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LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
FRONTISPI ECE
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LOST
AND
VANISHING BIRDS
Being a Record of some Remarkable
Extinct Species and a Plea for
some Threatened Forms
By CHARLES DIXON
author of 'the migration of birds" "curiosities of bird life'
"the nests and eggs of BRITISH BIRDS " ETC. ETC. ETC.
WITH TEN PLATES BY CHARLES WHYMPER
LONDON: JOHN MACQUEEN
MDCCCXCVIII
•f"
PREFACE
^
/^NE of the saddest features of civilisation is ^-^ the disappearance of so many beautiful and curious creatures from this world of ours. From all parts of the earth the same story comes ; and we now seem to be within measurable distance of a time when wrecks and remnants of once compact and indigenous assemblages of organisms will be all that remain to us, and such a thing as a complete fauna will be unknown. This is not only a crime, but the violation of a sacred trust which we hold for posterity. Civilisation has already ground away under its merciless heel most of the faunal facies of Europe; Asia fares but little better, and is fast being reduced to the same state ; Africa is being rapidly depleted of all its most curious and striking forms of animal life ; Austral- asia is a wretched object lesson of civilised man's
6 PREFACE
exterminating progress ; whilst North America has already lost some of its ancient types, and is fast losing the remainder: South America alone re- tains its prehistoric fauna in greatest completeness, although even here the sad work of extermination has commenced. Birds have suifered severely in this general spoliation, and their extermination and persecution furnish material for some of the saddest chapters in the annals of ornithology.
In the present volume an effort has been made not only to focus in a popular form our knowledge of the species we have lost and are still likely to lose, but to excite a greater interest in the protec- tion of birds, particularly in those species, at home and abroad, that are more or less threatened with extermination at the present time.
So far as British birds are concerned, we have dealt with all the recently extinct and threatened species; but of course it would be utterly im- possible, within the limits of this small volume, to treat exotic species with the same fulness. We have, however, carefully selected a few of the most interesting and desperate cases on which to hang our plea for the better protection of all. Some of the most interesting extinct species have also been included.
PREFACE 7
We are convinced that much of the effort now being made on behalf of doomed or threatened birds is misdirected ; and if the present work not only helps in some measure to devise more rational methods, but also excites a wider sympathy for those vanishing species, its principal purpose will have been attained. p -pv
Paignton, October 1897.
CONTENTS
->
LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS Introduction — The Extermination of Species
PACK
13
PART I
LOST AND VANISHING BRITISH BIRDS
Lost British Birds
Savi's Waeblee {Loeustella luscinioides) . . .43
The Spoonbill {Platalea leucorodia) . . .48
The Bittern {Botaurus steUaris) . . . .54
The Crane {Grus cinerca) . . . . .60
The Great Bustard {Otis tarda) . . . .67
The Avocet {Recurvirostra avoeetta) . . .73
The Black-tailed Godwit {Limosa melanura'- . . 73
The Black Tern {Sterna nigr-a) . . . .83
The Great Auk {Alca impcnnis) . . . .87
Vanishing British Birds
The Bearded Titmouse {Panurus biarmicus) . ' . 98
The St. Kilda Wren {Troglodytes hirtensis) . . 104
CONTENTS
Vanishing Bkitish Birds — continued
The Hoopoe {Upupa eiwps)
The Osprey (Pandlon haliccehis) .
The Kite {Milvus regalis) ....
The Common Buzzard {Buteo vulgaris) .
The Golden Eagle {Aquila chryscetus)
The White-tailed Eagle {Haliceetus alhicilla) .
The Honey Buzzard {Pernis apivorus)
The Marsh Harrier {Circus certtginosus)
Montagu's Harrier [Circus cineraceus) .
The Hen Harrier {Circus cyansus)
The Dotterel {Eudromias morinelhis)
The Kentish Sand Plover {^gialophilus cantianus)
The Ruff {Machetes pugnax)
The Red-necked Phalarope {Phalaropus hyperboreus)
The Roseate Tern {Sterna dougalli)
The Great Skua {Stercorarius catarrhactes)
Some Threatened British Species
PAGE 108
113
119 125 130 136 142 147 152 157 162 167 173 179 185 190 196
PAET II LOST AND VANISHING EXOTIC BIRDS
Lost Exotic Birds
The Mamo {Drepanis pacifica)
The Dodo {Didus inept^ts) ....
The Solitaire {Pezophaps solitaria)
The Pied Duck {Camptolaimus lahradorius)
Pallas's Cormorant {Phalacrocorax perspicillatus)
Some Other Extinct Forms
211 215 220 226 231 234
CONTENTS
II
Vanishing Exotic Birds
The Carolina Paroquet {Conurus carolinensis) .
The Owl Parrot {Strigops habroptilus)
The Passenger Pigeon {Edopistes migrcdorius) .
The California Vulture (Pseudogryiihus californianus)
The Heath Hen {Tympanitchus cupido) .
The American Turkey {Mcleagris americana)
The Aldabran Rail {Dryolimnas aldabranus)
The Kiwis (Apterygidae) . . . •
Struthious Birds : Ostriches, Rheas, Emus, and
Cassowaries ..... Some Threatened Exotic Species
PAGE
237
242 245 250 254 256 261 266
271 283
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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PLATE |
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I, Great Bustards |
Frontispiece |
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II. Fenland in the Olden Days. |
To face page 48 |
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III. AVOCETS .... |
73 |
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IV. Great Auks |
87 |
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V. Bearded Tits . |
98 |
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VI. The Kite |
119 |
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VII. The Golden Eagle |
„ 130 |
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VIII. The Mamo |
211 |
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IX. The American Turkey |
256 |
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X. Kiwis .... |
266 |
INTRODUCTION
THE EXTERMINATION OF SPECIES
PERHAPS few readers are aware (unless they be experienced and professed zoologists) how very sensitive species are to any changes in their surroundings : on the one hand, quick to take advantage of anything in their favour; on the other hand, as readily injured by adverse conditions. These latter may be of the most varied character, and make their influence felt in a very complicated or indirect manner, the relations not only between one species and another, but with their environ- ment, being most complex. Many instances might be given to illustrate how complex are the relations, not only of one species to another, but to the environment of those species, or, in other cases, to the utter dependence for existence of species upon their neighbours. During the lapse of unnumbered
14 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
ages, all living things have been (and still continue to be) unceasingly striving, under the influence of certain well-recognised laws, to adapt themselves to more or less constantly changing conditions of existence. What is popularly known as the " balance of nature " is the primal result of these incessant efforts of organisms, one acting upon the other in countless ways, to maintain a place in the ranks of struggling life. We can very forcibly illustrate these remarks by quoting one or two classical instances recorded by Darwin. Certainly one of the most complex of these is that which illustrates the intricate connection between, and in- terdependence upon, such widely different organisms as a carnivorous animal and a scented yet lowly flower. Perhaps every reader may be aware that certain flowers absolutely depend upon the visits of insects to fertilise them. They cannot produce seed without such visits; and in a great many instances this fertilisation can only be accomplished by a certain species of insect. Now, one of our commonest flowers, the red clover, is largely, perhaps we might almost say entirely, fertilised by our little friend the humble-bee. If these bees do not visit the clover flowers, those flowers are sterile and produce no seeds. But the humble-bees
INTRODUCTION 15
have a deadly enemy in the field-mice, which destroy, it has been computed, no less than two- thirds of their nests and combs. The mice in their turn are destroyed by cats, Owls, Kestrels ; so that in localities where the enemies of mice are common the bees have more chance of multiplying, and the flowers a correspondingly greater facility for fertilisation. The abundance of clover in a district may therefore depend upon the number of cats, of Owls and Kestrels ! Take another instance. Darwin has recorded some very curious effects produced by the planting of several hundred acres of Scotch fir on a large heath in Staffordshire. In a quarter of a century the change produced in the vegetation was very remarkable, plants having appeared or disappeared in obedience to the altered conditions, whilst many other organisms were un- doubtedly similarly affected. One more instance must suffice, and this we may quote from Darwin's great work on The Origin of Species : " In several parts of the world insects determine the existence of cattle. Perhaps Paraguay offers the most curious instance of this, for here neither cattle nor horses nor dogs have ever run wild, though they swarm southward and northward in a feral state ; and Azara and Rengger have shown that this
i6 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
is caused by the greater numbers, in Paraguay, of a certain fly which lays its eggs in the navels of these animals when first born. The increase of these flies, numerous as they are, must be habitually checked by some means, probably by other parasitic insects. Hence, if certain insectivorous birds were to decrease in Paraguay, the parasitic insects would probably increase ; and this would lessen the number of the navel-frequenting flies. Then cattle and horses would become feral, and this would greatly alter (as, indeed, I have observed in parts of South America), the vegetation; this, again, would largely aflect the insects; and this, as we have just seen in Staffordshire, the insectivorous birds ; and so onward, in ever-increasing circles of complexity. Not that under nature the relations will ever be as simple as this. Battle within battle must be continually recurring with varying success ; and yet in the long-run the forces are so nicely balanced that the face of nature remains for a long time uniform, though assuredly the merest trifle would give the victory to one organic being over another."
Most, if not all, organisms are therefore so delicately adapted to their environment, that they quickly become sensitive to the least disturbing
INTRODUCTION 17
element, either for good or for evil, profiting readily by the former, and being adversely affected by the latter, even to the extent of more or less rapid extinction. Numerous instances might be given to illustrate how readily certain species have profited by the decrease, say, of their natural enemies, or the initiation of easier conditions of existence ; and, on the other hand, how disastrous have been the effects of similarly changed conditions acting in a directly opposite manner. We have, for instance, much cause to regret the rapid increase of the House Sparrow, partly due to the wholesale slaughter of birds of prey, and partly to the exceptional facilities for shelter, abnormal reproduction, and the constant and abundant supply of food, due to the march of modern civilisation and the spread of agriculture. We have equally to regret the disappearance from our avifauna of such species as the Great Bustard and the Crane. Bird lovers may well deplore the final disappearance of such magnificent species from our islands, due indirectly, to some extent, to the changed conditions of the century now drawing to a close, but more to the growth of sport, the increase of gunners, armed with more deadly weapons, and the rapid multiplication of the avaricious class of
i8 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
collector. We may safely conclude that senseless persecution and wanton slaughter must be held primarily responsible for the loss of the Great Bustard, aided by alteration in the methods of tillage. Drainage and enclosure of waste lands, and the changed conditions due to increase of population, and possibly the spread of railways and other industries that have broken the seclusion and almost primeval peace of many a favoured haunt, must also be held responsible for the bird's disappearance, as well as indiscriminate shooting and egg-stealing.
So far as we are at present able to ascertain, the disappearance of species from the world may be more or less directly traced to the agency of man, and primarily of civilised man. We cannot recall to mind a solitary instance in which the exter- mination of a species within historic time has been exclusively due to any extra human agency. Species and individuals, of course, are constantly striving one against the other in the battle of life ; incessantly struggling to maintain a place in the ranks of existing forms — here gaining an advantage, there losing ground, as the conditions of existence may vary to their disadvantage or in their favour. The extermination of species under such conditions
INTRODUCTION 19
we know must have taken place, as the records of palaeontology unquestionably demonstrate, and there can be little or no doubt is in actual progress around us now; but the process is so gradual, and the difficulties of direct observation and calculation so immense, that we entirely fail to perceive it. Some slight indication of the exterminating force of unfavourable natural conditions may be derived from the effects, say, of a severe winter, or an abnormal season of drought or wet, or unusual lowness of temperature, upon birds, for instance ; but these adverse circumstances are never sufficiently prolonged for us to remark the absolute decimation of a species, and apply but to a circumscribed area. On the other hand, the extermination due to man's interference with the balance of nature is immeasurably more rapid, and its results in the majority of cases are only too sadly apparent. Many, indeed, are the instances which might be quoted in support of these state- ments. Uncivilised man, so long as he uses primitive weapons, apparently makes little or no evil impression upon continental fauna), the slight tax upon them being amply met by the normal in- crease of the species concerned, but in islands the case has been different, as will be seen in future pages.
20 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
In all parts of the world island species have been the greatest sufferers and the most easily exter- minated, owing partly to the comparatively limited number of individuals composing them, and in a great measure to their verj'' specialised and localised conditions of existence rendering them acutely sensitive to any adverse influence. The extinction of a great many intensely interest- ing forms — in the present volume we shall confine ourselves to birds alone — may be said to date from that period when the early explorers were scouring the seas in quest of undiscovered countries, and when remote uninhabited islands were either per- manently colonised or periodically visited for the supplies of fresh food and water that they may have chanced to furnish. In most cases the visits of civilised man to these islands has had sooner or later a disastrous effect upon the avifauna which is or was usually peculiar to them. Man not only destroyed many of these wonderful bird-types for food or other purposes, but brought about their gradual extirpation less directly in other ways — by burning off the undergrowth or clearing the forests, and by introducing various domestic or predatory animals to which the peculiar, and in many cases flightless birds, or their still more
INTRODUCTION 21
helpless eggs and young, fell easy victims. In these remote times, the small amount of interest taken in what we may call living science, when zoologists attached no importance whatever to the geographical distribution of species, nor to the equally significant phenomena of island faunae and florae as bearing upon the question of the evolution of specific forms, may reasonably be urged as an excuse for the want of some efibrts being made to preserve for posterity these interesting and valuable relics of an ancient past. But this extenuating circumstance cannot be pleaded as an excuse for the almost universal work of exter- mination that has been going on steadily and surely through the present century; even after the publication of the discoveries of Darwin and Wallace, that not only changed the entire process of zoological research, but brought out in vivid suggestiveness the importance of those forms which civilised man has been (consciously or not makes no difierence) doing his best to stamp out. More especially do we allude to the senseless crime of extirpation which has been committed in New Zealand and other antipodean lands, where species after species has passed away, and others are still surely following, without any rational efibrts being
22 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
made to save them. Zoologically this region is perhaps the most interesting in the world. It contains many species and types unknown else- where, many of them archaic forms, relics of a once perhaps dominant fauna replaced by more highly specialised forms, and only preserved to us at all by that isolation which has eventually wrought their doom. Not only have these species been directly destroyed by man, but the sense- less practice of " acclimatisation " has here been pursued in all its crass stupidity. Man by his silly meddling methods, and his tampering with that balance which nature so delicately established and kept true, has worked sad havoc amongst indigenous species. By way of illustration : first rabbits were transported to the Antipodes, and then, when they became a pest, — as was long foreseen by naturalists, — ferrets, stoats, and weasels were introduced as a futile attempt to exterminate them. But these predatory creatures, instead of materially lessening the rodent plague, attacked the helpless fauna, especially the flightless birds, with results that can only possibly end in the complete extinc- tion of these interesting forms. This introduction of exotic species, where successful, almost invariably ends sooner or later in disaster to some members of
INTRODUCTION 23
the indigenous fauna with which they are brought most closely in contact ; and we may here take the opportunity of protesting most strongly against that introduction of various foreign birds into our islands which has been suggested by more than one naturalist, philosophic enough, one would think, to realise the inevitable consequences, more especially so with such unhappy examples of "ac- climatisation" before them. The House Sparrow, to quote but a single instance, was imported into America as a welcome novelty and souvenir of the Old Country ; it has now become such a pest that a fruitless war of extermination is almost every- where waged against it, and the bird in not a few places has succeeded in ousting indigenous and far more interesting and useful species.
In the absence of all historical evidence, and with nothing but tradition and legend to guide us, it is impossible to form any correct estimate of the number of avine species that has been extermin- ated by uncivilised races of mankind. We have, however, some comparatively recent evidence furnished by the Maoris of New Zealand, whose traditions relating to certain species of gigantic wingless birds of that country, known as " Moas," are of exceptional interest. From information
24 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
which has been gathered from the Maoris, there seems little or no reason to doubt that their ancestors were well acquainted with these huge birds in a living state, and that at one time the Moas frequented both islands in abundance. The Maoris hunted them for food, and as the birds must have been comparatively helpless, and possibly of low fecundity, the improvident natives eventually exterminated them, shortly before the arrival of civilised man in New Zealand. Possibly another instance of avine extermination by savage man is presented by the Mamo {Drejoanis i^cicijica), of the Sandwich Islands, that is said to have been killed for its yellow plumage, which was used to embellish the state robes of chiefs. We are also informed by Dr. Forbes, that since the Chatham Islands were colonised by Maoris and Europeans some fifty years ago, the birds have lamentably decreased in number, and the constant persecution of every sort of bird and living thing by the natives is producing the certain extermination of all the indigenous species. But the natives in this case may only be following the white man's example, or tempted by the price which is often offered for a rare bird by collectors. The Moas undoubtedly owed their extinction to the Maoris,
INTRODUCTION 25
who found in them an easily procurable supply of food, but for the subsequent decimation of the New Zealand fauna Englishmen themselves are solely to blame. There can be little doubt that one of the most deadly exterminators of the indigenous birds of New Zealand is the rat. The brown rat was introduced into the islands during the very earliest days of their settlement, and, as usual wherever it finds its way, it took readily to its new home and multiplied apace. Then came the introduction of stoats and weasels, and between them these bloodthirsty little animals have worked sad havoc amongst the indigenous birds, most of which are, or were, not only exceptionally tame and unsuspecting in a land where there were few or no enemies, but made their nests in places readily accessible to these four-footed invaders. When brought under the influence of such changed conditions, most birds seem powerless to avert their threatened extinction, and instances are excessively rare in which a species has altered its habits to escape from an entirely new danger. One such instance we may, however, quote — that of the Samoan Pigeon (Bidunculus strigirostris). This species, in order to escape the cats which threatened speedily to exterminate it, is said to have taken to
26 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
nesting and roosting in high trees, with the beneficial result that its numbers are now steadily on the increase again. It is gratifying to have Mr. W. W. Smith's assurance that in certain parts of New Zealand some of the rat-threatened birds — Honey-eaters and others — are again increasing in number, as conditions are proving less satisfactory for their four-footed foe, and the clearing away of the lower bush is depriving the rat of a favourite haunt. Another fruitful cause of extinction is the importation by settlers, from sentimental motives, of certain birds from Europe, notably the House Sparrow, which have succeeded in crowding out many indigenous species. Dogs, cats, goats, and hogs, when introduced into small islands, have also exterminated many helpless avine species, especially ground birds and those in which the power of flight was limited or even absent.
Comparatively few people are aware how rapidly and upon what an enormous scale the spread of civilisation is working changes and making serious gaps in the fauna of the world. Civilisation, wherever it spreads, sooner or later affects the wild creatures of the invaded area, and in most cases the change has been attended with disaster to the fauna. Islands do not suffer alone.
INTRODUCTION 27
for even the great continents are now rapidly being depopulated of their larger or most helpless birds and beasts. The work of extermination may in many cases be a longer one than it has proved to be on many islands, but the final results are just as inevitable. In the Polar regions the seal and the whale (to quote but a couple of instances) have been reduced almost to a state of extinction ; in warmer lands the zebra and the giraife of Africa, in fact all the big game of that continent, is rapidly being exterminated; in America the buffalo and other large animals are threatened with a similar fate. Every year civilised man (and to a great extent savage man follows his example) is becoming more and more utilitarian, and species after species is threatened as its economic value becomes recognised. Millions of birds must be killed annually for decorative purposes ; crocodiles, alligators, lizards, and many other wild creatures, formerly despised, have been found to yield valuable products ; and if the fashion or craze lasts, the species affected ultimately verges on extinction. Wherever civilised man and his animal satellites penetrate, the fauna suffers, and the longer he remains the more disastrous his influence becomes ; so that it requires no very
28 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
severe strain upon the imagination to picture a time when all the larger wild birds and beasts, all the exceptionally helpless ones of the earth, must perish, or exist only as specimens in our museums, or as phantom records in our scientific literature. This will be a serious outlook for the biologist of the future, and the matter has long been suflSciently important to warrant some strong steps being taken to avert as far as possible such a vast calamity. After all, we only hold the fauna of the world in trust, and it is but our bare duty to posterity to hand that fauna down as intact as we found it, or as nearly so as the reasonable exigencies of life will admit.
We now come to consider the question of exter- mination in a partial sense, and more especially as it relates to our own islands. The species with which we are therefore concerned now are those that have become extinct in some parts of their range, although they still survive in other areas. Here, again, islands present us with the most significant and important instances of recent ex- tinction, although many continental examples might be cited where birds have been extirpated in some localities although continuing to flourish in others. The Passenger Pigeon of America and
INTRODUCTION 29
the Francolin of Europe may be quoted as cases in point. A very large percentage of the birds whose absence from the British Islands as breed- ing or indigenous species we have now to deplore, probably could not have been preserved to us had the most elaborate means for their protection been devised. They were victims to the results of advancing civilisation and improvement — destined by the altered conditions of existence that such changes involved, to disappear from certain areas in which it became impossible for them to survive. On the other hand, there are certain lost species that might still have continued to find a place in our avifauna had reasonable protection been granted to them. These, too, have passed from our area never normally to return. There are certain other interesting species still left to us, but extermina- tion awaits them in the by no means distant future, unless steps be speedily taken to preserve them.
The unscientific reader may naturally ask why comparatively so few birds have become extinct in the British Islands, where the influence of civilisation has been so prolonged and so acute, whilst so many have suffered in New Zealand and other remote islands whose colonisation
30 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
has been relatively so recent. This apparent anomaly admits of a very easy explanation. Islands that have from a variety of causes, which we need not here stay to discuss, remained in a state of great isolation, are generally found to be inhabited by a fauna, or the relics of a fauna once more widely dispersed, or have developed a variety of species by the aid of their long-enduring isola- tion from all allied forms. It thus happens that these remotely isolated spots have gradually be- come possessed of a fauna more or less peculiar to themselves, species being found on them that are not found anywhere else. But, on the other hand, islands that are not so isolated, either being situated close to continents, of which it is certain they formed a geologically recent part, or are located in seas in which uninterrupted intercom- munication with the nearest land masses is main- tained by normal migration across them, or the various fortuitous methods of dispersal, have few or no such opportunities for establishing a peculiar fauna, and consequently preserve their biological homogeneity. The British Islands are a capital example of the latter class of islands, and their avifauna is almost exactly identical with that of the adjacent continent, and is subject to very
INTRODUCTION 31
similar conditions. But two birds are peculiar to them : one of these, the Red Grouse, is carefully preserved from extinction for the sport it yields ; and the other, the St. Kilda Wren, had long maintained its place even on a few isolated rocks, until in an evil day its specific difference was detected, and now the greed of collectors threatens soon to extirpate it as effectually as other methods did the Dodo and the Great Auk. In Britain, then, we had no peculiar or flightless birds, no species so tame from its unfamiliarity with man, for civilisation to extirpate, although we had certain others — individuals of widely dispersed continental species — that bred in our islands, many of which have vanished or are gradually going, more perhaps than the average reader is likely to suspect. We cannot too strongly assert, as having a vital bear- ing upon the whole question of extermination, that the supply of birds, even in such a favourable locality as the British area, situated as it is so closely to continental land, is inexhaustible. If we kill off our native contingent, especially of resident or breeding species, there is no reason whatever to console ourselves with the belief that other individuals will arrive to replace them. If such were really the case, the Great Bustard,
32 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
the Spoonbill, the Crane, and other vanished species would be dwellers in our land to-day ; for there are plenty of these birds across the Channel, almost within view of the white cliffs of England. But individual birds are closely confined to certain areas, and to these they keep with fatal pertinacity, so that, if we destroy all the individuals in one area, the chances are that that area will remain depopulated for ever. The record of extermination in the British Islands abundantly proves the truth of this assertion ; for in every case where the native stock has been exhausted, the species has dropped out of our fauna completely, unless introduced by man, as the sedentary Capercaillie was. No bird of strictly migratory habits that has been exterminated in the British Islands will ever return to them again, notwithstanding any and every effort that man may make to reinstate the species. The sedentary Bustard might be induced to take up its quarters with us again, but the migratory Crane under no circumstances whatever will ever return as our summer guest. Bearing these facts in mind, it behoves us to guard jealously what few large birds remain to us, and in the case of vanishing species to see that they are carefully preserved, especially during the
INTRODUCTION 33
breeding season, when their numbers may in time gradually increase.
There can be no doubt, of course, that the great alterations which have been made in many dis- tricts, especially in reclaiming waste lands, have literally destroyed the haunts of many of our larger birds. These changes were inevitable ; but when we bear in mind how attached individual birds are to their accustomed haunts, we cannot help feeling that if protection had been given at the right time, some at least of these big birds might have been preserved to us even if in a semi-domesticated condition. We have surely the familiar instance before us in so many continental towns and villages, of the White Stork returning year by year to rear its young on the houses and mosques, or the Hoopoe stalking sedately on the dunghills of the Arabs, regarded by the inhabitants of these countries with no more curiosity than we evince for the Swallows and Starlings nesting on our own dwellings. We may rest assured that the birds would stay with us as long as existence were possible, if we left them unmolested. It is too late now to retain many of our lost birds, but there are others left that would appreciate protection, and pass their harmless, nay, even useful lives in our 3
34 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
midst. The gunner should be restrained, the bird- catcher warned off, even the collector forbidden. Legislation on behalf of our vanishing birds has been most beneficial, and might, of course, be of greater service ; but we would rather see our favourites preserved by sentiment and kindly feeling than protected by Act of Parliament. We should like to see lessons on the uses and economy of birds becom.e part of our national education, and kindness to birds inculcated and fostered in every school in the land.
On the other hand, as a set-oflf against the many interesting species that we have lost for ever, it is gratifying to know that the spread of cultivation and the improvement of waste land, so disastrous to the larger birds, has favoured the increase and dispersal of considerable numbers of the smaller species. Many of these latter birds are songsters of varying merit, and these have followed the horticulturist and the agriculturist, so that many districts are now made glad with song which formerly were silent. The boom of the Bittern has died away with the disappearance of marsh and fen ; the song of the Passere is heard in its place. This, in a measure, is some compensation for our loss. In some districts, however, many of
INTRODUCTION 35
the smaller birds have been ruthlessly depleted by the gunner and the snarer; and we can name localities where such species as Goldfinches, Bull- finches, Hawfinches, Wood Larks, Nuthatches, and Kingfishers are either altogether exterminated or fast becoming so. Certain intelligently framed Amendments to the Acts for the Preservation of Wild Birds, and the establishment of proper machinery for the enforcement of the existing law, should remedy the evil. The wholesale destruction of the nests and eggs of the smaller birds that goes on in most country districts must have a most injurious effect upon the species, and is even worse than the destruction of the birds themselves. Eggs to some extent are now protected, but the law in most places is utterly ignored.
A few words here seem appropriate upon the practice of shooting those odd birds that accidentally visit our islands from time to time. Now, of the four hundred or so of avine species which comprise what is popularly known as the "list of British birds," nearly one half are practically abnormal visitors to our shores, lost and stray individuals, as a rule, far from their proper area of distribution, and doomed sooner or later to " die without issue." Without in any way being understood to counten-
36 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
ance or defend the indiscriminate destruction of birds purely for the sake of killing, we maintain that the capture of these wanderers does not injuriously affect the species in the slightest degree, but, on the other hand, is a direct service to the science of ornitholog3^ Their capture is often of great importance, and the thanks of all systematic ornithologists are due to the collector of every abnormal avine visitor to British shores. We often hear of a burst of indignation greeting the publica- tion of such a capture, but wrath of this kind is as untimely as it is out of place. None of these wanderers will ever succeed in establishing the species in our area ; avine colonisation does not depend upon such methods, and if every rare abnormal visitor were left severely alone, the net result would be precisely the same. But a certain amount of discrimination is absolutely necessary, especially in spring. For instance, the Hoopoe arrives on our southern shores so frequently in spring, that there is the possibility of these visits being normal. The bird should therefore be left to rear its young in peace if so minded ; and I would have every rascal pilloried that dared to shoot one of these curious and charming creatures. But such species as the Bee-eater, the Yellow-browed Willow
INTRODUCTION 37
Warbler, White's Thrush, and the Desert Wheatear may be shot without compunction ; for the capture of a hundred of these birds in England would be less injurious to the species than the death of a single pair at their normal breeding-grounds or winter quarters; in fact, it is even the more merciful course to shoot them, for it prevents their ultimate death from starvation or worse. All these abnormal visitors are already dead to their species, and their capture is not only advisable but perfectly justifiable.
One word in conclusion. There are few subjects concerning which more nonsense has been written, or which are more surrounded with maudlin senti- ment, than the " extermination " and " slaughter " of birds. In season and out of season we are being constantly reminded by well-intentioned people, we do not doubt, that this bird or that is threatened with extinction, or being ruthlessly butchered. The capture of a " rare bird " is often the signal for an outburst of misplaced indignation from these well- meaning faddists, whose ill-timed diatribe too often not only defeats its object and brings ridicule upon themselves, but is apt seriously to injure a cause whose welfare every naturalist should have at heart — the protection of our native avifauna, and
38 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
the actual preservation of threatened species. Let not these remarks be misunderstood ; for we yield to no one in our desire to see our feathered friends and favourites shielded from harm, or more heartily condemn their often useless and unnecessary slaughter. But let us put our own house in order first ; there is much to do at home in the intelligent protection of our native birds, and in guiding public opinion, before we turn elsewhere. It may be perfectly true that abroad certain birds are sorely persecuted for their plumage ; but the facts are often grossly exaggerated; and the inconsistency of these ignorant " humanitarians " repels rather than attracts sympathy, and defeats its own ends. Doubtless there will always be fair women ready to adorn their persons and enhance their charms by the aid of borrowed plumes, all Leagues and Societies notwithstanding, and in moderation and humane discrimination who shall say them nay ? but the crusade against the abuse of the practice would be far more effective if more rationally and sensibly conducted. We offer these words of advice out of no ill-feeling to these well-meaning folk, and assure them of our sympathy and support in every movement for the intelligent preservation and protection of the birds. In some respects accredited
INTRODUCTION 39
collectors and scientific men are as much to blame in decimating a species as the milliner and his fashionable lady patrons. Birds, many of them local and scarce to a high degree, are being indiscriminately collected in the name of science. Naturalists, of all people, should ever seek to protect, never heedlessly to destroy.
We will now proceed to notice in detail not only lost and vanishing British birds, but some of the principal exotic species already extinct or threatened with extermination.
Part I
->
LOST AND VANISHING BRITISH BIRDS
LOST BRITISH BIRDS
->
SAVrS WARBLER
{LOCUSTELLA LUSCINIOIDES)
IN many respects Savi's Warbler is a very interesting little bird. In the first place, it may safely be regarded as the most fleeting known species that has ever occupied a place in the British fauna; for it was not discovered to be a British bird at all until about the year 1819, and in less than forty years it had, so far as can be ascertained, become extinct in our islands, the last specimen having been obtained in 1856. Savi's Warbler becomes still more interesting to English naturalists from the fact that the species may be said to have been first discovered in the British Islands, although its specific distinctness was not declared until four years after this event, when in 1824 Savi gave it a
44 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
name. All the evidence we possess relating to the British distribution of Savi's Warbler indicates the very restricted nature of its habitat. So far as is known, this Warbler was confined to the fens of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire. Like the Dartford Warbler, it was therefore one of our most local species — a significant fact, as we shall shortly learn.
In our opening chapter we have pointed out the usual fate that overtakes species localised on islands, when their conditions of life are seriously changed. Precisely the same remarks apply to Savi's Warbler ; its very localness (as was equally the case with the Large Copper Butterfly, a denizen of the same fenland wastes) was the principal cause of its rapid final extinction. No direct war was waged against it, but its few chosen haunts were reclaimed and brought into cultivation, so that existence in them became impossible. Had Savi's Warbler been more widely distributed, like its congener the Grasshopper Warbler, for instance, there can be no reasonable doubt that it would have been in existence as a British species to-day. It is a rather remarkable fact that such a species should have had so restricted a distribution in our islands, and one that seems to suggest that its
SAVrS WARBLER 45
numbers had been steadily diminishing for years before the species was discovered. Its fate should serve as a warning, for we have other excessively local species in our midst — the Marsh Warbler, the Dartford Warbler, the Chough, and the Red-necked Phalarope, to name but a few — which may become extinct as rapidly, not necessarily through the destruction of their favourite haunts, but from direct persecution. Savi's Warbler also sadly confirms the fact previously dwelt upon, that the supply of birds (whether sedentary or migratory species) in a district is by no means inexhaustible, and in the present case must have been a very limited one indeed. This Warbler still breeds in the fens of Holland, but from similar causes — the drainage of its aquatic haunts — is much less common than formerly. All allowance being made for the excessively skulking habits of Savi's Warbler, there can be little likelihood of its ever being detected in our country again, and no human agency can ever restore it to our avifauna. We will now proceed to give a few brief particulars concerning the life history of this vanished species. Savi's Warbler appears everywhere to be a singularly local bird, and breeds in various suitable districts of Central and Southern Europe, and in
46 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
North Africa in the swamps of Algeria and Morocco. It is a summer visitor to the south of France, to Spain, Italy, Austria, and Central and Southern Russia. The birds that breed in the Kirghiz Steppe area and in Turkestan are possibly sub-specifically distinct. The only winter quarters of Savi's Warbler appear to be in Egypt and in the oases of the Sahara. The haunts of this Warbler are apparently confined to reed beds. The bird is said not to be so shy as its congener the Grass- hopper Warbler, but is skulking and wary enough if alarmed, taking refuge amongst the reeds. It may often be seen running mouse-like up the stems of the reeds to the feathery crown, then dropping again into the cover to repeat the action on another stem. Sometimes it pauses on the crown of a reed to utter its exceedingly monotonous song, which closely resembles that of the Grass- hopper Warbler — more musical, perhaps, but far less powerful. This song is uttered both by day and by night. The call-note is described as a harsh krr. Savi's Warbler, like most other reed Warblers, is a somewhat quarrelsome bird, and ever ready to drive away a rival or an intruder from its particular haunt.
The nesting season of this W^arbler is in May
SAVrS WARBLER 47
and June. We are informed by Professor Newton and others that the nest of Savi's Warbler was well known to the Fen men, although they were unacquainted with the parent birds. The nest is carefully concealed amongst the aquatic vegetation from a few inches to a few feet from the ground, and is a well-made, deep, cup-shaped structure, composed almost entirely of the flat, ribbon-like leaves of Glyceria. The eggs — from four to six in number — vary from white to pale buff in ground colour, sprinkled and freckled with light brown and violet grey underlying markings. Both birds are said to assist in incubation, and but one brood appears to be reared in the season. The food of this Warbler consists principally of insects and their larvae.
Savi's Warbler is a sombrely arrayed little bird, having the general colour of the upper parts uni- form russet brown, darker on the quills. The under parts are pale huffish brown, becoming nearly white on the throat and the centre of the belly, and pale chestnut on the under tail coverts. The female closely resembles the male in colour. The total length of the bird is about five and a half inches.
THE SPOONBILL
{plat ALE A LEUCORODIA)
A LTHOUGH the Spoonbill is still an abnormal visitor at irregular intervals to our islands, it must now be regarded as another of our lost British birds. We do not share the recently expressed opinion of an eminent naturalist, that these accidentally occurring individuals would doubtless once again take up their residence amongst us ; for what we already know of the laws of avine dispersal is diametrically opposed to such a proceeding. These odd wandering Spoon- bills that from time to time pay us their uncertain and irregular visits are migrants out of their proper course, not pioneers in quest of pastures new ; and these, we doubt not, will gradually cease to be noticed in England at all as the bird becomes extinct in Holland, its last stronghold in North- western Europe, and where most of its breeding-
48
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THE SPOONBILL 49
places are gradually being destroyed. We have ample evidence to show that the Spoonbill was formerly widely if locally distributed over the southern and eastern portions of England and in the south of Wales. In England, in the olden days, the Spoonbill was known by the names of " Popeler," " Shovelard," and " Shoveler," whilst the Duck known to us by the latter term was then called a " Spoonbill." We learn many interesting facts about the Spoonbill from ancient records — that it used to build in company with Herons in Norfolk and Suffolk ; that earlier still there were colonies of Spoonbills established at Fulham in Middlesex, and in some of the woods of West Sussex. There are also records of this species breeding in trees in Pembrokeshire. The last breeding - place of the Spoonbill in England of which we appear to have any record was at Trimley in Suffolk. This was about the year 1670. It is difficult to assign any reason for the Spoonbill's extinction in this country. The reclama- tion of fens and marshes is not a sufficiently satis- factory explanation, for the Spoonbill appears to have been equally at home in high trees ; a more feasible cause of its disappearance may have been the destruction of timber and tlie breaking up of
50 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
land for building purposes, together with that direct persecution which such a curious and con- spicuous bird would be sure to invite, especially as the improvement in and the carrying of fire- arms became more general. The fact also that the birds were left unprotected during the breeding season, although the taking of the eggs was punished with a severe penalty, could not fail to have a disastrous effect upon the species. Had equally stringent measures been taken for the preservation of the birds during this critical period, the Spoonbill might still have been numbered as an indigenous English species to-day. We under- stand that in Holland the bird is now strictly preserved in some of its ancient strongholds, which we hope may result in retaining this handsome species in the Dutch ornis for many years to come.
In Europe, in addition to Holland, the Spoonbill breeds in Southern Spain, in the valley of the Danube, in the delta of the Volga, and in the Aral basin. Eastwards in Asia we trace it as a breed- ing species, in Asia Minor, Turkestan, Western Siberia up to 48° north latitude. Southern Dauria, the Amoor Valley, South - eastern Mongolia, and southwards over the whole of India and
THE SPOONBILL 51
Ceylon. The Spoonbill also breeds throughout Africa, south to the Soudan, and the Dahalak Archipelago in the Red Sea. It is a winter visitor to Arabia. The Spoonbill is only a summer visitor to Europe, arriving in April, and leaving in September and October. Its favourite summer haunts are swamps, especially those near the sea, the shallow reed and rush clothed margins of lakes, and the dense thickets of willow and alder trees on the submerged banks of large rivers like the Danube and the Volga. The Spoon- bill is a gregarious species, and not only lives in societies, but frequently mingles with other Herons, Ibises, and Cormorants. Its habits are very similar to those of its allies. It has the same sedate walk, and may often be seen standing in the shallows or on the topmost branch of a tree quite motionless. Like most large birds, it is somewhat shy, but at its breeding-places will pass to and fro in silent flight above the head of the intruder. It is not known to utter a note of any kind, but frequently makes a sharp clapping sound with its bill after the manner of a Stork. Its food principally con- sists of small crustaceans, insects, and molluscs, the bird searching for them in the Duck-like way for which its broad spatulate bill is so admirably
52 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
adapted. It also captures small fish, frogs, and, it is said, eats various vegetable substances. The Spoon- bill probably pairs for life, and yearly returns to the same haunts to breed. The nests in some districts are placed upon the ground, in others upon low bushes, in others again upon lofty trees. Nests made in the branches are larger and more elaborate than those placed upon the ground. When in the latter situation it is often nothing but a low heap of broken reeds ; when in trees and bushes, often a large mass of sticks, a foot high and a yard across, the cavity containing the eggs being usually lined with dry grass. The old nests are often repaired year by year, just as is the case with Rooks. The eggs of the Spoonbill are four or five in number, coarse in texture, white in ground colour, sparingly spotted and blotched with reddish brown, and still more sparsely with underlying markings of grey. They are subject to much variation in size. But one brood is reared in the season.
The Spoonbill has the general colour of the plumage white, suffused or stained with yellow on the neck and crest, the latter (a nuptial ornament) formed of a bunch of narrow pointed and drooping plumes. The spatulate bill is
THE SPOONBILL 53
black on the basal portion, shading into yellow at the tip; the legs and feet are black. The female resembles the male in colour. The total length of this species is about thirty-two inches.
THE BITTERN
{botaurus stellar is)
nnHE Bittern is another species that visits us -*- more or less irregularly on migration, but one which is unfortunately lost to our indigenous avifauna for ever. We do not for a moment believe that these odd birds which reach us will ever attempt to settle in the British Islands as permanent residents. The old race of indigenous Bitterns has passed away. These we have every reason to believe were sedentary ; whilst those that visit us to-day do so to winter in our islands only, just as is the case with so many other species, some individuals of which, however, are indigenous and breed with us, as, for instance, the Starling, the Snow Bunting, the Song Thrush, and the Goldcrest. Now, we think it may be taken as one of the primary conditions of avine dispersal, that species do not increase their range with a winter movement, or attempt to colonise for breeding
THE BITTERN 55
purposes areas they may visit on autumn migra- tion. Normal dispersal is the result of range expansion in spring for purposes of reproduction. That being so, we hope the reader will understand that the Bitterns still visiting us are not seeking in any way to extend their breeding area ; that they are descendants of those individuals which increased the range of the species across our islands or from a British base, probably when the North Sea was an extensive marshy plain, and are in the habit of returning here to winter or to pass over our area to more southern districts. Introduction by man might succeed in reinstating the Bittern as a British bird, as it did the Capercaillie ; but we need not foster any hopes that the species will ever settle here without such aid, however carefully we may preserve these visitors, or whatever induce- ments we may oiFer them to do so. Be all this as it may, the Bittern should not be shot at all in this country, or the few that still continue to visit us in winter or on passage may ultimately be ex- terminated, and the bird cease to be a " British " one in any sense of the term. The Bittern, from all accounts, was pretty generally and commonly distributed over the British Islands " in the days of long ago," — that is to say, in suitable localities.
56 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
. These were the swamps and bogs and fenlands, and the drainage of these was one of the principal causes of the bird's extermination in our land. Possibly the esteem in which it formerly used to be held as a table delicacy may also have been responsible for its decrease, together with the improvements in and increase of firearms. As might naturally be expected, the Bittern lingered long in the Fen districts — the last eggs being taken in Norfolk in 1868. It is also said that a young bird was caught in the Broad district so recently as 1886, but whether it was bred there is not absolutely certain. The bird also continued to breed in Ireland down to the early part of the nineteenth century, but now it is only known as a winter visitor, as it is elsewhere. The Bittern has a wide distribution outside the British Islands, being found in all suitable localities throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. It does not penetrate very far north, being unknown in Norway, and only visiting Sweden up to the 60th parallel. In Russia it is found up to latitude 62° ; in Asia apparently not beyond latitude 57°.^ To Europe
^ Seebohm obtained a skin in the valley of the Yenisei in latitude 64°, but the evidence is not conclusive that the bird was obtained there.
THE BITTERN 57
the Bittern is principally known as a summer visitor, though some few birds winter on the northern shores of the Mediterranean.
The habits of a bird of such a secretive nature as the Bittern are very difficult to observe or understand, and little surprise can be felt at the amount of mystery and superstition that has surrounded them. The bird's haunts are also most difficult of access, being by preference the vast reed beds and swamps. Although apparently migrating in companies, at other times the Bittern is a remarkably solitary bird, and one that delights to skulk amongst the cover, taking wing with reluctance, and depending largely for safety upon the resemblance of its brown pencilled plumage to the vegetation in which it is hiding. The Bittern is apparently more nocturnal in its habits than its allies the Herons, and during the pairing season its singular awe-inspiring cry or " boom," peculiar to the male, is heard at intervals all through the night — a weird, indescribable double call said to be produced as the bird inhales and exhales its breath and stands with neck out- stretched and bill pointing upwards to the sky. So curious is the sound, that the country-folk used to say the bird produced it by blowing into a
58 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
reed or burying its long spear-shaped bill in the
mud —
Like as a Bittern that bumbleth in the mire.
The Bittern is seldom seen upon the wing, and flies in a slow, deliberate manner, seldom for any- great distance at a time, and always apparently anxious to hide itself as quickly as possible. Less rarely still is it observed to alight in a tree. Like all the Heron tribe, the Bittern has a voracious appetite, feeding chiefly on fish, frogs, and aquatic insects, and occasionally on small animals ; eels a foot or more in length have been taken from its stomach. Upon the ground the Bittern is able to run through the dense reeds with marvellous celerity, its long slender feet enabling it to cross the marshy ground with ease. Of the pairing habits of the Bittern but little is known. The bird is a somewhat early breeder, the eggs being laid in April and May — sometimes towards the end of March. The nest is made upon the ground in the reeds and other aquatic vegetation, and is little more than a heap of rotting reeds, flags, and other herbage. The four or five eggs are brownish olive or bufi! The female is said to incubate these for the most part, and but one brood is reared in the season. The Bittern is just as solitary during the
THE BITTERN 59
breeding season, each pair keeping to a particular haunt. The young are said to remain in the nest until they are able to fly.
The Bittern has the general colour of the plumage buff, irregularly vermiculated and pencilled on the upper parts and streaked on the lower parts with black, which is the uniform colour of the head and nape; the feathers of the neck are elongated into a very conspicuous ruff. Bill and bare space before the eye greenish yellow ; legs and feet light green ; irides yellow. The female and young do not differ to any great extent in colour from the male ; and the total length of an adult bird is about twenty-eight inches, sometimes a trifle more or less.
THE CRANE
{g/?us CI mere a)
npHERE can be little doubt that formerly the Crane was one of those species which not only bred in the British Islands, but visited them in considerable numbers to pass the winter. Whether the individuals that bred in Britain were residents does not, however, seem very clear. Possibly these birds came in spring to breed in the British marshes, and retired south again in autumn, their places being taken during the winter by migratory individuals from still more northern haunts, as the Woodcock is thought by many naturalists to do to- day. Whatever were the real facts, there is ample evidence to show that the Crane formerly bred commonly in the British Islands. Its principal strongholds appear to have been the fens and marshes of East Anglia and the bogs and morasses of Ireland. There can be little doubt that the
Crane began to diminish as a breeding species in
60
THE CRANE 6i
the British area towards the close of the twelfth century, continuing to do so through the three following centuries, and finally ceasing by the end of the sixteenth century. Simultaneously the extermination of the Cranes that visited these islands exclusively for the winter appears to have been in progress. As might naturally be expected, the indigenous or breeding birds were the first to go ; and there is evidence to show that the Crane still continued to visit the fens for the winter long after it had ceased to breed within our limits. During the latter half of the seventeenth century the Crane was only known to Willughby and Ray as a winter visitor in large flocks to the Lincoln- shire and Cambridgeshire fens ; but these must have become exterminated early in the eighteenth century, for in 1768 Pennant informs us that the bird was quite unknown in those counties. From that time to the present the Crane can only be regarded as an irregular and abnormal visitor on migration to various parts of the British Islands, sometimes occurring in exceptional numbers, as in the year 1869, and drawn here, we may rest assured, by no nostalgic impulse, but driven to our island shores by the exigencies of their annual journeys to destinations far remote from them. What was
62 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
the cause of this noble bird's extinction in our islands ? Probably a potent cause was the drainage of its marsh and fenland haunts. We know that the eggs and nestlings of the Crane were protected by law ; but perhaps these steps may have been taken when the bird was already fast vanishing from the land : however, the fact that the parent birds were not included rendered any such provi- sion futile in the extreme. In any case, we well know that legal protection of such a character was unable to save the bird from extinction; and we should feel disposed to attribute its disappearance as a breeding species to the destruction of its nesting haunts and to the killing of the old birds during the breeding season, whilst undue persecu- tion may have also assisted in reducing the numbers of the birds that came into our area for the winter only. A bird so large and conspicuous, such a noble prize, would be sure to be unduly harassed by the fowler ; and as the favourite haunts became smaller and more accessible to man, in spite of its wariness the poor Crane would dwindle in numbers, winter after winter, until all were gone. The worst of it is, in this case, too, the Crane is absolutely lost to us, it can never be reinstated into our fauna ; the odd birds that visit us are abnormal migrants.
THE CRANE 63
and we may safely rest assured that the old stock of indigenous individuals and regular winter migrants has long passed away. We might add, in concluding this historical survey of the Crane as a British species, that remains of the bird have been found in the "' kitchen middens " of Ballycotton in County Cork.
The Crane has a very extensive range, being a breeding species in all suitable localities throughout Europe and Northern Asia, and wintering in various parts of Southern Asia and Europe, and in Africa as far south as the northern limits of the intertropical realm. In Europe it visits the Arctic regions to breed, as well as many localities in South Russia, Turkey, the Danube area, Austro- Hungary, Italy, Andalusia, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic Provinces. In Asia it does not go quite so far north (the Arctic Circle in the extreme west, latitude 60° farther east), but in the south it breeds in Turkestan, the Baikal area, and the valley of the Amoor. Its winter home in Asia is in Persia, Palestine, South China, and Northern India. Three years ago Dr. Sharpe separated the Asiatic individ- uals as Grus lilfordi,on the ground of their presumed paler coloration, but their specific distinctness has not been very generally recognised by naturalists.
64 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
The migrations of the Crane are by no means the least interesting portion of the bird's life history. These migrations extend from the tropics to the Arctic regions, and are performed at vast heights and by great numbers of individuals flying in company. Cranes begin to cross the Mediter- ranean into Europe as early as February and March, often passing over certain spots in successive flocks, the birds trumpeting to each other as they go. The Crane appears to migrate by day alone, and the flocks on passage either assume the form of a V or a "W, or each bird flies in single file. The haunts most favoured by the Crane are extensive swamps, full of lakes and quaking bogs, mingled with higher and drier ground clothed with coarse herbage, heath, and scattered bushes. Although many of these places are entirely surrounded with forests, the Crane shows no partiality for trees. Few birds are more wary or more quick to detect advancing enemies, and the stalking of a Crane in its open haunt is almost an impossibility. Except on passage, the Crane spends most of its time upon the ground, walking with graceful steps, and wading into the shallow water in quest of food. The flight is strong and well-sustained, the big broad wings moving in measured sequence and with the
THE CRANE 65
long neck and legs fully extended. The note is loud, clear, and trumpet-like, capable of being heard for immense distances. The Crane is for the most part a vegetarian, subsisting on grain of all kinds, grass, buds and leaves of water plants, acorns, and other seeds ; its animal diet includes frogs, lizards, insects, and small fish, A flock of these birds, when feeding or resting, station sentinels to warn them of approaching danger. The Crane is rather an early breeder, the eggs being laid in the more southern localities in April, a month or so later in the far north. The huge bulky nest is placed upon the ground or in the shallow water in the least accessible part of the swamps and morasses ; and as the birds are in the habit of returning annually to the same localities to breed, they probably pair for life. The nest, which is from two to five feet across, is made of heather, branches, sedges, and rushes, and lined with grass. The eggs are usually two, some- times three in number, brownish or greenish buff in ground colour, blotched and spotted with reddish brown, pale brown, and grey. The female incu- bates them, and the young birds — clothed in huffish down — are able to run almost at once. The young and their parents remain in company until the migration period approaches, when these family 5
66 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
parties unite into the large flocks which are so characteristic of the annual journeys of this magni- ficent bird. For the remainder of the season the Crane is gregarious, and the movements of these winter flocks are very regular.
The adult Crane has the general colour of the plumage slate-grey, shading into black on the quills ; of these the innermost secondaries are very elong- ated, and fall in graceful plumes over the tail ; from the eye along the side of the head and the sides of the upper neck is a white streak ; the crown is bare of feathers, covered with scarlet warty skin ; whilst the forehead and the lores are equally devoid of plumage, but covered with blackish bristles. The female closely resembles the male in colour, but the plumes are smaller. These are entirely wanting in the young, which have bufiish margins to the feathers, and the bare parts of the head are clothed with plumage. The Crane stands nearly four feet high, and is from three to four feet in length.
THE GREAT BUSTARD
{OTIS TARDA)
nnHE knowledge that the magnificent Great -^ Bustard was still a resident on English soil not sixty years ago is well calculated to awaken sad thoughts of regret in every reader who takes an interest in our native birds, and more especially in the preservation of disappearing or threatened species. There is no evidence at present to suggest that the Great Bustard ever was an inhabitant of Ireland, whilst in the remainder of the United Kingdom it seems to have been a local species confined to the champaign areas, or bare and open treeless districts. These were the Merse of Berwick- shire, the open area of tlie Lothians, the wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, the warrens, heaths, and brecks of Norfolk, Sufiblk, and Cambridge- shire, and the downs and naked uplands of Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Berks, Herts, and Sussex. Curiously
enough, the earliest description of the Great Bustard
67
68 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
in Britain is found in a work entitled A History of Scotland, written by Hector Boethius, and published in 1526. Since 1684 there appears to be no evidence that the Great Bustard dwelt in this area. Coming southwards, we find that the last Bustards disappeared from the Yorkshire wolds about 1826. Its final disappearance from Lincoln- shire is not recorded, but Professor Newton states that it probably occurred about the same time. In Norfolk, where the bird appears to have lingered longest, the last two examples were killed in 1838. In Suffolk the Bustard ceased to exist in 1832 ; whilst the first ten years of the present century saw its extermination from Salisbury Plain in Wilts : similar remarks apply to Dorset. From its other English haunts it appears to have passed away without any record whatever, although we may mention that there is no evidence of indigen- ous birds occurring within the present century at all. It is somewhat difficult to account for the extermination of the Great Bustard in Britain by those causes which have been so disastrous in the case of other species. The planting of trees and the enclosure of land may have had some share in the extinction of the Bustard, but we are inclined more to attribute its disappearance to direct persecu-
THE GREAT BUSTARD 69
tion from man. Much of the country formerly inhabited by this bird remains in a very similar condition to what it was when the Bustard roamed over it. That the bird can exist in well-cultivated areas is proved by its presence upon some of the most highly farmed land in the world in North Germany ; and we can see no reason why this species should not be perfectly at home upon such places as the Norfolk " brecks " and the open land of the Wiltshire downs to-day, were reasonable protection afforded it. Another cause of its extinction was the introduction of the corn-drill and the horse-hoe, which led to the discovery of its nests, and of course to their destruction by ignorant farm labourers. The fact that the birds moult their quills so rapidly as for some time to be incapable of flight may also have helped in their extinction. Had the Bustard been carefully preserved during the breeding season, and only killed in reasonable numbers, and its capture with traps made illegal, there seems no reason why the bird should not have retained its place as an indigenous species down to the present time. Possibly the day may come again when the Great Bustard will be seen in the old haunts, for there is nothing to prevent its introduction being attended
70 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
by success, if intelligently attempted, as was the case with the Capercaillie. Its sedentaiy habits are certainly in its favour. There can be little doubt that the indigenous Bustards were non- migratory. At the present time this bird is purely an abnormal winter wanderer to Britain, some- times arriving in exceptional numbers, as during the winters of 1870-71, 1879-80, 1890-91.
A bird of the Bustard's wariness, gifted with long legs and ample wings, and frequenting the bare open country, is very well able to take care of itself under all ordinary circumstances. Notwith- standing this, even in some extra British localities the bird is not so numerous as formerly, especially in South Sweden (where, indeed, it is said to be extinct) and Denmark. If we admit the specific distinctness of Otis dyhowskii, found in Siberia, China, and Japan, the range of the Great Bustard will include Central and Southern Europe and North-west Africa. It is said to visit Asia Minor, North Persia, Afghanistan, and North-west India. The favourite if not the exclusive haunts of the Great Bustard are treeless steppes and vast grain lands. It is more or less gregarious at all seasons, but most so in winter, when it unites into flocks of varying size, which roam the prairies in quest of
THE GREAT BUSTARD 71
food. A separation of the sexes into distinct flocks has been remarked at this season. During the summer immature birds remain in bands. In no part of its distribution are the migrations of this Bustard very pronounced. The bird is a very conspicuous one on the open steppes, especially before the grain or other herbage has grown sufficiently high to conceal it. Like most ground birds, it can make very good use of its legs, and if driven to flight soon passes out of danger with slow and deliberate beats of its ample wings. Its food is chiefly of a vegetable character, — grain, seeds, and the leaves and buds of plants, — but insects, mice, lizards, and frogs are also eaten. The usual note is a kind of grunt, and a hissing sound is produced by both sexes when alarmed or excited. This Bustard is said by some observers to be poly- gamous, but the balance of evidence seems to be in favour of monogamous habits, the birds pairing every spring. The greater scarcity of cock birds in England during the later years of the Bustard's occupation may have led to the assumption that several females lived under the protection of one male. The display of the cock Bustard in the pairing season is one of the most remarkable performances of its kind among birds. The nest-
72 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
ing season is in May. The hen scrapes a hollow either on the open steppe or amongst the growing grain, lining it with a few bits of dry herbage. In this she usually lays two, and occasionall}^ three eggs, olive green or olive brown in ground colour, spotted and blotched with reddish brown and grey. She alone appears to incubate them. If disturbed, she glides very quietly away, running for some distance before taking wing. But one brood is reared in the season.
The male Great Bustard has the head grey ; the general colour of the upper parts is chestnut buff, barred with black ; the primaries are black, the remainder of the wings white ; the breast is banded with chestnut and grey ; the remainder of the under parts is white. There is a tuft of long white bristly feathers or plumes on each side at the base of the bill. The female wants these accessary plumes, and the pectoral bands are absent. The male also possesses in some cases (possibly in very old birds) an air pouch or sac opening under the tongue, but its exact use is not yet fully ascertained. An old cock Great Bustard is from thirty-six to forty- three inches in length, and may weigh as much as thirtjj'-five pounds ; but the hen is considerably smaller, not much more than half that weight.
m
H
O O >
THE AVOCET
{recur viros tra a voce tta )
TTERE again we have a species which has been -^ wantonly exterminated in Britain during the first quarter of the present century. The records of the persecution of this beautiful and curious bird are sad and exasperating in the extreme. Can it be believed that at the beginning of the nineteenth century the pretty, gentle, inoffensive Avocet was one of our commonest summer migrants to the fens and marshes of the eastern counties ? Now — and for nearly eighty years, too — it is lost to us for ever ; for no human efforts can restore it to the Fens again ! Previous to that date there is evidence to show that its distribution in this country was much wider still. At the close of the eighteenth century the Avocet bred on Romney marshes, whilst there are earlier records of its presence in the Severn district and in Staffordshire. The last -known colony of
74 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
Avocets was situated at Salthouse in the Fen Country, but this was destroyed between the years 1822-25. It is recorded that the eggs were gathered from this colony to make puddings, and the poor birds destroyed for the sake of their feathers, which were used to make artificial flies ! The drainage and enclosure of marsh land may have restricted the haunts of the Avocet ; but experience has shown that a species is not readily extirpated by such means. To our lasting shame, we must attribute its extinction to the senseless persecution of the birds by man, and to the whole- sale taking of their eggs, scientific collectors being to some extent responsible for the calamity. Parties of Avocets on migration still continue to visit East Anglia, especially in spring ; but there is every reason to believe that these arrivals are not attempting to recolonise the deserted haunts, and whether the birds are captured or not is quite immaterial. We may rest assured that the bird as a breeding species is lost to us for all time. The fate of the British Avocets, however, might well serve as a warning in Denmark and Holland, where the bird is fast becoming rarer, and may eventually become extinct if measures for its protection are not taken in time.
THE AVOCET 75
Outside our limits the Avocet breeds on the southern coasts of the Baltic, on the Frisian Islands and the Dutch coast, as well as in the deltas of the Rhone and the Guadalquivir. Thence we trace it as a breeding species along the valley of the Danube and amongst the lagoons of the Black Sea. Still farther eastwards it is said to be resident in Palestine and Persia, and to breed in various parts of Central Asia, onwards to Dauria and Mongolia. To India and China it is a winter visitor ; whilst in Africa it is more or less a resident throughout the continent, including Madagascar. The Avocet is a migratory bird, hence the impossibility of its ever being introduced into England by man. It arrives in flocks at its summer quarters in Europe during April and May, and quits them in September. Its favourite resorts are low sandy coasts, salt marshes, lagoons, and flat islands. Here it may be seen near the water, or wading in the vshallows, or even swimming across deeper pools. It is not particularly shy, if wary, and will allow itself to be watched walking with graceful steps about the mud, or running over it if need be. A too close approach will cause it to soar into the air, where it flies with its long neck and legs outstretched and its black and white plumage
76 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
giving it a curious aspect. At all seasons it is gi-egarious, and the effect produced by a large flock either standing on the mud or fluttering in the air is very singular and pleasing. The bird obtains its food by working its long slender upturned bill from side to side, and this food is composed chiefly of small worms, insects and larvse, and tiny crustaceans, the captured morsel being swallowed with a toss of the head. The note of this species is a clear and softly uttered tii-it, heard most frequently when its breeding-places are disturbed by man.
In Western Europe the Avocet commences to breed in May. It nests in colonies, many pairs of birds occupying a small area of suitable ground. The nests are little more than hollows in the sand or mud, or amongst the short herbage, lined with a few bits of dry herbage. The three or four eggs are pale buff" in ground colour, spotted and blotched with blackish brown and grey. Both parents incubate them, and but one brood is reared in the season.
The adult Avocet has the crown, the back of the neck, the primaries, scapulars, and a band across the wing from the shoulder to the end of the innermost secondaries black ; the remainder of
THE AVOCET 77
the plumage white. In the young the plumage is not so pure ; the black has a brown cast, and many of the dark feathers have pale margins. The length of this bird is about sixteen inches.
THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT
{limosa melanura)
nnHE Black - tailed God wit is another species -*- which the exercise of a little ordinary care and common sense might have preserved. It seems almost incredible that in former days this bird was so common in East Anglia that it was regularly fattened for the table, and held in as much as or even greater estimation than the Woodcock is in our own. Its chief strongholds in Britain, so far as we possess any records, were in the fens of Lincolnshire and Norfolk and in the Isle of Ely. During the first quarter of the present century the Black-tailed Godwit bred commonly in the Fens ; it ceased to do so about the year 1829, but a nest was found in Norfolk as recently as 1847. This Godwit still continues to pass over the British Islands in spring and autumn on its way to breeding-grounds farther north, but the stock of
indigenous birds is gone, and we may safely
78
THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT 79
conclude that the species will never nest with us again. This species furnishes another instance confirming the fact that the supply of our indigenous birds is not unlimited, and that if we unduly persecute them the time is sure to come when they will vanish from our avifauna. It is the breeding birds that should be jealously guarded; the winter visitors are not only better able to take care of themselves, but as a rule are much more numerous. So long as these individuals are not molested at their breeding-grounds in the Faroes, Iceland, and Scandinavia, Black-tailed Godwits will continue to visit us on passage. These may be met with locally on most of our coast-line, but are commonest on the mudflats of the east and south. Outside our limits the Black-tailed Godwit, in addition to the localities already given, breeds in Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Northern Germany, and Central and Southern Russia. Eastwards it is met with as a breeding species in Western Turkestan, and South-west Siberia as far as the valley of the Obb. In winter it is found on the Spanish coasts, throughout the basin of the Mediterranean, the coasts of the Red Sea, the basin of the Caspian, the shores of the Persian Gulf, and North-western India. In Asia, from the
8o LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
valley of the Yenisei eastwards, it is replaced by a closely allied form.
Lost as the Black-tailed Godwit is to British ornithologists, it may still be observed during the breeding season on the opposite coasts of the North Sea, in the marshy meadows of Holland, and in the fenlands of Jutland — proof, if proof were wanting, that the birds did not forsake their English haunts, but were ruthlessly driven from them. Drainage may have destroyed many an English breeding- place, but there are many others left where this bird could still have nested in peace. In Europe the spring migration of this Godwit begins as early as February, and continues through the two following months, those that cross the British Islands appearing in them in April and May. They are seen again on migration south in August and September, and in some places the passage lasts until October. This Godwit not only may be seen on tidal mudflats, but on salt marshes and the wet portions of moors. It is not exactly a shy bird, if a wary one, and Dr. Sharpe tells us that he has seen it standing complacently near the muddy dykes as the train rushed along between Rotterdam and Amsterdam ; whilst on the Lincolnshire mud- flats we have repeatedly watched it running
THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT 8i
daintily about within easy gunshot. It flies well and rapidly, like all its allies, and frequently wades breast - high in the shallows. The food of this species consists of worms, insects and their larvae, snails, and the seeds, buds, and roots of various plants. The call-note of this Godwit resembles the syllables ty-ii-it ; whilst its cry, when alarmed at its breeding-grounds, is a loud and clear tyu-tyil. In Western Europe the breeding season of the Black-tailed Godwit is in May ; occasionally eggs may be found late in April. Numbers of nests may be found within a small area of marsh. The nest is made upon the ground, in a tussock of sedge, or concealed amongst the herbage, and is merely a hollow, lined with a little dry grass or other vegetable refuse. The four eggs are olive brown in ground colour, spotted and blotched with darker olive brown, pale brown, and grey. But one brood is reared in the season.
In breeding or summer plumage the adult male Black-tailed Godwit has the head, neck, and breast reddish chestnut, marked with blackish brown on the crown and breast ; the remainder of the upper parts (except the rump, which is white) are brown, more or less flecked and spotted with black; the wings are dark brown, with a conspicuous white
82 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
bar across them ; the tail is black, with a white base ; the under parts below the breast are white, barred with brown on the flanks. The female is less showy than the male. In winter plumage the general colour of both sexes is greyish brown above and nearly white below the breast, which is marked with dusky streaks. In winter plumage the tail is ash grey, slightly marked at the base with wdiite. The total length of the male of this Godwit is about sixteen inches.
THE BLACK TERN
{sterna nigra)
TTTHETHER the extinction of this pretty Tern " ' as a breeding species in England can be solely attributed to the drainage of fens and marsh lands is certainly doubtful, when we bear in mind how so many of our remaining species of Terns have been reduced in numbers by direct persecution and not the destruction of breeding haunts. The Lesser Tern is a sad example of this, and the greatest care will have to be exercised if we do not want to see it overtaken by the same lamentable fate. The Black Tern was formerly an abundant summer visitor to the fens and marshy lands of East Anglia; the drainage of these has curtailed its haunts, and in many places no doubt destroyed them. The last eggs of which any record has been kept appear to have been taken in 1858 in Norfolk. It is interesting to know that a few pairs of Black Terns appear annually in the districts
84 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
the species frequented in such numbers years ago, and it is not improbable that these may be survivors of the old indigenous stock. They should be protected and encouraged, in the forlorn hope that the species may re-establish itself in this country. The fens and low grounds of East Anglia too long remained the happy hunting- ground of the fowler and the egg-gatherer, who have been permitted to destroy and take at any and every season, with the inevitable result that all true naturalists have now to deplore. In other parts of the British Islands the Black Tern can only be regarded as an accidental wanderer on abnormal migration. Outside our limits this Tern breeds as far north, as Esthonia, thence southwards in the Baltic Provinces, Prussia, South Scandinavia, Denmark, Holland, France, the Iberian Peninsula, and eastwards through Central and Southern Europe to the Caspian. South of the Mediterranean it breeds in North Africa, excepting Egypt ; whilst its Asiatic range includes South-western Siberia and Turkestan, east to the Altai. In winter this Tern is found as far south in Africa as the northern portion of the intertropical realm.
The Black Tern is a regular migrant to Western Europe, reaching its breeding quarters in May.
THE BLACK TERN 85
Its habits are very similar to those of allied birds. It spends most of its time in the air, gracefully flitting to and fro, dropping every now and then to the surface of the water to pick up some food. When on migration it may be seen flying along shore, but at other times it prefers to frequent fens, salt marshes, and swamps, and large sheets of water where the shallows are choked with reeds and rushes, and the alder trees form almost im- penetrable thickets. At all times of the year it appears to be gregarious, and during summer lives in colonies of varying size to rear its young. The food of this Tern consists largely of insects, small fish, and other aquatic creatures, worms and grubs. The note is a shrill crrick, sometimes prolonged into crree. The nests of the Black Tern are made amongst the reeds in the shallow water, or on clumps of sedge and grass on the spongy ground of the surrounding marshes. They are bulky structures, like heaps of decaying vegetation, made of rotten reeds and sedges, and the hollow lined with dry grass. The eggs are three in number, and vary from buff" to olive brown in ground colour, heavily marked with reddish brown, blackish brown, pale brown, and grey. Both parents assist in their incubation. When disturbed,
86 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
the birds rise in fluttering crowds from the ground, with noisy cries of remonstrance, and continue to fly to and fro above their nests until the danger has passed. But one brood is reared in the season ; and a movement south may be observed soon after the young can fly, the passage of this species extending from August to October,
The adult Black Tern in summer plumage has the head, neck, breast, and belly black ; the under tail coverts white ; the remainder of the plumage dark grey. In winter plumage the forehead, throat, and lores are white, and the under parts are more or less mottled with white. Young birds have the upper parts, especially on the head and back, mottled with brown. The length of this small Tern is about ten inches.
PLATE IV.
G R EAT AUKS
THE GREAT AUK
{alca impennis)
rriHE species we have hitherto mentioned have become extinct in the British Islands only, their extermination being of a local character ; but the present bird excites a wider melancholy interest, for there can be little doubt that it has ceased to exist altogether. Many erroneous opinions prevail not only respecting the geographical distribution of the Great Auk, but the cause of its extirpation. As most readers may know, the Great Auk was incapable of flight. The bird was nearly as big as an ordinary tame Goose, but closely resembled a Razorbill in general appearance, except that its short narrow wings were quite incapable of bearing it through the air. If useless for flight, these wings were used with marvellous power as oars, and the bird was a most accomplished swimmer and diver. This inability of the wings
for flight was due to the abortive character of the
87
88 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
bones of the forearm and hand, the humerus being proportionately as long as in the existing species of Auks, all of which are able to fly. As Mr. Lucas (one of the ablest historians of the Great Auk) points out, this modification of structure, however un- fortunate it proved to its possessor, was correlated with the bird's aquatic habits ; the resistance of water being much greater than that of air, a wing- requiring less surface and more power than one formed exclusively for aerial locomotion would be best adapted for submarine flight.
Respecting the geographical distribution of the Great Auk, the impression widely prevails that the bird was an inhabitant of the Arctic regions ; and more than one naturalist has suggested that the lost species may still be found in the Polar solitudes. Vain hope, with not a shred of evidence to support it ! So far as is known, the Great Auk was confined to the North Atlantic, and there is no reliable evidence whatever that the bird ranged anywhere within the Arctic Circle.^ On the eastern shores of the North Atlantic the bird ranged from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay, breeding certainly in the
^ Professor Eeinhardt says that there is doubt attaching to the locality of the specimea (uow in the Copenhagen Museum) from Greenland, reputed to be from Fiskernas, above the Arctic Circle.
THE GREAT AUK 89
Icelandic area, and possibly on the Faroes, the Orkneys, and some of the Norwegian islands.^ There is little evidence to suggest that the Great Auk ever bred in any numbers, if at all, on St. Kilda, Martin's statements notwithstanding. On the western shores of the North Atlantic its range extended from Greenland to Virginia, but the actual breeding stations were few and far between. There can be no doubt that the grand headquarters of the Great Auk were on the American side of the Atlantic, and there the most important station of which we have any evidence at present was on Funk Island, off Newfoundland, although other breeding- places were possibly located along the coasts of Labrador and South Greenland. In European waters Iceland appears to have been the principal resort of the Great Auk, and from here most of the specimens of birds and eggs now in existence were obtained. Here the colony was located on several rocky islets situated some twenty-five miles to the south-west of the main island, the birds continuing to be fairl}'- numerous, although harassed from time to time by collectors and others. But mis- fortune seems to have settled upon the Great Auk,
^ Apparent remains of an egg have been discovered recently near Falsterbo, in South Sweden.
go LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
Nature herself hastening Hb doom in volcanic dis- turbances, which in March 1830 caused the principal breeding reef — the Geirfuglasker — to disappear beneath the waves, and compel the surviving birds to take up fresh quarters. Most of them appear to have selected the islet of Eldey — a very un- fortunate choice, for this reef was situated much nearer to the main island, and was far more accessible to man. Here, within a period of fourteen years, every bird was killed, the last pair being captured early in June 1844, and forming the final record of the species in Europe. Coming now to British waters, we find it stated that two centuries ago the Great Auk was a regular summer visitor to St. Kilda, although, as previously stated, we doubt if the bird ever was established there in any numbers, the islets being for the most part very precipitous, and unsuited to its requirements. A bird, however, was caught there — in autumn be it remarked — as recently as 1821 or 1822 ; and we ourselves in 1884 were assured by an old inhabitant of the islands that a Great Auk was stoned to death as an " evil spirit " on Stack-an-Armin about half a century previous, he himself assisting in the massacre ! In 1812, Bullock saw a Great Auk at Papa Westray in the Orkneys, and tried to shoot it
THE GREAT AUK 91
without success, although the poor unfortunate was killed the following year, preserved, and sent to him. This specimen is now in the British Museum. The hen bird of this pair had been killed previous to Bullock's visit. One other British example was caught in a landing-net in Waterford harbour in May 1834, and is now preserved in Trinity College Museum, Dublin. Other evidence of the Great Auk's former existence in Ireland is presented in its remains found in some numbers on the coast of Antrim,^ with those of the horse, dog, and wolf, and more recently in a " kitchen midden " in the county of Waterford. Remains of this bird have also been found in the superficial deposits in the Cleadon Hills in Durham, as well as at Oronsay and Caithness.
We now turn to the story of the Great Auk's extirpation in America, — a record of wanton cruelty and carnage that would be hard to beat, — " countless myriads of this flightless fowl," says Mr. Lucas, " hunted to the death with the murderous instincts and disregard for the morrow so characteristic of the white race." Although there is evidence to suggest that the bird was formerly abundant at
^ Irish Naturalist, vol. v. p. 121 : Proc. R. I. A. (3) iii. pp. 650-663.
92 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
Penguin Islands, off the southern coast of Newfound- land, Funk Island must have been the site of the most important colony. This latter locality was specially visited by Mr. Lucas in July 1887, on board the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Grampus, and from his intensely interesting accounts we will quote the following particulars.^ Here, on the southern half of the island, " the Auk bred in peace, undisturbed by man, until that fateful day . . . when Cartier's crews inaugurated the slaughter, which only terminated with the existence of the Great Auk. The history of the Great Auk in America may be said to date from 1534, when, on May 21, two boats' crews from Cartier's vessels landed on Funk Island, and, as we are told, ' in lesse than halfe an hour we filled two boats full of them, as if they had been stones. So that besides them which we did eat fresh, every ship did powder and salt five or sixe barrels of them.' The Great Auk having thus been apprised of the advent of civilisation in the regular manner, continued to be utilised by all subsequent visitors. The French fishermen depended very largely on the Great Auks to supply them with provisions ; passing ships touched at Funk Island for supplies ; the early 1 Report U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887-88 ; op. cil. 1889.
THE GREAT AUK 93
colonists barrelled them up for winter use, and the great abundance of the birds was set forth among other inducements to encourage emigration to Newfoundland. The immense numbers of the Auks may be inferred from the fact that they withstood these drains for more than two centuries, although laying but a single egg, and consequently increasing but slowly under the most favourable circumstances. Finally someone conceived the idea of killing the Garefowl for their feathers, and this sealed its fate. When and where the scheme originated, and how long the slaughter lasted, we know not, for the matter is rather one of general report than of recorded fact, although in this instance circumstantial evidence bears witness to the truth of Cartwright's statement, that it was customary for several crews of men to pass the summer on Funk Island solely to slay the Great Auks for their feathers. That the birds were slain by millions, that their bodies were left to moulder where they were killed, that stone pens were erected, and that for some purpose frequent and long-continued fires were built on Funk Island, is indisputable." The final extinction of the Great Auk in America was almost coincident with its extirpation in Europe, the work of slaughter going
94 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
steadily on " until the last of the species had dis- appeared from the face of the earth, and the place to which it resorted for untold ages knew it no more." Mr. Lucas obtained the most ample evidence of the bird's former abundance. He tells us that " on the northerly slope a stroke of the hoe anywhere M^ould bring to light at least a score of bones " ; and again, " while many humeri were thrown aside while digging, the collection was found to contain over fourteen hundred specimens of this bone." The material brought back by him was estimated to be greater than that obtained by all other expeditions combined, and to include nearly two barrels of bones, from which ten or eleven skeletons of the Great Auk have been made up. Previous to the visit of Mr. Lucas to Funk Island, but two naturalists had explored the place. Stuvitz went there in 1841, and discovered some bones ; Professor Milne visited the island in 1874, and after an hour's work brought away bones belonging to some fifty birds and the inner linings of several eggs ; whilst nine years previous to the latter naturalist's visit, an expedition sent out for guano procured three " mummies " or dried bodies of the Great Auk.
The extinction of this noble bird is all the more
THE GREAT AUK 95
to be regretted when we bear in mind that it was absolutely avoidable and unnecessary, and was in no remote way due to those economic and industrial changes which have deprived so many other species of a home. Here in the present case we find no invasion by civilisation of favourite haunts, no destruction for the sake of improvement of time- honoured breeding-grounds, no increase of popula- tion to exterminate timid creatures, but simply a cruel and wanton massacre of poor helpless and defenceless birds for the sake of commercial greed and gain that really could have had very little value. The extermination that went on in Iceland in an era of greater intellectual activity has even less to defend it ; for there the latest survivors of the Great Auk were captured to supply various scientific institutions in Europe, so that literally its extirpation was countenanced and approved by and was undertaken in the name of Science ! There was no reason whatever why the Great Auk should not have survived and even flourished in our own day. It is true the bird was comparatively help- less, but its inability to escape from enemies only prevailed during the nesting season, when the poor bird was engaged in duties that should have ensured for it immunity from harm. At all other
96 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
times it was practically safe in its natural element the sea. Regrets are useless now ; and when the few relics that are in existence have mouldered away, the Great Auk will fade from our memories, live but as a tradition, and finally perhaps as a legend or a myth !
Notwithstanding the former abundance of the Great Auk, and its comparatively recent final dis- appearance, but very little indeed is known respect- ing its habits. These, there can be little doubt, were very similar to those of its surviving allies, especially of the Razorbill, its nearest living relation. We know that it was an accomplished diver, we also know that it lived on fish ; but of its notes, its nesting habits, its migrations, and the like, history is silent, and records are wanting. The breeding-places of this species were flat rocks that sloped gently to the sea, and the single egg was, it is presumed, laid nestless on the ground. This egg runs through similar variations to those of the Razorbill, but is, of course, double the size. The number of eggs at present known to exist is seventy-one. There are also seventy-seven skins of the Great Auk in various collections, together with many more or less complete skeletons and large numbers of odd bones.
THE GREAT AUK 97
The Great Auk has the general colour of the upper parts, including the wings, black ; the second- aries are tipped with white ; the tail is black ; the throat is black ; the remainder of the under parts white, as is also a large patch on each side of the face between the base of the bill and the eye. Bill similar to that of the Razorbill, but the white grooves not quite so conspicuous. In winter the throat became white, as in the Razorbill. The length of the Great Auk was about twenty-five inches.
VANISHING BRITISH BIRDS
■3^
THE BEARDED TITMOUSE
{PANURUS BIARMICUS)
nnHE birds we now come to deal with are
-^ fortunately still indigenous to the British
Islands, although they are present in sadly
diminished numbers, and are all more or less
threatened with extinction in our area unless
eiforts are taken to preserve them and senseless
persecution is relaxed. Our first species is the
Bearded Titmouse, although why it should be
called a " Titmouse " is hard to say ; for its habits,
characteristics, and organisation show little or no
direct relationship with the group, and its true
affinities remain yet to be discovered. This
charming little bird is not only one of the prettiest,
but one of the most interesting of our native
98
PLATE V.
BEARDED TITS
THE BEARDED TITMOUSE 99
species. It is also one of the most local. We have evidence to show that formerly the Bearded Tit- mouse occupied a much wider area in England than is now the case. This area included Lincoln- shire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Sussex (possibly Hants), Dorset, and Devonshire. Probably it also occupied suitable districts in the valley of the Thames, even as far as Gloucestershire. At the present day this range is sadly curtailed, and only includes the counties of Devon, Suffolk (possibly), and Norfolk. When we come to investigate the causes of such rapid and wholesale restriction of area, we find it directly attributable to the destruction by drainage and enclosure of haunts, and to the direct per- secution of man. We know that vast areas where this bird formerly dwelt have been improved away ; the forests of reeds and the wet lands have vanished, and with them have gone the Bearded Titmouse. But this can only explain part of the extinction of the species. There are many wide areas left that the bird was known at one time to inhabit, but which are now apparently deserted, and these haunts have been decimated in the interests of collectors. Not only have marsh men taken every nest they could fuid, but the parent
loo LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
birds have been captured too. Here again we find the supply of birds limited and unable to fill the demand. Not only so : the Bearded Titmouse is a resident species, strictly confined to its native reed beds, so that when the British stock becomes exhausted the bird will pass out of our fauna completely, as so many other interesting forms have already done. We are heartily glad to hear that in some districts measures are being taken for the better protection of the Bearded Titmouse. We trust that these may prove successful, be more generally applied, and strictly enforced ; for there is evidence to show that the bird in some districts especially is rapidly diminishing in numbers. We appeal to the owners of the reed beds frequented by this species to preserve it from extinction, and hope that local Natural History Societies will exert their widespread influence in the good cause. Beyond the British area the Bearded Titmouse has a most extensive range, being found over a great part of Europe and Asia, at least as far east as North-eastern Thibet. We find it an inhabit- ant of the reed beds of Holland, Pomerania, and Hungary, in France in the marshes of the Rhone and Narbonne, in Spain, eastwards to Italy, South Ruvssia, Turkestan, and South Siberia. To Holland
THE BEARDED TITMOUSE loi
and Germany it is said to be a summer visitor only, but further information is desired. Examples of this species become paler towards the eastern limits of its distribution, and Central Asian birds were described by Bonaparte as Panurus sibiricus. As birds almost if not quite as pale may be met with in the extreme western areas, this form can only be regarded as sub-specifically distinct. We have no record of the Bearded Titmouse south of the Mediterranean or north of Pomerania, whilst it is extremely rare and local in the Levant.
The favourite, we might almost say the exclusive haunts of the Bearded Titmouse are reed beds. In England these are few and far between nowadays. It is a somewhat secretive species, skulking amongst the reeds and sedges when too closely approached, although sometimes seen flitting across the open waterways in an uncertain, undulatory manner, or clinging to some tall bending stem. During autumn and winter the Bearded Titmouse, or " Reed Pheasant," as it is locally termed in the Broad district, lives in flocks and parties of varying size, which roam about the reed forests in quest of food ; but in spring and summer it is met with in pairs alone. Seebohm, who specially visited the Broads to observe the habits of this bird, describes
I02 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
its note as a musical 'ping, its alarm-note a harsh, Whitethroat-like chir-r-r-r, and its cry of distress a plaintive ee-ar-ee-ar. The food of the Bearded Titmouse is composed in summer of insects and tiny molluscs ; in winter, of the seeds of the reed and other plants. Of the pairing habits of this species nothing definite is known. Its nesting season begins in April, and is prolonged until July, two broods being reared in the year. The nest is generally made beneath the shelter of a tuft of sedge or other coarse aquatic herbage, well con- cealed by overhanging vegetation. It is cup-shaped, rather deep, and made externally of dry grass, dead leaves, bits of reed, and scraps of withered aquatic plants ; internally of finer grass and the flowers of the reed. The eggs are from five to seven, creamj'- white in ground colour, freckled with irregular lines and specks of dark brown. From these few particulars it may be remarked that the Bearded Titmouse is somewhat prolific, and we believe would hold its ground and steadily increase if reasonable protection were aflforded it.
The adult male Bearded Tit has the head delicate lavender grey; the lores and a tuft of drooping, moustache-like feathers on either side of the gape are black ; the general colour of the upper parts is
THE BEARDED TITMOUSE 103
rufous brown, shading into pinkish brown on the upper tail coverts ; and the tail feathers are tipped with dull white, the outermost feathers with a margin also of the same tint ; the wings are dark brown, the primaries with white margins and tips, the secondaries with rich rufous ones, the scapulars rusty white ; the lesser wing coverts greyish brown, the greater ones black, both tipped with rufous, and the latter margined with the same. The throat and breast are grey, with a rosy flush ; the centre of the belly is pale buff"; the flanks are rufous brown, the under tail coverts black. The bill and irides are yellow. The female is not so brilliantly coloured ; the black on the head and the moustache are wanting, and the under tail coverts are rufous. Young birds resemble the female in colour, and have the crown and back streaked with black. The total length of this bird is about six inches.
THE ST. KILDA WREN
{troglodytes hirtensis)
T)ERHAPS we may be forgiven for taking an exceptional interest in the fate of this bird ; for we had the pleasure of ascertaining that it differed in certain respects from the Wren found in other parts of the British Islands. In 1884, when we brought the first known specimen from St. Kilda, the bird was common enough on all the islands of the group, and its cheery song could be heard everyAvhere. No sooner, however, was its specific distinctness pointed out by Seebohm in the Zoologist and by ourselves in the Ihis, than it became a coveted object by collectors of British birds and eggs, and specimens of both were eagerly sought. The natives of St. Kilda, urged on by the greed of gain, were not slow to take advantage of such an opportunity for making money, and the species has suffered sorely in consequence. That it will ultimately become as extinct as the Great Auk
THE ST. KILDA WREN 105
which once frequented these Atlantic isles, is certain unless strong measures are taken by the proprietor of the islands for its protection. Many pairs, there can be little doubt, still frequent the uninhabited portion of the group ; so that, if proper steps be taken, we may succeed in saving from extinction so interesting an example of an island race of the familiar Wren. Our discovery seems always clouded with the exterminating results that have followed it, and when we hear of the poor bird's decimation we feel that, in the interests of science, it would have been better had we remained silent. It is sad to think that the publication of such knowledge resulted in absolutely threatening the extirpation of the St. Kilda Wren, and that by calling attention to its differences we have been the unintentional means of its being sacrificed to the greed and selfishness of collectors. We appeal to British naturalists to save this island form of the Common Wren from extirpation, threatened as it is by no other danger than that arising from the mania for possessing its eggs and its skin. The wholesale collecting of specimens by St. Kildans, and by tourists that visit the islands in summer, when the bird is breeding, must be sternly forbidden if the Wren is to be saved.
io6 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
The following account of the habits of the St. Kilda Wren was the first published, and was con- tributed by us to the Ibis : — " I had not been on St. Kilda long before the little bird arrested my attention, as it flew from rock to rock, or glided in and out of the crevices of the walls. It diflers very little in its habits from its congener; only, instead of hopping restlessly and incessantly about brushwood, it has to content itself with boulders and walls. It was in full song, and its voice seemed to me louder and more powerful than that of the Common Wren. I often saw it within a few feet of the sea, hopping about the rocks on the beach ; and a pair had made their nest in the wall below the manse, not thirty yards from the waves. I also saw it frequently on the tops of the hills and in many parts of the cliffs. It was especially common on Doon, and its cheery little song sounded from all parts of the rocks. As tliere are no bushes nor trees on St. Kilda (except those the microscopic eye of a botanist might discover), the Wren takes to the luxuriant grass, sorrel, and other herbage growing on the cliffs, and picks its insect food from them. It also catches spiders and the larviB of different insects in the nooks and crannies which it is incessantly exploring. It is a pert,
THE ST. KILDA WREN 107
active little bird, by no means shy ; and I used to watch a pair that were feeding their young in a nest not six yards from our door. Its breeding season must commence early in May, for the young were three parts grown by the beginning of June. It makes its nest either in one of the numerous ' cleats,' or in a crevice of a wall, or under an overhanging bank. The nest is exactly similar to that of the Common Wren, and abundantly lined with feathers. The eggs are six in number, perceptibly larger and more heavily marked than those of the Common Wren, but otherwise closely resembHng them. I found the birds remarkably tame at the nest, going in and out as I stood watching them. Probably two broods are reared in the season."
The St. Kilda Wren somewhat closely resembles the Common Wren in appearance, but is larger, more distinctly barred on the upper parts, and has much stouter feet. The variations of plumage due to age, sex, and season are not known to differ in any important respect from those of the allied forms.
THE HOOPOE
{UPUPA EPOPS)
TjlOR two centuries or more this beautiful and -■- curious bird has been known to visit the British Islands in spring to breed. There can be little or no doubt that in the olden times the Hoopoe was commoner and more widely dispersed than it is now, and that, like so many other interesting species, it has been well-nigh exter- minated for the sake of its beauty or novel and curious appearance. The British stock of Hoopoes, however, does not yet seem to be quite exhausted, and we may still regard the bird as a regular spring migrant to the southern counties of England. We must, however, bear in mind that the constant persecution which the species suffers in our islands, the failure to rear offspring in them, must sooner or later end in the complete extirpation of the Hoopoe as a British bird. We doubt not that careful preservation for a few years would end in
io8
THE HOOPOE 109
complete reinstation of the species, and stock our southern English counties with Hoopoes, which might eventually spread northwards ; for the bird breeds on the Continent as far north as South Sweden and Denmark. The Hoopoe has absolutely been known to breed in Devon, Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent. To other parts of the British Islands the Hoopoe, at present, can only be regarded as an abnormal migrant, although the evidence seems to show that in the south of Ireland the bird may be a normal spring migrant, only requiring a little judicious preservation to establish it as a regular breeding species. When we read that no less than seven of these charming birds fell to one gun in a week on a single Sussex estate, or that a certain spot in Kent, apparently in the direct line of migration, is notorious for its butchery of Hoopoes, we may reasonably protest and demand that such slaughter shall cease. We fear that legislation is powerless without public co-operation, and this surely need not be asked in vain in such a compassionate age as ours ! Un- fortunately, the Hoopoe is a very conspicuous bird, and also a confiding and unsuspicious one, easily approached and shot.
Outside our limits the Hoopoe has an exceedingly
no LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
wide distribution, extending from Denmark in the west to Japan in the east, and from South Sweden and Central Asia to tropical Africa, India, and South China. It is found in suitable localities throughout Central and Southern Europe, and is very common in all Mediterranean countries and the Canary and adjoining islands. The Hoopoe is a summer visitor to Europe, arriving from Febru- ary onwards, and usually reaching the south of England in April. The return passage takes place during August, September, and October. Its favourite haunts in Europe are well - cultivated districts, the fields on the borders of woods, and the more open parts of forest lands ; but in Algeria I found it dwelling on the bare hillsides, as well as in the palm-studded oases, where the Arabs let it run about outside their houses and tents without any attempt to molest it. It Ls an active, graceful little bird, and may often be watched strutting about in quest of food on the dunghill or newly- tilled land. In its summer quarters in Europe it shows much more partiality for cover than in its winter ones in Africa. Its note is a hollow, deep, and full-sounding iwo-poo-poo, or hoop-ltoop-hoo]), capable of being heard for a long distance. Its principal food consists of insects, worms, and grubs.
THE HOOPOE III
The flight of this species is undulating, like that of a Wagtail or a Woodpecker, and when in the air the bird becomes even more conspicuous, as its parti- coloured plumage is fully displayed. The Hoopoe probably pairs for life, and appears to return to a certain spot annually to breed. The nest is usually made in a hole in a rock, or a wall or tree, but is never excavated by the birds. It is merely a small collection of dry grass, straws, or roots, more or less mixed with offensive matter of some kind, and causing a fearful stench, which becomes even worse as the droppings of old and young accumu- late. The eggs are from five to seven in number, and vary from pale greenish blue to lavender grey and buff, and are without markings. The shell is coarse and full of minute hollows. The female alone incubates them, and the male is said to feed her assiduously during the task. But one brood is reared in the year, and after the breeding season the birds often gather into small flocks and family parties for the winter.
The adult Hoopoe has the head decorated with a very handsome erectile crest formed of broad feathers, huffish chestnut tipped with black, and with a narrow subterminal bar of white ; the remainder of the upper half of the bird is chestnut
112 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
buff, darkest on the back, aud suffused with pink on the breast ; the lower half of the bird is curiously pied. The lower back, scapulars, and innermost secondaries are buff, marked with black ; the flight feathers are black, broadly barred with white ; the rump is white ; the tail is black, with a broad white band across the centre and spreading towards the tips of the outer feathers ; the belly and under tail coverts are white ; the flanks are streaked with dark brown. The female is a trifle smaller and duller, as are also the young. The total length of this bird is about ten inches.
THE OSPREY
(PANDION HALI^ETUS)
TT is rather a remarkable fact that not a single species of raptorial bird has been exterminated in the British area within the historical period. Of all species, the birds of prey have been subject to the greatest amount of steady and persistent persecution, and yet they have managed to survive. Many of them, however, once common and widely distributed, have become excessively local ; others that formerly bred in England now only survive in the wilder areas of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Generally speaking, birds of prey are thinly dis- tributed, not collected in certain spots like more gregarious species; and there can be little doubt that to this fact they owe their survival. There is a great falling off in the number of most raptorial species, owing to the systematic trapping, poisoning, and shooting which has gone on ever since the preserving of game has been so widely
8 "3
114 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
practised ; their eggs have been persistently sought and taken, their young destroyed ; and yet, in spite of all, not a single indigenous species has suc- cumbed absolutely, although it may have been extirpated in many districts. We heartily hope that more sensible opinions will shortly prevail concerning the economic value of many of these raptorial species, and that, duly protected, they will become more numerous, to the benefit of the agriculturist.
The Osprey, if tradition is to be believed, once bred upon the southern coast of England; whilst a hundred years ago, upon the authority of Heysham, it bred in the Lake District, near Ullswater. Forty years ago two eyries were known to exist in Galloway ; but at the present time we believe the sole stronghold of the Osprey is in the Highlands — fortunately in districts where the bird is protected and its haunts kept secret. Perhaps in time this privacy may not be necessary, but nowadays the Osprey retains its place in our fauna with such a slender hold that naturalists •cannot be too careful in guarding its last retreats from the intrusion of the bribing collector of rare birds and eggs. Certainly, so far as Scotland is concerned, we cannot attribute the present rarity
THE OSPREY 115
of the Osprey to the destruction of its haunts, and we are compelled to assign the direct persecution by man as the reason of its untimely disappear- ance. Not only has the bird been robbed of its eggs and young and shot in Scotland, but numbers continue to fall victims to the gunner in more southern districts whilst performing their annual migrations. As a visitor on passage, and especially in autumn, the Osprey is fairly well known in various parts of the British area, both near inland waters as well as along the rivers and coasts, especially of the eastern and southern counties. Unfortunately, too many of these Ospreys are killed, and we would forbid the shooting of this species within British limits altogether. To Ireland the Osprey is an abnormal migrant only. Beyond the British area the Osprey has an exceedingly wide distribution, breeding in all suitable localities throughout Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia, although the birds inhabiting the latter area present differences which may have a sub- specific value. In Europe it may be met with, breeding from Lapland to the Iberian Peninsula, and from North Russia to the Caspian ; whilst south of the Mediterranean it nests in many parts of North Africa, from the Canaries (where it is
ii6 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
said to be a resident) to the Red Sea. It is a summer migrant in the northern portions of its range, and a winter one in many of the southern limits.
Of all the raptorial birds the Osprey is the most aquatic in its habits, and its haunts are always more or less close to waters well stocked with fish. In our islands the favourite haunts of this bird are the wild mountain deer forests, the hill-surrounded lochs and quiet lakes studded with islands, on many of which some ancient fortress or ruined tower tells of warlike deeds of the long ago. Although many of these secluded Highland waters literally teem with fish, the Osprey is far too rare a bird to be seen near them in any numbers, an isolated pair here and there being all ; but in North America, where the species is a much more abundant one, large colonies of these birds may frequently be met with. The Osprey reaches its breeding-grounds in Scotland in April or May. We have had few opportunities of studying this bird in a wild state ; but we can vividly recall our first sight of the Osprey in its native land, close to the head-waters of Loch Carron. The bird was about thirty feet above the water, passing along, hovering every now and then
THE OSPREY 117
with quivering wings, alternated with rapid beats, as is so often the way of our better-known Kestrel. Finally we watched it poise for a moment and drop down, Gannet-like, into the water, the noise as it struck the surface being distinctly audible from the shore. The bird rose again in a few seconds, and slowly retired to a distant clump of trees, but whether it had caught a fish or not we were unable to determine. In its search for prey the Osprey is very Gull-like, but of course seizes its food with its feet, and not with its bill. This food is composed of fish, such as trout, roach, bream, shad, flounders, etc. These are always captured with the feet, the soles of which are very rough, and the long claws exceptionally sharp. The note of the Osprey has been described as kai-kai-kai, and when alarmed the bird is said to utter a harsh scream.
The Osprey most probably pairs for life, and returns to one locality to breed year after year. In the Highlands nowadays the nest is generally made on the broad flat top of a pine tree, but formerly it was as frequently placed on ruins or rocks on islands. The nest is an immense pile of sticks, the accumulation of years, perhaps as much as four feet high and as many broad, intermixed
ii8 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
with turf and lined with green grass. Sometimes several nests are made in one locality, and used in turn. The two or three eggs are very handsome, white or pale buff in ground colour, heavily blotched and spotted — sometimes so densely as to conceal the pale ground — 'with rich reddish brown, orange brown, and grey. But one brood is reared in the season. It is said that the Osprey will savagely attack an intruder of its nest. Professor Newton says that men and boys have had their heads gashed with the sharp claws of the enraged parent bird. In North America as many as three hundred nests have been found in trees close together.
The Osprey has the head and nape white, streaked with brown, some of the feathers being elongated. The general colour of the rest of the upper parts is dark brown, occasionally shot with purple ; the under parts are white, except a band of brown spots across the breast. The female is similar to the male in colour, but she is slightly larger, and the head and breast are more marked with brown. Young birds resemble the female in colour. The total length of the Osprey is about twenty-three inches.
PLATE VI.
THE KIT
THE KITE
{MILVUS REGALIS)
fTlO realise the amount of persecution that raptorial birds have suffered in the British Islands, we have only to recall the days when the present species was spoken of by old writers on Natural History as one of the most abundant and widely distributed of our indigenous birds. Old records inform us that four or five hundred years ago the Kite literally swarmed in London, and that the bird was actually protected by law within the precincts of the City ! Indeed, the Kite was formerly held in esteem for its good offices as a scavenger. We have Belon's testimony that he found the Kite scarcely less numerous in London than in Cairo, and that it cleared the streets and the river of garbage and refuse. Further, the many allusions, both poetical and otherwise, to the Kite in our literature eloquently speaks to the bird's former abundance. Even less than a hundred
I20 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
3'('!irs a<j^() llio Kite \v;is hy no inojinH a rare bird ; I'loiii wliat we can ^j^atlu'r, the bird wan a by no uienns unfaniiliai' object in the rural scenes of Kn^land, Mo.-itin*^ liiijjli i)i air above the fields and woods, indiil<^in<r in those magnificent flights which justly trained I'oi" it tlie name of dead or Glide Hawk. Turnc'r tells us that the Kite even snatcheil I'ood from the hands of children in our towns — a fact whieh provt's how little subject to persecution the bird nuist have been, and how bold and impudent it became in consequence, liut. as the present century sped its course, the preservation of <j^ame became more «;eneral and more strict, fireainis were improved, and the Kite nnist very rapidly have decreased in numbers. The decay of hawkino- nmst also have had an evil eH'ect ; for the Kite was a prized (juarry, and ])reservcd accordingly. As the bird became rarer, the collector of e<^gs and skins must also be included as an exterminating agent; whilst in Scotland the bird was being ruthlessly killed for the sake of its tail feathers, which were highly prized for the purpose of making salmon ilies. The result of all this persecution is that the Kite has become one of the very rarest of our indigenous birds. It is still left to us, still lingers in one or
THE KITF 121
two localities, but there can be; no doubt that the specica will become extinct in our area unless great care be exercised. There can be little doubt that the Kite breeds in few parts of England at the present time, one of the las(, recorded nests being taken in Lincolnshire twiMity-seven years ago. It, however, atill continues to breed in Wales, and in one or two localities in Scotland ; whilst Professor Newton states that it nests at the present time in certain woods in lluntinjxdonshire and Lincolnshire, and in th(^ Western Midlands. 1'he Kite never seems to have been indigenous to Ireland ; and nowadaj^s the bird is only occasion- ally seen in most parts of England — in<lividuals apparently on migration, and probably fai- out of their usual course. Outside the British area the Kite breeds in most parts of Europe, resident in the central and southern districts and migratory in the extreme north. In Scandinavia it reaches as far north as lat. 61°, and in Ilussia certainly nests anS high as Archangel. It is best known in North- west Africa as a winter visitant, but a few remain to breed ; and it is also found in the out- lying Atlantic islands. In North-east Africa it appears to be absent, although it is a common winter visitor to Palestine, where it also breeds.
122 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
Its eastern limits appear to be the valley of the Don.
This fine bird may be easily recognised even upon the wing by its deeply forked tail. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Kite is its singularly graceful and long-sustained flight. When the bird was far more common than it is now, the English naturalist could stand and watch its amazing powers of wing by the hour together. Upon one occasion only in the British Islands have we had the good fortune to witness the once familiar sight of a soaring Kite. We watched the bird rise from a grove of trees and mount upwards and up- wards in spacious circles with wings and tail out- spread, the highest air being gained with scarcely an apparent effort, whilst all the time the beautiful creature was bearing away from us until we literally lost it in the clouds. Falcons were formerly flown at the Kite, and it was no uncommon thing for the latter to keep the air of its pursuer until both were lost to view. In many of its habits the Kite closely resembles the Buzzard ; it is ordinarily a sluggish bird, without any of the splendid dash which characterises the movements of the Hawks and Falcons. From this we may infer that the food of the Kite consists principally of young and
THE KITE 125
weakly birds and small animals, insects, carrion and offal, and occasionally fish. The mewing note of the Kite in this country is rarely heard except during the breeding season.
We may here state that the Kite is doubtless a resident in our islands, such few as breed here. Its favourite resorts for nesting purposes are wooc's. The nest in Britain seems always to be made in a tree, but in North Africa a ledge of rock is often selected. A pine or fir tree is preferred. It is placed sometimes amongst the more slender branches at the top of the tree, but more frequently in a crotch lower down and close to the trunk. Externally this nest is made of sticks, often festooned with rags, waste paper, and such-like rubbish ; internally it is lined with moss, wool, bones, fur, hair, rags, and even twine. The eggs are usually three, but sometimes two or even four, in number, pale bluish green or almost white in ground colour, blotched, spotted, and streaked with dark reddish brown, paler brown, and grey. The Kite is single-brooded, and the eggs are laid in May.
The Kite has the general colour of the upper parts reddish brown, the feathers with paler edges ; those on the crown and neck somewhat elongated.
124 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
greyish white streaked with brown. The under parts are rufous brown streaked with dark brown ; the tail reddish brown, with several dark bars. The female is larger than the male, but Ls very similar in colour. The length of the Kite ia about twenty-two inches.
THE COMMON BUZZARD
{buteo vulgaris)
A BIRD whose name bears such an epithet ■^^ before it seems out of place in a volume like the present ; but, alas ! " common " it can no longer be called, it is only such in name, and is yearly becoming rarer, probably becoming extinct if per- secution be not relaxed. Formerly the Common Buzzard was fully entitled to its name, being pretty generally distributed throughout the British Islands. Half a century ago this bird could not be called rare ; five-and-twenty years ago we took a nest ourselves in Derbyshire. The rarity of this species now is largely due to the gamekeeper ; as one of these worthies assured us many years ago, a " Hawk as big as a coal-basket must do a tre- mendous lot of harm." It has been ruthlessly shot down accordingly, and that, too, without any justifiable cause ; for the Buzzard is by no means the enemy to game that sportsmen imagine, its
126 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
food consisting of many creatures eminently more destructive. Of its harmlessness we hope to convince the reader in our account of its general habits. Collectors, too, are responsible to a great extent for the Buzzard's present rarity. British- taken eggs have long been a craze, and the high prices which these have commanded have tempted woodmen and keepers to seek for and rob many a nest which might otherwise have been left alone. If we are to retain the Common Buzzard as a British species, this persecution must cease; and we trust that County Councils, agriculturists, and big landowners will in their own interests save the bird from the extinction which threatens it. Nowadays the Common Buzzard still breeds on some of the Welsh cliifs and in the larger woods of the Principality, as it also does in a few of the wilder wooded districts of England. In Scotland we are glad to say it has not been so sorely persecuted, and still breeds in many secluded spots ; whilst in Ireland, although far less common than it used to be, it is known to nest here and there in localities which are best kept secret. The range of the Common Buzzard outside the British Islands is a somewhat restricted one. The bird is generally distributed over Western Europe from
THE COMMON BUZZARD 127
about lat. 60° north in Scandinavia southwards to the Mediterranean, the valley of the Danube, the Black Sea, and the Volga Delta. In North Africa it is replaced by nearly allied forms, but the typical species seems to be the one that breeds on the Canary Islands. In the extreme north it is a migrant, but in the southern areas it is resident.
The Common Buzzard is a resident in the British Islands — that is to say, the indigenous individuals. In its habits it is somewhat sluggish, wanting the nimble movements and the impetuous dash that characterise the Falcons and the Hawks. Its flight is usually slow and laboured, the wings beaten deliberately; but on occasion the bird displays some exceptionally fine aerial movements, as, for instance, when it ascends in a spiral manner to a vast height, usually in the breeding season, and above the woods that contain its nest. It hunts for food in a very patient manner, often sitting on a fence or bare limb of a tree waiting: for some small animal to appear, which it drops down upon and secures. Its food consists very largely of field mice (a nest visited by Seebohm contained no less than eleven field mice), frogs, small snakes, and rarely birds. Indeed, this Buzzard is of as much service to the agriculturist as the Owl, and
128 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
should be protected and encouraged accordingly, Seebohm describes the note of this bird as a melancholy pe-e-i-o-oo. In our islands the breeding season of the Common Buzzard is in April and May. Its British breeding haunts are not only in large woods, but on maritime cliffs, and as it re- turns to a locality year by year to rear its young, it may not improbably pair for life. The nest is either made in a tree or on a ledge of some cliff; when in the latter situation, frequently made amongst ivy or under the shelter of a bush. It is large, flat, and made externally of sticks, lined with finer twigs, a scrap or two of wool, and quantities of green leaves — the latter apparently being renewed from time to time. The eggs are from two to four in number, usually three, and vary from white or pale buff to pale bluish green in ground colour, blotched, splashed, and spotted with reddish brown, paler brown, and grey. The female performs most of the duties of incubation, and when flushed from her charge sometimes circles round the spot uttering a monotonous note. This species is single-brooded.
The Common Buzzard is a species that presents considerable variation in the colour of its plumage, and a description of these would take up far more
THE COMMON BUZZARD 129
space than can be allotted. Speaking generally, the bird has the general colour of the upper parts brown, the scapulars and wing coverts with paler margins ; the head and nape are more or less streaked with white. The under parts are whitish, shading into brown on the breast, flanks, and thighs ; the primary quills are brown, with darker bars ; the secondaries are paler ; and the inner webs of all are white for two-thirds of their length. The tail is brown, crossed with about a dozen bars of darker brown. The female closely resembles the male in colour ; and the young are said always to be paler than adults. The length of this Buzzard is about twenty-two inches.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE
{a QUI LA CHRYS^TUS)
TT is certainly matter for surprise that a bird as big as the Golden Eagle has managed to retain its place in our avifauna, and we must attribute the circumstance to the inaccessible character of those remote haunts it now affects. Little more than two hundred years ago the Golden Eagle bred in Derbyshire and Wales. Willughby says that this bird in his day bred on the cliffs of Snowdon, and he actually describes an ejv'm in Derbyshire in 1668. Wallis, a century later, publishes the information that it bred on the Cheviots ; whilst Jardine, in 1838, is able to give the cliffs of Westmorland and Cumberland as recently its breeding-place. Probably the bird formerly bred in many parts of England and Wales ; but persecution has done its work, and we shall never see the Golden Eagle an inhabitant of the Lowland shires again. In the Lowlands of Scotland the
PLATE VIJ.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE
THE GOLDEN EAGLE 131
bird still lingered as a breeding species to some- where about the year 1855 ; now the Highlands are its only resort. In Ireland the bird has sadly decreased in numbers, and its principal breeding- places are, according to Mr. R. J. Ussher, a few places in Mayo, Donegal, Galway, and Kerry. Returning to Scotland, the Golden Eagle breeds here and there in the Hebrides and the Western and Northern Highlands. It is most satisfactory to know that this splendid bird maintains its ground, and that in some districts it is actually increasing, thanks to the protection which has been given it by certain landowners, to whom all naturalists must feel more than grateful. Collectors, especially oologists, are responsible for the exter- mination of a good many Golden Eagles ; and when we hear of the tempting prices which are offered to shepherds and others, the only wonder is that the bird exists at all ! We are convinced that saner opinions are spreading, and we have every confidence that the bird for the present at all events is safe. Let the splendid bird be guarded as national property, for its presence in the Highlands is an ornament that cannot be spared. Beyond British limits the range of the Golden Eagle is a wide one, exceeded by few other species.
132 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
It is generally distributed throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America. We find it dispersed in Europe from Lapland to Spain, and across Asia to Kamtschatka and Japan, southwards to the Himalayas ; whilst in the New World it is found from the Arctic regions to the States, although absent from Greenland.
The Golden Eagle is a sedentary species in the British Islands, although one that wanders about a good deal during the non-breeding season. Its favourite haunts are mountains and glens and the secluded fastnesses of deer forests. It may be frequently met with in marine districts as well as inland ones. The most striking feature in this bird is its magnificent motions in the air. Its flight, so powerful and so long-sustained, ever calls forth our warmest admiration ; and to watch the big broad- winged bird soaring in majestic curves high up in the blue sky is a sight that impresses itself on the memory for ever. Time after time in the Highlands has it been our good fortune thus to watch the Golden Eagle on the wing, sailing and soaring among the mountain tops, and occasionally swooping earthwards with erected wings in all the majesty of freedom. Except in the air, this Eagle is a somewhat sluggish bird, fond of sitting motion-
THE GOLDEN EAGLE 133
less on the rocks, basking in the sun and digesting its food. The Eagle, we think wrongfully, is accused of playing sad havoc amongst game ; but its favourite food, as was long ago remarked by the observant Charles St. John, and as we have repeatedly ascertained, is the mountain hare, and failing this, on carrion, especially on dead sheep, which are common enough on the vast farms. Its love of carrion often leads it into traps, and brings death by poison ; weakly lambs and deer calves, together with wounded or diseased Grouse and other birds, are also eaten. The Eagle pounces on these creatures unawares, or even drives them over cliffs — never flies at and strikes them with the dash and daring so characteristic of the true Falcons. In fact, as we wrote long ago, after a careful study of the habits of the Golden Eagle, the bird is more like a Vulture than a Hawk, and we were going to say almost as harmless. The usual note of this Eagle is a yelping or barking cry.
The Golden Eagle is a very early breeder, and probably pairs for life, seeing that the same eyrie will be occupied or used in turn year after year. A site for this is usually selected on some noble crag or precipitous cliff, generally in a cleft or where the rocks overhang. Trees nowadays seem
134 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
to be deserted, possibly because they offer a smaller amount of security. Occasionally a sea clift' is selected ; and we have a vivid remembrance of an eyrie in such a situation on the west coast of Skye, more especially because through a rotten rope we nearly lost our life in an attempt to reach it. The nest of the Golden Eagle is a massive, well-made structure — a pile of sticks and branches and pieces of turf, lined with dry grass, moss, and tufts of green plants, generally Luzula sylvatica. The two or rarely three eggs are dirty white or very jDale blue in ground colour, blotched and spotted with reddish brown and lavender grey. Usually in each clutch one egg is much more richly marked than the other. In the last two eggs of the Golden Eagle which we blew from Scotland this was very noticeable, one of them being almost spotless. Both parents assist in incubating them. This Eagle sits very lightly, flying away from the nest at once, and never, so far as our experience goes, showing any inclination to attack a human intruder. The eggs are often laid long before the snow is off" the mountains, in March or early in April — a circumstance which is fortunate, for the " collector " is seldom so far afield as the Highlands until a more genial season.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE 135
The Golden Eagle cannot readily be confused with any other British bird except the White- tailed Eagle, whilst from this species it is readily distinguished by its feathered tarsi. The general colour of the plumage is dark brown, often with a purplish sheen, except the nape, which is pale brown, and the tail, which exhibits grey mottling. The female resembles the male in colour. Young birds are specially characterised by having the basal half of the tail white ; and the feathers of the body, especially on the lower parts, have white bases. The total length of an adult Golden Eagle is about thirty-four inches.
THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE
(hali.^etus albicilla)
TTTE are glad to say that this magnificent species
' ' still retains a place in the British avifauna,
and, although recently threatened with complete
extermination, has slightly increased in numbers of
late years, thanks to the efforts which on more
than one estate have been made to protect it.
The White-tailed Eagle was formerly much more
widely dispersed over Britain than is now the case ;
still, we trust that for years yet to come it may
remain an ornament to some of the wildest and
most romantic scenery our isles can boast. We
have ample evidence to show that within the past
hundred years this Eagle actually bred on the
Isle of Man, and in the English Lake District so
recently as 1835 ! Among other English stations
that once could boast the eyrie of this Eagle may
be mentioned Lundy Island, the Isle of Wight, and
possibly Cornwall. In the Lowlands of Scotland
136
THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE 137
it was once even more plentiful than in England, extermination progressing northwards, and natur- ally becoming slower in wild and remote areas far from the haunts of men. Eyries were situated on Ailsa Craig, the Bass Rock, and in Galloway and Dumfriesshire. In Ireland this bird was formerly widely dispersed, but trap, gun, and poison (to say nothing of the rascally collector) have done their work only too welL and its numbers have been greatly reduced. Scattered eyries exist at the present time in some of the wilder western districts. In Scotland the chief stronghold of the White- tailed Eagle is amongst the Hebrides — in Skye particularly, also in Eigg, Scalpa, North Uist, Benbecula, the Shiant Islands, Rum, and Canna. Formerly the bird bred on St. Kilda ; but the natives of those lonely isles will not tolerate such a formidable-looking species, and it is ruthlessly destroyed. Farther north it breeds on the Orkneys and Shetlands, but we very much doubt if a single eyrie is now inhabited anywhere on the mainland of Scotland. As this Eagle is a resident in the British Islands, the individuals of the species now dwelling in them are all that we are ever likely to receive, and it behoves us to see that the remnant of the indigenous stock is strictly preserved. This
138 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
Eagle is comparatively harmless, there is no excuse for its slaughter, and we hope that the senseless practice of laying poisoned meat, so commonly indulged in by shepherds to this bird's detriment, may soon be made an illegal one. There are at present enough Eagles left to restock many a now- deserted district ; and although we can never hope to see the big bird in any southern haunt again, we may do our best to protect it where preserva- tion is possible. The White-tailed Eagle has a very wide range beyond our limits, being found from Greenland to Kamtschatka. It breeds in many parts of Northern and Central Europe, from Scandinavia to the valley of the Danube and Turkey ; whilst in winter it visits North Africa, from the Canaries to Egypt, in which latter country it is said also to breed. Its winter quarters in Asia include India, China, and Japan.
In our islands now the favourite haunts of the White-tailed Eagle are maritime ones, but in other countries the bird appears to have as much preference for inland localities. No other scenery in Britain excels in grandeur that of this Eagle's haunt — the wild mountainous islands of the north, with their secluded lochs and long ranges of sea- waslied crags, their bare hills and stream-pierced
THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE 139
dales and glens, all offering that solitude and freedom from molestation in which the bird delights. There is a considerable amount of similarity between the habits of this and the preceding species. Both birds are sluggish, heavy, and we might almost say ungainly upon the ground, but in the air they become majestic. The flight of the White-tailed Eagle is marked by the same characteristics as that of its ally — the same high soaring in immense circles, the same gliding motions relieved by occasional flaps of the mighty pinions, the same descents from the clouds on uplifted wings. It is a solitary species, save in the breeding season, and wanders far and wide over large stretches of country in its quest for food. This consists largely of carrion and diseased and weakly animals and birds, such as lambs, hares, Ducks, Ptarmigan, and sea-fowl. The bird also feeds on fish, which it either catches for itself or finds dead and stranded along the shore. Its note is a yelping or barking cry.
The White-tailed Eagle breeds equally as early as the Golden Eagle, and its eggs are laid in March or early in April. So far as our islands are concerned, this species appears now always to select a maritime cliff for nesting purposes, and some of these that
I40 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
we have had the pleasure of visiting are magniticent to a degree. So far as our experience goes, the bird always selects a site for its eyrie which commands a wide range of country. Some of these nests are built in rocks absolutely inaccessible to man ; others in situations which can be reached by even a moderate climber. The nest is a huge mass of sticks, often the accumulation of years, generally lined with dry grass, bunches of wool, and leaves of some green plant. Some nests are much more elaborate than others, the site influencing this to a great extent. We have seen nests which occupied an entire crevice in the cliffs, the hollow being filled up in the same way that a Jackdaw will do ; whilst others on the flat ledges were composed of not more than a quarter of the material. In some countries, we might say, the nest is made in a tree or even on the ground. The two eggs are white, and generally without markings. Incubation is performed by both sexes, and but one brood is reared in the year. An inexperienced person might think that to approach the nest of such a big bird would be a somewhat risky undertaking ; but the sitting Eagle flies away almost as soon as it is disturbed, and appears to show no further interest in the unwelcome visit. A Ring Ouzel is
THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE 141
immeasurably more plucky and pugnacious at its threatened nest. The impression that Eagles are fierce and courageous is a widely prevailing one, yet a very erroneous one ; and in this respect they more closely resemble the Vultures than the Falcons and Hawks. We should also state that this Eagle most probably pairs for life.
The general colour of the upper parts of the White-tailed Eagle is brown, paler on the head and nape, which in very old birds are almost white ; the quills are nearly black ; the under parts are very dark brown ; the tail is pure white. The female resembles the male in colour, but is slightly larger and darker. The young bird is much darker than the adult, and the plumage is more mottled ; the tail is dark brown. The total length of the male of this Eagle is about twenty-nine inches, the female four or five inches more.
THE HONEY BUZZARD
{PERNIS AP IVOR us)
rpHE reason why we have not included the Honey Buzzard in our account of extinct species is because we believe that the bird still breeds within our area. We fear, however, that there is little hope for saving the bird from extinction. Its fate rests solely on the protection of the one or two pairs that still visit us in spring ; when these are gone, the Honey Buzzard will become as extinct in England as the Crane and the Spoonbill, and with as little chance of its being restored. Of all our indigenous birds of prey, the Honey Buzzard seems to have suffered the most from the various exterminating forces which have been operating during the past century or so. There can be doubt that this bird formerly bred in many parts of the British Islands. Willughby tells us that in his day it was by no means uncommon. The last stronghold of the Honey Buzzard appears to be the
THE HONEY BUZZARD 143
New Forest, and here still, we believe, a few pairs linger, in spite of the heavy price that has been set upon their heads by " collectors." The poor bird is one of the most harmless of our native species, and its good offices in destroying wasps should claim for it immunity from persecution, to say nothing of its beauty and the charm it lends to woodland scenery. We can attribute the extermination of the Honey Buzzard to nothing but the persecution of ignorant gamekeepers and the stupid craze for British - taken eggs and skins. Of all our threatened species none stand in greater need of protection, and whatever steps may be taken to save it must be prompt and effective.
Beyond the British Islands the Honey Buzzard is somewhat sparingly and locally distributed as a breeding species over the greater part of Europe, from the Arctic Circle southwards to the Pyrenees and Bulgaria. Eastwards its breeding range extends from Asia Minor and Turkestan, across Southern Siberia and North China to Japan. It passes the Mediterranean countries on migration only, and its winter home includes the African portion of the intertropical realm, and possibly India and Siam.
144 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
The Honey Buzzard passes into Europe, often in large flocks, about the middle of April, the migration lasting for about a month, and returns south during September and October. The British individuals arrive in our area early in May. Its habits are somewhat similar to those of the Kite and the Common Buzzard. It is a somewhat sluggish bird, spending much of its time upon the ground, where it is said to run with remarkable speed and grace. When in the air, however, it often indulges in those soaring flights and sailing motions so characteristic of the raptores. Its note is a Buzzard-like cry, an oft-repeated querulous sound, seldom heard, how- ever, except in the breeding season. The food of this species largely consists of wasp grubs, to obtain which it will dig into the ground with great perseverance, apparently utterly oblivious of the angry insects. Grasshoppers, frogs, lizards, mice, worms, and small birds are also eaten.
The breeding season of this bird begins early in June. Like the Kestrel, it does not make a nest for itself, but selects the deserted home of a Crow, a Magpie, a Kite, or a Common Buzzard, in which to lay its eggs ; but before doing so it appears to re- line the structure with a quantity of green leaves,
THE HONEY BUZZARD 145
or twigs with the leaves upon them. This lining seems to be renewed from time to time as incuba- tion proceeds. The eggs are usually two in number, but three and even four have been recorded. They are very beautiful objects, almost round, cream or pale red in ground colour, blotched and spotted with rich brown, often so thickly as to hide all trace of the paler ground. But one brood is reared in the season, and both parents assist in the task of incubation.
We are not aware that the Honey Buzzard is at all gregarious during the breeding season, although the bird migrates towards its nesting- grounds in flocks, and returns in the same way — a habit indulged in by several other raptorial species.
The Honey Buzzard may be readily distinguished by its densely feathered lores and its finely reticulated tarsi. The adult male has the head ash grey, the remainder of the upper parts brown ; the under parts are nearly uniform white, with a few brownish bars on the chest and flanks; the tail is pale brown, crossed with three nearly black bars. A melanistic form of this bird is known with the under parts dark brown. The female resembles the male in colour, but wants the grey
146 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
head. Young birds have pale margins to the feathers of the upper parts, and the under parts are streaked instead of barred with brown. The total length of the Honey Buzzard is about twenty-four inches.
X
THE MARSH HARRIER
{circus ^ruginosus)
TTERE again we have the sad record of a species, once fairly dispersed over the British Islands, now confined to one or two localities, where it manages to elude that sense- less persecution which seems likely to reduce it to extinction. We fear there can be little doubt that the Marsh Harrier breeds but in one English county at the present time, and not at all in Scot- land. In Ireland the bird is very probably more abundant than it is in England, the country being less populated and far more suited to its require- ments. We have evidence to show that this Harrier formerly bred in Devonshire, in Somerset, Dorset, Shropshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, possibly also throughout the marshy wastes of East Anglia. Whether this species ever bred in Scotland seems by no means clear. The only place in which the Marsh Harrier is now known
148 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
with certainty to breed is in the Norfolk Broads. In Ireland, Mr. Ussher informs us that it still breeds sparingly in Queen's County and Galway, and " probably " in King's County and Westmeath. There can be little doubt that the drainage and enclosure of marshy lands and fens has had a great deal to do with the extermination of this Harrier in England ; as poison and gamekeepers are chief!}'' responsible for its present rarity in Ireland. If the bird's haunts are destroyed, the birds perforce must go too ; and possibly the day is not far distant when the Irish bogs will be the sole retreat of the Marsh Harrier in Britain. There, however, some means should be taken to ensure the bird greater security than it now enjoys.
Outside our area the Marsh Harrier has a very wide distribution, reaching across Europe and Asia to Japan. It is not an Arctic bird, breeding in the south of Sweden only, but it is pretty generally distributed over Temperate and Southern Europe, as well as throughout the Mediterranean countries of North Africa (in winter reaching to the Equator). It is a summer migrant in the northern areas, but a resident in warmer and more southern localities. Eastwards we trace
THE MARSH HARRIER 149
it from Asia Minor across Turkestan and Siberia to North China and the Japanese Islands in summer, and in winter southwards to India and South China. The presence of an allied form in Asia renders the definition of its limits in this direction extremely difficult.
The Marsh Harrier well deserves its name. It is a dweller in the wilderness of swamps, fens, wet moors, and marshy lands, and the inundated banks of slow-running rivers and weed-choked meres. In common with its congeners, it possesses the habit of beating to and fro in slow and some- what laboured flight over these swampy wastes in quest of food, seldom pursuing its quarry like a Hawk, but dropping down upon it unawares. It is fond also of sitting on walls, big stones, or even trees, whence it frequently sallies to capture prey. It spends a great part of its time in the air, possessing enduring wing-power, which, how- ever, is rarely exerted beyond a slow and measured flapping, the bird all the time intent on scan- ning every inch of the ground below. We have watched it thus for a long time passing up and down over a comparatively small extent of marsh in eager quest. Its habit of attending sportsmen and carrying off" dead or wounded birds under the
ISO LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
very noses of the dogs has often been remarked. The food of this Harrier is largely composed of small mammals (such as mice, moles, young rabbits), frogs, and small or weakly birds. It is also a great robber of eggs and nestlings, most adept at finding nests and spoiling them of their con- tents. It is said also to eat fish. The note of the female of this Harrier is described by Naumann as a clear pitz and 2:)eep; that of the male as koi or kai. The Marsh Harriers that breed in England and Ireland are probably residents.
The Marsh Harrier, for a raptorial bird, is a somewhat late breeder, its eggs not being laid before May in this country, but in more southern haunts in March. The bird is far too rare in the British Islands to breed gregariously ; but in Spain, where it is very abundant, Irby records as many as twenty nests within three hundred yards of each other. Montagu states that he has found the nest of this Harrier in a tree, but the usual place is upon the ground amongst the reeds or even in shallow water ; and it is said a deserted nest of a Coot or Moorhen is sometimes utilised. Seebohm records a large nest absolutely floating amongst the reeds in water several feet in depth.
THE MARSH HARRIER 151
As is usual with birds nesting in such aquatic situations, the structure is added to from time to time, not only to increase its bulk and stability, but to replace material that may be washed away. The nest of this Harrier is a bulky one, made of reeds, sticks, and twigs, and lined with dead grass and other aquatic vegetation. The eggs are from three to six in number, and pale bluish green, almost white in colour, occasionally marked with rusty brown. Incubation appears to be performed by the female, and but one brood is reared in the season.
The adult male Marsh Harrier has the head and nape creamy white, streaked with dark brown ; the remainder of the upper parts is reddish brown, with paler margins to the feathers ; the primaries are black, the secondaries and tail ash grey ; the under parts are chestnut brown. The female, although a trifle larger, closely resembles the male in colour. Young birds are uniform dark brown, spotted with paler brown, except the crown and throat, which are pale buff. The length of this Harrier is about twenty-two inches.
MONTAGU'S HARRIER
{circus cineraceus)
A LTHOUGH Montagu can scarcely be credited -^■*- with the honour of discovering the Harrier which now bears his name, for the bird was unquestionably known to and described by Linnaeus, there can be no doubt that he was the first naturalist to show that the bird was a British species, and to clear up much confusion which then existed concerning another Harrier also breed- ing within our area. The evidence concerning the past distribution of Montagu's Harrier in the British Islands seems to show that the bird was never more than a fairly common summer visitor to the southern and eastern counties of England, and a rarer one to Wales, and as far north as the Solway district, in the south of Scotland. A hundred years ago this species was very much more common than it is now, although comparat- ively recent instances of its breeding are known
MONTAGU'S HARRIER
'33
in Devonshire, Somerset, Dorset, and Hants. Its principal haunts at the present day appear to be the heaths of Norfolk. Possibly the bringing of common land into cultivation may have had some influence in reducing the numbers of this Harrier ; but there can be no doubt that the persecution of gamekeepers has had infinitely more. If we are to retain this elegant and pretty bird in our fauna, measures will have speedily to be taken, for all the available evidence at the present day goes to show that this Harrier is upon the very verge of extinction. The old stock of birds that has been in the habit of migrating to Britain to breed is just upon exhausted, and if the few remaining pairs are not shown some consideration, the species must cease to exist as a British one. This Harrier never seems to have been a regular inhabitant of Ireland, and only one or two odd birds have been obtained there.
Outside the British Islands Montagu's Harrier is generally distributed as a breeding species over Continental Europe, south of the Baltic and the Gulf of Finland. Eastwards we trace it as a breeding species into Turkestan and Southern Siberia at least as far as the valley of the Yenisei. The winter range of this species not only includes
154 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
various parts of South Europe, but Africa (where a few are said also to breed in the extreme north) south to the intertropical reahn, and in Asia, India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Montagu's Harrier is often seen in large flocks on migration ; and wherever the bird has not been persecuted, more or less social tendencies are shown throughout the year. These birds pass into Europe from the south very early in spring, the individuals breeding in the British area reaching us in April. The return journey takes place in September and October. The favourite haunts of this Harrier are extensive heaths and commons, grain lands, and marshes. Its habits are very similar to those of the preceding species. The bird has the same eSiSy, graceful flight, the same peculiarity of systematically hunting the ground by passing to and fro and dropping down upon its prey. At times it will glide for a long distance with outspread motionless wings, or hover for a few moments in a fluttering manner like the better- known Kestrel. This bird appears to spend a good deal of its time upon the ground. Like its congeners, it is a persevering searcher after the nests of other birds, and robs them of their eggs and young, or even pounces down upon the sitting
MONTAGU'S HARRIER 155
birds. Its other food includes mice, moles, frogs, grasshoppers, locusts, snakes, and lizards — a bill of fare that bears eloquent testimony to the bird's usefulness to man. The breeding season of Mon- tagu's Harrier is in May. The nest is invariably made upon the ground, and as certain localities are used annually the probability is the birds pair for life. A bare spot amongst the heath or furze is usually selected, and here a slight nest of straws or dry grass surrounded with a few twigs is formed, the whole usually being arranged in some slight hollow. The eggs vary from four to six, and are pale bluish white, occasionally with a few rusty brown markings. These eggs are apparently laid at intervals of a few days, but the bird begins to sit as soon as the first is laid. Incubation seems to be performed by the female alone. Saunders relates that a female flushed from her nest in the Isle of Wight flew away in ever widening circles, and returned in a similar circuitous manner, until close to her home she dropped upon it with closed wings. During the breeding season this Harrier may often be seen playing and toying with its mate high in air.
The adult male Montagu's Harrier has the general colour of the plumage grey, with black
156 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
primaries and a black bar across the secondaries ; the outer tail feathers are marked with reddish brown and white bars. The under parts below the breast are white, streaked with reddish brown. The female is nearly uniform brown on the upper parts, streaked with rufous on the head and neck ; the wings and tail are brown, some of the quills in the former and all the latter barred with darker brown ; the under parts are white streaked with rufous. The young somewhat closely re- semble the female, but the upper plumage shows more buff margination, and the under surface is buff streaked with reddish brown. The total length of this Harrier is about eighteen or nineteen inches. Montagu's Harrier may be distinguished in any plumage by the absence of a notch in the outer web of the fifth primary.
THE HEN HARRIER
{circus CYANEUS)
rpHE trivial name of this Harrier is a significant testimony to its former abundance in the British Islands. Even at the present time we should class it as the most common of the three British species, notwithstanding a long course of persecution, and very probably because its haunts are inaccessible to the multitude. At one time very widely dispersed, it now seems to be confined to the wild moorland districts from Cornwall and Devonshire through Wales to the Lake District, and thence northwards to the Highlands, the Western Isles, the Orkneys, and the Shetlauds. There is evidence to show that the Hen Harrier was formerly a dweller in the fens of East Anglia, but has now become extinct there, as it also has in many moorland districts of the west and north. In Ireland it is still found as a breeding species, though in sadly reduced numbers ; and, notwith-
158 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
standing the suitability of the country for this species, it is said by Mr. Ussher only to nest, and that sparingly, in Kerry and Galway, possibly in Antrim, Queen's County, Waterford, and Tipperary. Drainage and enclosure of waste lands has probably contributed to the decrease of the Hen Harrier in lowland and cultivated areas, but its disappearance cannot be attributed to such a cause in the moor- land and mountain haunts it was known to frequent. Here, as indeed elsewhere, it has been ruthlessly shot down and trapped by gamekeepers and land- owners. It is more than probable that the Hen Harrier will soon be banished entirely to the mountainous moors.
The extra British breeding range of the Hen Harrier extends across Europe and Asia to the north island of Japan, from about the limits of forest growth in the north down to Spain, Central France, the Alps, Carpathians, Turkey, South Russia, Palestine, and Southern Turkestan in the south. Its winter range includes the basin of the Mediterranean, Northern India, Mongolia, China, and Southern Japan.
There can be little doubt that the Hen Harrier in its prosperous days was principally a summer visitor to the British Islands, although a few birds
THE HEN HARRIER 159
appear to remain over the winter in some districts. From France northwards on the Continent the bird is a regular migrant, moving to its breeding-grounds in March or April, and returning in September, October, and November. Its favourite haunts in Britain are wild moors and heaths and the rough scrub-covered sides of mountains. During migration it is to some extent gregarious, but at other times appears to live solitary or in scattered pairs. Its habits very closely resemble those of the preceding species. It shows the same peculiarity of flying slowly up and down its haunts, at no great height, searching the ground below for the objects on which it subsists. It is also very regular in its movements, searching particular places about the same hour each day, and passing over the country by certain routes. It is a great robber of nests, especially those of the smaller birds, feeding upon the eggs and nestlings, and even the parents, when able to drop down upon them unawares. Unlike the other species, it is said often to chase its quarry on the wing. Its other food consists of small mammals, such as mice and moles, of frogs and lizards, grasshoppers, locusts, and other insects, whilst its partiality for chickens has long brought it into ill-repute with the poultry-keeper. The
i6o LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
nest of the Hen Harrier is always made upon the ground, often amongst long heather or gorse, less frequently on barer ground. A nest of this Harrier we examined in Skye was made in an almost im- penetrable heather thicket; and we were assured by gamekeepers in the island that sheep broke many eggs of this bird in wandering over the hills. The nest is usually a mere hollow scantily lined with dry grass and surrounded with a few twigs. Sometimes the nest is much larger, a foot or more in height, yet made of similar material. The eggs are from four to six in number, bluish white, rarely marked with a few rusty spots. The Hen Harrier is a very conspicuous bird on the mountain moors, looking like a Gull in the distance, and its slow, measured flight increases the similarity. But one breed is reared in the season, and the eggs are incubated by the female. The note of this species has been described as an oft-repeated ker.
The adult male Hen Harrier has the general colour of the upper parts and the breast a clear slate grey ; the rump and the under parts below the breast are white ; the quills are black, but the tail is grey, like the upper plumage generall3^ The female has the general colour of the plumage brown, palest on the under parts, which are streaked
THE HEN HARRIER i6i
with reddish brown ; the upper tail coverts are white as in the male, but marked indistinctly with brown ; the tail is dark brown, barred with huffish brown, and tipped with pale buff. The young some- what closely resemble the female in colour. The total length of this Harrier is about nineteen or twenty inches, females being a trifle larger than males.
II
THE DOTTEREL
{e UDR 0^ II A S MORI NELL US )
TTTHETHER the Dotterel ever bred on any ' ^ of the hills in the south of England does not appear to be certainly known ; but there is abundant evidence to show that in former times the bird occurred in some abundance during the season of its migrations on the hills and downs bordering the English Channel and elsewhere farther inland. Possibly some of these remained to breed. Nowadays the Dotterel is not only rare on passage, but has been well-nigh if not com- pletely exterminated in many of its British nesting- places. In this case we cannot exactly lay the blame of extermination to the collector ; although we have reason for stating that its eggs are sought eagerly by oologists and dealers, especially now the bird has become " rare " and British-taken eggs are at a premium. The Dotterel is now so rare
because it has been slaughtered so wantonly, not ' 162
THE DOTTEREL 163
only for its flesh, which is or was considered a great delicacy, but for the sake of its feathers, which are used in the makino- of artificial flies for fishermen. As the bird was extremely fat, especially in spring, it was caught before it had time to breed, and hence its numbers gradually diminished. The bird still breeds, we believe, on the hills in the Lake District as well as on the Cheviots, but in numbers that are decreasing. Farther north, we are glad to say, it breeds in greater numbers on the hills of Dumfriesshire, on the Grampians in North Perthshire, and on the borders of Inverness-shire, and in Ross and Banif- shire. It has been found nesting in the Orkneys, but appears only to pass the Shetlands on migration. Elsewhere in our islands the Dotterel can only be regarded as a casual visitor or a passing migrant. If the Wild Birds Protection Acts were better enforced, there can be little doubt that the Dotterel would increase in numbers in Britain ; but other- wise the species is bound to decrease and possibly become extinct. Beyond our limits the Dotterel has a wide range, breeding on the tundras above the limits of forest growth across Europe and Asia, and at high elevations on the Alps. In winter it is found in the basin of the Mediterranean,
i64 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
— but sparingly on the European side, — and is an occasional visitor to the Canaries.
The Dotterel is a late migrant, not reaching its British haunts before the end of April or early in May, whilst the return passage extends normally over September and October. This species is not a dweller on the coasts, but loves the inland pastures, sheep walks, and bare mountain slopes. It is certainly a social bird, not only on migration but at its breeding haunts, and becomes even more so after the young are reared. All observers agree as to its exceptional tameness, this trustfulness having gained for it the name of " foolish " Dotterel. Its flight is rapid and powerful ; but the bird spends most of its time upon the ground, running about in quest of food. This consists of insects, worms, grubs, snails, and the buds and shoots of plants. Its call-note is a plaintive dilt variously modulated, and in the pairing season is prolonged into a kind of trill. In the British Islands the eggs of the Dotterel are laid towards the end of May or early in June. The nest is a mere hollow in the moss or grass on the uplands. The eggs are three in number, varying from yellowish olive to pale buff, richly blotched and spotted with dark brown, paler brown, and grey. The male — in this species
THE DOTTEREL 165
as in the Red-necked Phalarope — is not so line or showily dressed a bird as the female, and con- sequently the greater part of the duties of incubation and tending the brood devolve upon him. But one brood is reared in the year. At the nest the old birds frequently try by cunning artifices to lui-e an intruder away.
The adult female Dotterel in breeding plumage has the general colour of the upper parts greyish brown, becoming brownish black on the crown ; the shaft of the first primary is white ; the wing coverts and innermost secondaries and scapulars are margined with chestnut ; the outer tail feathers have broad white tips. From the base of the bill extending backwards round the crown is a white stripe ; the chin and throat are white ; the breast is greyish brown ; across the chest is a white band margined with black ; the remainder of the under parts are chestnut, shading into nearly black on the belly, and bufiish white on the thighs, vent, and under tail coverts. The male is smaller and less brilliant than the female. The young bird has the crown dark brown with pale margins, the breast mottled with greyish brown, the white gorget only faintly indicated, and the rest of the under parts white. The total length of the female
i66 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
Dotterel is about nine inches. It should be stated that there is some difference of opinion respect- ing the colour and size of the sexes in this species. The matter seems to require further investigation.
THE KENTISH SAND PLOVER
{mgialophilus cantianus)
rriHIS pretty species appears to have been at
all times an excessively local one. It must
always have an exceptional interest for British
naturalists, inasmuch as it was first made known
to science from examples obtained on the south
coast of England little more than a hundred
years ago. To Mr. Boys of Sandwich belongs the
credit of its discovery. This gentleman sent an
example to Latham, which was figured by Lewin
in his work on British Birds published in 1800;
whilst a year later Latham himself described it
in the Supplement to his celebrated Index Orni-
thologicus, having received two more examples
from Mr. Boys in 1791. Although this Plover has
been obtained accidentally in other parts of the
British area, its normal distribution is confined to
the shingly beaches of Kent and Sussex. There is
no evidence of its breeding on any other part of
167
i68 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
our coast-line, although the bird is fairly common in the Channel Islands. The present rarity of the Kentish Plover is entirely due to the greed of collectors, and it seems to us a monstrous thing that such is the case. If some means are not quickly devised for its protection, nothing can save the Kentish Plover from absolute extinction in the British Islands. The bird only requires protection during the breeding season, from April onwards, and we would make it illegal to shoot Kentish Plovers until the beginning of October, instead of the first of August, by which date the poor harassed birds would have retired south to their winter centres. The taking of the eggs should also be made illegal. No species more urgently needs protection.
The Kentish Plover is a summer migrant to the beaches of Western Europe, from France north- wards to the south of Sweden. It is a resident on the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, the Azores, Canaries, and Madeira, and along both sides of the Mediterranean. Eastwards, we find it frequenting the marshes on the South Russian Steppes, the beaches of the Black, Caspian, and Aral Seas, and those of the salt lakes in Turkestan, Dauria, and Mongolia. The winter range includes the coasts of
THE KENTISH SAND PLOVER 169
Africa south to the intertropical realm, the Mekran coast, the Indian Peninsula, Burma, the Malay countries, China, and Japan. The presence of several allied forms in Asia makes the definition of the winter area of this species somewhat difficult.
The Kentish Plover is seldom found far from salt water, either on the rough sand and pebble- strewn beaches of the sea, or on similar ground by the margins of salt lakes farther inland. This Plover arrives on the British coasts towards the end of April or early in May. Its favourite resorts are sandy beaches interspersed with patches of shingle and pebbles. Here its actions are very similar to those of the better-known Ringed Plover. It searches for food on the very margin of the incoming tide, running daintily hither and thither, or standing for a moment quite still, until the next spent wave causes it to trip lightly out of the way. The poor little bird is too rare in England now to display many social tendencies during the summer, the few scattered pairs keeping to their own particular haunts; but in autumn parties may sometimes be seen, broods and their parents migrating together. The flight of this species is very similar to that of the commoner Ringed Plover, rapid and well-sustained, and often accompanied by
I70 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
a series of shrill, oft-repeated notes. The alarm- note may be expressed by the syllable ptirr ; the more usual call-note is a loud, clear whit. This latter note, during the pairing season, is often repeated so rapidly as to become a trill, and is uttered as the cock bird soars and flies in circles above his mate upon the sands below. The food of this Plover consists of crustaceans, sand worms, molluscs, and insects.
The Kentish Plover probably pairs for life, and returns season after season with admirable per- sistency to the same strip of shingle to breed. The eggs are laid towards the end of May or early in June. Nest there is none beyond a little hollow in the sand or shingle, whilst sometimes the eggs are laid on a drifted heap of dry seaweed. These eggs are usually three, but sometimes four in number, and are buff in ground colour, blotched, streaked, and spotted with blackish brown and grey. Few birds sit more alertly, and the moment danger is detected the wily parent runs from her charge for some distance ere rising. The young birds are very nimble, and when alarmed hide themselves by crouching low amongst the pebbles. Dr. Sharpe, who has had an enviable experience of this rare bird, thus writes respecting the young: "I have.
THE KENTISH SAND PLOVER 171
however, captured several nestlings by resting my head on the shingle, when the little creatures become distinctly visible against the sky-line, as they run along with wonderful swiftness for such tiny objects. I could never bring myself to kill any of these fluffy little balls of down, with their great dark eyes and abnormally long legs-; and later in the autumn I have been rewarded by seeing flocks of Kentish Sand Plovers feeding on the green herbage which skirts the harbours after the tide has receded. I once saw, from behind my shelter of a mud-bank, more than forty of these pretty birds feeding on the green moss near Romney Hoy, and a more interesting sight can scarcely be imagined." As will be seen from the foregoing particulars, the Kentish Plover becomes gregarious in autumn, as so many other kindred species do. This Plover rears but one brood in the summer, and the migration south begins in August and continues into September.
The adult male Kentish Sand Plover has the forehead and eyebrow white; the lores and a broad streak behind the eye black ; another black patch separates the white on the forehead from the buff" of the top of the head and the nape ; the remainder of the upper parts, including the six
172 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
central tail feathers, are greyish brown ; the quills are dark brown, with white shafts to the primaries and concealed white bases to the innermost ; the innermost secondaries are also margined witli white ; the remaining tail feathers are white. The general colom- of the under parts is white, except a black patch on each side of the chest. The female resembles the male in colour, but the black on the fore crown is wanting ; the breast patches are brown, and the buff on the head is not so extensive or rich in tint. In winter the buff is entirely wanting from both sexes ; young birds resemble adults in winter plumage, but the dark feathers have pale margins. The total length of this Plover is between six and seven inches. It may be dis- tinguished at all ages not only by its white nuchal collar, but by its interrupted pectoral band and black legs.
THE RUFF
{machetes pugnax)
TF this curious species still manages to retain a place as an indigenous British bird, that is all that can be said for it. We are still loth to regard the RufF as extinct in our islands as a breeding species, for possibly it may yet be saved to us if the law already in existence for its protection be strictly enforced. The RufF was formerly a very common summer visitor to the marshes of East Anglia, but is only known now to resort to a few localities in Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Professor Newton says there is but one locality left. Mr. Saunders states that a hen bird was shot from the nest as recently as 1882 in the former county, and also that a few pairs succeed in rearing their broods in the latter county. As we have found to be the case with several other species, numbers of Ruffs pass our islands on migra- tion, but even these are dwindling in amount.
174 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
These passing migrants, however, are of no service in recruiting the indigenous stock, and as soon as that becomes extirpated, the Ruff as a breeding species will be lost to us for ever. Formerly the Ruff was so plentiful in the Fens that it was regularly snared and fattened for the table ; but the drainage of these vast areas has robbed the bird of its home for the most part, and senseless, wanton persecution is doing the rest. In many respects the Ruff is one of the most singular of known birds, and one deserving of every effort being made for its retention in the British avifauna. There are many tracts of land still left suited to the bird's requirements ; all that is necessary is to protect it, especially during the breeding season. Beyond our limits the Ruff is a very wide- ranging species, being found during the breeding season over the greater part of Europe and Asia. In Europe it is said to breed as far north as land extends, and as far south as the valley of the Danube ; in Asia, up to similar limits, across the continent to Kamtschatka, and south to the Kirghiz Steppes, Western Dauria, and possibly the valley of the Amoor. It is a well-known migrant in the basins of the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, and Aral Seas, and winters in the African portion of
THE RUFF 175
the intertropical realm, in Northern India and Burma. Abnormal migrants of this species have been known to wander to South America, Borneo, Canada, and elsewhere.
The Ruff begins its migrations into Europe as early as January, and continues them until near the end of May. The return passage takes place in August, September, and October; but a few odd birds are often known to pass the winter on the British coasts. The Ruff is gregarious, not only on passage and in winter, but practically throughout the breeding season. During the non- breeding season the Ruff frequents mudflats and salt marshes on the coast as well as inland districts, but in summer its favourite resorts are swampy moors and rough wet ground, clothed with a carpet of coarse grass, hummocks of sedge, and rushes. The flight and general actions of the Ruff are very similar to those of wading birds in general. Its food consists of insects and larvae, worms, snails, small seeds, and various vegetable fragments. Its note is described by some observers as a low whit, by others as ka-ka-kuk.
By far the most interesting portion of the Ruff's economy is that relating to its reproduction. The Ruff is polygamous, and, like most birds practising
176 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
polygamy, the males are excessively pugnacious, and fond of displaying those curious nuptial plumes which render this species absolutely unique amongst Aves. During the mating season the males " hill," as it is termed — that is, resort to certain spots to engage in combat ; and these battles are continued at intervals — generally in the morning — until the females retire to incubate the eggs. The males now take no further interest in the hens, leaving them to bring up the brood, whilst they wander about in flocks until the migration period arrives. Some very interesting particulars concerning the " hilling " of this species have been contributed to the Ibis by Mr. A. Chapman, who found the RufF very common in the marshes of Jutland in the season of 1893. He writes : " It was with the greatest interest that we watched these singular birds, in congregations of from six or eight to twenty or thirty, beating their flanks with their wings, and otherwise performing the strangest antics. Often a pair of RufFs would, with ruff and ear-tufts erect, stand facing each other for minutes together, their heads lowered and their bills nearly touching each other; then one would spring into the air and make a desperate rush at his retiring adversary, their aptitude for running over the
THE RUFF 177
ground at a marvellous speed being most extra- ordinary. Very frequently no Reeve was present during these exhibitions, and the persistency with which the birds refuse to be driven away from their selected ' hill ' merits attention." After pair- ing, each female appears to select some spot for the nest away from her companions. This nest is made upon the ground in the swamps, and is generally placed in the centre of a tuft of sedge or coarse grass, which eftectually conceals it. It is little more than a hollow in which a few dead leaves or bits of withered herbage are strewn. The eggs are four in number, varying from greenish grey to greyish green in ground colour, spotted and blotched with reddish brown and greyish brown. But one brood is reared in the year, the eggs for which are laid in May or early June.
The plumage of the adult male Ruff varies in colour to such an astonishing degree, that to attempt any detailed description in the space here available is absolutely impossible. We may, how- ever, say that this variation is chiefly confined to the nuptial plumes which are assumed in spring — the ruff, the feathers on the breast and flanks, and the ground colour of the upper parts. An almost endless diversity or mixture of white,
178 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
chestnut, and black with blue and green metallic reflections, is exhibited on these plumes, and it is interesting to remark that each RufF assumes similar colours to those displayed in previous seasons. The wings are nearly uniform brown ; the feathers of the lower back are brownish black, with chestnut margins ; the under wing coverts and axillaries are white, as are also the centre of the belly and the under tail coverts ; the tail is brown. The face in spring is bare of feathers, but covered with tubercles of various tints, said to correspond with that of the ruff or collar itself. The female — smaller than the male — wants all this decorative plumage, has the general colour of the upper parts black, each feather with a greyish-white or chestnut- buff margin ; the feathers of the breast and flanks are brown, with pale margins ; the remainder of the under surface is white ; the wings and tail are similar to those of the male in colour. Young birds resemble the female, but the buff margins are more pronounced. Diagnostic characters of this species are the white axillaries, and the absence of white from the quills and central upper tail coverts. The length of the adult male is about twelve inches, the female two inches less.
THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
{PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS)
TTERE again we have a most interesting and -^-^ beautiful little species threatened with speedy extermination within the British Islands. Fortunately, its haunts are confined to the most remote areas, but even there the " trading collector " penetrates, and with results that may be readily imagined, seeing the price that British-taken birds and eggs command. There would be no thieves if there were no purchasers of stolen goods, and there would be none of these rascally speculative dealers ready to despoil the haunts and nests of our rarest birds, if Q,gg collectors declined to purchase speci- mens which are literally costing the extermination of so many interesting birds. All the mainland haunts of the Red-necked Phalarope are now deserted. Formerly this species bred in many a Scottish shire, — in those of Perth, Inverness, and
Sutherland for certain, — but nowadays its last
179
i8o LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
remaining strongholds are on various islands on the west and north of Scotland, which it seems a pity more particularly to specialise. To watch these tame and gentle little creatures at their breeding stations on the wild islands of the north, is a sight whose charm no pen can do justice to ; and it grieves us to think that continued persecution is rapidly bringing the day when such exquisite pictures of bird life will fade from our Scottish waters for ever. Even within the past ten years the number of breeding birds has sadly diminished, and there can be no doubt what- ever that the indigenous stock is fast becoming exhausted.
Beyond the limits of the British Islands the Red-necked Phalarope has a very extensive range, breeding throughout the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of both hemispheres. In America we find it from Alaska to Greenland : in the Old World from Iceland and the Faroes across Europe and Asia to Kamtschatka. In Continental Europe this Phalarope breeds as far south as the Dovrefjeid in latitude 62°, and in Eastern Asia as low as latitude 55° on the shores of the Okhotsk Sea. Its winter migrations extend in the Old World down to the basin of the Mediterranean, Persia, Northern
THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE i8i
India, China, Malaysia, and Japan ; whilst in the New World they reach Mexico and Central America.
The Red-necked Phalarope is quite as aquatic in its habits as a Coot, perhaps even more so, being seldom seen on the land for long together, except in the breeding season. It is an absurdly tame and confiding little bird, especially at the nest, and at all times seems more or less gregarious. This species swims well, with a buoyancy exceeded by no other bird. It is a pretty sight to watch its actions when swimming across some deep, clear pool, progressing in a more or less zigzag direction, each stroke of its feet accompanied by a nod of its head. It may also be seen running quickly and gracefully about the marshy shores, wading or swimming the intervening pools, or even tripping- lightly over floating masses of weed. Its flight is not only rapid but powerful ; and Seebohm re- marked that when one was shot, its companions came and hovered above it, and then alighted near it, just as Terns will often do. The usual note of this Phalarope is a shrill, clear weet. Its food is composed chiefly of insects, but worms, crustaceans, and other small marine creatures are sought.
i82 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS
The Red-necked Phalarope reaches its breeding haunts in Scotland towards the end of April or early in May. Here its favourite nesting-places are on the banks of rush-fringed pools, which stud the moors at no great distance from the sea. As these places are visited year by year, it seems probable that the bird may pair for life. This Phalarope nests in scattered colonies, and through- out the breeding season may be seen in companies swimming on the water or standing or running about the marshy moors. The nest is slight, and either made upon the ground or a short distance above it in a tuft of coarse grass or rushes. It is little more than a hollow somewhat neatly lined with dry grass or scraps of sedge leaves and reed. The four pyriform eggs range from pale olive to buff in ground colour, blotched and spotted with umber brown, blackish brown, pale brown, and grey. But one brood is reared in the year, and the eggs are chiefly incubated by the male. It may be of interest to remark that in this, as in some other species, the female is larger and more showily attired than the male ; she takes the initiative in courtship, and leaves her mate to take the greatest share in bringing up the brood. As possibly bear- ing on this curious fact, we may mention that
THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE i8
Messrs. Pearson and Bidwell, during their visit to Northern Norway, repeatedly saw one female attended by two males, and pertinently ask whether this species is polyandrous ? The question is certainly worthy of further investigation.
The adult female Red-necked Phalarope in nuptial plumage has the head, the back of the neck, and the shoulders slate grey ; the remainder of the upper parts of the body is grey ; the wings are brown, the scapulars striped with chestnut, the innermost secondaries narrowly and the greater coverts broadly tipped with white ; the tail is also brown, but the upper tail coverts are barred with white. The chin and throat are white, the front