Chapter XIV: Part 14

A friend, to whom I am indebted for many valuable notes on various birds, tells me that when a covey of Partridges are disturbed by a pack of hounds, they lie close at first, as if terrified by the noise and bent on concealing themselves; but when the pack actually comes on them they rise to a great height, and fly to a distance which may be measured by miles--at least, so he supposes, as he has watched them diminish and fade from the sight before they showed any sign of preparing to alight.

The Partridge, though decorated with no brilliant colours, which would tend to thwart it in its habit of concealing itself among vegetation of the same general hue as itself, is a beautiful bird. Its gait is graceful, its feet small and light, its head well raised; and its plumage, though devoid of striking contrasts, is exquisitely pencilled, each feather on the back and breast being veined like the gauzy wings of a fly. The most conspicuous part of the plumage of the male bird, the horseshoe on its breast, is invisible as it walks or crouches, and the general tone approaches that of the soil.

Partridges pair early in the year; but the hen does not begin to lay until May, nor to sit until towards the beginning of June. The nest is merely a depression in the ground, into which a few straws or dead leaves have been drawn. It is sometimes placed among brushwood under a hedge, but more frequently in the border of a field of hay, clover, or corn, or in the wide field itself. The mowing season, unfortunately, is not noted in the calendar of Nature; so the mother-bird, who is a close sitter, is not unfrequently destroyed by the scythe, or, at all events, is driven away, and returns to find her eggs carried off to be entrusted to the care of a domestic hen. In unusually wet seasons, nests which have been fixed in low situations are flooded, and the eggs being thus reduced to a low temperature become addle. When this has taken place, the Partridge makes a second laying, and a late brood is reared.

Notwithstanding this, however, Partridges are exceedingly prolific, and are said to be increasing in numbers in proportion as new lands are reclaimed from the waste, although the Red-legged Partridge has lessened its numbers in some districts. It must certainly be admitted that, in bad seasons, they are treated with a consideration that would scarcely be shown towards them if they were simply destroyers of grain and had nothing to recommend them as objects of sport or as delicacies for the table. When abundant, they fall freely before the sportsman's gun; but when the coveys are either small or few, they are treated with forbearance, and enough are left to stock the preserves for the ensuing year.

While the hen is sitting, the male bird remains somewhere in the neighbourhood, and gives timely warning of the approach of danger; when the eggs are hatched, he accompanies his mate, and shares in the work of teaching the young to shift for themselves--a lesson which they begin to learn at once. The food both of old and young birds is, to a great extent, insects. The young are especially fond of ants and their pupæ or larvæ. During the year 1860, in which there were no broods of Partridges, I was much struck by the fact that stubble-fields abounded, to an unusual degree, with ant-hills. In ordinary seasons, these are found torn to pieces and levelled. This year, scarcely one was touched; and even at the present time, the end of October, winged ants are far more numerous than they usually are at this time of the year. Besides insects, Partridges feed on the seeds of weeds, green leaves, grain spilt in reaping, and on corn which has been sown. This last charge is a serious one; yet, on the whole, it is most probable that Partridges do far more good than harm on an estate, the insects and weeds which they destroy more than making amends for their consumption of seed-corn.

I might fill many pages with anecdotes of the devotion of Partridges to their maternal duties--their assiduity in hatching their eggs, their disregard of personal danger while thus employed, their loving trickeries to divert the attention of enemies from their broods to themselves, and even the actual removal of their eggs from a suspectedly dangerous position to a place of safety; but with many of these stories the reader must be already familiar if he has read any of the works devoted to such subjects.

The number of eggs laid before incubation commences varies from ten to fifteen, or more. Yarrell says, 'Twenty-eight eggs in one instance, and thirty-three eggs in two other instances, are recorded as having been found in one nest; but there is little doubt, in these cases, that more than one bird had laid eggs in the same nest.' This may be; but I find in a French author an instance in which no less than forty-two eggs were laid by a Partridge in captivity, all of which, being placed under a hen, would have produced chicks, but for the occurrence of a thunder-storm accompanied by a deluge of rain which flooded the nest, when the eggs, which all contained chicks, were on the point of being hatched. The average number of birds in a covey is, I believe, about twelve; quite enough to supply the sportsmen and to account for the abundance of the bird.

The character of the Partridge's flight is familiar to most people. Simultaneously with the startled cry of alarm from the cock comes a loud whirr-r-r as of a spinning-wheel: away fly the whole party in a body, keeping a horizontal, nearly straight line: in turns each bird ceases to beat its wings and sails on for a few yards with extended pinions; the impetus exhausted which carried it through this movement, it plies its wings again, and if it have so long escaped the fowler, may, by this time, consider itself out of danger, for its flight, though laboured, is tolerably rapid.

The call of the Partridge is mostly uttered in the evening, as soon as the beetles begin to buzz. The birds are now proceeding to roost, which they always do in the open field, the covey forming a circle with their heads outwards, to be on the watch against their enemies, of whom they have many. They feed for the most part in the morning and middle of the day, and vary in size according to the abundance of their favourite food. In some districts of France, it is said, the weight of the Partridges found on an estate is considered as a fair standard test of the productiveness of the soil and of the state of agricultural skill.

Most people are familiar with the distich:

If the Partridge had the Woodcock's thigh,
It would be the best bird that e'er did flie;

but every one does not know that the saying was in vogue among epicures in the reign of Charles II.

THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE
CÁCCABIS RUFA

Throat and cheeks white, surrounded by a black band, which
spreads itself out over the breast and sides of the neck in the
form of numerous spots and lines, with which are intermixed a
few white spots; upper plumage reddish ash; on the flanks a
number of crescent-shaped spots, the convexity towards the tail
rust-red, the centre black, bordered by white; beak, orbits,
and feet, bright red. Length thirteen and a half inches. Eggs
dull yellow, spotted and speckled with reddish brown and ash
colour.

The Red-legged Partridge, called also the French and Guernsey Partridge, is a stronger and more robust bird than the common species, which it also greatly surpasses in brilliancy of colouring. As some of its names indicate, it is not an indigenous bird, but a native of the south of Europe, whence it was first introduced into England in the reign of Charles II. To Willughby, who lived at that period, it was unknown except as a native of the continent of Europe and the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Towards the close of the last century it was re-introduced into Suffolk, where it has become numerous; so much so, indeed, in some places, as to have gained the better of the common species for a time.

Its flight is rapid, but heavier and more noisy than that of the Common Partridge. It is less patient of cold, and less able to elude the attacks of birds of prey. It is quite a terrestrial bird, very slow in taking flight, and never perching except when hard pressed, when, on rare occasions, it takes refuge among the thick branches of an oak or pinaster; here it considers itself safe, and watches the movements of the dogs with apparent unconcern. Sometimes, too, when closely hunted, it takes shelter in a rabbit's burrow or the hole of a tree; but under ordinary circumstances it runs rapidly before the dogs, and frequently disappoints the sportsman by rising out of shot. The Grey or Common Partridge frequents rich cultivated lands; the Red Partridge prefers uncultivated plains, 'which summer converts into burning causeways, winter into pools of water--monotonous _landes_, where skeletons of sheep pasture without variation on heath and the dwarf prickly genista. It delights, too, in bushy ravines, or the steep sides of rocky hills covered with holly, thorns, and brambles; and when it resorts to vineyards, it selects those situated on the sides of steep slopes, where marigolds and coltsfoot are the principal weeds, rabbits and vipers the most abundant animals.'[43] Red Partridges are consequently most numerous in the least cultivated districts of France, especially those between the Cher and the Loire, and between the Loire and the Seine. Towards the east they do not extend beyond the hills of Epernay, and do not cross the valley of the Meuse. The flesh of the Red Partridge is considered inferior to that of the Grey, and the bird itself is less esteemed by sportsmen as an object of pursuit. In England it seems to retain its natural taste of preferring bushy heaths to inclosed land. In the mode of incubation and rearing the young the two species are much alike.

[43] Toussenel.

THE QUAIL.
COTÚRNIX COMMÚNIS

'This species', says a French naturalist, 'is probably the most productive of all winged creatures; and it could not well be otherwise, or it would be unable to withstand the war of extermination declared against it by human beings and birds of prey. One may get an idea of the prodigious number of victims which the simple crossing of the Mediterranean costs the species by two well-known and often quoted facts. The Bishop of Capri, a wretched islet scarcely a league in length, which lies at the entrance of the Bay of Naples, used to clear a net revenue of 25,000 francs a year (£1,000) by his Quails. This sum represents 160,000 Quails at the lowest computation. In certain islands of the Archipelago, and parts of the coast of the Peloponnese, the inhabitants, men and women, have no other occupation during two months of the year than that of collecting the Quails which are showered on them from heaven, picking and cleaning them, _salting them_ ('they spread them all abroad for themselves') and packing them away in casks for transportation to the principal markets of the Levant; that is to say, the migration of Quails is to this part of Greece what the migration of herrings is to Holland and Scotland. The Quail-catchers arrive at the shore a fortnight in advance, and every man numbers his ground to avoid disputes. The Quail arrives in France from Africa early in May, and takes its departure towards the end of August.'

Another French author says, 'Like Rails, Woodcocks, Snipes, and many of the waders, the Quail, when it travels towards the sea-shore, flies only in the night. It leaves the lands, where it has passed the day, about the dusk of the evening, and settles again with the dawn of the morning.' Not unfrequently, while performing their transit, they become weary, and alight on vessels, or fall into the sea, and are drowned. 'Being at a small town on the coast, in the month of May', says M. Pellicot, 'I saw some boats come in with ten or a dozen sharks. They were all opened before me, and there was not one which had not from eight to twelve Quails in its body.' 'Enormous flights are annually observed at the spring and fall, after crossing an immense surface of sea, to take a brief repose in the islands of Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Crete, in the kingdom of Naples, and about Constantinople, where, on these occasions, there is a general shooting match, which lasts two or three days. This occurs always in the autumn. The birds, starting from the Crimea about seven at night, and with a northerly wind, before dawn accomplish a passage of above sixty leagues in breadth, and alight on the southern shore to feed and repose. In the vernal season the direction of the flight is reversed, and they arrive in similar condition on the Russian coast. The same phenomena occur in Malta, etc.'[44]

On its arrival, the Quail betakes itself to open plains and rich grassy meadows, especially where the soil is calcareous, and avoids woody countries. During the early part of summer it frequents corn-fields, saintfoin, and lucern. In September it is found in stubble and clover fields, and among the weeds growing in dry ponds, or it finds shelter in any crops which may yet remain standing. In warm countries it resorts to vineyards, attracted, it is said, not so much by the grapes as by the numerous small snails with which the vines are then infested; for the crops of the late birds are generally found filled with these molluscs. In locomotion it makes more use of its feet than its wings, and when put up is never induced to perch on a tree. Its flight resembles in character that of the Partridge, but it rarely flies far, and when it alights makes awkward attempts to conceal itself, but often fails, and may sometimes be captured with the hand. In June or July, the female lays from eight to fourteen eggs in a hole in the ground, and brings up her young without the assistance of the male. Towards the end of August the old birds migrate southwards, and are followed by the young. Before the end of October all have disappeared, though instances have occurred of their being shot during winter, especially in seasons when the harvest has been a late one.

The flesh of the Quail is considered a great delicacy, and many thousands are caught, imported to the London markets, for the table. They are placed in low flat cages, scarcely exceeding in height the stature of the bird, for the reason that in confinement, the birds, in their effort to escape, would beat themselves against the upper bars, and destroy themselves. These are said to be all old males.

Quails inhabit the eastern continent, from China--where they are said to be carried about in winter by the natives, to keep their hands warm--to the British Isles. With us they are nowhere plentiful, but are occasionally shot by sportsmen in most parts of the country. In corn-fields, on the shores of Belfast Lough, in the north of Ireland, they are of frequent occurrence.

In Palestine the Quails still come up in the night, as of old, and "cover the land."

[44] Colonel C. H. Smith.

ORDER FULICARIÆ

FAMILY RALLIDÆ

LAND RAIL, OR CORN CRAKE
CREX PRATENSIS

Upper feathers dusky brown bordered with reddish ash; over the
eye and down the side of the head, a streak of ash;
wing-coverts rust-red; quills reddish brown; throat, belly, and
abdomen, whitish; breast pale yellowish brown; flanks barred
with white and rust-red; upper mandible brown, lower whitish;
irides brown; feet reddish brown. Length ten inches. Eggs
yellowish brown spotted and speckled with grey and reddish
brown.

Few persons can have spent the summer months in the country, and enjoyed their evenings in the open air, without having grown familiar with the note of the Corn Crake; yet, strange to say, among those who have heard it on numberless occasions, not one in a hundred (leaving sportsmen out of the account) have ever seen one alive. Its whole life, while with us, seems to be spent among the long grass and stalks of hay or corn, between which its long legs and slender body give it peculiar facility of moving, and it is only when hard pressed that it rises from the ground. Its flight is low, with its legs hanging down; and it usually drops into the nearest hedge or cover which presents itself, and from which it is not easily flushed a second time.

The Corn Crake used to be found, during summer, in all the counties of England, but is less frequent in Cornwall and Devonshire than in the counties farther east, and increases in abundance as we advance northwards. In the north of Ireland it is to be heard in every meadow and cornfield, and here its incessant cry in the evenings is monotonous, if not wearisome; in many parts of Scotland it is also very common, and here it is much more frequently seen. In waste lands, where it can find no continuous corn, it takes refuge in patches of flags, rushes, or tall weeds, and if watched for, may be seen leaving its place of concealment, and quietly walking along the grass, lifting its feet high, and stooping from time to time to pick up its food, consisting of worms, insects, snails, and seeds.

The Land Rail is considered a delicate article of food, and has long been prized as such. In France it used to be termed, in old sporting phraseology, 'King of the Quails', the Quail being a bird which it much resembles it colouring.

The Corn Crake places its nest, which is composed of a few straws, in a hollow in the ground, among corn or hay, and lays from eight to ten, or rarely, twelve eggs. The young birds are able to accompany their parents in their mazy travels as soon as they have left the shell. The note of the old bird is heard much later in the season than the song of most other birds, and is probably employed as a call-note to the young, which, but for some such guidance, would be very likely to go astray. In the still evenings of August, I have, while standing on the shore of the island of Islay, distinctly heard its monotonous _crek-crek_ proceeding from a cornfield on the opposite shore of Jura, the Sound of Islay which intervened being here upwards of half a mile wide. On ordinary occasions it is not easy to decide on the position and distance of the bird while uttering its note; for the Corn Crake is a ventriloquist of no mean proficiency.

THE SPOTTED CRAKE
PORZANA MARUETTA

Forehead, throat, and a streak over the eye, lead-grey; upper
plumage olive-brown, spotted with black and white; breast and
under plumage olive and ash, spotted with white, the flanks
barred with white and brown; bill greenish yellow, orange at
the base; irides brown; feet greenish yellow. Length nine
inches. Eggs yellowish red, spotted and speckled with brown and
ash.

The Spotted Crake is smaller in size than the Corn Crake, and far less common. It is shot from time to time in various parts of Great Britain, especially in the fen countries, to which its habits are best suited. It frequents watery places which abound with reeds, flags, and sedges, and among these it conceals itself, rarely using its wings, but often wading over mud and weeds, and taking freely to the water, in which it swims with facility. The nest, which is a large structure, composed of rushes and reeds, is placed among thick vegetation, near the water's edge, and contains from seven to ten eggs.

The drainage and improving of waste lands has driven this Crake away, but its eggs have been found in Roscommon, and a nestling in Kerry.

THE LITTLE CRAKE
PORZANA PARVA

Head brown; upper plumage olive-ash, the feathers black in the
centre; middle of the back black, sprinkled with white; throat,
face, and breast, bluish grey, without spots; abdomen and
flanks indistinctly barred with white and brown; wings without
spots, reaching to the extremity of the tail; bill green,
reddish at the base; irides red; feet green. Length seven and a
half inches. Eggs yellowish, spotted with olive-brown.

This species appears to be generally diffused throughout the eastern and southern countries of Europe, but is very rare in England, coming now and again from spring to autumn. It is a shy bird, like the last species, confining itself exclusively to reedy marshes, and building its nest close to the water's edge. It lays seven or eight eggs.

THE WATER RAIL
RALLUS AQUÁTICUS

Upper feathers reddish brown, with black centres; under plumage
in front lead-colour, behind and on the flanks barred with
black and white; bill red, tinged with red above and at the
tip; irides red; feet flesh-colour. Length ten inches. Eggs
yellowish, spotted with ash-grey and red-brown.

The Water Rail is a generally diffused bird, but nowhere very common, haunting bushy and reedy places near the banks of rivers and lakes, and especially the Norfolk Broads, where it feeds on aquatic insects, worms, and snails. Like the Crakes, it makes more use of its legs than of its wings, and places its safety in concealment. Rarely does it take flight, and then only when closely hunted; still more rarely does it expose itself outside its aquatic jungle. I recollect on one occasion, during an intense frost, when every marsh was as impenetrable to a bird's bill as a sheet of marble, passing in a carriage near a stream which, having just issued from its source, was unfrozen; I then saw more than one Water Rail hunting for food among the short rushes and grass on the water's edge. Its mode of walking I thought was very like that of the Moor-hen, but it had not the jerking movement of body characteristic of that bird, which alone would have sufficed to distinguish it, even if I had not been near enough to detect the difference of colour. Either the severity of the weather had sharpened its appetite, and made it less shy than usual, or it had not learnt to fear a horse and carriage, for it took no notice of the intrusion on its privacy, but went on with its search without condescending to look up. The Water Rail, then, unlike the Corn Crake, remains with us all the winter. When forced to rise, this bird flies heavily straight forwards, at no great elevation above the rushes, with its legs hanging loose, and drops into the nearest thicket of weeds. A nest and eggs of this bird are thus described in the _Annals of Natural History_: 'The bird had selected for her nest a thick tuft of long grass, hollow at the bottom, on the side of the reed pond; the nest, about an inch and a half thick, was composed of withered leaves and rushes; it was so covered by the top of the grass, that neither bird, nest, nor eggs could be seen; the entrance to the nest was through an aperture of the grass, directly into the reeds, opposite to where any one would stand to see the nest.' The number of eggs is about ten or eleven. Its note during breeding is a loud, groaning _cro-o-o-an_.

Spotted Crake

Little Crake

Corn Crake or Land-Rail [M]

Water Rail [M]

[_face p. 230._]]

Spoonbill [M]

Moor Hen.

Coot [F]

Bittern [M]]

THE MOOR-HEN
GALLÍNULA CHLÓROPUS

Upper plumage deep olive-brown; under tail-coverts and edge of
the wing white, the former with a few black feathers; under
plumage slate colour, the flanks streaked with white; base of
the bill and a space on the forehead bright orange, point of
the bill yellow; irides red; feet olive-brown; a red ring round
the tibia. In _females_ the colours are brighter than in the
_males_. _Young birds_ have the front of the neck whitish, the
belly grey, the base of the beak and legs olive-brown. Length
thirteen inches. Eggs buff, spotted and speckled with
orange-brown.

Of the two common names of this bird, 'Moor-hen' and 'Water-hen', the former is that which is more generally in use, though the latter is the more appropriate. The bird frequents moors, it must be admitted, but only such as are watery; while there is scarcely a river, lake, canal, brook, or even pond, of moderate dimensions, which Moor-hens do not either inhabit all the year round or occasionally visit. The name is objectionable on other accounts; the male bird is called a Moor-hen as well as the female, while the terms Moor-fowl and Moor-cock have long been applied to the Ptarmigan. For these reasons, I suppose, many recent ornithologists Anglicize the systematic name, and call it the Gallinule, which means 'little fowl', and is suggestive of the half-domestic habits of the bird, under certain circumstances.

The Gallinule being a common bird of some size, conspicuous colours, and active habits, is an interesting appendage of our rivers and pieces of artificial water. Its note, something between a bark and a croak, is as well known in watered districts as the note of the Cuckoo, and is often uttered when the bird has no intention of being seen. Any one who may happen to be walking on the bank of a reedy pond may perhaps hear its strange cry and see the bird itself at some little distance, swimming about with a restless jerky motion, often dipping its head, and with every dip turning slightly to the right or the left. If he wishes for a nearer view, let him advance quietly, concealing himself as much as he can; for if he proceeds carelessly, and takes off his eyes for any considerable time from the spot where he observed it, when he looks again it will have disappeared, taken wing, he may imagine, for some distant part of the water. Not so; the cunning bird, as soon as a stranger was perceived within a dangerous proximity, steered quietly for the nearest tuft of reeds, among which it lies ensconced till he has passed on his way. Or it rose out of the water, and, with its feet trailing on the surface, made for a similar place of concealment; or dived to the bottom, where it still remains clinging to the weeds. Perhaps it lies close to his feet, having sunk beneath the water, and, aided by feet and wings, rowed a subaqueous course to an often-tried thicket of rushes, where, holding on with its feet to the stems of submerged weeds, it remains perfectly still, leaving nothing above the surface of the water but the point of its beak. If the observer suspects the whereabouts of its concealment, he may beat the rushes with his stick and produce no effect; the bird knows itself to be safe where it is and will make no foolish attempt to better itself. A water spaniel or Newfoundland dog will be more effective. Very often an animal of this kind is an overmatch for its sagacity, and seizes it in his mouth before the poor bird was aware that the water itself was to be invaded; but more frequently it discovers an onset of this nature in time to clear itself from its moorings, and dashing out with a splashing movement of feet and wings skims across the pond to another lurking-place, and defies further pursuit.

The Gallinule, though an excellent swimmer and diver, belongs to the Waders; it has, consequently, free use of its legs on land, and here it is no less nimble than in the water. When induced to change the scene it steps ashore, and, with a peculiar jerking motion of its tail, showing the white feathers beneath, and very conspicuous by its bright red bill, which harmonizes pleasantly with the green grass, it struts about and picks up worms, insects, snails, or seeds, with unflagging perseverance, making no stay anywhere, and often running rapidly. If surprised on these occasions, it either makes for the water, or flies off in a line for some thick hedge or patch of brushwood, from which it is very difficult to dislodge it.

Its mode of life is pretty much the same all the year round; it is not a traveller from choice. Only in severe weather, when its haunts are bound up with ice, it is perforce compelled to shift its quarters. It then travels by night and searches for unfrozen streams. At such times it appears occasionally in pretty large numbers in places where usually a few only resort. When the south of Europe is visited by severe frosts it is supposed even to cross the Mediterranean, it having been observed in Algeria, feeding in marshes in half-social parties, where a day or two before none had been seen. To the faculties of swimming and running it adds that of perching on trees; this it does habitually, as it roosts in low bushy trees; and it has besides the power of walking cleverly along the branches.

In the neighbourhood of houses where it has long been undisturbed, it loses much of its shy nature, and will not only allow itself to be approached within a short distance, but, becoming half-domesticated, will consort with the poultry in the farmyard, and come with them to be fed. It is fond also of visiting the kitchen-garden, where it is apt to make itself unwelcome, by helping itself to the tenderest and best of the vegetables. Bishop Stanley, in his entertaining _Book on Birds_, gives some highly amusing anecdotes of the Gallinule.

It builds its nest on the stump of a tree, or in a bush among wet places, or in the roots of alders, but often it is placed on the low-lying branch of a tree overhanging the water. The nest is a large structure, made of rushes and dry flags, and is easy of detection. It is very liable, too, to be swept away by any sudden rise in a river. Added to which, the young frequently fall a prey to pike. But as the bird has two, and sometimes three, broods in a year, each consisting of from six to eight, it remains undiminished in numbers. The nest is sometimes placed in a tree at a distance from the water. When this is the case, as the habits of the young birds are aquatic, immediately on their breaking the egg, the old birds convey them in their claws to the water. An instance is recorded in the _Zoologist_ of a female Gallinule being seen thus employed carrying a young one in each foot; it has been observed, too, that in such cases the male bird builds a second nest, near the water's edge, to which the young retire for shelter during the night, until they are sufficiently fledged to accompany their parents to their ordinary roosting-places in trees.

THE COMMON COOT
FÚLICA ÁTRA

Upper plumage black, tinged on the back with grey; under parts
bluish grey; frontal disk large, pure white; bill white, tinged
with rose-red; irides crimson; feet grey, tinged with green;
part of the tibia orange-yellow. Length sixteen inches. Eggs
brownish, speckled with reddish brown.

The Coot, seen from a distance, either on land or water, might be mistaken for a Gallinule, flirting up its tail when it swims, jerking its head to and fro, and when on land strutting about with a precisely similar movement of all its members. On a nearer examination, it is clearly distinguished by its larger size and the white bare spot above the bill, in front, from which it is often called the Bald-headed Coot. It is only during the summer season that the two birds can be compared; for while the Gallinule remains in the same waters all the year round, the Coot visits the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries, North Africa and Egypt in winter, and gets as far south as the Blue Nile. Their note, in summer, is a loud harsh cry, represented by the syllable _krew_, as it would be uttered by a crazy trumpet. In winter they are nearly mute. During the latter season, Coots are confined to the southern parts of the island; but in the breeding season they are more generally diffused.

When seen on the sea-coast, they are readily distinguished from Ducks by the different position in which they sit on the water, with their heads low, poking forwards, and their tails sticking high above the body. When flying in large coveys, they crowd together into a mass, but when swimming scatter over a wide space.

They have the same power of concealing themselves by diving among weeds that has been already said to be possessed by the Gallinule. I have seen a female Coot and her brood, when disturbed by a party of sportsmen, paddle for a small patch of rushes, and defy a long-continued and minute search conducted by keepers and clever water-dogs. The latter appeared to traverse, again and again, every square foot of the rush bed; but not a single bird was dislodged.

Owing to drainage the Coot is less plentiful than it was, although the late Lord Lilford said it had increased much on the river Nene of recent years.

Stork [M]

Common Crane.

Night Heron.

Heron [F]

[_face p. 234_]]

Kentish Plover [F] [M]

Grey Plover [M] (Summer and Winter)

Golden Plover [M]

Ringed Plover, young and [F]]

ORDER ALECTORIDES

FAMILY GRUIDÆ

THE CRANE
GRUS COMMÚNIS

General plumage ash-grey; throat, part of the neck, and back of
the head, dark blackish grey; forehead and cere covered with
black bristly hairs; crown naked, orange red; some of the
secondaries elongated, arched, and having the barbs of the
feathers free; bill greenish black, reddish at the base,
horn-coloured at the tip; irides reddish brown; feet black.
_Young birds_ have the crown feathered, and want the dark grey
of the neck and head. Length five feet. Eggs pale greenish ash,
blotched and spotted with brown and dark green.

From the fact of nine Cranes being recorded among the presents received at the wedding of the daughter of Mr. More, of Loseley, in 1567, it would appear that these birds were tolerably common in England at that date.

Willughby, whose _Ornithology_ was published about a hundred years later, says that Cranes were regular visitors in England, and that large flocks of them were to be found, in summer, in the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Whether they bred in England, as Aldrovandus states, on the authority of an Englishman who had seen their young, he could not say on his own personal knowledge.

Sir Thomas Browne, a contemporary of Willughby, writes, in his account of birds found in Norfolk: 'Cranes are often seen here in hard winters, especially about the champaign and fieldy part. It seems they have been more plentiful; for, in a bill of fare, when the mayor entertained the Duke of Norfolk, I met with Cranes in a dish.'

Pennant, writing towards the close of the eighteenth century, says: 'On the strictest inquiry, we learn that, at present, the inhabitants of those counties are scarcely acquainted with them; we therefore conclude that these birds have left our land.' Three or four instances only of the occurrence of the Crane took place within the memory of Pennant's last editor; and about as many more are recorded by Yarrell as having come within the notice of his correspondents during the present century. It would seem, therefore, that the Crane has ceased to be a regular visitor to Britain. It is, however, still of common occurrence in many parts of the Eastern Continent, passing its summer in temperate climates, and retiring southwards at the approach of winter. Its periodical migrations are remarkable for their punctuality, it having been observed that, during a long series of years, it has invariably traversed France southward in the latter half of the month of October, returning during the latter half of the month of March. On these occasions, Cranes fly in large flocks, composed of two lines meeting at an angle, moving with no great rapidity, and alighting mostly during the day to rest and feed. At other seasons, it ceases to be gregarious, and repairs to swamps and boggy morasses, where in spring it builds a rude nest of reeds and rushes on a bank or stump of a tree, and lays two eggs. As a feeder it may be called omnivorous, so extensive is its dietary. Its note is loud and sonorous, but harsh, and is uttered when the birds are performing their flights as well as at other times.

The Crane of the Holy Scriptures is most probably not this species, which is rare in Palestine, but another, _Grus Virgo_, the Crane figured on the Egyptian monuments, which periodically visits the Lake of Tiberias, and whose note is a chatter, and not the trumpet sound of the Cinereous Crane. In the north of Ireland, in Wales and perhaps elsewhere, the Heron is commonly called a Crane.

A certain number of Cranes have been noticed in the Shetland Isles, and some in the Orkneys. The latest seen in Ireland was in 1884, County Mayo.

FAMILY OTIDIDÆ

No hind toe.

THE GREAT BUSTARD
OTIS TARDA

Head, neck, breast, and edge of the wing ash grey; on the crown
a longitudinal black streak; bill with a tuft of elongated
loose feathers on each side of the lower mandible; upper
plumage reddish yellow, streaked transversely with black; lower
whitish; tail reddish brown and white, barred with black.
_Female_--smaller, without a moustache, the streak on the crown
fainter. Length nearly four feet. Eggs olive-brown, irregularly
blotched with dull red and deep brown.

The Great Bustard was formerly not unfrequent in Britain, but of late years it has become so rare that it is now impossible to describe its habits on the testimony of a living eye-witness. In several parts of the Continent it is indeed still to be met with; but I find so many discrepancies in the various accounts which I have consulted, that it is hard to believe all the writers who describe it to have had the same bird in view. Some of these the reader may examine for himself.

The earliest mention of it which I find occurs in the Anabasis of Xenophon, who describes a plain or steppe near the Euphrates full of aromatic herbs, and abounding with Wild Asses, Ostriches, and Bustards (_Otis_). The latter, he says, 'could be caught when any one came on them suddenly, as they fly to a short distance like Partridges and soon give in. Their flesh is delicious.' Pliny's description of the Bustard is very brief. He says it approaches the Ostrich in size; that it is called _Avis tarda_ in Spain, _Otis_ in Greece; its flesh is very disagreeable, in consequence of the strong scent of its bones.' Our countryman Willughby, who wrote in the middle of the seventeenth century, gives a longer account. 'The Bustard has no hind claw, which is especially worthy of notice; for by this mark and by its size it is sufficiently distinguished from all birds of the tribe. It feeds on corn and the seeds of herbs, wild cabbage, leaves of the dandelion, etc. I have found in its crop abundance of the seeds of _cicuta_, with but a few grains of barley even in harvest-time. It is found on the plains near Newmarket and Royston, and elsewhere on heaths and plains. Bustards are birds of slow flight, and raise themselves from the ground with difficulty, on account of their size and weight; hence, without doubt, the name _tardu_ was given to them by the Latins. By the Scotch, on the authority of Hector Boethius, they are called _Gustardæ_.'

M. Perrault, who wrote in 1676, gives an account of a tame Bustard which was kept for a while in summer in a garden, and died of cold in the winter. 'He killed mice and sparrows with his bill by pinching their heads, and then swallowed them whole, even when of considerable size. It was easy to observe a large mouse going down his throat, making a moving tumour till it came to the turn of the neck; it then moved backwards, and although out of sight, yet its progress was traced by the feathers between the shoulders separating, and closing again as soon as it passed into the gizzard. He was fond of worms, and while the gardener was digging, stood by him and looked out for them. He ate the buds of flowers, and particularly of roses; also the substance of cucumbers, but not the outside. From these observations the Bustard is evidently fitted more particularly to live on animal food.'

The average number of Bustards annually supplied to Chevet, the great game-dealer of the Palais Royal, Paris, about fifty years ago, was six. Its principal place of resort in France was the wild country between Arcis-sur-Aube and Châlons, in most other districts it was as little known as with us.

Several authors of undoubted veracity state that the adult male Bustard has a capacious pouch, situated along the fore part of the neck, the entrance of which is under the tongue, capable of holding several quarts of water--it is said not less than seven. Montagu, in his _Ornithological Dictionary_, expresses his doubt whether the bird could carry as much as seven quarts, or fourteen pounds, while flying; he admits, however, that 'it is large, as may be seen in the Leverian Museum'; and he adds, 'that it is only discoverable in adults, as it is most likely intended for the purpose of furnishing the female and young in the breeding with water.' Of this pouch a figure is given by Yarrell, copied from Edwards' _Gleanings of Natural History_, and there inserted on the authority of Dr. James Douglas, the discoverer. Some doubts having arisen in Mr. Yarrell's mind as to the accuracy of the statement, he took much pains to ascertain the truth by dissecting several adult males, and found no peculiarity of structure--a result which was also arrived at by Professor Owen, who dissected one with a view of obtaining a preparation of the supposed pouch for the Museum of the College of Surgeons. A paper by Mr. Yarrell,[45] read before the Linnean Society since the publication of his admirable work on Ornithology, contains many other interesting particulars respecting this bird, to which the reader is referred.

Bustards have been seen in England at various intervals during the last eighty or a hundred years, sometimes in small flights and sometimes as solitary specimens, more frequently in Norfolk than in any other county, but they have ceased to breed in this country. I lately met a gentleman in Norfolk who well recollected the time when Bustards were to be met with in that county. On the lands near Flamborough Head there used to be droves of them. They were occasionally seen in the middle of the large uninclosed plains with which Norfolk formerly abounded, and in such situations he had himself seen them. When disturbed they move off rapidly, employing both their feet and wings, rising heavily, but at an angle so acute that they advanced perhaps a hundred yards before they attained the height of a man. When once on the wing, they flew swiftly. They formerly bred in the parish of Deepdale, and he could himself recollect an instance when an attempt was made to rear some in captivity from the eggs, but failed. The Bustard is now only a very rare visitor to Great Britain. Its last fertile eggs were taken in Norfolk and Suffolk about the year 1838.

[45] _Lin. Trans._, vol. xxi. p. 155.

ORDER LIMICOLÆ

FAMILY GLAREOLIDÆ

THE PRATINCOLE
GLARÉOLA PRATÍNCOLA

Crown, nape, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, greyish brown;
throat and front of the neck white, tinged with red, and
bounded by a narrow black collar, which ascends to the base of
the beak; lore black; breast whitish brown; lower wing-coverts
chestnut; under parts white, tinged with brownish red;
tail-coverts, and base of tail-feathers, white; the rest of the
tail dusky, much forked; beak black, red at the base; irides
reddish brown; orbits naked, bright red; feet reddish ash.
Length nine inches and a half. Eggs pale stone colour, spotted
with grey and dusky.

The Pratincole, called on the Continent, but without good reason, _Perdrix de mer_, or Sea Partridge, is a rare visitor to Great Britain, inhabiting for the most part the northern part of Africa, and the countries in the vicinity of the Don, the Volga, the Caspian, and the Black Sea. It has been observed also from time to time in several of the countries of Europe.

In some of its habits it resembles the Plovers, as it frequents open plains and runs with great rapidity. In nidification, also, and in the shape, colour, and markings of its eggs it is associated with the same tribe; while in its mode of flight and habit of catching flies while on the wing, it approaches the Swallows. Hence it was named by Linnæus, _Hirundo pratincola_, and under this designation it is figured in Bewick. Its true place in the system is, however, undoubtedly, among the waders, several of which not only feed on insects, but are expert in catching them on the wing.

FAMILY CHARADRIIDÆ

THE THICK-KNEE OR STONE CURLEW
OEDICNÉMUS SCÓLOPAX

Upper parts reddish ash with a white spot in the middle of each
feather; space between the eye and beak, throat, belly, and
thighs, white; neck and breast tinged with red, and marked with
fine longitudinal brown streaks; a white longitudinal bar on
the wing; first primary with a large white spot in the middle;
second, with a small one on the inner web; lower tail-coverts
reddish, the feathers, except those in the middle, tipped with
black; beak black, yellowish at the base; hides, orbits, and
feet, yellow. Length seventeen inches. Eggs yellowish brown
clouded with greenish, blotched and spotted with dusky and
olive.

Though a citizen of the world, or at least of the eastern hemisphere, this bird is commonly known under the name of Norfolk Plover, from its being more abundant in that county than in any other. It is also called Thick-knee, from the robust conformation of this joint; and Stone Curlew, from its frequenting waste stony places and uttering a note which has been compared to the sound of the syllables _curlui_ or _turlui_. Like the Cuckoo, it is more frequently heard than seen, but that only by night. In some of its habits it resembles the Bustard, and is said even to associate, in Northern Africa, with the Lesser Bustard. Its favourite places of resort are extensive plains; it runs rapidly when disturbed, and when it does take wing, flies for a considerable distance near the ground before mounting into the air. It frequents our open heaths and chalk downs and breeds in Romney Marsh and in the uplands of Kent and Sussex.

By day the Thick-knee confines itself to the ground, either crouching or hunting for food, which consists of worms, slugs, and beetles, under stones, which it is taught by its instinct to turn over. After sunset, it takes flight, and probably rises to a great height, as its plaintive whistle, which somewhat resembles the wail of a human being, is often heard overhead when the bird is invisible. It is singularly shy, and carefully avoids the presence of human beings, whether sportsmen or labourers. Yet it is not destitute of courage, as it has been seen to defend its nest with vigour against the approach of sheep or even of dogs. Nest, properly speaking, it has none, for it contents itself with scratching a hole in the ground and depositing two eggs. The males are supposed to assist in the office of incubation. The young inherit the faculty of running at an early age, being able to leave their birth-place with facility soon after they are hatched; but the development of their wings is a work of time, for their body has attained its full size long before they are able to rise from the ground. Before taking their departure southwards in autumn, they assemble in small parties, numbering from four to six or seven, when they are somewhat more easy of approach than in spring. In the chalky plains of La Marne in France they are very numerous; and here, by the aid of a light cart, fowlers in quest of them have little difficulty in shooting large numbers, the birds being less afraid of the approach of a horse than of a human being. But when obtained they are of little value, as their flesh is barely eatable.

The Thick-knee is migratory, visiting us in the beginning of April to stay till October. His flights are made by night.

THE CREAM-COLOURED COURSER
CURSORIUS GALLICUS

Plumage reddish cream colour; wing-coverts bordered with
ash-grey; throat whitish; behind the eyes a double black bar;
lateral tail-feathers black towards the tip, with a white spot
in the centre of the black; abdomen whitish. Length nine
inches. Eggs unknown.

Though the specific name Europæus would seem to imply that this bird is of frequent occurrence in Europe, this is not the case. Not more than three or four have been observed in Great Britain, at various intervals, from 1785 to 1827; and on the Continent it is an equally rare visitor to the plains of Provence and Languedoc.

It is a native of Syria, Egypt, and Abyssinia, frequenting pools and other moist situations. It is singularly fearless of man, and when disturbed prefers to run, which it does very swiftly, rather than to take flight. Its winter residence is supposed to be the central lakes of Africa, from which it returns to the countries named above early in autumn, and disappears at the approach of winter. Nothing is known of its nidification. About the autumn of 1868 one was shot in Lanarkshire.

THE GOLDEN PLOVER
CHARÁDRIUS PLUVIALIS

_Winter_--upper plumage dusky, spotted with yellow, cheeks,
neck, and breast mottled with ash-brown and buff; throat and
abdomen white; quills dusky, white along the shafts towards the
end; beak dusky, feet deep ash-colour; irides brown.
_Summer_--upper plumage greyish black, spotted with bright
yellow; forehead and space above the eyes white; sides of the
neck white, mottled with black and yellow; lore, throat, neck,
and lower parts deep black. Length nine inches. Eggs yellowish
green, blotched and spotted with black.

The Golden Plover is a common bird in the south of England during the winter months, and in the mountainous parts of Scotland and the north of England during the rest of the year; yet so different are its habits and plumage at the extremes of these two seasons, that the young naturalist who has had no opportunities of observing them in their transition stage, and has had no access to trustworthy books, might be forgiven for setting down the two forms of the bird as distinct species.

In the hilly districts of the north of Europe, Golden Plovers are numerous, sometimes being, with Ptarmigans, the only birds which relieve the solitude of the desolate wastes. Though numerous in the same localities, they are not gregarious during spring and summer, and are remarkable for their fearlessness of man. So tame, indeed, are they that, in little-frequented places, when disturbed by the traveller they will run along the stony ground a few yards in front of him, then fly a few yards, then stand and stare and run along as before. On such occasions they frequently utter their singular cry--the note so often referred to in Sir Walter Scott's poems--which, like the Nightingale's song, is considered simply plaintive or painfully woe-begone, according to the natural temperament or occasional mood of the hearer. This bird builds no nest; a natural depression in the ground, unprotected by bush, heather or rock, serves its purpose, and here the female lays four eggs, much pointed at one end, and arranges them in accordance with this.