is the case with the Thick-billed Guillemot also. The Razor-billed
Auk lays two, and the Black Guillemot usually three. I have assured
myself of these facts, not merely by observing the birds sitting on
their eggs, but also by noticing the following circumstances. The
Foolish Guillemot, which lays only one, plucks the feathers from its
abdomen, which is thus left quite bare over a roundish space just
large enough to cover its single egg. The Thick-billed Guillemot does
the same. The Auk, on the contrary, forms two bare spots, separated
by a ridge of feathers. The Black Guillemot, to cover her three eggs,
and to warm them all at once, plucks a space bare quite across her
belly. These observations were made on numerous birds of all the
species mentioned. In all of them, the males incubate as well as the
females, although the latter are more assiduous. When the Guillemots
are disturbed, they fly off in silence. The Auks, on the contrary,
emit a hoarse croaking note, which they repeat several times, as they
fly away from danger. The Foolish Guillemot seldom if ever attempts
to bite, whereas the Razor-billed Auk bites most severely, and clings
to a person’s hand until choked. The plumage of all the birds of
this family is extremely compact, closely downed at the root, and
difficult to be plucked. The fishermen and eggers often use their
skins with the feathers on as “comforters” round their wrists. The
flesh is dark, tough, and not very palatable; yet many of these birds
are eaten by the fishermen and sailors.
The young, which burst the egg about the beginning of July, are covered
with down of a brownish-black colour. When eight or ten days old they
are still downy, but have acquired considerable activity. As they grow
up, they become excessively fat, and seem to be more at ease on the
water than on the land. About the middle of August they follow their
parents to the open sea, the latter being then seldom able to fly,
having dropped their quills; and by the middle of September scarcely
any of these birds are to be found on or near the islands on which
they breed, although great numbers spend the winter in those latitudes.
There is no perceptible difference between the sexes as to colour, but
the males are larger than the females. The white line that encircles
the eye and extends toward the hind head is common to both sexes,
but occurs only in old birds. Thousands of these Guillemots however
breed, without having yet acquired it, there merely being indications
of it to be seen on parting the feathers on the place, where there
is a natural division.
The flight of the Foolish Guillemot is rapid and greatly protracted,
being performed by quick and unintermitted beatings. They move through
the air either singly or in bands, in the latter case seldom keeping
any very regular order. Sometimes they seem to skim along the surface
for miles, while at other times they fly at the height of thirty or
forty yards. They are expert divers, using their wings like fins,
and under water looking like winged fishes. They frequently plunge at
the flash of the gun, and disappear for a considerable time. Before
rising, they are obliged to run as it were on the water, fluttering
for many yards before they get fairly on wing.
Those which I kept alive for weeks on board the Ripley, walked about
and ran with ease, with the whole length of their tarsus touching the
deck. They took leaps on chests and other objects to raise themselves,
but could not fly without being elevated two or three feet, although
when they are on the rocks, and can take a run of eight or ten yards,
they easily rise on wing.
The islands on which the Guillemots breed on the coast of Labrador,
are flattish at top, and it is there, on the bare rock, that they
deposit their eggs. I saw none standing on the shelvings of high
rocks, although many breed in such places in some parts of Europe.
Their food consists of small fish, shrimps, and other marine animals;
and they swallow some gravel also.
URIA TROILE, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 796.—_Ch.
Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p.
424.—_Swains. and Richards._ Fauna Bor. Amer. vol. ii. p.
477.
FOOLISH GUILLEMOT, OR MURRE, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii.
p. 526.
Adult Male, in summer. Plate CCXVIII.
Bill of moderate length, rather stout, tapering, compressed, acute.
Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved, the ridge
narrow, broader at the base, the sides sloping, the edges short and
inflected, the tip a little decurved with a slight notch. Nasal groove
broad, feathered; nostrils at its lower edge, sub-basal, lateral,
longitudinal, linear, pervious. Lower mandible, with the angle medial,
narrow, the dorsal line sloping upwards, and straight, the back very
narrow, the sides nearly flat, the edges sharp and inflected.
Head oblong, depressed, narrowed before. Eyes rather small. Neck short
and thick. Body stout, rather depressed. Wings rather small. Feet
short, placed far behind; the greater part of the tibia concealed,
its lower portion bare; tarsus short, stout, compressed, anteriorly
sharp, and covered with a double row of scutella, the sides with
angular scales; toes of moderate length, the first wanting, the third
nearly longest, the fourth longer than the second; all covered above
with numerous scutella, webbed, the lateral ones with small margins;
claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather acute, the middle
one larger, with a dilated inner edge.
Plumage dense, very soft, blended; on the head very short. Wings
rather short, narrow, acute; primary quills curved, tapering, the
first longest, the second little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated;
secondaries short, incurved, broad, rounded. Tail very short, rounded,
of twelve narrow feathers.
Bill black; inside of mouth gamboge-yellow. Iris dark brown. Feet
black. The general colour of the plumage is greyish-black on the
upper parts; the sides of the head and upper part of the neck black,
tinged with brown. A white bar across the wing, formed by the tips
of the secondary quills, and a line of the same encircling the eye,
and extending behind it. The lower parts white.
Length to end of tail 17-1/2 inches, to end of claws 19-1/4, to end
of wings 17-1/2; extent of wings 30 inches; wing from flexure 7-1/2;
tail 2; tarsus 1-3/12; middle toe 1-7/12, its claw 5/12. Weight 2 lb.
Adult Female. Plate CCXVIII. Fig. 2.
The Female is similar to the male, and, when mature, has the white
line round and behind the eye.
THE BLACK GUILLEMOT.
_URIA GRYLLE_, LATH.
PLATE CCXIX. ADULT IN SUMMER, ADULT IN WINTER, AND YOUNG.
It was a frightful thing to see my good Captain, HENRY EMERY, swinging
on a long rope upon the face of a rocky and crumbling eminence, at a
height of several hundred feet from the water, in search of the eggs
of the Black Guillemot, with four or five sailors holding the rope
above, and walking along the edge of the precipice. I stood watching
the motions of the adventurous sailor. When the friction of the rope
by which he was suspended loosened a block, which with awful crash
came tumbling down from above him, he, with a promptness and dexterity
that appeared to me quite marvellous, would, by a sudden jerk, throw
himself aside to the right or left, and escape the danger. Now he
would run his arm into a fissure, which, if he found it too deep, he
would probe with a boat-hook. Whenever he chanced to touch a bird,
it would come out whirring like a shot in his face; while others
came flying from afar toward their beloved retreats with so much
impetuosity as almost to alarm the bold rocksman. After much toil and
trouble he procured only a few eggs, it not being then the height
of the breeding season. You may imagine, good Reader, how relieved
I felt when I saw Mr EMERY drawn up, and once more standing on the
bold eminence waving his hat as a signal of success. This happened
in one of the Magdeleine Islands, in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
During severe winters, I have seen the Black Guillemot playing over
the waters as far south as the shores of Maryland. Such excursions,
however, are of rare occurrence, and it is seldom that any of these
birds are to be seen until you reach the Bay of Boston. About the
different entrances of the Bay of Fundy, this species is a constant
resident, and many individuals breed in fissures, at a moderate
height above the water, on the rocky shores of the Island of Grand
Manan, and others in the same latitude. Proceeding farther toward
the north-east, we found them on Jesticoe Island, and wherever else
we happened to touch on our way to Labrador, in which country there
is a regular nursery of these birds.
Unlike the Foolish and Thick-billed Guillemots, or the Razor-billed
Auk, they do not confine themselves to any particular spot, but take
up their abode for the season in any place that presents suitable
conveniences. Wherever there are fissures in the rocks, or great piles
of blocks with holes in their interstices, there you may expect to
find the Black Guillemot.
Whether European writers have spoken of this species at random, or
after due observation, I cannot say. All I know is, that every one of
them whose writings I have consulted, says that the Black Guillemot
lays only _one egg_. As I have no reason whatever to doubt their
assertion, I might be tempted to suppose that our species differs
from theirs, were I not perfectly aware that birds in different
places will construct different nests, and lay more or fewer eggs.
Our species always deposits three, unless it may have been disturbed;
and this fact I have assured myself of by having caught the birds in
more than twenty instances sitting on that number. Nay, on several
occasions, at Labrador, some of my party and myself _saw_ several
Black Guillemots sitting on eggs in the same fissure of a rock, where
every bird had three eggs under it, a fact which I communicated to my
friend THOMAS NUTTALL. What was most surprising to me was, that even
the fishermen there thought that this bird laid only a single egg;
and when I asked them how they knew, they simply and good-naturedly
answered that they had heard so. Thus, Reader, I might have been
satisfied with the sayings of others, and repeated that the bird
in question lays one egg; but instead of taking this easy way of
settling the matter, I found it necessary to convince myself of the
fact by my own observation. I had therefore to receive many knocks
and bruises in scrambling over rugged crags and desolate headlands;
whereas, with less incredulity, I might very easily have announced
to you from my easy chair in Edinburgh, that the Black Guillemots of
America lay only a single egg. No true student of nature ought ever to
be satisfied without personal observation when it can be obtained. It
is the “American Woodsman” that tells you so, anxious as he is that
you should enjoy the pleasure of studying and admiring the beautiful
works of Nature.
To satisfy yourself as to the correctness of the statements which he
here lays before you, go to the desolate shores of Labrador. There,
in the vernal month of June, place yourself on some granite rock,
against the base of which the waves dash in impotent rage; and ere
long you will see the gay Guillemot coming from afar by the side
of its mate. They shoot past you on fluttering wings, and suddenly
disappear. Go to the place; lay yourself down on the dripping rock,
and you will be sure to see the birds preparing their stony nest, for
each has brought a smooth pebble in its bill. See how industriously
they are engaged in raising this cold fabric into the form of a
true nest, before the female lays her eggs, so that no wet may reach
them, from the constant trickling of the waters beneath. Up to the
height of two or three inches the pebbles are gradually raised, the
male stands by his beloved; and some morning when you peep into the
crevice, you observe that an egg has been deposited. Two days after
you find the number complete.
A closet-naturalist was quite surprised, I have been told, when he
read in one of my volumes that Grakles form no nests in one portion
of the United States, being there contented with merely dropping their
eggs in the bottom of a Woodpecker’s hole; while in the Middle States
the same species forms a very snug nest. That _his_ astonishment was
great I do not in the least doubt, especially as I know how surprised
I was to find the _Larus argentatus_ breeding on fir-trees forty feet
above the ground, and to see three eggs, instead of one, placed on a
bed of small pebbles beautifully arranged, and every one belonging
to a single pair of Black Guillemots. Yet, good Reader, as I have
also been told, the same person had no doubt whatever that ermines
turn from brown to white in winter, that snakes and crabs cast off
their skins and shells, and that “fleas are not lobsters;” but then
the reason of his belief was simply that he had read of these things;
and his doubts as to the Grakles arose from the facts having been
recently reported by a stranger from the “far west,” who, it seems,
talked of things which he had not read of before.
Whilst in Labrador, I was delighted to see with what judgment the
Black Guillemot prepares a place for its eggs. Whenever the spot
chosen happens to be so situated as to preclude damp, not a pebble
does the bird lay there, and its eggs are placed on the bare rock. It
is only in what I call cases of urgency that this trouble is taken.
About fifty or sixty pebbles or bits of stone are then used, and the
number is increased or diminished according to circumstances.
The eggs of this species, which appear disproportionately large,
measure two inches and three eighths in length, by an inch and
five-eighths in breadth. Their form is regular; they are rather rough
to the touch, although not granulated; their ground colour an earthy
white, thickly blotched with very dark purplish-black, the markings
larger and closer towards the great end, which, however, is generally
left free of them. The shell is much thinner than that of the egg
of the Foolish Guillemot or Razor-billed Auk. As an article of food
they are excellent, being delicate and nutritious.
The parents pluck the feathers from a space across the lower part of
their belly, as soon as incubation commences; and this bare place,
when the bird is taken alive, it immediately conceals by drawing
the feathers of the upper part of the abdomen over it, as if it were
anxious that it should not be observed. When driven from the nest,
the Black Guillemot at once runs out of its hiding-place and flies to
the water, on which it plays, bathes as it were, dives a few times,
and anxiously watches your retreat, after which it soon returns and
resumes the arduous task of incubation.
The young, which are at first quite black, are covered with soft down,
and emit, although in an under tone, the same lisping notes as their
parents. Their legs, feet, and bill are black. The red colour of the
legs of the old birds is much brighter during the breeding-season
than at any other time, and the mouth also is bright red. About the
first of August the Guillemots lead their progeny to the water, and
although at this time neither old nor young are able to fly, they dive
deeply and with great ease, which enables them to procure abundance
of food, for at this season, lints, shrimps, and marine insects are
plentiful in all the waters.
While in Labrador, I made a severe experiment to ascertain how long
the Black Guillemot could live without food,—an experiment on which I
have never since been able to think, without some feeling of remorse.
I confined a pair of them in the fissure of a rock for many days in
succession. After the entrance was securely closed, I left the place,
and for eight days the wind blew so hard that no boat was safe on
the waters without the harbour. Many a time I thought of the poor
captives, and at last went to their retreat one rainy afternoon, over
a great swell of the sea. The entrance of the fissure was opened,
and a stick pushed into the hole, when I had the pleasure of seeing
both birds, although apparently in a state of distress, run out by
me, and at once fly to the water.
The flight of the Black Guillemot is rapid and continued. As they
proceed in their course, they alternately shew the black of their
lower parts and the white of their wings. They walk on the rocks
with considerable ease, using short steps, and whenever they wish to
remove from one crag or block to another, make use of their wings.
When their nests are very high above the water, they fly directly
into them; and from such heights, if necessity demands it, they at
once dive towards the water.
I kept many alive on board the Ripley. They ran on the floor in an
erect position for a few yards, fell down on their breasts, rose
again, and continued their exertions to escape, until they got fairly
concealed behind a chest or barrel.
The winter plumage of this species differs so greatly from that of
summer, that I have been induced to present you with a figure of
the bird in both states. It is difficult to perceive any external
difference between the sexes, only the males are rather larger than
the females. Their flesh, although black and tough, is not very
unpalatable.
The trachea is flattened, with numerous close, transparent rings. The
gullet, as in all the other species of this genus, is very dilatable.
The gizzard, which is small, has its inner membrane thin and of a
yellow colour. The intestines are about the thickness of a goose
quill, and measure two feet eight inches in length.
URIA GRYLLE, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 797.—_Ch.
Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p.
423.—_Swains. and Richards._ Fauna Boreali-Americana, part
ii. p. 478.
BLACK GUILLEMOT, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 523.
Adult in Summer. Plate CCXIX. Fig. 1.
Bill shorter than the head, straight, rather stout, tapering,
compressed, acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight
and sloping, towards the tip slightly arched, the sides sloping
and towards the end a little convex, the edges sharp and slightly
inflected. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, partially concealed by
the feathers. Lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow, the
dorsal line ascending, straight, the sides sloping upwards, slightly
convex, flat at the base, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute.
Head of moderate size, oblong; neck short; body full, depressed; wings
rather small. Feet placed far behind, short, of moderate size; tarsus
short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate, laterally covered with
reticulated angular scales; toes rather slender, scutellate above,
connected by entire reticulated webs, the outer and inner with a small
marginal membrane; the first toe wanting, the third and fourth about
equal, the second shortest; claws small, arched, compressed, rather
obtuse, that of the middle toe with a dilated thin inner edge.
Plumage soft, close, blended and velvety; feathers of the head very
short, on the back broadly rounded, of the lower parts more elongated.
Wings rather small; primary quills curved, the first longest, the
second little shorter, the rest rather rapidly diminishing; secondary
incurved, broadly rounded. Tail short, narrow, rounded, of twelve
rather pointed feathers.
Bill black, inside of mouth vermilion tinged with carmine. Iris deep
brown. Feet of the same colour as the mouth, claws black. The general
colour of the plumage is deep black, on the upper part tinged with
green, on the lower with red, there being only a large patch on each
wing, including the secondary coverts and some of the smaller feathers
pure white, as are the lower wing-coverts. The quills and tail are
tinged with brown.
Length to end of tail 13-7/8 inches, to end of claws 16-1/4, to end
of wings 13; extent of wings 21-1/2; wing from flexure 6-1/2, tail
2; bill along the ridge 1-1/4, along the gape 1-7/8; tarsus 1-2/12,
middle toe 1-1/2, its claw 3/8. Weight 13-1/2 oz.
Adult in winter. Plate CCXIX. Fig. 2.
The bill and iris are of the same colour as in summer, but the red
of the feet is paler. The general colour of the plumage is white,
the sides of the head, the neck all round, the lower parts, and the
rump being of that colour, more or less shaded with grey. The upper
part of the head obscurely mottled with greyish-black; the back and
scapulars black, each feather tipped with greyish-white, those of the
latter more broadly. The wings and tail brownish-black, the former
with the conspicuous white patch, as in summer.
Young a few days old. Plate CCXIX. Fig. 3.
Bill and feet black, the former tinged with red; iris dark brown.
The general colour of the soft thick down with which the whole body
is covered is brownish-black.
THE PIPING PLOVER.
_CHARADRIUS MELODUS_, ORD.
PLATE CCXX. MALE AND FEMALE.
During the spring and summer months, this pretty little Plover is
found on the sandy beaches of our extensive coasts, from the southern
point of the Floridas to the confines of Maine. As you proceed
towards Labrador, you find it in every suitable place, as far as
the Magdeleine Islands, on the sands of which I saw many that were
paired and had eggs on the 11th of June 1833. It breeds on all parts
of the eastern coast of the United States, wherever the locality is
adapted to its habits. On the 3d of May, this bird was found with
eggs on the Keys of the Floridas; about a month later, you may meet
with it in the States of Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Those
which leave the south at the approach of spring, return to it about
October: and during the whole winter you may find them on the sandy
beaches, from South Carolina to the western coast of the Floridas.
The species, therefore, may be considered as resident with us.
While migrating eastward, the Piping Plovers proceed in pairs; and
should one of these on its way find a convenient place for breeding,
and remain there, several others are often induced to take up their
abode in the neighbourhood. In autumn, they go in flocks of twenty
or thirty individuals, and at times associate with other species,
particularly the Turnstone, in whose company I have found them
abundantly on the coast of Florida, in the winter months. They never
proceed to any distance inland, even along the sandy margins of our
largest rivers; nor are they seen along very rocky shores or places
covered with deep mud.
The favourite breeding stations of this species are low islands,
mostly covered with drifting sand, having a scanty vegetation, and
not liable to inundation. In such a place many pairs may be found,
with nests thirty or forty yards apart. The nest is sometimes placed
at the foot of a tuft of withered grass, at other times in an exposed
situation. A cavity is merely scooped out in the soil, and there are
deposited in it four eggs, which are in a great measure hatched by the
heat which the sand acquires under the influence of a summer sun; but
in rough weather, and always by night, the female is careful to sit
upon them. Her mate is extremely attentive to her during the period
of incubation, and should you happen to stroll near the nest, you
are sure to meet him at his station. The eggs, which are four, and
have their points placed together, measure one inch and one-eighth by
seven and a half eighths, are pyriform, broad, and flatly rounded at
the larger end, and tapering directly to the smaller, which is also
rounded. They are of a pale bluish-buff colour, sprinkled and lined
nearly all over with dark red, brown, and black. Only one brood is
raised in the season. The young, which go abroad immediately after
they are hatched, run with remarkable speed, and, at the least note
of the parent bird indicative of danger, squat so closely on the sand,
that you may walk over them without seeing them. Their downy covering
is grey mottled with brown; their bill almost black. If taken up in
the hand, they emit a soft plaintive note resembling that of the old
bird. The strange devices which their parents at this time adopt to
ensure their safety, cannot fail to render the student of nature very
unwilling to carry them off without urgent necessity. You may see the
mother, with expanded tail and wings trailing on the ground, limping
and fluttering before you, as if about to expire. It is true you know
it to be an artifice, but it is an artifice taught by maternal love;
and, when the bird has fairly got rid of her unwelcome visitor, and
you see her start up on her legs, stretch forth her wings, and fly
away piping her soft note, you cannot but participate in the joy that
she feels.
The flight of this Plover is extremely rapid, as well as protracted.
It passes through the air by glidings and extended flappings, either
close over the sand, or high above the shores. On the ground, few
birds are swifter of foot: It runs in a straight line before you,
sometimes for twenty or thirty yards, with so much celerity, that
unless you have a keen eye, it is almost sure to become lost to your
view. Then, in an instant it stops, becomes perfectly motionless, and
if it perceives that you have not marked it, squats flat on the sand,
which it so much resembles in colour, that you may as well search
for another, as try to find it again.