head dusky, with darker lines; sides of the head, and the neck,
greyish-yellow; a whitish band over the eye. The lower parts are pale
brownish-grey, the upper brownish-grey; the fore part of the back and
scapulars brownish-black, the feathers edged with light brownish-red;
the wing-coverts brownish-grey; the quills as in the adult, as is
the tail, anterior to which is also a broad white band.
In September 1835, I shot, near Edinburgh, a young individual of
_Limosa rufa_, which I had previously observed for some time. It
thrust its bill into the wet sand in the same manner as the Woodcocks;
and I was much surprised, on taking it up, to see that its bill was
perfectly straight in its whole length. When I opened it, however,
in order to place a little cotton in its throat, a sudden spring-like
movement of the mandibles made them curve upwards. Never having kept
birds of this genus alive, I am unable to say whether the bill be
naturally straight or not.
THE HORNED GREBE.
_PODICEPS CORNUTUS_, LINN.
PLATE CCLIX. MALE AND YOUNG.
The period at which this little Grebe makes its first appearance,
after the breeding season, on the waters of the Western States, such
as the Ohio, the Mississippi, and their numerous tributaries, is the
beginning of October, when I have seen them arriving and passing
onward on wing at a considerable height in the air, following the
course of the streams. The generally received idea that birds of this
genus perform their migrations on the water, is extremely absurd. I
have already offered some remarks on this subject, but as too much
cannot be said, when an erroneous notion extensively adopted has to
be disproved, I here repeat that I have seen flocks of Grebes on wing
and migrating high in the air, apparently with as much ease, as many
longer-winged birds, and with considerable velocity.
Towards evening, on the 14th of October 1820, I was floating in a
small boat on the Ohio. The weather was perfectly calm, and I was
startled by a whistling sound over head, resembling that of a Hawk
stooping on its prey, when, on looking up, I saw a flock of Grebes,
about thirty in number, gliding towards the water as if about to
alight within a quarter of a mile from me. In a few minutes they had
come within a few yards of the surface of the water, when suddenly
checking their speed, they pursued their course until out of sight;
but in a short time I saw them returning towards me, and in less
than a minute they all passed at a distance of forty or fifty yards,
took a round and alighted pell-mell. The next moment, they were all
engaged in washing and trimming themselves, in the manner of Ducks,
Cormorants, and other aquatic birds. As I rowed towards them, they
scarcely took notice of me, so that they were easily approached; and
finding a number of them close together, I fired and killed four.
The rest paddled off for some yards, rose on wing, and flew down the
stream in a pretty close body, looking as if not disposed to settle
again for some time. On picking up the dead birds, I found them to
be of the present species, three being young, the other an adult with
the winter plumage beginning to appear. Here I may remark, that Grebes
in general do not moult so early as most other birds after they have
young; thus the Crested Grebe often passes to the south in September,
with its head still adorned with a large portion of the feathers of
its spring and summer tippet. While residing at different places on
the Ohio, I have many times witnessed the passage of the Horned and
the Crested.
The Horned Grebe is abundant during autumn and winter on the large
rivers or inlets of the Southern States, but rare along the coasts of
the Middle and Eastern Districts. On the rivers about Charleston in
South Carolina it is seen at those seasons in considerable numbers,
although not in larger flocks than from four to seven individuals. The
same is observable from that place to the mouths of the Mississippi.
It is particularly fond of those streams of which the borders are
overgrown by rank sedges and other plants, and are subject to the
influx of the tide. In such places they enjoy greater security while
searching for their food, than in ponds, to which, however, they for
the most part retire at the approach of the pairing season, which
commences early in February. At that time one might be apt to think
that these birds could scarcely fly, as they are then rarely seen on
wing; but when they are pursued, and there happens to be a breeze, they
rise from the water with considerable ease, and fly to a distance of
several hundred yards. In December and January I have never procured
any having the least remains of their summer headdress; but by the
10th of March, when they were on their journey towards the north, the
long feathers of the head were apparent. These tufts seem to attain
their full development in the course of a fortnight or three weeks,
the old birds becoming plumed sooner than the young, some of which
leave the country in their winter dress.
On the ground, this species is not better off than the Dobchick,
it being obliged to stand nearly erect, the hind part of the body
resting, and the tarsi and toes extended laterally. They dive with
great celerity, and when once acquainted with the effects of the
gun, are not easily shot. A report is at times sufficient to make the
old birds dive at once, although they may be quite beyond the reach
of a shot. The young birds are more easily procured at their first
appearance; but the most efficient method of obtaining them is to
employ fishing nets, in the meshes of which they become entangled.
Excepting a species of Hawk nearly allied to _Circus cyaneus_, I
know of no other bird that has the eye of such colour, the iris being
externally of a vivid red, with an inner circle of white, which gives
it a very singular appearance. On attentively examining the eyes of
our Divers and Grebes, I have not found any with similar eyes. The
Horned Grebe does not seem to see better than any other species, nor
does it appear to be more diurnal than the rest, nor are the objects
on which it feeds more minute, for I have found as small seeds in
the stomach of the large Grebe as in that of the present species. The
reason of this strange colouring of the iris, therefore, I am unable
to conjecture.
Although the greater number of these birds go far northward to breed,
some remain within the limits of the United States during the whole
year, rearing their young on the borders of ponds, particularly in the
northern parts of the State of Ohio, in the vicinity of Lake Erie. Two
nests which I found were placed at a distance of about four yards from
the water’s edge, on the top of broken down tussocks of rank weeds.
The materials of which they were composed were of the same nature, and
rudely interwoven to a height of upwards of seven inches. They were
rather more than a foot in diameter at the base, the cavity only four
inches across, shallow, but more neatly finished with finer plants,
of which a quantity lay on the borders, and was probably used by the
bird to cover the eggs when about to leave them. There were five eggs
in one nest, seven in the other; all contained chicks (on the 29th
of July); they measured one inch and three quarters in length, by
one inch and two and a half eighths; their shell was smooth, and of
a uniform yellowish cream colour, without spots or marks of any kind.
The nests were not more than fifty yards apart, on the south-western
side of the pond. I am thus particular because of the near relation
of this bird to the _Podiceps auritus_ of LATHAM, with which it may
be confounded by a not over-careful observer, as may the eggs too,
those of the latter species being precisely of the same length, but
fully an eighth of an inch narrower, which of course gives them a
more elongated appearance. I have observed the same differences in
the eggs of these two species in Europe. I could not ascertain if
both the parent birds incubate; but as I saw two pairs on the pond,
I am inclined to think that they do. The nests were not fastened to
the weeds around them, nor do I conceive it probable that they could
be floated, as various writers assert they are at times.
I have not seen the young of this species when small; but from the
knowledge I have of those of other Grebes, I feel pretty certain
that the notions entertained of their being carried either on the
back or under the wings of their parents in cases of danger must be
erroneous, as Grebes in all such cases dive or fly at once, when it
would be impossible for the old and young to keep thus attached to
each other.
I have observed in the stomachs of almost all that I have examined,
a quantity of hair-like substances rolled together like the pellets
of owls, but have not ascertained whether or not these masses are
disgorged. They certainly cannot pass through the intestines. But
unless birds of this kind are kept in an aviary and watched, this
matter must remain unknown. The food of this species, while on
salt-water, is composed of shrimps, small fishes, and minute crustacea.
While on fresh-water, they procure insects, leeches, small frogs,
tadpoles, and aquatic lizards; they also pick up the seeds of grasses,
and I have found as many in the stomach of an individual as would fill
the shell of one of its eggs. Their flight is performed by regular
short flappings, executed with great quickness.
I have represented an adult male in full spring plumage, and a young
bird shot in December. The males are rather larger than the females,
which are similar in colour, but rarely have the head so well feathered
during the breeding season.
PODICEPS CORNUTUS, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 782.—_Ch.
Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p.
417.—_Swains. and Richards._ Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p.
411.
HORNED GREBE, or DOBCHICK, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p.
254.
Adult Male in Spring. Plate CCLIX. Fig.1.
Bill shorter than the head, straight, acute, rather slender. Upper
mandible with the dorsal line straight for one-half of its length,
towards the end declinate and slightly convex, the ridge convex, the
sides sloping, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal
groove broad, extending to beyond the middle of the mandible; nostrils
subbasal, linear-elliptical, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle
long and very narrow, the dorsal line short, ascending, straight,
the sides erect, slightly convex, the edges sharp, inflected, the
tip narrow, acute.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and
slender. Body depressed. Feet large, short, placed far behind; tibia
feathered to the joint; tarsus short, extremely compressed, anteriorly
with a narrow scutellate ridge, laterally with numerous broad scutella;
posteriorly with a narrow ridge having a double row of small prominent
scales. Hind toe very small, with an inferior small membrane; fore
toes long, the outer longest, scutellate above, united at the base
by short webs, externally margined, internally with broad rounded
expansions, which are marked with parallel oblique lines, and crenate
on the edges. Claws flattened, that of the middle toe broadest, with
an extremely thin broad terminal edge.
Plumage of the head and neck very soft and downy, of the breast and
sides silky and highly glossed, of the abdomen downy, of the upper
parts imbricated, but with loose edges. Wings small; primaries much
curved, the first longest, the second almost equal. Tail, a small
tuft of loose feathers. On the head, at this season, is a tuft of
soft feathers on each side behind the eye, and a larger on each side
of the upper part of the neck.
Bill bluish-black, its tip yellow. Short loral space bright carmine,
as is the iris, its inner margin white; edges of eyelids greyish-blue.
Feet dusky externally, internally and on the anterior and posterior
ridges of the tarsus dull yellow; claws dusky. Forehead greyish-brown;
upper parts of the head bluish-black, as are the sides, fore neck
anteriorly, and the elongated ruff feathers; a broad band over the
eyes, and the elongated tufts behind them yellowish-brown. Fore neck
brownish-red; lower parts white, the sides reddish-brown; abdomen
dull grey. The upper parts are brownish-black, the feathers edged
with greyish, the middle secondary quills white.
Length to end of tail 14-3/4, to end of claws 19; extent of wings
25-1/2; wing from flexure 5-3/4; bill along the back 11/12, along the
edge of lower mandible 1-1/4; tarsus 1-1/4; outer toe 1-10/12, its claw
3/12. Weight 14 oz.
Young Female in winter. Plate CCLIX. Fig. 2.
The feathers of the hind head are a little elongated, but at this
age there are no tufts on the head. In other respects the plumage is
as in the adult male. The bill is bluish-grey, as is the bare loral
space; the eye bright carmine, the iris with an inner white edge;
the feet bluish-grey. The upper part of the head, and the hind neck,
are greyish-black, as are the upper parts in general. The feathers of
the back edged with light grey. The throat, the sides of the head, a
broad patch on each side of the neck nearly meeting behind, the breast
white; the sides and downy feathers of the abdomen brownish-grey.
Some of the secondaries are white, as in the adult male.
THE FORKED-TAILED PETREL.
_THALASSIDROMA LEACHII_, BONAP.
PLATE CCLX. MALE AND FEMALE.
Before describing the habits of this bird, I think it necessary to
speak of three distinct species which are at times found near our
coasts, and of which I have found two breeding within the Union. The
present species is the largest; that named after WILSON the next in
size; and the one called the Stormy Petrel the least. Until I had
met with the whole of these species near our coast, I, like others,
thought that the last mentioned kept nearer to Europe than it in
reality does at certain seasons.
In August 1831, I was on board of the American packet-ship the
Columbia, commanded by my friend JOSEPH DELANO, Esq. who had promised
that, in case of a calm occurring, he would allow me to have a boat
manned to go in search of birds. The day is not given, because I never
keep a journal while crossing the Atlantic; but as I had left England
on the first of the month, and was then on the banks of Newfoundland,
it must have been towards the latter part of it, when the weather
suddenly became quite calm and beautiful. “Mother Carey’s Chickens”
were by hundreds around the noble ship, and although ill in consequence
of the sickness which never leaves me at sea, I asked for a boat and
some hands to row me about for an hour or so. This was granted, guns
and ammunition were placed in the yawl, and my assistant Mr HENRY WARD
of London, an officer, and two sailors, accompanied me. We had three
guns which were alternately loaded and handed to me. In the course of
about an hour twenty-five or thirty Petrels were shot, together with
some Fulmars. Had you been looking on, you might perhaps have laughed
at me on seeing that the moment after I fired, I was obliged to lean
over the side of the bark to relieve myself from the distressing
state of my stomach. On returning to the ship, my companions nimbly
ascended the chains; but although when on land I am pretty firm and
active, I was now quite unfit for service, and therefore was hoisted
in a chair. Once on deck, I laid myself down on a mattress, my wife
attended to me, and I gradually became relieved, as the ship stood,
to use the words of my kind captain, “as still as if on the stocks.”
There were the dead birds nicely arranged on a board by my side; the
wounded ones were placed in a cage, and I began to examine them all
with care. To my great surprise, I found among them all the three
species mentioned above. Sixteen of these birds were beautifully
prepared by Mr WARD, and the rest were placed in spirits, after I
had made correct outlines of each species, and taken their exact
dimensions and weight. The drawings, however, I was unable to finish
on account of the giddiness, which seldom leaves me while at sea. The
calm continued the whole of the next day, and, laying myself down on
the top of the round-house, I had ample opportunities of observing
the habits of the three species, while thus at a distance from land.
My esteemed friend the Prince of Musignano has stated that the
Forked-tailed Petrel is less numerous near the American coast than
the species named after WILSON. It is true that it rarely goes so
far south, but in the vicinity of Massachusetts, and from thence to
Newfoundland, it is by far the most abundant of the two; and it breeds
on all suitable places from the Islands of Mount Desert to the last
mentioned country.
The species of this genus with which I am acquainted all ramble
over the seas, both by night and by day, until the breeding season
commences, when they remain in their burrows, under rocks, or in
their fissures, until towards sunset, when they start off in search of
food, returning to their mates or young in the morning, and feeding
them then. I feel pretty confident that these birds, like Owls, can
hold out against hunger for many hours, and are satisfied with one
abundant meal in the day. WILSON was of a different opinion, but I
believe he never found these birds breeding.
The Forked-tailed Petrel emits its notes night and day, and at not
very long intervals, although it is less noisy than WILSON’s Petrel.
They resemble the syllables _pewr-wit_, _pewr-wit_. Its flight differs
from that of the other two species, it being performed in broader
wheelings, and with firmer flappings, in which respect it resembles
that of the Night Hawk, _Caprimulgus virginianus_, while that bird
is passing low over the meadows or the waters. It is more shy than
the other species, and when it wheels off after having approached
the stern of a ship, its wanderings are much more extended before
it returns. I have never seen it fly close around a vessel, as the
others are in the habit of doing, especially at the approach of
night; nor do I think that it ever alights on the rigging of ships,
but spends the hours of darkness either on the water, or on low rocks
or islands. It also less frequently alights on the water, or pats
it with its feet, probably on account of the shortness of its legs,
although it frequently allows them to hang down. In this it resembles
the _Thalassidroma pelagica_, and WILSON’s Petrel has a similar habit
during calm weather. I have seen all the three species immerse their
head into the water, to seize their food, and sometimes keep it longer
under than I had expected.
About the first of June, the species separate, collect in numbers,
and return to their breeding places. I state so from the report of
persons on whose testimony I can rely, and who have assured me that,
like the Guillemots, they revisit their haunts each spring for years
in succession. They now fly in front of the high rocks, in the manner
of our Purple Martin when it first arrives at its well known box,
passing and repassing a thousand times in the day, enter their dark
and narrow mansions, or stand in the passage, and emit their cries,
as the bird just mentioned is wont to do on similar occasions. Now
they alight on some broad shelf, and walk as if about to fall down,
but with considerable ease, and at times with rapidity. Now and then
the mated birds approach each other, and, I believe, disgorge some
food into each other’s mouths, although I am not absolutely certain
that they do so, having only observed them at such times by means of
a glass. They collect grasses and pebbles, of which they form a flat
nest, on which a single white egg is deposited, which measures an
inch and a quarter in length, by seven-eighths in breadth, is nearly
equally rounded at both ends, and looks very large for the size of
the bird. When boiled, it has a musky smell, but is palatable. When
you pass close to the rocks in which they are, you easily hear their
shrill querulous notes; but the report of a gun silences them at once,
and induces those on the ledges to betake themselves to their holes.
The Forked-tailed Petrel, like the other species, feeds chiefly on
floating mollusca, small fishes, crustacea, which they pick up among
the floating sea-weeds, and greasy substances, which they occasionally
find around fishing-boats or ships out at sea. When seized in the hand,
it ejects an oily fluid through the tubular nostrils, and sometimes
disgorges a quantity of food. I could not prevail on any of those
which I had caught to take food.
These birds are caught from the sterns of vessels, with long slender
threads, the manner of using which I shall describe when I come to
speak of WILSON’s Petrel. I never could entice one of them to swallow
a hook. Very few are found on the coasts of England or Scotland,
where, however, the species is said to breed.
THALASSIDROMA LEACHII, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds
of the United States, p. 367.
PROCELLARIA LEACHII, _Temm._ Man. d’Ornith. part ii. p. 812.
Adult Male. Plate CCLX. Fig. 1.
Bill shorter than the head, slender, straight, with the tips curved,
as broad as high at the base, extremely compressed at the end. Upper
mandible with the nostrils forming a tube on its ridge at the base,
beyond which the dorsal line is for a short space straight, then
decurved, the ridge narrow and separated from the convex sides by
a narrow groove, the edges sharp, inflected, the tip compressed,
incurved. Lower mandible with the angle rather long, narrow and
pointed, the dorsal line beyond it decurved, the sides erect, the
edges sharp, the tip decurved.
Head of ordinary size, roundish, anteriorly narrowed. Neck short. Body
rather slender. Feet rather long, slender; tibia bare at its lower
part; tarsus slender, reticulate all round. Hind toe minute, with a
conical claw; anterior toes of moderate length, slender, scutellate
above, connected by striated webs with concave margins; the third
and fourth toes longest, and about equal. Claws slender, arched,
compressed, acute.
Plumage very soft, blended, the feathers distinct only on the wings,
which are very long; primary quills tapering but rounded, the outer
four a little incurved at their extremities, the second longest,
the third almost equal, the first and fourth about the same length,
the rest rapidly graduated; outer secondaries incurved, obliquely
rounded; inner longer, tapering, straight. Tail deeply forked, of
twelve broad, rounded feathers.
Bill and feet black. Iris dark brown. The general colour of the
plumage is dark greyish-brown, the quills and tail brownish-black,
the smaller wing-coverts and inner secondaries light greyish-brown;
the rump, sides of the abdomen, and exterior lower tail-coverts, white.
Length to end of tail 8 inches, to end of wings 8-1/2; extent of wings
18-1/2; wing from flexure 6-1/2; tail 3; bill along the back 8/12, along
the edge of lower mandible 10/12; tarsus 1; middle toe 10/12, its
claw (3-1/2)/12. Weight 1-5/8 oz.
The Female is exactly similar to the male.
Adult Female. Plate CCLX. Fig. 2.
A MAPLE-SUGAR CAMP.