darker, the tail bluish-black as in the male. In other respects
the colouring is similar, but the feathers of the fore neck and sides
have each a narrow central line of dark brown.
Length to end of tail 12 inches; wing from flexure 4-3/4; tail 1-3/4;
bill along the ridge 1-3/4, along the edge of lower mandible 2-2/12;
tarsus 1-1/2; middle toe 1-5/12, its claw 5/12. Weight 3-1/2 oz.
Young in first plumage. Plate CCX. Fig. 3.
The young has the bill, eyes and feet, nearly of the same tints as
the old; but the upper parts of the plumage are generally of a light
brownish-red, variegated with brownish-yellow; the primary quills
and tail black.
I have lately received a letter from my friend JOHN BACHMAN, stating
that he had found this species breeding in considerable numbers on
the plantation of JAMES H. SMITH, Esq. six miles east of Charleston,
where he procured specimens both of the birds and of their eggs. Mr
SMITH’s sons had killed, in the course of a couple of weeks, not less
than fourteen of these diminutive Herons. He describes the nest as
flat, composed of pieces of dry rushes about a foot in length, and
placed in a bunch of Juncus effusus. The eggs were nearly white with
a very light tinge of blue.
THE EGGERS OF LABRADOR.
The distinctive appellation of Eggers is given to certain persons who
follow, principally or exclusively, the avocation of procuring the
eggs of wild birds, with the view of disposing of them at some distant
port. Their great object is to plunder every nest, whenever they can
find it, no matter where, and at whatever risk. They are the pest
of the feathered tribes, and their brutal propensity to destroy the
poor creatures after they have robbed them, is abundantly gratified
whenever an opportunity presents itself.
Much had been said to me respecting these destructive pirates before
I visited the coast of Labrador, but I could not entirely credit all
their cruelties until I had actually witnessed their proceedings,
which were such as to inspire no small degree of horror. But you
shall judge for yourself.
See yon shallop shyly sailing along;—she sneaks like a thief, wishing
as it were to shun the very light of heaven. Under the lea of every
rocky isle some one at the tiller steers her course. Were his trade
an honest one, he would not think of hiding his back behind the
terrific rocks that seem to have been placed there as a resort to
the myriads of birds that annually visit this desolate region of the
earth, for the purpose of rearing their young, at a distance from
all disturbers of their peace. How unlike the open, the bold, the
honest mariner, whose face needs no mask, who scorns to skulk under
any circumstances! The vessel herself is a shabby thing:—her sails
are patched with stolen pieces of better canvass, the owners of which
have probably been stranded on some inhospitable coast, and have
been plundered, perhaps murdered, by the wretches before us. Look at
her again!—Her sides are neither painted, nor even pitched; no—they
are daubed over, plastered and patched with stripes of seal-skins,
laid along the seams. Her deck has never been washed or sanded, her
hold—for no cabin has she,—though at present empty, sends forth an
odour pestilential as that of a charnel-house. The crew, eight in
number, lie sleeping at the foot of their tottering mast, regardless
of the repairs needed in every part of her rigging. But see! she
scuds along, and as I suspect her crew to be bent on the commission
of some evil deed, let us follow her to the first harbour.