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THE
BIRDS
OF
GREAT BRITAIN.
BY
JOHN GOULD, F.RS., &c.
IN FIVE VOLUMES.
VOLUME V.
LONDON: PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STRERT.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 26, CHARLOTTE STREET, BEDFORD SQUARE.
1873.
LIST OF PLATES.
VOLUME V.
Nors.—As the arrangement of the Plates in the course of publication was impracticable, the Numbers here given will
refer to them when arranged, and the Plates may be quoted by them.
Anser ferus
segetum brachyrhynchus albifrons
Bernicla leucopsis ruficollis brenta Cygnus olor ferus minor . Tadorna vulpanser . Casarca rutila . Mareca penelope Spatula clypeata Anas boschas . Querquedula crecca . circia . Dafila acuta Chaulelasmus strepera Nyroca ferina . leucophthalmos Brantarufina . Fuligula cristata marila Eniconetta Stelleri . Somateria mollissima spectabilis Oidemia nigra . fusca. _ perspicillata Clangula glaucion Histrionicus torquatus Harelda glacialis Mergus castor . serrator cucullatus albellus
NATATORES.
Grey Lag Goose Bean-Goose. Pink-footed Goose . White-fronted Goose Bernicle Goose Red-breasted Goose Brent Goose
Mute Swan
Wild Swan, or Whooper .
Bewick’s Swan Sheldrake Ruddy Sheldrake Widgeon. Shoveller Duck Mallard, or Wild Duck Teal
Garganey Pin-tailed Duck Gadwall . Pochard .
White-eyed, or Ferruginous Duck
Red-crested Duck Tufted Duck
Scaup Duck Steller’s Duck Eider Duck
King Duck
Scoter
Velvet Scoter . Surf Scoter Golden-eye Harlequin Duck Long-tailed Duck Goosander Merganser... Hooded Merganser . Smew, or Nun
— Fowoonroantrk WO bH &
COMMCO RCOMMCOMCONICON CS) (CONTRO IO! INS) TROMIROE RO TROD RO) et ies Ss oS ee Noort wrvordcewnwnnrancn’rhwwnirdocdwoonranc&ke W bv
Podiceps cristatus rubricollis auritus nigricollis .
= iTUNES
Colymbus glacialis . arcticus
septentrionalis
Alca impennis .
(HO)
Uria troile
erylle
Mergulus alle .
Fratercula arctica
Phalacrocorax carbo
graculus
Sula bassana
Larus marinus
fuscus
—— glaucus .
——— islandicus
Gere Goeelbatus
canus
Rissa tridactyla
Pagophila eburnea .
Rhodostethia Rossii
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
philadelphia
Hydrocolceus minutus
Xema Sabini :
Hydroprogne caspia
Actochelidon cantiaca
Sterna hirundo
paradisea
macrura
Sternula minuta
Gelochelidon anglica
Hydrochelidon nigra ’
leucoptera
leucopareia
Stercorarius catarrhactes
pomatorhinus parasiticus longicaudus .
Procellaria glacialis
Puffinus major
anglorum
Thalassidroma Leachii
pelagica
ES “OR aA iss:
Great Crested Grebe Red-necked Grebe . Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe ‘ Little Grebe, or Dabchick Great Northern Diver Black-throated Diver Red-throated Diver Great Auk
Razorbill
Common Guillemot . Black Guillemot
Little Auk
Puffin
Cormorant : ; Crested Cormorant, or Shag Gannet, or Solan Goose . Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Glaucous Gull
Iceland Gull Herring-Gull .
Common Gull .
Kittiwake
Ivory Gull
Ross’s Gull Black-headed Gull . Bonaparte’s Gull . ; Little Gull
Sabine’s Gull .
Caspian Tern .
Sandwich Tern - Common Tern
Roseate Tern .
Arctic Tern
Little Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Black Tern ; White-winged Tern Whiskered Tern
Great Skua
Pomatorhine Skua . Arctic Skua
Long-tailed Skua
Fulmar
Great Shearwater
Manx Shearwater Forked-tailed Storm-Petrel Storm-Petrel. ,
Ie hy
024 T tery ‘ 2 a —- ANTONY 6 NaS RRR AE PREP TRTR wrse AaynAS < . me
yas SOWA WAS
ANSER FERUS.
Grey Lag Goose.
Anas anser, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 40.
— ferus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 510.
Anser ferus, Steph. Cont. Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 28.
palustris, Flem. Hist. Brit. Anim., p. 126.
cinereus, Mey. Taschenb. Vog., tom. 3, p. 552.
sylvestris, Brehm, V6g. Deutschl.. p. 836.
vulgaris, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., tom. ll. p. 222.
rubrirostris, Hodgson ?, Swinh. Rev. List of Birds of China in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1871, p. 416.
Tue true habitat of the Grey Lag Goose is the temperate and northern regions of the Old World; as yet it has not been found in any portion of the New.. However general its distribution may have been in the British Islands in former times, it is at present confined to the northern part of Scotland, the Hebrides, and may be sparingly seen in Ireland. Indeed it is from this latter country that the specimens which form the subject of the accompanying illustration were received, for which I am indebted to the Earl of Enniskillen, a nobleman well known for his love of science and as a liberal supporter of several of its numerous branches, especially those embracing the study of the living objects by which we are surrounded, and as an investigator of the treasures of by-gone ages. The properties of the Earl of Belmore, at Castle Cool, and of Sir Victor Brooke, at Lisnaskea, co. Fermanagh, have, I understand, from almost time immemorial, been frequented by flocks of wild geese; and it is through the kindness of the former nobleman and his steward, Mr. Hosegood, that Lord Enniskillen obtamed for me the very fine pair, male and female, on the 15th of December, 1868.
Mr. R. Gray, in his ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland,’ after speaking of the Grey Lag Goose breeding in many parts of that country, and of their nurseries on the bleak hills of the outer Hebrides, states that “it is common in North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist, and is found occupying the breeding-stations early in May. Mr. Harvie Brown took a nest of eggs which were hard sat upon, on 2nd May, 1870; but Mr. Elwes, who visited the Long Island in 1868, saw flocks of as many as thirty together later in the season.. The nest, which resembles that of a Great Black-backed Gull when found breeding on heath-clad islands, with the exception of being lined with down and feathers, is generally placed in a tuft of coarse grass, or among rank heather, and contains from four to six eggs. When the young are fully fledged, they keep together in family groups for some weeks, and are often seen shifting their quarters from one side of the island to the other.”
During a visit to Lochs Shin and Merkland, as well as several parts of the Reay Forest, in the autumn of 1867, I saw Grey Lags and their broods of young in sufficient numbers to convince me that they might be considered a common bird in those parts of the British Islands; and that it was not less abundant on the numerous lakes of the west coast of Sutherland and Ross-shire will be seen from the following extract from a note transmitted to me, after my return to London, by my excellent and kind friend the Marquis of West- minster :—‘‘ Loch More, September 4. You will like to hear about the Grey Lag Geese. The forester on the shore of Loch Merkland fired into a lot of fourteen, wounding four ; they pursued them in a coble, and procured one, which we ate; they will try to get the others.”
I shall close this paper with some extracts from an amusing and, I am sure, very truthful account of one mode of shooting this bird on its native lochs, which appeared in‘ Land and Water’ on the 15th of October, 1870, under the title of ‘‘A Wild-Goose Chase in Sutherland ” :—
“The breeding-places of the Wild Goose are yearly becoming more circumscribed all over the north; and even in Sutherland, where, perhaps, they were more numerous than elsewhere, they are now confined to one or two districts, the most fertile being a chain of lakes, with islands and rushy margins, running for about eight miles across the interior of the county, from Badinloch to Gernsary. Here the Grey Lag, principally with a few of the Bean Goose and Pink-footed Goose (the latter, however, only rarely), still breed by hundreds. We are inclined to think that the different sorts of Geese do not mix or associate during the breeding-season, but, on the contrary, form separate communities until disturbed, when they take refuge on the water in one large body. They float and plume themselves here in comparative safety all day, and at night land on the grassy feeding-places, eating up and soiling the very finest pasture in such a manner that deer or sheep will scarcely approach it after them. For many a day, with the exception of a solitary boat following a flock and potting a few, none, either young or old, were killed; and some years ago it
struck us that by collecting a number of boats and placing a good gun in each, a very exciting Jattue might be organized. This we have now carried out for many seasons with varying success ; but oftener than once we have bagged from fifty to sixty Geese in a day, and had in doing so an amount of hard shooting and pulling to satisfy the most ambitious.
‘About the 20th of July is the proper time to meet for this sport, as then the young birds, although nearly the size of the old Geese, are not strong on the wing; indeed, after they are able to take long flights, there is little to be done in the way of shooting them.
‘Imagine, then, half a dozen ‘ good men and true’ convening at the comfortable inn of Achintoul, within six miles of the lochs, a few days beforehand, armed with all calibres, from S., with his mighty 8-bore breech-loader, down to the Major’s sharp-shooting 16. Rods, reels, boots, and baskets lumber the lobby in sweet confusion ; for the standing orders are that we are to fish the numerous detached lochs until a dead calm day should permit of our properly carrying out the chasse.
‘« The keepers on the upper lochs have driven down the Geese, and concentrated them on the lowest and largest sheet of water ; and ‘ Donald’ reports that ‘ there is an awful lot of them.’ So with a night-cap of hot toddy we turn in early to bed, and are cruelly roused out of glorious slumbers at 5 a.m. by heavy knuckles on the door. Up we jump, and take an anxious look at the horizon. All seems serene; and Ben Griam has thrown off his foggy mantle, showing the clear outline of bis bald head against the blue sky— always an omen of settled weather. Bitters (that horrid Celtic habit, which Saxons langh at but soon so kindly fall into), followed by breakfast, are soon despatched. Guns, ammunition, and lunch have been packed in a cart, and under careful hands are jolting their way to the lochs over a track which does the double duty of a road in summer and a water-course in winter !
“Every glass is out to scan the water, and Geese are counted by the hundred; so, making sure that the
shore and outlets are all properly guarded, we embark, a gun in each boat, and form line, with a proper distance intervening, and the lightest boats on the flanks and a little in advance, so as to head the Geese should they attempt to break. Thus we pull gently down the loch until we get so near the Geese that the boats can safely close upon them. The birds get very restless, and head up and down in long strings; but the flanking boats stop them, and we are within range. The daftue is soon opened by some of the old birds, after a premonitory screech to show they have made up their minds, taking wing across the line of boats. Bang! bang! bang! and down comes an old gander, with a flop sufficient to sink the little dingy underneath ; and ‘ first blood to the oily gunner!’ comes cheerily across the water ; every boat opens fire, fast and furious, and the plucky owner of No. 8 bore, careless of recoil, cuts down lanes of Geese, and deafens his assistant loader, who after each discharge feels if his head is on and puts in a fresh cartridge. All order is now at an end; the birds separate into small lots over the loch, and each boat cuts out an independent course.”
“Note of two Irish Grey Lag Geese received from Lord Enniskillen, December 15th, 1868.—One, a male, weighed ten pounds; the other, a female, seven pounds and a half. ‘The male had the head and neck light chocolate-brown ; back of the neck and back chocolate-brown, each feather margined at the tip with brownish grey; lower part of the back grey; scapularies very dark chocolate-brown, each feather narrowly edged with greyish white ; shoulders, lesser wing-coverts and those of the greater coverts nearest the spurious wing, and the spurious wing itself light pure grey, each feather margined with still paler grey; three upper rows of the greater wing-coverts brown, tipped with greyish white, the lower and largest row conspicuously margined anteriorly and at the tip with greyish white ; primaries and secondaries dark chocolate, with white shafts and the first four washed with grey; upper tail-coverts white, forming a zone; external tail-feathers white, the central ones dark chocolate in the middle, the rest white; abdomen pale brownish white, with here and there small patches of black at the extremities of the feathers; vent and under tail-coverts white ; bill very deeply tinged with pmk towards the tip, which is defended with a large greyish white nail; irides hazel, surrounded with a thick pink lash ; feet light pinkish flesh-colour.
«The female resembles the male in colour, but is destitute of the black markings on the chest, and the grey of the rump is not so pure; she is also conspicuously less in size.”
Mr. Dresser found the Grey Lag Goose breeding all along the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia up to Tornea, and procured the eggs at the end of May. ‘In some of the northern towns the peasant women make a trade of catching the young birds and selling them in the market at prices varying from 20 kopecks upwards. They are easily reared and quite take the place of tame geese in some towns.” He asked “one old woman how she obtained them ; and she replied, by watching the time the old geese leave the nest in the evening and proceed to the water (as they always have their nests far from the shores); and by keeping in the vicinity every evening during the hatching-season, she almost invariably met the old birds leading the young to the water, and had no difficulty in catching the latter.”
The principal figure in the accompanying Plate is a male, about two thirds the natural size.
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MYPAL ITP PU)?
ANSER SEGETUM. Bean-Goose.
Anas segetum, Gmel. edit. Syst. Nat., fom. 1. p. 512. Anser segetum, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutschl. V6g., tom. i. p. 554.
arvensis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 839. paludosus, Strickland.
Tue Bean-Goose may be readily distinguished from its close ally the pink-footed species by its more lengthened bill and yellow legs ; and both these birds differ again considerably in these respects from the Grey Lag ; and that all three are specifically distinct there can be no doubt. The Grey Lag, as it will have been seen, is a true resident, being found in one or other part of the British Islands at all seasons of the year, which the others are not. The Bean-Goose comes to us in autumn, and after passing the winter here retires to other countries to breed, among which may be enumerated Sweden, Norway, and Lapland. Further south and east it has been found in Russia; I have a specimen which was certainly killed in Western India; and Mr. Swinhoe states that the bird visits China in swarms during the cold weather, particularly the marshes and the mouths of rivers in the neighbourhood of Amoy. So far as is yet known, it does not visit America.
Mr. Stevenson, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ regards the Bean-Goose as a much rarer bird than the Pink- footed, and considers that the latter has been generally confounded with the former, which I think is very possible. He remarks, “ The following are the only examples of the Bean-Goose that have come under my notice during the last ten years, in marked contrast to the numbers of Pink-footed geese recorded in my notes during the same period :—one, January 10th, 1861, during a sharp frost ; one, November 29th, 1862, after an early fall of snow ; two, January 15th, 1864, during sharp weather ; and one on January 31st, 1867, a rather mild season. All these birds were sent to our Norwich market ; but I was unable to ascertain from what part of the county. From the latter date until the commencement of 1871, I had not met with this species either at our birdstuffers’ or poulterers’; but on the 11th of January, during the intense frost which prevailed at that time, Mr. H. Upcher succeeded in killing one out of a flock of three that he found feeding within shot of a frozen ditch at Blakeney; and on the 11th of February Mr. Hamond sent me a fine adult male, which had been shot at Castleacre on the 9th by Mr. Beverley Leeds.”
Those who may wish to make themselves acquainted with this Goose in a sporting point of view, will do well to consult the writings of the late Mr. Charles St. John for many interesting details which are there given, but which their length does not permit’ to be transcribed here, especially as, though excellent in themselves, the following more recent and perhaps fuller account has been published by Mr. R. Gray, in his ‘Birds of the West of Scotland’ :—
“In the Outer Hebrides the Bean-Goose is a common winter visitant, remaining on the outlying rocks and islets, especially in the neighbourhood of Harris, as late as the beginning of June. Its nest has never to my knowledge been discovered in any part of the Long Island, although it is stated by Macgillivray that it frequents the Hebrides in summer. ‘There can be no doubt that his observations on this bird apply to the preceding species. According to Mr. Selby, the Bean-Goose had been found breeding in several of the Sutherlandshire lakes ; but recent observers have failed to corroborate his records. There may have been a mistake in the species here also, a circumstance hardly to be wondered at when it is borne in mind that the Grey Lag was then supposed to be a comparatively rare bird, whereas it now turns out to be the only native species inhabiting the north and north-western districts of Scotland.
‘Mr. Elwes informs me that the Bean-Goose is not uncommon in some parts of Islay, but that it does not arrive there till January or February. The flocks are not large, and the birds are very wary. These are probably from some of the outer islands, where they have exhausted their feeding-grounds. The movements of Geese, indeed, are greatly influenced by this consideration. Throughout the winter months very large flocks of this species frequent Montrose Basin at ebb tide, and the adjoining fields when the vast stretch of mud and sand is covered. I have seen many hundreds there, and have recognized them readily from a passing train at Dubton Junction. On one occasion the birds, although feeding within thirty yards of the railway embankment, merely ran together with raised heads and stood on the alert until the train had gone past, after which they lowered their heads and resumed feeding.
“The Bean-Goose is also common in Haddingtonshire, where it frequents wheat-fields, doing considerable damage sometimes to the sprouting grain. Large and noisy companies resort at nightfall to the open
sands near the Tyne estuary, and retire at daybreak to the Lammermuirs. In Fifeshire its habits are similar. When travelling through that county in the winter-time, I never fail to observe small flocks coming from the higher grounds in the afternoon and steering for the mouth of the Eden, near St. Andrew’s. Mr. Harvie Brown, writing from Stirlingshire, says :—‘ It is our commonest Goose on the east coast, punishing the farmers’ newly sown beans in early spring throughout the day and, as one of the fraternity informed me, “ paidling aboot 1 the mud at nicht: de’il tak’ them.”’ The Carseland, west of Stirling, is also visited by them in great numbers. It is somewhat strange that this species, which is so very common on all parts of the east coast of Scotland, should only be an uncertain winter visitant in Orkney.”
Mr. Dann’s note on this species, communicated to the late Mr. Yarrell, is as follows :—
“This Goose is said to be very numerous on the north-west coast of Norway. I have seen it in vast numbers on the Tornea river in September; and the young ones are often caught on the islands at the head of the Bothnian Gulf, and tamed. They arrive in the south of Sweden at the latter end of March or the beginning of April, and remain about a month previously to their departure north. During their stay they keep amongst the dead reeds and rushes, feeding upon the roots and young shoots. J have never seen this Goose upon the coast in winter; but, as before stated, it is reported to breed in great numbers on the Norwegian coast.” Professor Nilsson says that the Bean-Goose is the most common species in Sweden, and is also spread over Finland, breeding upon the islands and committing great ravage upon the green corn. Mr. Hewitson says the Bean-Goose was rather numerous upon one of the large islands on the west coast of Norway, near the Arctic circle, where it had been breeding during the previous month. M. Temminck says the Bean-Goose is abundant in Holland, Germany, and France, but is more rare in the central portions of Europe. It 1s found also in Spain, Provence, and Italy. M. Vieillot mentions that one of the names of this bird in France is ‘ Harvest-Goose’ (Oie des moissons), from its frequenting corn-fields, and the destructive effects of large flocks when feeding upon green corn. Our name of Bean-Goose is said to have reference to the dark nail on the beak, which in appearance is considered to resemble a horse-bean; Mr. Selby thinks the name has been suggested by the decided
partiality of the bird to pulse and grain. The principal figure in the opposite Plate represents an adult male Bean-Goose, about two thirds of the
natural size.
= a An Re IG, ge Nein ONE ~ a - ~, ge A RS me Re Lee RN YN ene I OK SS a age te AP ae im st e - ° : fe i cir oalatin teh ieee iemeliiaidiamntie eaeeal
UA PPP POPPI OH? PMI
ANSER BRACHYRHYNCHUS, Bau.
Pink-footed Goose.
Anser brachyrhynchus, Baill. Mém. de la Soc. d’Emul. d’Abbev., 1833, p. —— phenicopus, Bartl. Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1839, p. 3.
From time immemorial wild geese of several species have migrated to the British Islands as regularly as the Cuckoo and the Swallow, but with this difference of object: the Cuckoo and Swallow have come here to breed and perpetuate their kind; but the geese have sought our shores and river-flats as an asylum for the winter, just as the Fieldfare and Redwing do in localities suited to them. From the time of Willughby and Ray to the early part of the present century, but little has been recorded about these important birds ; and their distinctions were involved in obscurity ; now, however, they are well known ; and I believe I shall be perfectly correct in stating that the British Islands are either regularly or occasionally visited by seven species, viz. the Grey Lag (dnser ferus), the Bean-Goose (A. segetum), the Pink-footed (4. brachyrhynchus), the White-fronted (4. albifrons), the Bervicle (Bernicla leucopsis), the Brent (B. drenta), and the Red-breasted (B. rujficollis). The first of these is the only one that remains and breeds with us, and is doubtless the origin of our common domestic goose; the five succeeding are winter visitors only, and the last an accidental one.
The Pink-footed Goose was made known as a British bird by Mr. Bartlett at the first meeting of the Zoological Society in 1839, when he characterized it under the name of Anser phenicopus from the colouring of its legs and feet, without being aware that M. Baillon, of Abbeville, had previously (in 1833) pointed out its specific distinctions, and assigned it the name of 4. brachyrhynchus from the shortness of its beak, a term which, from its priority, is now generally adopted.
In all probability the Pink-footed has always been the most common of our migratory geese, but, until the dates above mentioned, was confounded with its near ally the Bean-Goose, the two species being very similar im size and general appearance; they are readily distinguishable, however, by the difference in the colouring of their legs and feet—those of the Bean-Goose being yellow, and those of the other pink.
The 4. brachyrhynchus arrives on our shores early in October or the beginning of November, and at once resorts to all suitable localities, and remains there, if unmolested, until the spring, when, like all the other migrating geese, it quits the country, many of them proceeding to regions within the Arctic circle so far north that man has not yet been able to follow them, nor to ascertain what is the nature of the great nurseries of this family of birds. \
“Since the specific distinctions of this short-billed Goose,” says Mr. Stevenson in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ “ were first pointed out by M. Baillon in 1833, and subsequently by Mr. Bartlett in 1839, it has proved to be both a constant and abundant winter-visitant on our Norfolk coast, although to a great extent confined to the western side of the county, and especially to certain localities in the neighbourhood of Holkham.
“The earliest record of its identification in this county is apparently the notice by Yarrell of a specimen killed at Holkham, in January 1841, by the present Earl of Leicester, out of a flock of about twenty, since which time this goose has proved to be by far the most common species that frequents the Holkham marshes. Of its habits in that neighbourhood the following notes have been kindly supplied me by Lord Leicester.
“*As long as I can recollect, wild geese frequented the Holkham and Burnham Marshes. Their time of appearing in this district is generally the last week of October, and their departure the end of March, varying a little according to the season. Till November they rarely alight in the marshes or elsewhere in the neighbourhood, but are seen passing to and from the sea. Where they feed in October I know not, as I have reason to believe that they do not obtain much food off the muds, like the brents, but live mainly on grass and new-sown wheat. From early in November till their time of departure for the north, the Holkham marshes have almost daily some hundreds of geese feeding on them. There are periods of a week or a fortnight when the greater portion of them go elsewhere; but rarely all go. When on the marshes they are mostly in one or two flocks, but in stormy weather, or even on certain still days, for some unaccountable reason they break up into small lots. My keepers informed me that one day, about the middle of November 1870, which was perfectly calm, they were flying about in small lots very low, and that a great many might have been killed.’
‘Referring to the goose shot by himself in 1841, and identified by Yarrell as the pink-footed, his lordship adds, ‘Of the many geese killed here before then, I have reason to believe from their habits they were nearly all the same as those now here—the pink-footed ; and of the many hundreds killed since, with the exception, I believe, of only one bean-goose and a few white-fronted, they were all pink-footed. The greatest number killed in one year was in the severe winter of 1860-61, when one hundred and thirty-eight were killed, all pink-footed.’
“Mr. Dowell, who is also well acquainted with the habits of this species and has shot several at different times, informs me that they feed in flocks of from one or two to six or seven hundred on the uplands by day, and he
has known as many as twenty-seven shot in one day by sportsmen lying up for them behind gate-posts in the Holkham marshes during a gale of wind, when the geese fly low. In 1858 he saw a flock of fifty at South Creake as early as the 13th of October ; and some were said to have been seen that year on the 1st of the month. In the winter of 1869, a flock of about five hundred geese, which were no doubt all pink-footed, frequented some barley stubbles within sight of his house at Dunton, near Fakenham. ‘They used to arrive from the coast soon after day- light, and remain till late in the afternoon. ‘The chestnut-brown of the head and neck in this species he considers a distinguishable feature at almost any distance. The pink-footed, like the bean-goose, also frequents the large upland fields about Anmer and Westacre, and still further inland the open country about Wretham heath.”
According to the elder Macgillivray the Pink-footed Goose is not very uncommon in the south of Scotland, being frequently seen in the Edinburgh market. The specimen from which he took his description was shot in November; but the bird is more frequently obtained in February and March. Two specimens in the Museum at Montrose were shot in the neighbourhood of that town; and he had seen examples in winter in the Aberdeen market. Mr. John Macgillivray has stated, in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ vol. vii. p. 13, that ‘the Pink-footed or Short-billed Goose breeds in great numbers in the small islands of the Sound of Harris, as well as those of the interior of North Uist; but this statement would seem to be founded in error, since Capt. Elwes says, in ‘ The Ibis’ for 1869, p. 22, I think there can be little doubt that the only Goose that breeds in any part of Scotland is the Grey Lag (Anser ferus) ; and the best evidence in favour of this view is that of Mr. J. Macdonald, of Scolpig, who has resided all his life on the Outer Hebrides, where it is a common custom to rear Geese from eggs that have been laid by wild birds; and he assures ne that none of these eggs have ever produced any but Grey Lags with the nail of the bill white.”
Mr. Thomas Jamieson informed Macgillivray that he had observed the Pink-footed Goose in the Isle of Skye in 1850; and St. John states that it regularly visits Morayshire at the same time as the Bean-Goose.
“The Short-billed or Pink-footed Goose,” says Thompson, though not uncommon in England or Scot- land, cannot yet be announced as obtained in Ireland, though particularly looked for of late years.
I have alluded to the high northern localities visited by this bird in summer, in confirmation of which I may mention that we have the authority of Mr. Newton for stating that Mr. Proctor, of the Durham Uni- versity Museum, has once or twice received specimens from Iceland ; and Mr. Newton himself says that, * in Spitzbergen the Pink-footed Goose has been-met with in Wide Bay, lat. 79° 35 N., and probably occurs all along the west coast. It is most numerous in Ice Sound, where a hatched-out nest with two goslings was found about midnight between the 16th and 17th of July. Dr. Malmgren seems to have met with at least two nests in the upper part of the Sound, from both of which he shot the female bird. The second was obtained at Mittelhook, in the same Sound, on the 10th of July. According to Dr. Malmgren, the species also occurs in Hinlopen Strait and Stor Fjord.” In a review of Herr Robert Collett’s ‘ List of the Birds of Norway’ in ‘The Ibis’ for 1869, it is stated that “the Auser brachyrhynchus has at last been recognized as breeding in the north of Norway.”
Temminck states that this species has been several times killed in France, where it occasionally appears as a migrant, as it probably does in several other countries of Europe, but has there been confounded with 4. segetum, from which it differs but little. It had only been observed during the severe winters of 1829, 1830, and 1838, and always in very small numbers, which kept together and did not mingle with the flocks of common geese; a peculiarity which the bird also evinces in captivity, smce M. de Lamotte, of Abbeville, kept three individuals in an enclosure in company with A. ferus, A. segetum, and A. albifrons; but they always remained apart and evinced no disposition to ally themselves with either of them ; and a male in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent’s Park, and a female on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park, would not associate with any of the various species with which they were surrounded.
Meyer says:—‘‘ Towards the spring these geese become restless, flying to meadows, waste lands, and heathy commons, and finally leave their winter-quarters for more northern regions. Their migratory journeys are performed usually in the day; and the speed at which they sometimes fly has been noticed to amount to forty or fifty miles an hour. The numbers that journey together vary from five to fifty or sixty; and when in large flocks, they form a triangular figure, headed by the father of the foremost family.”
The number of eggs laid by this goose has not been ascertained. The female belonging to the Ornitho- logical Society, and kept on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park, deposited eight, which, Mr. Yarrell says, were rather less than those of a Bean-Goose, of a pure white, and measured 33 inches in length by 2: inches in breadth. y
I must not conclude my account of the Pink-footed Goose without recording my obligations to Earls Ducie and Fitzhardinge for the assistance they have kindly rendered me by forwarding the fine examples from which my figures were taken, nor to Mr. Alfred Newton for the sight of a pair of goslings obtained by him in Ice Sound, on the western side of Spitzbergen.
The figures are about, or perhaps a little more than, half the natural size.
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ANSER ALBIFRONS.
White-fronted Goose.
Anas albifrons, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. 1. p. 509. Anser albifrons, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 898.
Tue White-fronted Goose is a regular winter visitor to the British Islands. It is supposed to come from the north; but from what particular regions is not known with certainty. Mr. Newton has confirmed Faber’s observations that at least a few summer in Iceland, by stating that on the 11th of May 1858 he saw several freshly killed examples at Reykjavik, in that country; and Remhardt includes it in the birds of Greenland. Lapland is also said to be frequented by it: but this is certainly not the case; for Mr. Wolley remarks that the only White-fronted Goose he met with in that country was the small species which Mr. Newton believes to be the true Anas (Anser) erythropus of Linnzeus, and for which the Laps have a name, while they have none for 4. albifrons; he was also of opinion that Nilsson is in error in assigning it a place in the fauna of Sweden, and in stating that it is the common Fell Goose of that country. As regards Norway, however, Messrs. F. and P. Godman affirm that they frequently saw flocks of from seven to ten feeding in the pools and creeks of the marsh near Bodo, in Norway, from which they all departed towards the end of May; but those gentlemen make no mention of 4. erythropus, and possibly the birds they saw belonged to that species. 7
Sir John Richardson states that in spring White-fronted Geese pass through the interior of the fur- countries of America in large flocks to their breeding-places in the woody districts skirting the Mackenzie, to the north of the sixty-seventh parallel, and also the islands of the Arctic Sea; but whether his remarks have reference to our bird or the American, which is now regarded as different, and named Anser Gambeli, is a question I cannot determine. Their migration southwards commences in September ; and their return to the fur-districts is often the first indication of winter having begun within the Arctic Circle. In England the 4. albifrons arrives in September and October, occasionally appearing in very large flocks, and departs again in March and April to its breeding-haunts. In like manner, and at the same periods, it is very generally dispersed over the southern portions of the European continent; and there also similar movements take place. Temminck states that it is very common in Holland during its autumnal migration, but is less numerous in Germany and the interior of France. Lord Lilford found it to be common in winter in Epirus and continental Greece. The Russian naturalist Ménétriés says that, at the same period, it appears in considerable flocks in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, particularly near Bakou and the neighbouring lakes, where it passes the winter, and departs towards the end of February. Dr. Leith Adams states that it is the most common Goose on the Nile, and is usually seen in vast flocks at daybreak, returning to the shallows from feeding all night in the wheat-fields, but decreases southwards, and is rarely seen beyond the marsh at Edfoo. The same gentleman elsewhere states that this bird is a winter visitant to the lakes and rivers of the Punjab. In China, according to Mr. Swinhoe, it forms part of the wild fowl procu- rable in the markets of Shanghai and Tientsin; and he has also met with it between Takoo and Peking in North China; and, lastly, Temminck affirms that exainples from Japan are exactly like our own birds,
I have been favoured by several kind friends with some fine examples of this Goose for the furtherance of this work. The Earl of Enniskillen sent me a pair from Ireland; and the Earl of Ducie, besides kindly obtainmg permission from Lord Fitzhardinge for examples to be forwarded to me from his Lordship’s estate in Gloucestershire, transmitted the following note:—‘* When you are writing on the Wild Geese, you ought to hear something of those frequenting the Severn, and their habits on the alluvial flats belonging to Lord Fitzhardinge. The spot is about ten miles from here (Tortworth Court, Wotton- under-Edge). There the Geese are regularly preserved, and the shooting of them affords great sport. I have been out the only two days of shooting this year, and on each day we killed nine. They are first found feeding on the grass, and about noon are driven over towards the guns, which are posted between them and the Severn. They then betake themselves to the mud flats, and when hungry attempt to get to the grass- meadows again. By this time the guns are posted under hedges at right angles to their probable line of flight ; and as they come over, in flocks of varying size, shots are fired with long guns at from forty to seventy yards distance. The whole system is, I believe, unique in this country. The Geese arrive about the 23rd or 25th of September, are never known to be two days later, and generally leave again about the end of November. ‘The White-fronted are not so numerous as the Pink-footed, but are increasing in number.”
As a bird for the table the present species is perhaps one of the best of the wild geese; and there are few
winters in which the London markets are not well supplied with it. A fine-conditioned gander weighs from five to six pounds, and measures about 4 feet 3 inches from tip to tip of the wings when spread, so that it is a smaller bird than the Bean- and Grey Lag-Geese. The sexes are so nearly alike in colouring that they are scarcely distinguishable; both have the black interrupted bars on the breast, a character which differs considerably in extent in different individuals.
Macgillivray gives so meagre an account of this species that it would seem to be far less plentiful in Scotland than in England; yet Sir William Jardine has met with it in Dumfriesshire and in the Edinburgh market, and St. John says that ‘it arrives in Morayshire from its breeding-quarters in the arctic and northern regions about the middle of October in small companies of from six to twelve, and, if left tolerably undisturbed, frequents regularly the same swamp or piece of marsh till the end of April, feeding on aquatic plants, and in the spring frequently grazing on the young clover or green wheat. It is more easy of approach than any other wild goose ;” and he ‘has often seen it feeding in small hollows and spots easily got at, where the Bean-Goose would never trust itself. Its ery is very loud and peculiar, sometimes wonderfully resembling the loud laugh of a human being, whence its trivial name of ‘* Laughing Goose.” Sir John Richardson mentions that the Indians of the American fur-countries imitate this sound by patting the mouth with their hand, while they repeat the syllable wah.” Mr. Thompson informs us that it ‘is a regular winter visitant to Ireland, where, as in Great Britain, it is, next to the Bean-Goose, the species most frequently met with, and is brought during the season of every year to the Dublin market.”
Mr. Selby remarks that “this species varies from the Bean-Goose in preferring low and marshy districts rather than the upland and drier haunts affected by that bird, and in such localities subsists on aquatic grasses, being very seldom seen to frequent corn- or stubble-fields.” A specimen sent to him which had been killed near Alnwick, in Northumberland, “had its stomach gorged with the tender shoots and leaves of the common clover (Trifolium pratense), upon which it had been feedmg on the termination of a severe snow- storm.” The bird also feeds on the leaves of turnips, beetles, other insects, and their larve. Its flight is described as vigorous, and its gait on the ground as characterized by grace, rapidity, and ease. Whena flock proceeds to any distance, the birds of which it is composed keep in single file.
The White-fronted Goose is not known to breed in a wild state in any part of our islands; and a pair in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent’s Park brought forth their brood from one of the islands to which they were restricted, and showed great anxiety for their safety. The egg is pale buffy white, about 2 inches and 10 lines in length by 1 inch and 11 lines in breadth.
Speaking of this bird, as seen in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson says :—
“This species, which is never observed in very large flocks, can scarcely be called a regular winter visitant, being rarely seen in our markets, except in severe weather. As an exception, however, to this rule, in the mild winter of 1851-2, a very unusual number of wild geese were shot in different parts of the county; and on the 20th of December, the Norwich market exhibited the unusual appearance, amongst other fowl, of two couple and a half of White-fronted, with Bean and Bernicle Geese, from Hickling and other localities ; and another White-fronted, from Blakeney, was sent up to Norwich the same day. All these birds were in perfect plumage—the White-fronted Geese, from the markings on the breast, being evidently adult ; but their poor condition seemed to indicate ‘ hard times,’ although, as already remarked, the weather was then unusually mild with us, and continued so up to the following February. From Mr. Dowell’s notes for the same year (1851) I find that on the 18th of December he saw a flock of some twenty White-fronted Geese at Holkham, and on the same day he received a fine specimen which had been killed at Blakeney. This goose is considered by Lord Leicester rare at Holkham, except in hard weather, when it commonly appears in flocks of from five to ten, and, being less shy, is easier of approach than others; but singularly enough, during the severe winter of 1870-71 this species, as Lord Leicester informs me, was not seen at all at Holkham; and a single adult bird which I purchased in the Norwich market, on the 18th of February, was the only example that came under my notice during that inclement season.
“The few recorded in my own note-books, since 1854, have been all killed durmg sharp frosts, between December and February—which agrees with Hunt’s description of this species, that ‘ they visit the fenny parts of this county in small flocks, in severe winters.’ In West Norfolk, according to Mr. Lubbock, a good many White- fronted Geese are sometimes observed with the Bean-, or, as now distinguished, more probably with the Pink- footed. Blakeney and Holkham have been already mentioned as localities where it is occasionally remarked; and the brackish waters of Salthouse would seem to have attractions, as a fine old bird in my own collection was killed there on the 22nd of December 1866,-and Mr. Dowell had one sent him from the same place so early as the month of October, 1850. The Messrs. Paget describe them as ‘ occasionally seen on Breydon ;’ and Hickling Broad appears to be a favourite resort in sharp weather.
“The majority of specimens procured are in immature plumage, the bars on the breast being either wanting or only partially assumed.”
For further particulars as to the localities in Norfolk in which this bird has been procured, I must refer the reader to my friend Stevenson’s third volume on the birds of that county.
The front figure is about half the natural size; the young birds somewhat less than life.
— | ) a | | UP PR MET ITE AML
“SISdOODAT WIOINGAE
BERNICLA LEUCOPSIS.,
Bernicle Goose.
Anas leucopsis, Temm. Man. d’Orn., p. 531.
Anser leucopsis Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 921.
bernicla, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. & Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 37. Bernicla leucopsis, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563.
Few sights are more attractive to the lover of nature than a “skein” of wild geese passing through the air— a string of wandering birds which have quitted some far-off locality, and are journeying onward to a haven better suited to their requirements than the one they have left. How wonderful are the migrations of these birds, and at what great heights are they sometimes performed ! The smaller birds probably make their journeys at a similar altitude to that of the “‘skeins” of geese which occasionally pass over the Metro- polis, or of the flights of cranes which periodically cross the Rhine ; but birds so small as the Swallow and the Wheatear cannot be seen at such an elevation, and therefore are not noticeable.
Flights of wild geese are equally interesting to the sportsman and to the gunner, whose only regret is that the birds mostly pass on without resting; they do, however, sometimes alight on an estuary, marsh, or extensive field, but are not allowed to remain there long without molestation. During the winter the Bernicle Goose is a Common bird in the British Islands, and is equally abundant on the continent of Europe, particularly in Jutland, Holstein, Holland, and some parts of France; it also sparingly occurs in many countries further east. According to the best authorities, it arrives in September and October, is more generally diffused over the western than the eastern coasts, and departs for more northerly regions early in the spring, few or none remaining after the middle of March. ‘Its migratory journeys are performed during both night and day, in considerable flocks, and invariably along the sea-coast, skirting the land around headlands and bays, and passing only when necessitated over the open sea. ‘Their roosting- places are also on the sea-coast.. Their flight is strong and powerful, and a considerable noise is produced by the wings on their alighting ” (Morris, ‘ Brit. Birds,’ vol. v.)
As I have had little or no opportunity of observing this bird in a state of nature, I must here, as in many other instances, draw upon the labours of some of my contemporaries. Speaking of the bird as seen by him in Scotland, Macgillivray says :—
“This very beautiful bird more frequently retires to the sea than to the lakes during its periods of repose, or when driven from its feeding-grounds. A large flock then presents a beautiful spectacle, and the birds sit lightly on the water, and when advancing elevate their necks. Not less beautiful do they appear when on wing, now arranged in long lines, ever undulating, at one time extending in the direction of their flight, at another obliquely or at right angles to it, sometimes in an angular figure, and again mingling together. Their voice is clear, and rather shrill, but strikes agreeably on the ear when the cries of a large flock are heard from a considerable distance. They can on occasion run with very considerable speed, but ordinarily walk sedately and prettily. Their food consists of grass, especially the juicy stems of 4grostis alba, as well as the blades and roots of other plants. They also feed in marshes, and by the margins of pools and small lakes. The nest is said to be formed of grass, and to contain six or eight eggs. I have examined several specimens from Parry’s Arctic Expeditions. Of two presented to Professor Jameson, one is two inches and seven-eighths long, an inch and eleven-twelfths broad ; the other is two inches and six-eighths long, an inch and seven-eighths in breadth: they are of an elliptical form, both ends equal, and of a greyish white tint.”
Thomson informs us that the Bernicle Goose ‘is a regular winter visitant to Ireland, where its favourite places of resort are the extensive sandy parts of the coast which are exposed by the receding tide, bordered by short pasture, or having islets of this nature rising here and there above its level surface.” ‘“‘ Its greatest haunt” known to him “is an immense sandy shallow bay on the coast of Louth, bordered by an extensive tract of pasture and marshy ground called Lurgan Green, from which it is called Lurgan-Green Bernicle over a considerable part of the island. ‘There immense numbers spend the whole of the year, except the period appropriated to the reproduction of their species, when they are absent for about five months, from the middle of April to that of September. I have rarely passed this locality en route from Belfast to Dublin without seeing vast flocks of these birds (numbering sometimes between 300 and 400), either on the sands or the greensward raised but little above them. I have seen them within shot of the coach, and as regardless of its passing as a flock of tame geese—indeed more so, for the latter would have had the impudence to cackle, while the Bernicle had the good taste to remain silent. They were never feeding
when I observed them, though doubtless they partake of the pasture. No person being permitted to fire a shot on Lurgan Green was probably the cause of their tameness. They were captured in little pitfalls, dug in the earth, without being in the least degree injured. Several placed in the aquatic menagerie at the Falls, near Belfast, at once became tame, and proved to be of a mild and gentle disposition. About the middle of October, in the years 1848 and 1849, flocks of about twenty in number were seen flying over the sea and points of land in a southerly direction, off Analong, at the base of the mountains of Mourne. They flew in a line, like wild geese, about twenty yards above the sea or ground, and were headed by an old stager whose adult plumage was strongly defined. In Belfast Bay the Bernicle is a rare visitant, chiefly in the early part of winter; but a single bird has been obtained there as late as the beginning of August. The bird has been met with in many other parts of the country; but its only regular haunt is the locality above mentioned—Lurgan Green.”
Mr. Selby states that ‘upon the Lancashire coast, the Solway Frith, &c. it is very abundant, frequenting the marshy grounds that are occasionally covered by the spring tides, and such sands as produce the sea- grasses and plants upon which it feeds. Like the rest of the genus it is a very wary bird, and can only be approached by the most cautious manceuvres. It is sometimes shot by moonlight when it comes on the sands to feed, by persons crouched on the ground, or from behind any occasional shelter in such places as the flocks are known to frequent. Its flesh is sweet and tender, and highly esteemed for the table. It is a bird of handsome shape, and from the length of its neck and tarsi stands high upon the ground. When caught alive it soon becomes very tame, and thrives well upon grain &c.; but no attempts have been hitherto made to domesticate the breed.”
The history of this species, brief as it is, would be still more so (and, moreover, incomplete) without at least an allusion to the old legends connected with it. Its trivial name of Bernicle [or Barnacle] is derived from an oft-told tale, the absurdity of which has scarcely, if ever, been surpassed. It is that the bird derives its origin from the Barnacle shell, the Lepas anatifera of Linneus. ‘‘ This curious fancy,” says Macgillivray, “‘ which no doubt arose from the slight resemblance of the filaments of that animal to the sprouting feathers of a young bird, is still entertained by many persons; but, like the milking-propensity of the Goatsucker and the winter submersion of the Swallows, it might now, I think, be allowed to rest in its grave.” Those who may wish to read the legend in part or in the whole, may refer to Professor Max Miller’s ‘Lectures on the Science of Language,’ p. 540, or to the 12th volume of Shaw’s ‘ General Zoology,’ p. 50.
Mr. Selby states that no attempt has been made to domesticate this fine Goose. It is to be re- gretted that this has not been done; for pinioned birds readily breed in a semidomesticated state at Hawkstone, the seat of Viscount Hill, who kindly allowed me to shoot one for the purpose of the present work. I suspect, however, that it would be necessary to pinion the young birds so reared, to prevent their obeying the impulse that would doubtless urge them to migrate to countries better suited to their existence during summer—probably Lapland, Finland, northern Russia, and Siberia.
Mr. Newton, in his ‘ Notes on the Ornithology of Iceland,’ informs us that, according to Faber, this species arrives in Iceland about the middle of April, and departs about the middle of October. He found it most abundant in the South-west, but does not believe that it breeds on the island.
There is no perceptible difference in the colouring of the sexes ; but the markings of the male are stronger and more beautifully arranged.
The Bernicle is a smaller and more elegant bird than the Bean Goose, and on the other hand is much larger than its near ally the Brent, its weight bemg about seven pounds. .
As it is impossible to represent so large a bird of the natural size, my figures are necessarily much reduced.
erver Ts.
ae amas
“SITTOOTWOM VIOINAAE
OL LBL pe PURCELL eA
BERNICLA RUFICOLLIS.
Red-breasted Goose.
Anas ruficollis, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. 1. p. 511. torquata, S. G. Gmel. Reise, tom. i. p. 181, tab. 14. Anser ruficollis, Pall. Spic. Zool., tom. iv. p. 12, tab. 4. Bernicla ruficollis, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563.
Ir the Bernicla ruficollis be not one of the gems of ornithology, it certainly is the finest species of its own particular family ; for no other Goose excels it in the richness of its colouring or the fantastic character of its markings. That a member of this usually sombre-coloured family of aquatic birds should be so finely adorned, is somewhat astonishing, and cannot but have attracted the notice of every ornithologist. In its structure, contour, gait, and carriage while walking over the green sward, its actions are as pleasing as it is trim in appearance and beautiful in colouring. Of the extreme rarity of the species every ornithologist is fully aware, since few collections in Britain and still fewer on the Continent and in America, can boast of possessing examples. Why is this (when, unlike the dca ampennis, it is still an inhabitant of our globe, and probably as abundant in the country where it is destined to dwell as any other species of wild Goose is in its own particular locality)? Because that country is a distant one and, moreover, a part of our globe which, if not inaccessible to man, is so sterile and mbhospitable as to offer but little inducement for any one to visit it: the most northern regions of Siberia most writers agree in stating to be the true home of the Red-breasted Goose—a country unequalled for the rigours of its winter-season and for being as pestiferously hot at the opposite period of the year. From this, its summer home, the bird probably migrates in winter towards the great rivers and morasses of the more southern parts of Siberia, the Amoorland, China, and Persia, a few wanderers sometimes extending their peregrinations still further in the same or a more westerly direction, and finding their way to Turkey, the mouths of the Nile, Holland, France, Italy, and even Britain, where it appears to have occurred more frequently than in any of the countries around it. Temminck states that in Russia it is found about the estuaries of the Rivers Ob and Lena. Latham says it breeds there and retires south in autumn, and also affirms that it frequents the Caspian Sea, returning north in small flocks as the summer approaches. At the time Mr. Yarrell wrote, two instances had been recorded of its occurrence in Scandinavia, one in Holland, one in France, and one in Germany; more recently one has occurred in Italy, a specimen having been obtained on the 12th of February 1869, between Scarperia and Borgo San Lorenzo, twenty-two miles (or thereabouts) from Florence : vide ‘The Ibis’ for 1869, p. 242, where Dr. H. H. Giglioli states that ‘it was an adult male, in full plumage ; and this is, I believe, the only well-authenticated instance of the occurrence of this rare eastern Goose in Italy.”
The first British-killed specimen was taken near London, at the beginning of the severe frost of 1766; it passed into the possession of the celebrated collection formed by Marmaduke Tunstall, and is now one of the most important specimens in the Museum of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Another, taken alive near Wycliffe, in Yorkshire, about the same time, soon became familiar, was kept among other Ducks in a pond, but, though it associated freely with them and seemed partial to one in particular, never produced young. It continued alive for some years, and then lost its life by an accident. Besides the above, others have been killed near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Devonshire. Respecting the Norfolk specimen, Mr. Stevenson informs me that ‘the only example of this rare species in Norfolk appears to be that noticed by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, and also by the Messrs. Paget, as having been purchased by the late Mr. Lilly Wigg, at Yarmouth, which, by some unfortunate mistake, was plucked and eaten. It was said to have been shot at Halvergate, in 1805. Mr. Hunt, of Norwich, in his ‘British Ornithology,’ states that he was assured by Mr. Wigg that he purchased the bird in the Yarmouth market; other contemporary local naturalists give the same account of it, but I can furnish no further authority. Mr. Gurney, however, tells me that he had feathers of this bird given to him by Mr. Sparshall, who received them from Mr. Wigg.”
In the Museum at Leyden there are two beautiful examples (an old and a young bird), which, I believe, were captured in Holland; and I have one now before me, which has been kindly placed at my disposal, for the furtherance of the present work, by A. W. Crichton, Esq., who obtained it from Mr. Stafford S. Allen, a gentleman whose travels and collections, formed in the neighbourhood of the Nile, are so well known. Mr. Frank, of Amsterdam, assured me that he had every reason to believe, from information which he considered to be authentic, that some few years since at least half-a-dozen
Red-breasted Geese were sold in the market of that town, plucked and eaten ; so little was the rarity of the species known at that particular place and period.
Those Fellows of the Zoological Society of London who take an especial interest in the inhabitants of its aviaries, cannot have failed to notice a living example, in the finest state of plumage, in one of the enclosures set apart for Ducks and Geese. This fine individual, although it has now passed more than twenty years in semiconfinement, has never been ‘‘ sick or sorry,” but, as regularly as the seasons have run round, has cast off its feathers and effected its moult as perfectly as it would have done in its native home. It has now become as tame and familiar as any Goose can be. Many longing eyes have doubtless looked upon it, accompanied with the desire that, in the event of its death, their owner might become its possessor; but the National collection is its proper resting-place; and we only hope that when it does die it may be in a respectable dress, that those who view this interesting bird there may regard it with as much pleasure as the thousands have done who have seen it in life*.
In form, size, and general contour, the Red-breasted Goose is more nearly akin to the little Brent than any other Goose; and as we have every reason to believe that the living bird in the Zoological Gardens is a female, and its plumage is in strict accordance with the specimens of the opposite sex I have had opportunities of examining, we may naturally infer that, as is the case with the Brent Goose, no difference occurs in the colouring of the sexes, and that the habits and economy of the two species have a general resemblance.
As Mr. Yarrell truly remarked, but little is known respecting this beautiful species. ‘‘The most interesting recent notice,” he says, ‘“‘I have been able to find is by M. Menétriés, in his Catalogue Raisonné of objects of zoology observed by the naturalists attached to the Russian expedition to the vicinity of the Caucasus and the frontiers of Persia. This gentleman mentions that, in 1828, a considerable flock of this species appeared at Leukoran, probably driven there by strong winds ; they were so exhausted by fatigue that they were caught by hand; and many were preserved in captivity, to which they were easily reconciled. They always kept together, and uttered a gentle call-note when any of their party separated from the others, or when a bird of prey hovered over them; this was the only sound that was heard. Of the food placed before them they preferred green vegetables to grain, and drank often.”
The flesh of the Red-breasted Goose, being quite free from any fishy taste, is said to be highly esteemed for the table.
Latham states that it ‘is called by the Ostiacs Tschakwoi, from its voice ; and by the Samoids Tschagu.”
The front figure is somewhat under that of life; the hinder one represents an immature bird procured on the Nile.
* While these pages were being printed, this beautiful and valuable bird was, unfortunately, killed by a Swan, who, in one of those moments of ire to which that bird is subject, fell upon the poor little Goose, and, the keeper being absent, beatit to death in a few minutes. As above suggested, the stuffed skin will be added to the National Collection.—June 1870.
PR ee ee ay a — - — _ Yr
uy ‘oyyoy{ UBD PP PRAT OH PInoy
| . “VINEE WIOINTHE
BERNICLA BRENTA.
Brent Goose.
Anas bernicla, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 40.
Anser bernicla, Ul. Prod. Syst. Mamm. et Av., p. 277
torquatus, Frisch, Vog. Deutschl., tom. u. p. 156.
brenta, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 37. Bernicla torquata, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 363.
melanopsis, Macgill. Man. of Nat. Hist., Orn., vol. ii. p. 151
brenta, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xu. p. 46.
To see this species in a state of nature, the ornithologist must go down, during November and the three following months, to the embouchure of the Thames, visit the inland waters of Southampton, the low salt marshes of the coasts of Sussex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, or any locality of a similar character in other parts of England, in Scotland, and in Ireland. Companies of forty, fifty, or sixty individuals will there attract his attention as they wing their way from one part of the flat shallow estuary to another; or he may have an opportunity of seeing flights of hundreds or, speakmg within bounds, of thousands ; yet the London excursionist to Herne Bay, Margate, er Ramsgate will never see one, for the simple reason that, at the period of the year when those places are resorted to, the bird is far away, performing the duties of incubation in countries so distant that, with few exceptions, the hardiest of our mariners and the most enthusiastic of egg-collectors have failed to reach its breeding-home— a long distance within the Arctic circle bemg, doubtless, the principal cradle of this common winter- bird with us. In the eastern parts of America it is as numerous in winter as in our islands, and equally scarce at other times, but, according to Dr. Baird, of Washington, has not yet been found on the Pacific side of that continent.
During the summer months, the Brent Goose is to be met with at the Faroe Islands, and in Iceland, where, according to Faber, it arrives about the middle of April, but seems to be rare, as it is only met with occasionally here and there throughout the island. Dr. Richardson states that it breeds in numbers on the coasts and islands of Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic Sea, but is rarely seen in the interior. Captain James C. Ross says that it did not remain near Felix Harbour, Boothia, to breed, but went still further north, and that it is to be met with in summer in the highest northern latitudes that have been visited. It was found breeding on Parry’s Islands, in lat. 74° 75’. In Parry’s Expedition, on the 16th of June, a nest with two eggs was brought on board from Ross _ Islet, lat. 80° 48’ N., perhaps the most northern land ever visited by man. It was at the same time seen in large flocks about Walden and Little Table Islands. Mr. Newton informs us that it is numerous all round Spitsbergen, except perhaps on the east side, and that ‘Dr. Malmgren found it breeding on the Depot Holm and also on the shores of the mainland, in Treurenberg Bay; Messrs. Evans and Sturge found it breeding on the South-Cape Islands; and one of our party killed a young bird, hardly able to fly, on Round Island.” That the bird is confined to the northern regions there can be no doubt; and it would seem that the Mediterranean is the limit of its occurrence in a southern direction, since Loche states that it only occasionally appears in Algeria.
Let us return to own islands. ‘Upon the Northumbrian coast,” says Mr. Selby, ‘a very large number of these birds annually resort to the extensive muddy and sandy flats that lie between the mainland and Holy Island, and which are covered by every flow of the tide. In this locality, tolerable-sized flocks usually make their appearance in the early part of October, which are increased by the repeated arrival of others till the beginning of November, at which time the equatorial movement of the species in this latitude seems to be completed. This part of the coast appears to have been a favourite resort of these birds from time immemorial, where they have always received the name of Ware Geese, given to them, without doubt, in consequence of their food consisting entirely of marine vegetables. This I have frequently verified by dissection, finding the gizzard filled with the leaves and stems of a species of grass that grows abundantly in the shallow pools left by the tide, and with the remains of the fronds of the different alge, particularly of one, which seems to be the Laver (Ulva Jatissima). These were mixed with a considerable quantity of sharp sand, but without any portion of animal or shelly matter, although Wilson states they feed occasionally upon small univalve and bivalve mollusca. In this haunt they remain until the end of February, when they migrate in successive flocks as the individuals happen to be influenced by the season; and before April the whole have disappeared. When they depart, the flock about to migrate rises high into the air by an extensive spiral course, and then moves
off seaward in a northerly direction. When feeding, which they do at the ebb of the tide, or moving from one place to another, they keep up a continual hoarse cackling or, as it is termed, honking noise, which can be heard at a great distance, and has not unaptly been compared, when so heard, to the cry of a pack of hounds. ‘They are at all times extremely watchful, and can only be approached within gunshot by the person of the shooter being concealed. This is effected, in the northern parts of the kingdom, by means of a flat-bottomed boat, so built as to draw very little water, and whose gunwale barely rises above the surface, armed with a large fowling-piece that traverses the half-deck upon a swivel. In this boat the fowler lies flat, and directs its motion by a paddle or small oar till he comes within range of the flock, when he fires either as they float upon the water or just as they rise. Great havoc is sometimes made in this way, not only amongst the Brent Geese but amongst Widgeon and other kinds of wild-fowl, as we learn from Colonel Hawker’s amusing treatise, to which I refer my readers, and where they will find every direction necessary for this particular kind of sporting. Upon Holy Island sandy flats, where the above method was introduced about 1829, by a man from the Norfolk coast, I am credibly informed that about twenty-two Brent Geese were killed and secured at one discharge during the season of 1831. Previously to this mode of shooting being adopted, all the Brent Geese and different species of Ducks upon our northern coast were killed by moonlight, by fowlers placing themselves in various parts of the lake and patiently waiting for the approach of the wild fowl as they flew about in quest of feeding-places. Their polar or summer migration is directed to very high latitudes, where they breed and rear their young in quiet security. The nest is formed of vegetable materials, in the swamps of those desolate regions ; and they lay ten or twelve white eggs. . . . When captured alive, this Goose may soon be rendered very tame (as I have found from experience), and, bemg a bird of handsome figure and light carriage, is a considerable acquisition on large pieces of water. No steady attempts, however, appear to have been yet made to increase the breed in a domestic state, though, as an article of food, it is superior to most of the Anatide, and equally valuable in the quality of its feathers and down. When tame, it eats readily all kinds of grain, as well as grass and other vegetable diet.”
Mr. Thompson, who states that it is abundant in Ireland, occurring on both sides of the island, wherever there is plenty of its favourite Zostera marina, gives a very long account of its habits, as observed in Belfast Bay (ede ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ vol. ii. p. 54). He says, ‘‘ they generally arrive there by the first week of September, and sometimes remain until May. Strictly marine, they fly to the deep water in the afternoon, and remain there during the night, and at sunrise return to their feeding-grounds, generally proceeding in small flocks, and alighting altogether about the same place. They are very wary, and avoid in their flight any objects with which they are not familiar. They swim quickly, do not often dive, and usually remain but a short time under water.
It would seem that the food of this bird varies according to circumstances: thus on the coast of Northumberland it appears to feed on Ulva latissima, in Ireland and Scotland on Zostera marina, in Hudson’s Bay on Ulva lactuca; and in America, according to Wilson, it also partakes of ‘small shell-fish.”
Two eggs, from Parry’s second Expedition, presented to Professor Jameson by Mr. Fisher, are thus described by Macgillivray:—‘‘ One is two inches and a half in length by an inch and five and a half eighths ; the other, two inches and five-eighths by an inch and six and a half eighths. They are of a nearly elliptical form, the broadest part being almost central, and one end a little larger than the other; the colour of one asparagus-green or pale greyish green, of the other paler and approaching to apple-green.” Mr. Hewitson, on the other hand, says, ‘“‘the eggs of this species differ from those of the other Geese in being slightly tinted with a faint brownish colouring, whilst they are all, when quite fresh, either pure white or slightly tinted with cream-colour.”
- Some slight variation occurs in the colouring of different individuals; but this, I thmk, is due to age, and I believe that both sexes are alike in outward appearance at the same period of their existence.
I cannot close this memoir of the Brent Goose without recording my obligations to the Earl of Enniskillen for his kindness in sending me a fine pair of these birds from Ireland, for the furtherance of this work, and that I might have an opportunity of testing the quality of their flesh as a viand, which I found juicy and excellent. The average weight of the two birds was three pounds and a quarter.
The Figures are about three-fourths of the natural size.
" Feet ite i
ee 7” AR Dian ee ese : “MOTO SAW)
CYGNUS OLOR.
Mute Swan.
Anas cygnus, var. 8, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 38.
olor, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 501. Cygnus gibbus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 815. olor, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563. |
mansuetus, Flem. Hist. of Brit. Anim., p. 126. sibilus, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. il. p. 215. immutabilis, Yarr. Proc. Zool. Soc., 1838, p. 19.
| |
Or the members of the beautiful genus Cygnus, comprising among others the Whooper of Europe, the
99
Trumpeter of America, the black-necked Swan of Chili, and the “‘ rara avis in terris” of Australia, the Mute Swan is at once the most majestic, stately, and graceful of the whole. Whether it be or be not indigenous in Britain, or whether the numerous individuals which now grace her waters are the descendants of birds introduced in times gone by, is not easily ascertained ; it will therefore be desirable to dispense with the doubt and deal with the subject as now presented to us. This pride of our waters has a noble bearing during the season of love, which is only equalled by the beauty of its spotless plumage and the display it makes while in company with the female. Its natural home is the water, for traversing the surface of which its body, and indeed its whole structure, is so admirably adapted that the hand of man has never been able to improve upon such a model of buoyancy, a model unequalled in this respect by any other feathered creature. On the water its movements are elegant and graceful in the extreme; on the land they are just as awkward. Its flight is laboured, and its great wings appear to battle with the wind in its progress through the air. Its voice is harsh and inharmonious, and is wanting in the softness of the notes of some of the other species.
“The Swan,” says Mr. Yarrell, “is, perhaps, of all others, the most beautiful ornament of our rivers and lakes. Poets of all ages and countries have made it the theme of their praise, but none with more characteristic expression than our own Milton, who, in his ‘ Paradise Lost,’ says :—
‘The Swan with arched neck
Between her white wings mantling, proudly rows Her state with oary feet.’
The works of the painter would often be tame and spiritless without the addition of its portraiture ; kings and potentates have framed laws for its protection, an infringement of which was regarded as a felony and punished accordingly ; and its flesh was considered worthy of forming a chief viand at great feasts.”
«“'To expatiate,” says Swainson, ‘‘ upon the graceful and majestic movements of this noble bird when slowly sailing upon the water, is quite unnecessary; it may literally be said to sail upon the glassy element ; for at such times its wings are gently raised and the feathers sufficiently ruffled to catch the wind and to perform the office of sails,” an attitude which appears to be peculiar to it.
“The countries inhabited by this majestic and well-known species im a wild state are the genial provinces of the content of Europe, but more particularly the inland seas and lakes bordering upon Asia, where, according to modern travellers, it is still found in its native freedom. At what period it became domesticated is wholly uncertain; but it has for many centuries been spread over all the parts of civilized Europe; and of all the natatorial birds yet domesticated it is justly esteemed the most graceful.
“The docility and gentleness of the Swan is well known to all those who have witnessed the confiding manner in which it will receive food from the hand ; but if treated with cruelty or harshness it is by no means a despicable enemy; the strength and muscular power of its wings is very great, and might endanger the fracture of a limb to-those who wantonly assail it. ‘The males at the breeding-season, like all other animals, whether docile or savage, will fight desperately, and frequently to the destruction of one of the combatants. Dr. Latham affirms that he has known full-grown boys injured by the attack of one; and he must be a powerful man who is able to withstand an encounter with an enraged male.” | The tame or Mute Swan is very numerous on the river Thames; “and,” says Latham, ‘“‘ they prove a delightful ornament to the whole length of that river from the point where the traffic of the metropolis ceases quite to its source. We see on the river Trent and many other waters, often great numbers ;_ but the most noble swannery is, we believe, near Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire, where, in the open part of the Fleet, are to be seen six or seven hundred.” And the numbers do not appear to have decreased ; for
Professor Newton, writing to me in July 1859, says, “‘T have been at the swannery at Abbotsbury—a very fine sight. There were upwards of eight bundred at the last counting.” The royalty belonged anciently to the abbot, since to the family of Strangeways, and now to the Earl of Ilchester.
On the Thames and other rivers, great lakes, and ponds the Mute Swan commences its nest in March ; and by the middle of April the six or seven olive-white eggs are incubated. During this period the male is in constant attendance upon the female, occasionally taking her place upon the eggs, or guarding her with jealous care, giving chase and battle, if necessary, to every intruder. The nest is often placed in an exposed situation, on an island in preference to the river’s bank, is of large size, and constructed of herbage of various kinds, such as weeds, flags, &c. sparingly lined with the soft feathers of the parent birds. If there be any unusual rise in the water, the female raises her eggs out of harm’s way by adding fresh materials to the nest. In a month or thereabouts the cygnets are hatched and taken to the water, where they usually swim on the lee side of the mother, and at this early period possess all the energies necessary for the continuance of their existence, swimming quickly, and feeding upon the tender succulent plants which are pulled from the bottom by their parents. These downy cygnets, being extremely pretty and even graceful, are the admiration of all who see them. If they become fatigued, they scramble on the back of the mother and nestle among the secondary feathers, by which means they obtain both warmth and shelter—a practice which is continued for two or three weeks. Their colour at this time is a light bluish grey, with black beak and legs, a dress which is carried for about a month, when a change begins to appear, and by the end of October they are clothed in whitey-brown feathers—a costume which is borne until the second year, when these feathers are gradually shed and white ones take their place ; but the perfect plumage and the rich orange-colouring of the bill are not attamed until the com- mencement of the third year. ,
“The Swan’s nest, from its ample dimensions,” says Mr. Stevenson, “is always a conspicuous object, whether placed amongst the rank herbage on the river’s bank, at the mouth of a marsh-drain, or on the little islands and reedy margins of the broads themselves ; and from the summit of that littered mass the sitting bird commands all approaches, whilst her mate keeps guard below. To my mind an old male Swan never looks more beautiful than when, thus ‘on duty,’ he sails forth from the margin of the stream to meet intruders ; with his head and neck thrown back between his snowy pinions, and every feather quivering with excitement, he drives through the the rippling water, contenting himself, if unmolested, with a quiet assertion of his rights, but with loud hisses and threatening actions resenting an attack. When the young, too, under the joint convoy of their parents, have taken to the water, the actions of both birds are full of grace and vigour, and the deep call-notes of the old pair mingle with the soft whistlings of their downy nestlings. What prettier sight presents itself upon our inland waters than such a group disporting themselves in the bright sunshine of a summer’s day, when the pure whiteness of the old bird’s feathers contrasts with the green background of reeds and rushes, and the little grey cygnets on their mother’s back are peeping with bright bead-like eyes from the shelter of her spotless plumes ? This habit of taking the young on her back is not, as some have supposed, adopted only as a means of safety when crossing a strong current, but is a method of brooding her young on the water, very commonly practised by the female Swan when her cygnets are small; and she will sink herself low in the water that they may mount the more easily. Whether at the same time she gives them a ‘leg up’ by raising them on the broad webs of her own feet I cannot say positively ; but this is not improbable, since a favourite action in Swans is that of swimming with one foot resting upon the lower part of the back, the sole of the foot being uppermost. The down of the nestlings is replaced by feathers of a uniform slate-grey, and though in some a sprinkling of white feathers may be seen in their first autumn, they do not acquire their full plumage till the followmg summer, when from twelve to fourteen months old. It is, however, in that intermediate stage (the least attractive as regards form or plumage) that they are most in request for edible purposes. Such cygnets as either elude the pursuit of the swanherds in August, or are intentionally left with their parents, are invariably driven away by the old ones, later in the season, to shift for themselves, and congregate in small parties until paired off for nesting. The orange-red colour of the beak is not acquired till the third year, up to which time, though perfectly white in plumage, they are known as ‘ blue beaks ;’ and the development of the knob or ‘berry’ is a matter of age.”
Much has been written respecting the harm done by Swans in the destruction of fish in our rivers; but I firmly believe that this occurs to a very limited extent, their natural food being aquatic plants and the grasses of the meadows, and that on the contrary they effect much good by clearing the thick beds of weeds: they may take a little of the spawn of fish during the limited period in which it is deposited; but I believe the perfect fish are seldom molested; and probably their only animal food consists of mollusks and crustaceans when an opportunity occurs for their capture.
Latham states that the Cygnus olor is found wild in Russia and Siberia, most plentiful in the latter; and Mr. Dresser informs me he has himself seen it in a wild state on the banks of the Southern Danube, and also on the island of Bornholm, in Denmark, whence he has eggs.
The principal figure is about half the natural size.
LP TP ETOH RAM L
ii SOE SON DAOD
CYGNUS FERUS. Wild Swan or Whooper.
Anas cygnus, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 38.
Cygnus ferus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 37. musicus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 830.
melanorhynchus, Wolf u. Meyer, Taschenb. Deutsch. Vog., tom. xi. 498. olor, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. xi. p. 211.
wanthorhinus, Naum. Vog. Deutschl., 1842, tom. xi. p. 478, tab. 296.
Olor musicus, Wagl. Isis, 1832, p. 1234.
Amone the MS. notes respecting this species which are now before me, I find one which states that, during the winter months the Market of Leadenhall, in London, and that of Shanghai, i China, are annually supplied with it—a fact which will at once inform the reader how extensively the Whooper is distributed over the northern portions of the Old World. In whatever country a bird breeds, that country must be regarded as its proper home; and hence the Whooper may claim for its native habitat all the regions bordering the arctic circle of the Old World; or I may state, in other words, that Iceland (where Professor Newton says it breeds in many places), Lapland, Finland (where Mr. Dresser informs me he obtained eges at ja), Northern Russia, Siberia, China, and Japan are all tenanted by this noble species, until the severities of winter impel it gradually to move southward to countries where the climate is milder, and food obtainable. It is for the like reason that the British Islands and the countries of continental Europe lying in similar degrees of latitude are frequently favoured with its presence during the winter months; its presence or absence, however, is very irregular, and apparently dependent on the degree of cold prevailing in the far north. Mr. Tristram mentions that one was brought to him in the flesh at Jerusalem, having been shot on the Pool of Solomon two or three days before, which he believes to be the most southern locality yet quoted for the species.
The principal counties in England in which the Wild Swan rests are Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk ; but if these be untenantable from the severity of the season, it resorts to others further south and west. From all these counties, and also from Ireland, which it usually frequents at the same period, it beats a retreat as early as the return of the sun has rendered its far northern homes suitable for its reception ; and it has always been evident to me that the northern migrants to this country are as much influenced by the movements of the great luminary as those which come from the south and summer with us.
No one, perhaps, has paid more attention to the arrival and departure of the Swan than Mr. Stevenson; I therefore do not hesitate about quoting some passages from the as yet unpublished volume of his valuable ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ with which he has kindly favoured me.
The late Dr. Macgillivray, Professor Newton, and Mr. Stevenson term this bird Whooper instead of Hooper, the latter gentleman remarking that the trivial
‘‘name being derived from the peculiar trumpeting note of the species, I have preferred to spell it as in whooping-cough, the word ‘ Hooper’ having no special signification.
“Sir Thomas Brown, with his usual accuracy of observation, remarks of this species :—‘ In hard winters, Elks, a kind of Wild Swan, are seen in no small numbers; if the winter be mild, they come no further southward than Scotland ; if very hard, they go lower, and seek more southern places, which is the cause that, sometimes, we see them not before Christmas or the hardest time in winter.’ This account agrees most accurately with our experience of its habits at the present day, since (with the exception of one or two instances, in which the birds did not come under my own observation) I have no record of Wild Swans killed before December, and then only through an early commencement of frost and snow, the more usual time of their appearance extending from January to March. So much, however, do their numbers depend upon the severity and duration of frosty weather, that a record of severe winters will as surely furnish a list of great Swan-years.
“Tn 1854-55, a long and hard winter, when wild fowl of all kinds were extremely abundant, I saw upwards of twenty Whoopers, that had been killed on our coast or inland waters, but all of them between January and March; and this was also the case in 1860-61, when a severe frost, lasting with little intermission from December to the end of the following February, brought great numbers of Wild Swans and other fowl to our shores ; though, from the broads and other inland waters being early frozen over, they were chiefly confined to the coast and salt marshes, or passed on further to the south. The return of these fine birds in spring, on their passage northward, is occasionally remarked, of which an instance occurred in the first week of March 1861, when, the weather at the time being mild and open, a ‘herd’ of twelve were seen to alight early in the morning on the open water of ‘ Bargate,’ at the entrance to Surlingham Broad; but, being disturbed, later in the day they again took wing and
quitted the neighbourhood altogether. In January 1864, and again in the winter of 1869-70, several were shot in this county ; but for the last twenty years at least there has been no such season for Whoopers as that of 1870-1, when the hard weather of that memorable winter commenced with a heavy fall of snow on the 20th of December, increasing day by day until it was over a foot deep on the level. The frost was so intense that the thermometer, even by day, registered only a few degrees above zero ; and this lasted with but little abatement up to the 12th or 13th of January. A rapid thaw on the 14th cleared the ground of most of the first fall of snow; and, though frosts continued at night, the weather moderated considerably up to the 28th, when the snow again fell heavily, and the broads and smaller streams were thickly ice-bound up to the first week in February. My first notice of Wild Swans in that season was an intimation from Mr. Anthony Hammond, that in the last week of December he had seen a ‘herd’ of forty passing along the coast at Horsey, near Yarmouth; and during the first week in January a flock of twenty-six were observed on one occasion feeding close in shore off Holme Point, near Hunstanton ; and another lot of seven frequented the entrance to Heacham creek. On the 12th several appeared off the Sherringham beach, passing along the coast; and on the same day, far inland, a considerable number were both heard and seen passing over the town of Wymondham. As to the numbers actually procured in Norfolk during February and the preceding month I have no means of judging accurately, since by far the larger portion were sent up to London for sale, only some half-dozen appearing at intervals in the Norwich Market. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., was informed by a dealer in Leadenhall Market that he had received as many as a hundred Whoopers during the frost, chiefly from King’s Lynn; and one poulterer at Lynn stated he had had thirty.
“ As a rule, however, these Wild Swans by no means confine themselves to the sea-coast, or even to the broads and streams in close vicinity, but, following the winding course of our rivers, are almost sure to make their appearance, during a prolonged frost, in certain favourite localities, even though farinland. Some forty years ago, as the late Mr. Howlett, of Bowthorpe, informed me, that portion of the Yare which lies between Cringleford and Colney was so much frequented by Wild Swans in hard winters as to be locally termed the ‘Swan River,’ and he once counted sixteen; but though in those days the adjoiming marshes were more frequently flooded, and thus afforded the most tempting feeding-grounds, yet to this day, the low meadows about Earlham, Bowthorpe, and Colney, on the above river, and Costessey on the Wensum, all within three or four miles of Norwich, are a constant resort of the Whooper. In the winter of 1870-71, a flock of seven took up their quarters in that particular part of the Yare; and though constantly disturbed, and two of their number shot, the survivors were remarked from time to time, at different pomts of the stream, up to the end of February. A remarkably fine Whooper in the Norwich Museum, which was killed at Bowthorpe in February 1830, and is said to have weighed twenty-six pounds, also measured four inches and a half along the ridge of the upper mandible, but had no black at the base.
“© The distribution of colour on the bill in this species forms the most marked external distinction between it and the Mute or Tame Swan (Cygnus olor)—in the former the base of the bill being yellow and the extremity black, in the latter the base black and the extremity flesh-coloured or reddish orange, according to age. The internal differences exhibited by the Whooper in the convolutions of the trachea are also very marked, as shown by Yarrell in his anatomical illustrations; but that these had not escaped the observation of Sir Thomas Browne is shown by his remark (when writing of the ‘ Elks’ or Wild Swans) that in them, ‘ and not in common swans, is remarkable that strange recurvation of the wind-pipe through the sternum ; and the same is also noticeable in the Crane.’ The rufous tinge on the head and cheeks, in the Wild Swan as in our semidomesticated species, is noticeable more or less in most specimens ; and in a very fine bird, in the possession of Mr. F. Frere, of Yarmouth, shot on Breydon in February 1865, this ferruginous or orange-red upon the tips of the feathers extends likewise to the neck, and is more vivid than in any example I have seen.”
‘««The siren song of the Swan,” says Swainson, “‘ before its death, which has been the theme of so much beautiful poerty, is now well known to be fabulous; for the voice is only remarkable for its harshness. Mr. Selby observes that it consists of two notes, and bas not unaptly been compared to the discordant union of the modulation of the Cuckoo with the scream of the Gull, or the sound of the clarionet in the hands of a beginner. Some, however, still assert that, when on the wing in large flocks or resting on the water, their united cries, becoming softened by distance, are not unpleasant to the ear. ‘This,’ remarks Mr. Selby, ‘I can readily believe ; for under such circumstances I have ever found that the incongruous mixture of sound from Gulls, Guillemots, and other tribes of sea-fowl (when collected about the breeding- places), mixed with the whistling of the breeze and the murmurs of the intervening water, reaches the ear not very dissimilar to that of a band of martial music.’
“The Wild Swan evinces as great an aptitude for domestication as the tame species. When caught alive it soon becomes very tame; and when provided with a spacious piece of water, naturally furnished with its proper food, it will thrive equally well. It feeds upon the roots, stems, and leaves of aquatic plants, for procuring which its long neck, as in other birds of its own family, is absolutely necessary. When swimming, it carries its neck much more upright than does the common Swan, with little of that graceful arch for which the latter is distinguished. It walks also heavily and awkwardly, with the head lowered and the neck reclining over the back.”
The Wild Swan and its young undergo the same changes as the tame Swan; the structure of the nest, its situation, and the number and colour of the eggs are also similar.
The principal figure in the Plate is about half the natural size.
PLP EP PUTO ® ML
° AO NOON SONOAO
EEO
CYGNUS MINOR. Bewick’s Swan.
Cygnus olor 8. minor, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. il. p. 214. no. 316. —_—— islandicus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 832, tab. 41. fig. 1.
——— minor, Keys & Blas. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 82.
musicus minor, Schleg. Rev. Crit. des Ois. d’Eur., p. 112.
———— melanorhinus, Naum. Vog. Deutsch., 1842, tom. xi. p. 497, tab. 297. musicus, Faber, Prodr., p. 81.
musicus B, minor, Blas. List of Birds of Eur., Eng. edit. p. 204. Bewickit, Yarr. Linn. Trans., vol. xvi. p. 445.
OrniTHoLoaists are now very generally agreed that the little Swan to which the late Mr. Yarrell assigned the name of Cygnus Bewickii, but which had been previously discriminated as new to the British Fauna by Mr. R. R. Wingate, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, had for many years before been known to continental naturalists, and had received from them various specific appellations, the earliest appearing to be that of Cygnus minor, from Pallas, a term to which modern writers give the preference. I have therefore no hesitation in figuring the bird under the name of C. minor, but gladly retain for it the English appellation of Bewick’s Swan; for surely there is no one of our departed naturalists who more highly deserves the perpetuation of his name,—not that my testimony to his merits is of any importance, since his own unsurpassed natural- history delineations will hand down his fame to all future times. Mr. Swinhoe states that he has seen the bird exposed for sale in the Shanghai markets, in China, just as it is in those of London and Norwich ; and it was also observed by Von Middendorff and Von Schrenck in the countries visited by those celebrated naturalists—the Amoor, Siberia, &c.
The occurrences of Bewick’s Swan in Great Britain are far too numerous to be enumerated in the present work, the character of which is to generalize rather than to go into minute detail; but I may mention that examples have been killed in Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, Durham, Somersetshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, and Lancashire, full particulars of which will be found in the ‘ Zoologist’ and other similar publications. With respect to Cornwall Mr. Rodd remarks :—* This species was so long confounded with C. ferus as a small variety, that I have ventured to record it as Cornish ; the distinctive characters of the two birds are beautifully illustrated in a series of anatomical engravings in Yarrell’s third volume of his ‘ British Birds.’ ”
“In external appearance,” remark Messrs. Jardine and Selby, “Bewick’s Swan bears a very close resemblance to the Common Hooper, and upon a cursory view may be easily mistaken for a small variety of that bird, which, indeed, appears to have been the case. The detection of several specimens which have remained for many years in the collections of individuals as common Wild Swans shows that it is not a new comer, but may, with the Hooper, have visited this country for an indefinite period, though not in such numbers as the latter is known to do. The character which distinguishes Bewick’s Swan from the Hooper consists in the great inferiority of size, the former being about a third less than the usual run of the latter :—the average length of C. Bewicki being three feet ten inches, the width six feet; the length of the Hooper being five feet, the width eight feet and upwards.”
What has been said respecting the Whooper (Cygnus ferus) is in a general sense equally descriptive of the habits and manners of its smaller congener. They both, with but few exceptions, inhabit the same countries, are influenced by the same migratory impulses, arising from precisely the same causes, and their actions and economy are very similar. They are both denizens of the arctic portion of the Old World; but, contrary to what has been asserted, the C. minor does not appear to occur in Iceland, short of which it is probably found in all the arctic portions of Europe, Eastern Russia, and Siberia, whence it migrates southward when the severity of cold renders those countries untenantable. In England we receive its visits much after the manner of those of the Whooper, but apparently in smaller numbers. In Ireland, where Thompson says it ‘‘is probably a regular winter visitant, it occurs more frequently” than with us. According to Macgillivray it visits Scotland annually at the same season, and appears to be more numerous or more easily obtained during severe or long-continued snow-storms. Mr. Stevenson concurs in Mr. Gurney’s opinion that the C. minor is more marine in its habits than the C. ferus, never proceeding so far inland as its closely allied congener.
The last-named gentleman having kindly granted me permission to make extracts from the third volume
of his ‘History of the Birds of Norfolk,’ a work of great interest from the obvious truthfulness of his observations and remarks, I here annex his account of the differences by which Bewick’s Swan is especially distinguished :—
“This species, besides its smaller size (being one third less than the Whooper at the same age), exhibits the following external differences, as given by Yarrell. ‘The head is shorter and the elevation of the cranium greater in proportion to the size of the head, the beak narrow at the middle and dilated towards the point. The wings when closed do not extend quite so far beyond the roots of the tail-feathers; the tail itself is somewhat cuneiform; and the toes appear shorter in proportion to the length of the tarsi.’ To these I may add, from the examination of several specimens, both adult and immature, since the year 1855, that the proportion of yellow to black in the bill of the adult Bewick’s Swan is much less than in the Whooper, never extending so far along the sides of the upper mandible, but rounding off behind the nostrils. The colour itself in some freshly killed birds is decidedly more of a lemon-yellow than orange. The membrane beneath the lower mandible also, which in the Whooper is yellow, is black in the adult Bewick’s Swan, and light grey in the young, a distinction apparently overlooked by Yarrell. The distribution of black and yellow on the upper mandible varies, however, in different specimens ; and I am somewhat inclined to believe that the broad band of black upon the ridge of the bill extends nearer, by age, to the forehead, as in one or two examples in pure white plumage, I have seen traces of the black extending quite up to the base of the bill, the usual yellow band across the upper part showing faint indications of black mixed with the yellow colour. ‘This is not the case with birds showing the slightest remains of grey in their plumage; and in such immature examples the tints of the bill, both black and yellow, are less vivid. An adult bird, purchased in Norwich Market on the Ist of February, 1865, weighed thirteen pounds; and of two killed in the winter of 1870-71, a male weighed twelve pounds and a quarter, and a female nine pounds. In many adult birds of this species that I have seen, the feathers of the upper part of the head, especially, have been more or less tinged with rust-colour. Internally the convolutions of the trachea present as marked a difference between this species and the Whooper, as between the latter and the domestic Swan; but a reference to Yarrell’s illustrations will render it unnecessary for me to give here any further description.”
I have long been aware that the extent of yellow and black markings of the bill are very variable; and Professor H. Schlegel, of Leyden, is of opinion that in England we only see young birds or females which have more yellow on their bills than fully adult birds; but we certainly do get old birds also, as is shown by the well-developed convolutions of the trachea. It is probable, I think, that specimens sometimes occur in which the bill is almost wholly black; otherwise why has the term me/anorhinus been given to a bird of this form by Naumann ?
Of the flesh of the Wild Swans as a viand, St. John says, that of those which feed inland is perfectly free from any strong and unpleasant flavour, their food consisting almost wholly of a kind of water-grass with a bulbous root, of which there is a plentiful supply in the lochs of Sutherlandshire, and doubtless other parts of Scotland; and the birds become very fat, so much so as to make it exceedingly difficult to preserve the skins, the only part of them which he put to any use. “ When the feathers are picked out, there remains a great thickness of very beautiful snow-white down, which, when properly dressed by a London furrier, makes boas and other articles of ladies’ dress of unrivalled beauty.”
Speaking of the bird on Loch Spynie, St. John says, ‘It usually comes in smaller companies than the Hooper; I never saw above eight together, usually only four or five. They are easily distinguished, being shorter and more compact-looking birds. They also swim rather higher in the water, and are much tamer. Until they have been shot at and frightened, it is easy to approach them. Their plumage is of a pure and snow-like whiteness. The Wild Swan, on the water, is by no means so picturesque a bird as the tame Swan, as it seldom arches its neck or spreads out its wings to act as sails as the latter bird does. On wing, however, the Wild Swan is unrivalled.”
The egg, as figured by Mr. Hewitson, is creamy white, three inches and three quarters in length, by two inches and seven eighths in breadth.
The sexes are similar in plumage; but the male is smaller than the female, its weight being from nine to fourteen pounds, or about half that of the Whooper.
The principal figure is about half the natural size.
- . | - -YWaAS NVATOA VNAO CAV,
TADORNA VULPANSER.
Sheldrake.
Anas tadorna, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 39.
cornuta, S. G. Gmel. Reise, tom. i. p. 185, tab. 19.
Tadorna familiaris, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563.
Bellonii, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 72, pl. 45.
vulpanser, Flem. Hist. of Brit. Anim., p. 122.
gibbera, littoralis, et maritima, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., pp. 856, 857, 858, tab. 42. fig. 1. Vulpanser tadorna, Keys. et Blas. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 84.
Ir must, I think, be admitted that the Sheldrake is one of the most attractive and ornamental of the Anatide indigenous to the British Islands—the breadth of its markings, the purity of the white portions of its plumage, and the rich red of its bill and legs, all combining to render it a creature of great beauty. Besides these features to recommend it to our notice, its actions and manners are at once pleasing and graceful: it walks over the grass with ease, swims buoyantly, and ever deports itself with sprightliness ; its flight, too, is in ac- cordance with its other qualifications ; for when rising in the air, and displaying its colouring to the greatest advantage, it flies off to the sea or to wherever its attention may be directed, in a style which must be cha- racterized as elegant and vigorous. What part in the economy of nature is this princely species of Duck destined to perform—the useful, or the ornamental? The former it cannot be ; for its flesh is strong, musky, and unsavoury, and consequently scarcely fit for human food; we must therefore regard it in the latter sense; and in this respect no bird plays its part more to our satisfaction; for, although by nature it is a strictly maritime species, whose places of resort are the most sterile of our sandy dunes and arid sea-coasts, if pinioned it readily becomes domesticated, and soon makes itself at home on any lake, pond, or sheet of water on which it may be placed ; and hence it has become a general favourite with all who take an interest in water-fowl. Another reason for this favouritism may be assigned—namely, that while the Pintail, the Teal, the Mallard, and other members of the Duck tribe which are subject to periodical changes of plumage throw off their gay attire at Midsummer, and become of the dull brown hue of their females, the Sheldrakes of both sexes, having once acquired their beautiful adult garb, always retain it.
Much has been written respecting the breeding of the Sheldrake in the interior of the country, some authors affirming that salt marshes, if not salt water, are essential to its existence; but I am prepared to state that this is not the case; for, among many other persons whom I might mention, no one has been more suc- cessful in rearing it than Mr. John Noble, of } erry Hill, near Taplow, in Buckinghamshire, on whose beautiful artificial lake several of these fine birds annually breed when the season of incubation arrives, and may be seen busily disporting themselves from year’s end to year’s end. It is also said that water is injurious to the young brood, and that they should be kept from it for some time after they are hatched ; this in the main may probably be worth attending to, but broods are successfully reared at Berry Hill without any precaution of the kind. A clutch of young Sheldrakes were hatched under a hen of the common Fowl from eggs laid the second week in June; on the 21st of August they were nearly as large as the adults, and at this time had the bill of a purplish flesh-colour; the eyes dark brown; the feet clouded purplish yellow; face white ; back of the head and neck black ; all the under surface white; no band of chestnut on the breast; tertiary mark brown; and no appearance of the knob on the Dill. By the 8th of October in the same year the chestnut band had become almost perfect, and the plumage in every respect assimilating to that of the adult, so that in a month later the one could scarcely be told from the other.
With regard to the parts of the British Islands in which the Sheldrake is to be seen in a state of nature, the difficulty is to say not where it may, but where it may vot be met with; for it is to be found more or less in every county bordering the sea, from Cornwall to the Hebrides ; wherever there are any low sandy districts in the neighbourhood of the sea and its great inlets, denes and dunes of any extent, and warrens in the vicinity of the ocean, there it may be seen. In Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, on the east, and the flat shores of Lancashire, on the west, this bird does now, or did a few years ago, bring forth its young. On the continent of Europe the Sheldrake inhabits all the maritime coasts, from the Medi- terranean to the Baltic, and is equally numerous in North Africa, Asia Minor, in India, and all along the sea-shores and the borders of the great rivers of China and Japan. In America it is not found; neither did I meet with it in Australia; and I believe, but am not certain, that it does not occur in South Africa.
“The Sheldrake,” says Mr. Selby, “continues in its native haunts through the whole year, and when once paired seems to live with the same mate till accident or death dissolves the connexion. Montagu
remarks that the males do not appear to attach themselves to the females till the second year, when they have acquired the adult plumage; and I have also observed this to be the case on the Northumbrian coast, where these birds are common upon such parts as present a barrier of sand-hills, the chosen breeding resort of this species. In addition, however, to those that reside permanently on our shores, we are visited by considerable numbers during their periodical flights to and from the more northern countries of Europe. In the beginning of March I have sometimes seen hundreds together upon a favourite locality, where they have continued for a few days, and then departed for higher latitudes, this being the time of their return from their equatorial or winter migration. The rabbit-burrows, with which the sand-hills of the coast are so often perforated, are the places that the Sheldrake usually selects for nidification ; and in such of these as have been deserted by the original inhabitants, the females form their nests of bent-grass and other dry vegetable materials, sometimes as far as ten or twelve feet from the entrance, lining them with fine soft down plucked from their own breasts. They lay from twelve to sixteen eggs, of a pure white, or with a very faint tinge of green, and of an oval form, being equally rounded at both ends. These are incubated for thirty days before the exclusion of the young, this being the period common to most of the Anatide. During this time the male keeps an attentive watch in the immediate vicinity of his mate; and when hunger calls her from her charge, he instantly takes her place and covers the eggs till her return. As soon as the young are hatched, they are conducted, or, as more frequently happens, carried in the bill by the parents to the water’s edge; and upon this their native element they immediately launch, seldom quitting it till fully fledged and well able to fly. Bewick observes, that if the family in their progress from the nest to the sea should happen to be interrupted by an intruder, the young ones seek the first shelter, and squat close down, whilst the parents, directed by the instinctive feeling that so universally prevails throughout the feathered race at this interesting period, adopt the same kind of stratagems as the Partridge, wild Duck, &c., feigning lameness and inability of flight, in order to attract attention and divert the pursuit to themselves. As the Sheldrake is much prized as an ornamental appendage to large pieces of water for its handsome form and varied plumage, the inhabitants of the coast are in the practice of watching the old birds to their nests during the early part of the breeding-season, and digging up the eggs. ‘These are placed under a hen or tame Duck; but great care and attention is requisite in rearing the young, and it is seldom that more than three or four survive from a hatching of a dozen eggs. They soon become tolerably tame and answer to the call of the person who feeds them; when fully fledged, however, being very active birds, they are apt to stray away, and, if left with their pinions unmutilated, generally in time fly entirely off, though I have known them return, in two or three instances, after an absence of many months... Upon the approach of spring, the fleshy knob at the base of the upper mandible, which during the autumn and winter is scarcely per- ceptible, begins to swell and acquire a beautiful crimson bue, and at its full development is nearly as large as amarble. At this season, also, the males pay particular court to the females, erecting themselves and uttering a shrill whistling note, repeated with great quickness, and attended with a frequent movement of the head; they are also very jealous and irascible at the approach of any other bird to their mates. The food of the Sheldrake, in its wild state, consists of marine vegetables, molluscous shell-fish, insects, &c. ; but when domesticated thrives well upon grain, and indeed upon the usual fare of poultry.”
“On examination of the gizzards of nine birds killed in Belfast Bay, Strangford Lough, and Dundrum Bay, in winter weather of all kinds, and in the months of March, April, and May,” says ‘Thompson, ‘I found them all to contain a number of minute univalve shells, with some sand or gravel. A few of these, from the two first-mentioned localities, were entirely filled with Padudina muriatica, a most abundant species. The tenth individual, shot in Belfast Bay, in February 1849, during mild weather, had its stomach wholly filled with minute mollusca, Montacuta purpurea, in profusion, Skenea depressa, and a few Paludina muriatica. Its crop was full of the two former species, chiefly of very small Skenee, it alone containing not less than 9000 of these shell-fish ; the stomach produced still more, so that 20,000 of these minute mollusca were estimated to be in the bird at the same time. The Stenea is about the size of clover-seed, or one-eighteenth of an inch in diameter; the Montacuta, when large, is one-twelfth of an inch broad. ‘The bird was very fat, as might be expected from such nutritious diet, the same on which the Grey Mullet Wugzl chelo) attains a great size in this bay.”
Prince Frederick, of Holstein, tells me that in his country the Sheldrakes habitually lay their eggs in the earth-burrows of the foxes, with which they live in harmony—but will not go mto the holes of the badger, as that animal will eat their eggs; and hence, I suppose, has arisen the specific term Vulpanser, and the trivial name of Fox-Duck or Fox-Goose, sometimes given to this bird.
The Plate represents a male and a group of young, of the size of life.
duly ‘af MII I ELEN DI LOA IEC LIM,
[VILL = VOUVSV)O
CASARCA RUTILA.
Ruddy Sheldrake.
Anas rutila, Pall. Nov. Comm. Petrop., tom. xiv. p. 579, tab. 22. fig. 1.
casarca, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 511.
Tadorna rutila, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563.
Vulpanser rutila, Keys. und Blas. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 84.
Tadorna casarca, Macgill. Man. of Nat. Hist., Orn., vol. ii. p. 163.
Casarca rutila, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 56.
From the circumstance of the trivial name of this species being “ Ruddy Sheldrake” it would naturally be supposed that it is closely allied to the bird figured in the preceding plate, the Zadorna vulpanser ; and to a certain extent it is ; but, as every ornithologist is aware, the two birds have been generically separated. The Common Sheldrake is one of the most ornamental of our water-fowl, graceful in its actions, beautiful in its markings, and domestic in disposition—traits which render it an especial favourite; the Ruddy Sheldrake, on the other hand, although a finely coloured bird, and by no means devoid of beauty, is more Auserine or Goose-like in its actions and economy, and is more adapted for the land than the water, on which element it is less graceful and buoyant; its bill and legs, too, are coarse and black—instead of being richly coloured, like those of the Common Sheldrake.
The Casarca rutila, unlike the Tadorna vulpanser (which is indigenous to our islands), is merely a visitor, and one of the rarest birds so classified in our lists, its occurrences here being few and at periods far apart. The first British specimen is said to have been killed as long ago as 1776, and to still form a part of the col- lection at Newcastle-on-Tyne. ‘The late Mr. Fox, of Durham, appears to have been the first to notice it as British, from the example above alluded to, which previously belonged to Marmaduke Tunstal, and which was believed to have been shot at Bryanstone, near Blandford, in Dorsetshire. Yarrell states that two other specimens have since been killed—one in the south of England, now in the collection of the late Mr. Selby, and the other in January 1834, at Iken, near Orford, on the coast of Suffolk, which passed into the possession of Mr. Manning, of Woodbridge. Thompson, in his ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ states that an example of this species was shot “on the Murrough of Wicklow, by Mr. John Moreton of that town, on the 7th of J uly, 1847. The Murrough is an extensive low sandy tract bordering the sea, such as is resorted to by the Common Sheldrake (7° vu/panser) for the purpose of breeding. ‘On the next day,” adds Thompson, “ the specimen came into the possession of T. W. Warren, Esq. Its plumage indicates a male, nearly adult.” Besides the above, the Rev. F. O. Morris speaks of another as having been obtained on Sanday Island, one of the Orkneys, by Mr. Strang, in October 1831.
The range of the Ruddy Sheldrake over the surface of the globe appears to be almost as extensive as that of the Common Sheldrake ; for it is found in most of the warmer parts of Europe and, I believe, the whole of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterranean, and, like most other species which frequent the latter part of that continent, Palestine, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, and Persia; it is also one of the commonest species of Ducks in the peninsula of India, in Thibet, China, Formosa, and Japan. The justly celebrated Russian naturalist, Pallas, states that it does not extend beyond 50° N. lat., and that in Mongolia, where it breeds in Marmot-holes and hollow trees, it is held sacred by the Mongols and Calmucks. Dr. Hooker observed it breeding in the rocks of the Himalayas, and Dr. Adams in Sikkim and Ladakh. The following extracts will show that the bird has many habits in common with the Sheldrake, particularly that of breeding in holes; like that species, too, it is said to be almost unfit for human food :-—
Mr. W. H. Simpson, in his ‘ Fortnight on the Dobrudscha,’ says, ‘‘ The earth-cliffs about Kustendjé” (the eastern terminus of the Danube and Black-Sea Railway) “are much resorted to by birds for breeding, from the facility with which they are perforated. The Ruddy Shelduck breeds in these places, and also in the holes of Trajan’s Wall, and in other holes up the country. Though the bird is plentiful, it is by no means easy to obtain the eggs. I and my friend spent the greater part of the day in driving a tunnel into a bank where one had been seen to come out. But our labour was in vain ; for, after advancing several yards, working one at a time, prostrate and in the dark, the original hole was found to fork off into two branches. The natives sometimes obtain a sitting, and the young ones are brought up for domestic purposes.” —J/6rs, 1861, p. 365.
‘‘ Hundreds of these birds,” says the Rev. H. B. Tristram, in his ‘Notes on the Ornithology of North Africa,’ “resort to the salt lakes of Bou Guizoun, Waregla, Tuggurt, &c. At Bou Guizoun I captured some half-dozen nestlings of various ages in the downy state, some of them scarcely more than a day old; and yet the only place where they could possibly have bred, and where we had procured a nest three days
previously, was a range of cliffs more than twelve miles distant. This was in May 1856.”—JJis, 1860, p. 81.
In Mr. O. Salvin’s « Five Months’ Birds’-nesting in the Eastern Atlas,’ it is stated that “though this bird is numerous on all the salt lakes of the elevated plains, its egg is one of the most difficult to obtain. One nest only rewarded our labours. The rarity of the eggs is hardly surprising when the situation chosen by this bird for its nest is considered. It selects a hole or crevice of a cliff for its breeding-place, and asso- ciates with the Raven, the Black Kite, and Egyptian Vulture during the period of the reproduction of its young. Almost immediately on encamping at Ain Djendeli we used daily to see a pair of Ruddy Sheldrakes pass over our tent, their direction always being backwards and forwards between the cliffs to the south of us, and the small marsh between us and the lake. After careful investigation, the nest was discovered to be in a hole in the face of a rock, which required all the skill of Mohamed, and all our appliances of ropes &c., to reach. The result was four hard-set eggs, which are now in the collections of Messrs. Tristram, Simpson, Wolley, and myself. Though the Arabs were aware of the habits of the bird, we did not succeed in ob- taining any more.” —ZJé7s, 1859, p. 362.
In Palestine Mr. Tristram found the Casarca rutila near the Dead Sea, and obtained its eggs in a cliff in Northern Galilee, among some Griffons’ (Vudéur fulvus) nests in May.
The late Mr. Strickland says it is frequently to be seen in the poultry-shops at Smyrna; and Messrs. Dickson and Ross state it is abundant at Erzeroum, frequenting the marshes during the daytime, and feeding late in the evening and early in the morning in corn- and stubble-fields—that it arrives about the middle of March, and departs at the end of November; they also remark that it is rarely seen on the water.
“The Ruddy Sheldrake, or Brahminy Duck, as it is called in India,” says Mr. Jerdon, “is a well-known winter visitant to all parts of the country. It is generally seen, even at this season, in pairs or small parties, frequenting alike rivers, brooks, jheels, and lakes. It walks well on the ground, and grazes in the young corn-fields, just like Geese; it also picks up seeds of grass, grain, &c. Towards the close of the cold weather the Brahminy Ducks assemble in numbers, and on the Chilka Lake I have seen thousands in one flock in April. The call is peculiar and Goose-like (resembling a clarionet, says Pallas), sounding something like a-oung, and hence the name of Aangir, which, according to Pallas, is given to this bird among the Mongols.” Mr. Yarrell says that this sound is uttered while the bird is flying, and that at other times it cries like a Peacock, especially when kept confined, and that it now and then clucks like a hen. Dr. Jerdon says, “‘ The Hindoos have a legend that two lovers, for some indiscretion, were transformed into Brahminy Ducks, that they were condemned to pass the night apart from each other on opposite banks of the river, and that all night long, each in its turn, asks its mate if it shall come across, but the question is always met by a negative :—‘ Chakwa, shall I come?’ ‘No Chakwi.’ ‘ Chakwi, shall I come?’ ‘No Chakwa.’ ”— Birds of India, vol. i. p. 792.
Captain L. H. Irby, in his ‘ Notes on Birds observed in Oudh and Kumaon,’ says, * The Ruddy Sheldrake (Casarca rutile), Brahminy Duck of Europeans, the Chukwa of the natives, probably so called from its cry,” is “‘ very common in the cold season on the large rivers and lakes, but is seldom seen on the small jheels, except in the vicinity of rivers. During the day, immense flocks rest on the sand-banks of rivers, and towards dusk break up into pairs and disperse in various directions. Should one bird be killed, its mate will not leave the spot, but continue flying round for some time, calling repeatedly. It is a shame to shoot them, as their flesh is proverbial for its dryness and other bad qualities. There is a strange Hindoo legend about the Chukwa, the pith of which is, that any person who kills one is for ever after doomed to celibacy.” — Ibis, 1861, p. 249.
The food of the Ruddy Sheldrake consists of aquatic plants and their seeds, insects, the fry of fish, grain, &c. They lay eight or nine creamy-white eggs ; and when the young ones come forth, the mother will often carry them, from the place of hatching to the water, in her bill.
The above passages comprise all the information of interest on record respecting this bird. I am aware that it might have been compressed into two or three paragraphs ; but I have thought it only an act of justice to the various writers to let each speak for himself. I have only to add that there is but little difference in the outward appearance of the sexes; perhaps a lighter-coloured head and the absence of the black ring from the neck of the female are the only ones ; and I am not certain that in the latter this is constant.
The Plate represents the two sexes, nearly of the size of life.
EEO
eR
No ene nerigpeegermmmnntamens
~—
SN
MARECA PENELOPE.
de eb litt
TGould & HCRichter
MARECA PENELOPE. Widgeon.
Anas penelope, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 44.
— fistularis, Briss. Orn., tom. vi. p. 391, tab. xxxv. fig. 1.
—— Wiageon, Vieill. Ency. Méth., Orn., part i. p, 129.
Mareca penelope, Selb. Ill. Brit. Orn., vol. ii. p. 324.
fistularis, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 131, pl. 50.
Tus Widgeon is a compact and trim little duck, whose structure is equally well adapted for walking on the land and for swimming on the water. Its weight is about two pounds, though some examples may be a trifle more and others a little less. As an esculent it is sometimes remarkably good, particularly when rich and succulent grasses have formed a part of its diet. Unlike the Mallard and Shoveller, which feed in soft and oozy places, or the Scaup, which gathers mollusks from the bottom, the Widgeon wanders over marshes and nibbles the grasses and other plants which there abound, much after the manner of the goose. Even a cursory examination of the peculiar formation of its bill, its feet, and legs will be sufficient to show that they are admirably adapted for such a mode of feeding ; and as regards flight, few ducks are better furnished with the means of progression through the air. In disposition it is less shy than its congeners ; and from the vast numbers which frequent our eastern and southern coasts during the months of autumn and winter, it affords an abundance of amusement to the sportsman and gunner at those seasons of the year. In all parts of England the Widgeon must be regarded as a winter-visitant ; but in Scotland a few remain during the summer and breed. That some Widgeons arrive on the south coast of England from their northern breeding-quarters as early as the month of September I can affirm, since, while on a visit to A. J. B. Beresford Hope, Esq. at Bedgebury Park, Kent, the keeper brought in, on the 28th of that month, as nondescript birds, two which he had just shot, and which proved to be young Widgeons of the year. It is generally stated that the bird does not breed in this country; but that it will occasionally do so in partial confinement is evident from the following note, kindly communicated to me by the Rev. John Fountaine, of Southam, in Norfolk :—‘‘A pair of Widgeons I have had pinioned in my decoy for five or six years have bred this season (1864) and reared their young ones, which I have had plenty of opportunities of watching since they were very small up to the present time, when they are able to fly. This I believe to be an unprecedented occur- rence; for I never knew of an instance of the Widgeon breeding in this country, either in a wild or tame state.” Granting that the main body of the Widgeons that winter here go northward to breed in March or April, it becomes necessary to state into what countries they proceed for that purpose. According to Mr. Wolley and Mr. Wheelwright it breeds abundantly in Lapland, being one of the most numerous of the birds of that country; and Mr. Proctor informed Mr. Yarrell that a few breed in Iceland, forming their nest generally among low bushes near the edge of the fresh waters. Generally speaking the Widgeon frequents, at one season or the other, the whole of the northern and temperate regions of the Old World, from Iceland in the west to Japan in the-east. In Finland it is especially common during summer, as it doubtless is in all the northern portions of the countries within the limits I have mentioned. In China, in India, and in Southern Europe it also occurs during summer as numerously as with us. Loche states that it is found in all the three provinces of Algeria; and Dr. Baird that it is an accidental visitor to the Atlantic coast of the United States of America. On examining a number of male examples, differences in their plumage may be observed not unworthy the attention of the ornithologist, some having the whole of the shoulder or upper half of the wing white, while in others the same part is mottled with brown. This difference was pointed out to me, in the first instance, by Mr. Fountaine, coupled with the remark that the whiteness of the shoulder shows very conspicuously when the bird is swimming; I consider that the examples thus distinguished are the older birds. The females are more uniform or browner, as may be seen in the accompanying plate.
Speaking of the birds inhabiting Sutherland, Mr. Selby says :—‘‘As the Widgeon had not previously been detected breeding in Britain, we were much pleased to see several pairs upon the smaller lochs near Lairg, which, we concluded, had their nests among the reeds and other herbage which grew in their vicinity. We were not so fortunate as to find one here; but afterwards, upon one of the islands of Loch Laighal, we sprung a female, which was shot from her nest containing seven eggs. It was placed in the heart of a large rush-bush, and was made of decayed rushes and reeds, with a lining of warm down from the bird’s body. The eggs were smaller than those of the Wild Duck, and of a rich cream-white colour.” Sir William
Jardine, who accompanied Mr. Selby, mentions that ‘‘Widgeons were seen upon Loch Shin, Loch Naver, Loch Loyal, and Loch Hope. They were by no means abundant; and it is possible that the birds in this district were at the most southern limit of their breeding-stations, and bore no proportion whatever to the immense flocks which frequent our coasts in winter.” A more recent writer, St. John, in his ‘ Natural History and Sport in Moray,’ says :—‘In Sutherland I have found the nest, and in Loch Naver and else- where the Widgeon breeds regularly, though not in any great numbers. I have shot Widgeon in this country on the 9th of September. There was a small flock of eight or nine; and the two which I shot were evidently young, and must have been bred in the neighbourhood. ‘The migrating Widgeon begin to arrive - early in October or at the end of September; by the beginning of November there are immense numbers, and their shrill whistle enlivens all the larger lochs and swamps. ‘Towards night every Widgeon seems to be in motion, flying to their feeding-places, either in the shallows or along the edges of the water, where they can get at the grass and water-plants which form their food. Their flight is very rapid, and divided into small companies; they flit to and fro in every direction until they settle down to feed. During the daytime they all collect and rest in the centre of the lochs. The Widgeon, like the Teal, is late in acquiring its full plumage ; and in the flocks but a small proportion of Drakes, in full beauty, are seen. It is also late in coming into full season for the table, and is in best condition from February to April. Like other-wild fowl, when driven to feed on the sea-shore, it soon loses its eatable quality. The Widgeon is the most perfectly proportioned of any water-fowl, and the plumage of the male is peculiarly bright and beautiful. Both on land and in the water it is very active; when on shore it walks upright and rapidly, and on the water is unrivalled in swimming. The nest is similar to that of other water-birds, the eggs being well protected by the down of the female. The young, when hatched, have rather a brown- than a green-coloured covering, in this also differing from the common duck, teal, &c.”
Mr. Dann informed Mr. Yarrell that the Widgeon ‘is the most abundant of all the Duck tribe in Lapland, frequenting the grassy swamps, lakes, and rivers. They appear with the first breaking-up of the ice, in pairs ; and as soon as the females begin to lay, the male loses his beautiful plumage, and secretes himself in willow- swamps and in the most inaccessible morasses ; nor does he recover his former appearance until November or December. The females lay from five to eight eggs. They also breed on the Dovre fjeld, as high as the birch grows, and in many other parts of Norway and Sweden, but only in straggling pairs. They migrate south early in September, appearing in great flocks on the coasts of Norway and Sweden. The young keep among the rushes and reeds in the lakes, the old birds betaking themselves to the shallows on the coast. They entirely leave Sweden in the winter.”
The following interesting note respecting this species was communicated to the late Sir John Richardson by the Rev. Mr. Booth, of Friskney, in Lincolnshire :—‘“ Skelton tells me that the Widgeon does not willingly dive: of course, if driven to it, it can; but it does not dive for its food; and though in play it sometimes splashes under water, it never remains beneath the surface. The Widgeon is ‘an amazing fowl to graze, a strange eater of grass.’ It is especially fond of ‘flutter-grass’ (Glyceria aquatica vel flutans ?), which it crops on the surface; but it likewise eats many other herbs. When the decoy has been so full of Widgeons that they have devoured every blade on the landings, Skelton has taken advantage of their absence in the night, when they resort to the salt marshes on the sea-coast, and laid down sods pared from the fields, on which they readily graze. In common with the Mallard, Teal, and Pintail, they are very fond of Willow- weed seeds (Epilobium), with which he feeds all the fowl in the decoy, as they prefer it to oats and every other kind of grain.” Faun. Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 436, note.
Dr. Jerdon, speaking of the Widgeon in India, remarks that it ‘‘ cannot be said to be either common or abundant, although it is met with occasionally in every part of the country in small or moderate flocks.”
The Widgeon emits, chiefly during flight, a peculiarly shrill whistling note, which has obtained for it, in some parts of England, the name of Whew Duck ; and its French name of Canard siffeur has reference to the same sound.
During the proper season great numbers of Widgeons are taken in the decoys; and we have the authority of Colonel Hawker that, like the fox in hunting, it affords the finest sport for coast night-shooting, ample directions for which will be found in that gentleman’s well-known work on sport and sporting.
Mr. Thompson, after stating that the Widgeon frequents the marine loughs &c. of Ireland in great numbers for above six months of the year, gives an interesting account of the modes of shooting it, &c., to which, as it is too lengthy for extract, I must refer my readers (see his ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ vol. in. p- 100 ez seq.).
The Plate represents a male and a female, about the natural size.
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SPATULA CLYPEATA. Shoveller Duck.
Anas clypeata, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 42.
—— rubens, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 519.
Spatula clypeata, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564.
Rhynchaspis clypeata, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 115, pl. 48. Spathulea clypeata, Flem. Hist. of Brit. Anim., p. 123.
Clypeata macrorhynchus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 876.
—— platyrhynchus, Brehm, ibid., p. 877.
“——— pomarina, Brehm, ibid., p. 878.
——— brachyrhynchus, Brehm, ibid., p. 879.
AxrnoueHr not very numerous at any time either in England, Scotland, or Ireland, we have abundant evidence of the occurrence of the Shoveller Duck, both in summer and winter, in all the three countries. It 1s especially partial to meres, ponds, and shallow waters, such as are seen in Holland, Belgium, and elsewhere, and, in India, to tanks and reservoirs ; indeed it appears to have an instinctive knowledge of countries, how- ever distant, that are subject to heavy rains, as an evidence of which, I may mention that I saw our Shoveller in the southern parts of Australia during the rainy season of 1839, when nearly the whole of the grassy flats were covered with water, and shot at a pair that rose before me on the shallow lagoons at Segenoe, in New South Wales, but did not succeed in killing either. The late Mr. Coxen, of Yarrundi, obtained a fine male, the skin of which I examined, and am therefore certain as to the identity of the species ; unfortunately it was so much mutilated by rats a few days after, that it was not worth preserving, or I should have brought it with me on my return to England. Since that period I have never seen an Australian specimen, neither have I been favoured with a sight of one from Java or any of the adjacent islands ; but that it does visit those important countries, and also Borneo and the Philippines, is more than probable, since if is a common bird in India and China, and, according to Temminck, is as numerous in Japan as it is in any portion of Europe, over the whole of which, except in the extreme north, it has been observed ; it is also fonnd in Africa, and extends its range over the northern portions of America, specimens having been received by me from as far south as Guatemala ; at the same time it appears to be less numerous in the New than it is in the Old World. By some of our earlier writers the Shoveller was regarded as a winter visitant only to our islands; but the followihg extracts from the works of more recent authorities will show that it very frequently breeds therein :—
Mr. Hewitson tells us that ‘* Mr. John Hancock has the nest and eggs of the Shoveller, which were found upon Prestwick Carr, a piece of waste ground of considerable extent near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, covered with heath and furze, boggy and intersected with drains, and having a piece of water near its centre. From thence, towards the end of May, a nest was brought to him containing nine eggs; it was composed of grass, mixed with the down of the bird, and was placed in the centre of a furze bush, by which it was sheltered. Two or three weeks after this a second nest was found, at a short distance from the spot from which the other had been taken: it was constructed of the same materials, was similarly situated, and contained ten eggs ; these were quite fresh, and led to the supposition that they belonged to the same bird which had been previously deprived of its eggs.
“JT have likewise received the eggs of the Shoveller from Norfolk, from Mr. Salmon, taken on the 10th of May from a nest which was placed amongst a quantity of green rushes, but without the profusion of feathers so generally observed in the nests of this tribe of birds, there being barely a sufficient quantity of dry grass to keep the eggs from the bare sand ; it was much exposed, and contained eight eggs, which were within a few days of hatching. |
“The Messrs. Paget state that the Shoveller is occasionally not at all uncommon in Norfolk, and that several nests, containing altogether fifty-six eggs, were found, during one summer, in Winterton Marshes.
“Mr. Charles St. John has found the eggs of this species on the banks of Loch Spynie, in Morayshire ; and Mr. Henry Milner tells me that it breeds on Hornsea Mere, in Yorkshire. The eggs differ considerably in size.”
Further evidence of the bird’s breeding in Norfolk is contained in the following note, obligingly forwarded to me by Lord Walsingham, from Merton Hall, Thetford, on the 24th of June, 1869 :-—* You may, perhaps, care to know that not less than eight or ten pairs of Shovellers are in the habit of breeding here every year ; this summer we gave away two sittings of eggs to a neighbour, who was anxious to rear some.”
That the bird also breeds in Dorsetshire is certain, two young birds which are in the collection of W. Thompson, Esq., of Weymouth, having been shot in the Frome river, a few miles below Dorchester, in July 1867.
The Shoveller seldom, if ever, dives for its food ; neither does it ramble by night over the land far away from water. Its principal nourishment consists of aquatic grasses and other succulent plants, to which is probably added small freshwater mollusks, worms, and insects, for securing which its remarkably constructed bill is admirably adapted, the edges of both mandibles being thickly beset with fine pectinated lamine, aptly compared by Wilson to a weaver’s reed, by means of which the bird has the power of retaining any nutritive matters it may find, and of rejecting the mud and other substances not congenial to its stomach.
The Shoveller is subject to two very marked seasonal changes of plumage. During winter and spring its black bill, blue-green head, white breast, chestnut-coloured abdomen, blue shoulders, and black and white streaming tertiaries render him a very beautiful object, his beauty being greatly enhanced by his pale yellow pupils, seated like gems in the centre of his blue-green head; but, as soon as the female begins to incubate, those colours disappear, and, like the Mallard and the Teal, he assumes the more uniform brown colouring of the female; this garb is again thrown off in October or November, and the former one reassumed.
Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun., has called my attention to a fact, which, indeed, had not escaped my notice, that some females are more red or chestnut-coloured on the abdomen than others, the reason of which is not well understood; it may be due to age, or to the normal change not having taken place. On reference to the accompanying Plate it will be seen that, ordinarily, the female, besides differing from her mate in having a mottled brown garb, has the eyes brown and the bill olive, while the legs and feet are, like those of the male, of a fine orange-yellow.
As a tenant for the aviary or home ponds and lakes no bird is better adapted than the Shoveller, its disposition being as tame as its plumage is ornamental. When in good condition its flesh as a viand for the table is unsurpassed by that of any of the Duck tribe; indeed so much is it prized on this ac- count, that authors on both sides of the Atlantic bear testimony to its excellence. Selby says “‘it is very delicate and well-flavoured, and, in consequence, highly esteemed ;” Wilson that it is uniformly juicy and well-tasted ; and Audubon that ‘‘no sportsman who is a judge will ever pass by a Shoveller to shoot a Canvass-back,” the excellent quality of whose flesh is proverbial. As an article of food it is therefore much sought after; and hundreds are sent from Holland to the London markets during every autumn and winter.
The Shoveller breeds in the central parts of marshy districts, the nest, which is placed on the ground,
being usually formed in the tufts of coarse herbage abounding in such situations. The eggs are from ten to twelve in number, of a buffy white, with a faint tinge of green, and measure a trifle more than two inches in length by one inch and a half in breadth. ' The young were formerly stated to be at first very shapeless and ugly, and the bill to be as broad as the body ; but this was long since disproved by Mr. Youell, in the thirteenth volume of the ‘Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ and by Yarrell, who says :—‘‘ That the bill of the young Shoveller, when hatched, is not dilated laterally, I can myself answer. During the summer of 1841 a pair of Shovellers made a nest and brought out their young on one of the islands in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. The bills of these ducklings were as narrow and the sides as parallel as the bills of some Gadwalls which were hatched at the same time on another island in the same piece of water.”
The Plate represents two males and a female, of the natural size. The plant is the Marsh Marygold (Caltha palustris).
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ANAS BOSCHAS, Linn. Mallard or Wild Duck.
Anas boschas, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 46.
adunca, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 206.
fera, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 39.
—— archiboschas, subboschas, et conboschas, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., pp. 862, 864, 865, tab. xli. fig. 2.
On referring to the opposite plate the reader will perceive figures of the male and female of a species of Duck which plays a most important part in the world; for although it does not inhabit every part of the globe, its distribution is very extensive, and where it is not indigenous it is one of those birds which, has become thoroughly domesticated, and, moreover, accompanies the Caucasian in all his wanderings, and, wherever he settles down in a foreign land, forms part and parcel of his surroundings, contributing to his enjoyment and constituting no inconsiderable portion of his subsistence. Among the Hindoos, the Chinese, the Australians, the New-Zealanders, and many other nations, either the pure bird itself or some of the domestic varieties derived from it may be seen almost as constantly as the common fowl,—the Black Duck of the River Plate, our own snowy Aylesbury birds, and many other varieties all having the Anas boschas as a common progenitor. In Europe it is distributed universally, from the arctic circle to the confines of the Mediter- ranean and Black Seas, and from Britain to the most eastern parts of Russia, being as common on the Don and the Volga as it is on the broads of Norfolk and Suffolk. In North Africa, India, China, Formosa, and Japan it is as numerous in certain localities as with us. In America it occurs in the northern portion only, or from the latitude of Hudson’s Bay to Mexico, but not further south, except the few stragglers which are said to be now and then seen in Guatemala. In Australia and New Zealand it certainly does not naturally occur; neither have I seen examples from any of the Polynesian islands, although its range may extend to some of them.
From the many favourable localities for the breeding of this Duck in almost every part of England, Ireland, and Scotland vast numbers, both of the old and young birds (or “flappers” as they are termed), are annually sent to our markets through the agency of the gunner and the decoy-man. With reference to the numbers taken by the latter means, I may mention that Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., informs me that “in the Ashby decoy, which was one of the most famous in Lincolnshire, he learns, from the ‘Stamford Mercury,’ that the greatest number between 1833 and 1867 was 4287.”
Speaking of the habits, manners, &c. of the Mallard, Macgillivray says :—
‘‘Marshy places, the margins of lakes, pools, and rivers, as well as brooks, rills, and ditches, are its principal places of resort at all seasons. It walks with ease, even runs with considerable speed, swims, and occasionally dives, though not in search of food. Seeds of graminez and other plants, fleshy and fibrous roots, worms, mollusca, insects, small reptiles, and fishes are the principal objects of its search. In shallow . water it reaches the bottom with its bill, keeping the hind part of the body erect by a continued motion of the feet. On the water it sits rather higb, with the tail considerably inclined upwards; when searching under the surface, it keeps the tail flat on the water; and when paddling at the bottom, with its hind part up, it directs the tail backwards. The male emits a low and rather soft cry, between a croak and a murmur, and the female a louder and clearer jabber; both, on being alarmed, and especially in flying off, ery ‘quack; but the quack of the female is much louder. When feeding they are silent; but when satiated they often amuse themselves with various jabberings, swim about, approach each other, move their heads backward and forward, ‘duck’ in the water, throwing it up over their backs, shoot along the surface, half flying, half running, and, in short, are quite playful when in good humour. On being surprised or alarmed, whether on shore or on the water, they spring up at once with a bound, rise obliquely to a considerable height, and fly off with speed, their hard-quilled wings whistling against the air. When in full flight their velocity is very great. Like other Ducks they impel themselves by quickly repeated flaps, without sailings or undulations. In March they pair, and soon after disperse and seek a breeding-place. When incubation commences, the male takes his leave, though he keeps in the neighbourhood, and, joining others, undergoes his annual moult. The female sits very close, and rather than leave her charge will often allow a person to approach quite near. Frequently on leaving the nest she covers it rudely with straw and feathers, probably for the purpose of concealing the eggs. The young are hatched in four weeks, and,
being covered with stiffish down and quite alert, accompany their mother to the water, where they swim and dive as expertly as if they had been born in it.”
In autumn, winter, and spring the Mallard is clothed in the style of plumage represented in the front figure of the accompanying plate; but the latter season being passed and reproduction achieved, his finery 1s exchanged for a sombre dress of various shades of brown, the beautifully curled feathers on his rump are thrown off, and his appearance so closely resembles that of the female that they are scarcely distinguishable one from the other. This summer-plumage of the Drake is carried while the Duck hatches forth her young; so that father, mother, and chicks, on the latter assuming their first feathers, are all very much alike in appearance. A change, however, soon takes place in the plumage of the Drakes, who assume a characteristic dress, which, as before stated, is carried through the winter and spring.
The change in the plumage of the Mallard is thus characteristically described by the late Mr. Waterton from personal observation :—
“‘ At the close of the breeding-season the drake undergoes a very remarkable change of plumage. On viewing it, all speculation on the part of the ornithologist is utterly confounded; for there is not the smallest clue afforded him by which he may be enabled to trace out the cause of this strange phenomenon. To Him, alone, who has ordered the Ostrich to remain on the earth, and allowed the Bat to range through the etherial vault of heaven, is known why the Drake for a very short period of the year should be so completely clothed in the raiment of the female that it requires a keen and penetrating eye to distinguish the one from the other. About the 24th of May the breast and back of the drake exhibit the first appearance of a change of colour. In a few days after this the curled feathers above the tail drop out, and grey feathers begin to appear amongst the lovely green plumage which surrounds the eyes. Every succeeding day now brings marks of rapid change. By the 23rd of June scarcely one single green feather is to be seen on the head and neck of the bird. By the 6th of July every feather of the former brilliant plumage has disappeared, and the male has received a garb like that of the female, though of a somewhat darker tint. In the early part of August this new plumage begins to drop off gradually ; and by the 10th of October the drake will appear again in all bis rich magnificence of dress, than which scarcely any thing throughout the whole wide field of nature can be seen more lovely or better arranged to charm the eye of man. ‘Thus we may say that once every year, for a very short period, the drake goes, as it were, into an eclipse, so that, from the early part of the month of July to about the first week of August, neither im the poultry-yards of civilized man nor through the vast expanse of nature’s widest range can there be found a drake in that plumage which at all other seasons of the year is so remarkably splendid and diversified.”
The situation of the nest is exceedingly varied, being sometimes placed among the reeds at the edge of the water the birds frequent; at others it is constructed far up on the heath or in the forest, and not unfrequently on the head of a pollard oak or willow, in a hollow of the bare ground, in the midst of a tussock of grass, under a stone, &c. The composition of the nest is as varied as its site, bemg in some ’ instances a bulky mass rudely constructed of flags, sedges, grasses, &c., at others of grass intermixed and lined with feathers and down. The eggs are from six to ten in number, rather larger and longer than those of the common fowl, and of a dull light greenish stone-colour. The chicks immediately after their exclusion from the eggs are exceeding alert, have all their energies perfect, and readily seek for, and obtain, their insect food both on the land and on the water, and hide themselves, on the approach of a fancied enemy, with great facility among the herbage or any other object that may offer seclusion and safety ; indeed, at this period of their existence their shyness is most remarkable, a disposition not readily effaced if an attempt be made towards their domestication, either when hatched by a tame tes or by their frequent foster- parent, the ordinary fowl.
The Mallard frequently interbreeds with the Pintail, the Muscovy Duck, and other species, the produce being sometimes twice the weight of those from which they spring: thus in December, 1862, the late Earl of Craven sent me two birds, the product of a cross between the Mallard and the Pintail, which weighed, the one 6 lbs. 30z., the other 6lbs. Of course these enormously heavy Ducks were domesti- cated and not wild birds. The weights of two wild Mallards I killed at Somerleyton, in fair but not extraordinary condition, were respectively 2 lbs. 11 oz. and 2 Ibs. 15 oz.
It is quite unnecessary for me to speak of the excellence of this bird as a viand for the table, or the usefulness of its feathers, since both are so generally known that they need not be commented upon ; neither need I attempt to describe the various modes of capturing the bird on its arrival in this country by means of nets, decoys, &c.; those who desire informatiou on these points will find them admirably described and illustrated in the Rev. Richard Lubbock’s ‘ Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk.’
The figures are a trifle smaller than the natural size, with a flight of these birds in the distance,
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QUERQUEDULA CRECGCA. Teal.
Anas Crecca, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 204. Querquedula mimor, Briss. Orn., tom.-vi. p. 436, pl. 40. fig. 1. secunda, Ray, Syn., p. 147, A 6. crecca, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 146. erecca, subcrecca, et creccoides, Brehm, Handb. der Naturg. Vog. Deutschl., pp. 884, 885, 886.
Tur Teal is the least of the Ducks inhabiting the British Islands, and is much valued for the beauty of its plumage, the elegance of its contour, and the delicate flavour of its flesh. The collector places his mounted specimen in the most conspicuous part of his museum, and the sportsman is often induced to leave his marked-down Woodcock for the chance of a shot, should a flight of Teal splash into the neigh- bouring rivulet, or circle over the moor.
Although not a cosmopolitan, this pretty little Duck enjoys a very wide range over the Old World, and, besides being generally dispersed in our islands, is equally numerous in similar latitudes in all the countries lying eastward of us, as far as China and Kamtschatka ; northward it proceeds to the regions of the Arctic circle, and southward to the verge of the equator; in a word, it is found in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, and India, as well as in Europe. In all these countries its flesh is highly prized, and conse- quently much sought for as an article of food. It is plain, therefore, that if the Teal did not extend its range to thinly peopled countries, and select sites for the duty of incubation which are difficult of detection, it would soon become extirpated. The Rook and the Heron nidify in the most conspicuous places, and the cradles for their young are so prominently displayed that they may be seen from a great distance; the Teal, on the contrary, resorts to the most secluded situations for this purpose; and hence it is the bird still continues so abundant, and that such large numbers are annually sent to our markets during the autumn and winter months. To what cause are we to assign the delicate flavour of the Teal? It is most probably due to the nature of the food upon which it subsists: this is neither fish nor any animal substances that can impart a strong or rancid flavour, as in the case of those species of the family whose lives are spent upon the seas—Scoters, Eiders, &c. No; the food the Teal consists of the points of the finest grasses, the leaves of water-plants, seeds, grain, insects, small freshwater mollusks, and probably worms.
As autumn approaches, the rivers, rivulets, and the great ponds of the woodlands and open moors are all more or less resorted to by the Teal in small parties of eight or ten in number, or in flights of fifty or more. In these situations, the birds, if unmolested, remain during the entire day on the surface of the water, rising and falling with every ripple, or sitting on the banks; as evening approaches, they become more animated, and the whistling evtck of the male is heard; and when night begins to throw a veil over the face of nature, they simultaneously rise, and quit the waters for the morass, the ploughed field, the oozy mud-bank, or wherever they may obtain a supply of food; at daylight they return to their usual sanctuary, where they preen their feathers, and the males swim round each other in circles before settling to rest for the day.
These latter remarks apply to the bird as seen with us in autumn and winter, when it has partially or wholly left the northern parts of our islands for the more temperate ones of the south. As spring approaches, most of those that have escaped the gunner and the devices of the decoy-man return again to the places of their former resort, and there incubate in all suitable situations. Some, however, stay and breed in many of the counties of England and Ireland. The site chosen is sometimes on the hill-side, in the neighbourhood of a river or loch, at others far away out on the heath or on the moor, even to the distance of many miles, the slight nest being placed in the midst of the heather, in a tussock of grass, or any other herbage that may effectually screen it from sight. A little rill of water may perchance be close at hand, or a wet sloppy morass or a pool not far off, to which the young, on their exclusion from the egg, are immediately conducted, and where they are most assiduously guarded by their parents from the attacks of harriers and any other animals by which their lives may be endangered; but the voracious pike, which often abides in such situations, not unfrequently lessens their number. At Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk (celebrated for one of the largest colonies of Black-headed Gulls in England), several pair breed annually, and the proprietor, Major Weyland, affords them strict protection. Their nests are usually placed in the shrubberies and plantations which surround the Mere.
‘The Teal,” says Mr. Lubbock, ‘is taken every year in great numbers in our decoys, in that at Winterton, in particular, where more than two hundred have been caught at once in a single pipe. Although’ it
congregates in immense numbers, in decoys it does not fly in such large flocks as many other Ducks, from twenty to twenty-five Teal being a considerable number. I have once known of a flock of sixty, but this is a very singular occurrence.”
Unlike most other kinds of birds, all the Ducks undergo a second seasonal change, and the Teal among their number: during the spring and the early part of summer the male is dressed in gay attire, which, after the breeding-season, is exchanged for a more sombre livery, so closely assimilating to that of the female that it is not easy to distinguish one sex from the other; this plumage is carried until late in the autumn, when it is again exchanged for the gayer dress.
The flight of the Teal is dashing and spirited; it rises directly from the water, and flies off in a straight line, or threads with vast facility through the branches of the alders and other trees growing by the sides of the little nooks and secluded places in which it is frequently flushed. Wonderfully rapid, indeed, is the flight of this bird when fairly on the wing, or when it comes sweeping round the sportsman, who may be on the gui vive for a shot, and who must be quick, indeed, if he wishes to bag any of the flight.
On the water the Teal is light and buoyant, swimming high above the surface, and displaying its fine plumage to the greatest advantage, particularly the beautiful buff stripe near the scapularies of the male; on the land it has none of the awkward gait of the diving-ducks, but walks with ease and comparative elegance of movement.
The Teal readily becomes semi-domesticated, and will breed in the ponds and lakes of the pleasure- ground, even in such situations as the Zoological Gardens in the Regent’s Park. The decoys, in which the greater number sent to our markets are taken, differ much in their character ; some are great open sheets of water, like Fritton in Suffolk, while others comprise a number of ponds, as at Nacton in the same county. In that first named, Mallards, Pintails, Widgeon, and Teal are often to be seen indiscriminately mingled; but at Nacton it is far otherwise: there each pond is tenanted almost exclusively by a single species, the Teal always going to the smallest and the highest up the glen—a circumstance of great advan- tage to the owner, G. Tomline, Esq., who, through his clever decoy-man, Skelton, can obtain a dozen Teal any morning he pleases, without disturbing the Mallards and other birds below. I shall not easily forget how much I was interested by the sight presented to me on visiting this peculiar decoy, nor Mr. Tomline’s kindness in forwarding to me from time to time examples of all the Duck tribe, taken therein in their finest states of plumage, for the furtherance of the present work—an act of courtesy and liberality which I have much pleasure in here acknowledging.
‘“«The well-known Teal,” says Mr. Jerdon, ‘‘is one of the most abundant of the visitors to India. It frequents tanks and rivers, often in immense flocks. Large numbers are netted or caught in various ways to supply the Tealeries. It is strictly a night-feeding species ; and about sunset immense flocks may be seen and heard flying in different directions to their feeding-grounds.” In Cunningham’s ‘ Ladakh, Physical, Statistical, and Historical,’ it is mentioned that he ‘“‘ shot three Teal on the Saraj Dal, a small lake at the head of the river Bhaga, at an altitude of 16,000 feet.”
That ardent lover of nature, and excellent sportsman, St. John, speaking of the Teal as seen by him in Sutherlandshire, says it “can scarcely be called a winter bird with us, although occasionally a pair or two appear; but in spring they come in numbers to breed and rear their tiny young in the swamps and lochs. Nothing can exceed the beauty and neatness of this miniature Duck. It flies with great swiftness, rising suddenly into the air when disturbed, and dropping as quickly after a short flight. In spring the drake has a peculiar whistle; at other times the note is a loud quack. A pair of Teal, if undisturbed, will return year after year to the same pool for the purpose of breeding. Like the wild Duck, they sometimes hatch their young a considerable distance from the water, and lead them immediately to it. In some of the mountain lakes the Teal breed in great numbers. When shooting in August, I have occasionally seen a perfect cloud of these birds rise from some grassy loch.”
The eggs are of a lengthened form, measuring one inch and nine lines in length by one inch and four lines in breadth: they are of a creamy white, and eight to twelve in number. The nest is composed of grasses, pieces of flags and various kinds of herbaceous plants, and lined with down and feathers.
In North America our Teal is represented by a distinct species, the Querguedula Carolinensis, which much resembles it; but the males of the Transatlantic bird are easily recognized by the absence of the buff stripes on the back, and the presence of a light-coloured crescent on either side of the breast, just in front of the wing.
The accompanying Plate represents a male and a brood of young, of the size of life, with a reduced figure of a female in the distance.
() (IRQ OED LAL
QUERQUEDULA CIRCIA. Garganey.
Anas Circia, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. 1. p. 204. Querquedula, Linn. ibid., p. 203. Querquedula, Briss. Orn., tom. vi. p. 427, pl. 39. figs. 1 & 2.
estiva, Briss. ibid., p. 445.
Circia, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 143, pl. 51.
circia, glaucopteros, et scapularis, Brehm, Handb. der Naturg. aller Vog. Deutsch., pp. 881, 882, 883. Piterocyanea querquedula, Bonap. Compt. Rend. de l’Acad. Sci., tom. xliii., séances des 15 et 22 Sept. 1856. Cyanopterus querquedula, Blas. List of Birds of Eur., Engl. edit. p. 21.
Ir may be considered by some of my contemporaries that, in accordance with the views of modern syste- matists, I ought to have adopted the generic titles of Mettion and Pterocyanea or Cyanoptera for the Teal and Garganey respectively ; but, while I admit the desirability of separating them from the old Linnean genus Anas, I do not think they differ so much from each other as to warrant their being regarded as pertaining to distinct genera; besides which I am aware that by many of my readers these minute subdivisions are con- sidered unnecessary. I have therefore retained them both under the term Querguedula proposed by Stephens long anterior to those above mentioned.
All that I have said respecting the beauty and elegance of the Teal equally applies to the present bird, since, if possible, its summer dress is even more graceful than the nuptial costume of the Teal, the beautiful pencillings of its flanks, the lengthened and pointed form of its scapularies, the delicacy of its grey tints, the crescentic edgings of the feathers of its breast, and the conspicuous white superciliary mark, con- trasted with the darker colouring of the surrounding parts, rendering it second to none of the Anatide. Unlike the Teal, however, this species must be regarded as a visitor to, rather than a stationary species 1n, our islands; although it regularly breeds, but in small numbers, in Norfolk, and perhaps some others of the eastern counties of England. The Teal, as will be seen by my account of that species, breeds with us regularly, and is far more abundant here in winter than in summer, its number, at that season, being greatly increased by accessions from distant northern countries. The Garganey or Summer Teal, on the other hand, is most abundant in spring, at which season vast numbers arrive from the southern and eastern portions of the continent. In all parts of France, Holland, Germany, Spain, and Italy it is far more numerous than in our islands; and the further we proceed in an eastward direction, the more abundant it becomes. North Africa, Persia, and India appear to be especially congenial to it; and we learn from Mr. Swinhoe that it is also an inhabitant of China and the island of Formosa. Its principal resort in our islands are the eastern and southern counties, or those which are directly opposite to the shores of the Continent. In the month of May it may be looked for on the coasts of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, whence many are annually sent to the London markets for natural-history purposes or for the table. In Scotland and in Ireland it is far less numerous than with us, and is even less abundant in the latter country than in the former.
Mr. Rodd states that it is a rare visitant to Cornwall; but, a few summers since, several were obtained in the neighbourhood of Penzance in very beautiful plumage. Its occurrence in Wales is also said to be ~ rare, as it is along the western coast generally.
The Rev. R. Lubbock informs us that this elegant little Duck breeds sometimes in Norfolk, and that “ broods are often found upon the broads in July and August. They generally appear in March, whence their name of Summer Teal. I have seen the immature bird in August; on comparing it with two young Teal, killed on the same day, it was easily distinguished by the greater length of its neck, more slender habit in general, and the lighter colour of the plumage. A friend received a pair alive, in Mareh 1822, from the Winterton decoy, the female of which deposited an egg in the basket during her journey. The Garganey is very rarely seen in severe weather; indeed I cannot recollect a single instance. Great numbers are bred in confinement in Holland. According to the following observation, taken from Girdlestone’s ‘ Memoranda,’ the nest of this Duck is rarely found :—*‘ Garganey breed often in Norfolk ; but as they deposit their eggs in the most inaccessible reed-beds, their nests are never discovered, although the young birds, yet unable to fly, are often seen. They usually appear on the broads in March, and those which do not intend to breed here depart about the end of April.’ ”
Referring to this passage, Mr. Alfred Newton writes to me :—‘‘ Since Mr. Girdlestone’s time the nests have been often found. I have several eggs from Hoveton Broad, where it breeds annually, and I believe
that a considerable number of birds of this species are always found among the ‘ flappers’ which are shot in July.”
Dr. Jerdon states that “ the Blne-winged or Garganey Teal is, perhaps, still more abundant in India than ‘the Common Teal. It occurs in vast flocks, feeding at night chiefly, and has a swift flight. Numbers are caught and fed throughout the summer in our Tealeries, and, like the Teal, are most excellent food. Vast quantities of both these birds are annually caught alive, some by large flap-nets, others by nooses fixed to a long line across a jheel, and in some places by a man wading with his head above water, concealed in a large earthen chatty, several of which have been previously set afloat.”
The Garganey becomes tolerably contented in confinement, but is very sensitive to the cold of our climate ; were this not the case, I know of no aquatic bird so well adapted to the ornamental water, or that would contribute more to the pleasure of those admirers of the Duck tribe who may be desirous of pecping some of the species in a semidomesticated state.
The male Garganey, being subject to the same changes of plumage as the Teal, throws off about mid- summer the fine livery in which he is decked in spring, and assumes a more sombre dress, somewhat resembling that of the female, in which state he remains until the ensuing spring, when he is again stimu- lated to pair and perform the duty of incubation.
The nest is said to be formed of dry grass, and placed in a bunch of reeds. The eggs, which are ten or twelve in number, are of a buff colour, one inch and nine lines in length by one inch and three lines in breadth.
The following is a free translation of some passages respecting the Garganey from M. Bailly’s Ornitho- logie de la Savoie ’—
“The Garganey arrives in Savoy during the month of March and the early part of April, in pairs or small companies, which stay on our waters and marshes for a few days only, being stimulated to proceed to the North of Europe for the purpose of reproduction ; but occasionally some couples remain and breed in our dreariest marshes. There they select, in a miry place, an inaccessible spot, raised above the water and covered with compact tufts of rushes and grass, for the formation of the nest, which is made by the female thrusting herself into one of the thickest of these tufts, treading it down in the centre, and lining the space with herbage, feathers, and down. It is extremely difficult to discover the nest, in consequence of the grasses overhanging it, and the stalks of the rushes concealing the entrance. The eggs are from seven to twelve in number, and are of a dirty white, lightly tinted with red. Each family keeps to itself till the end of August or the beginning of September, when those reared in the same district unite and emigrate. During this autumnal movement, the bird passes through our valleys, but always in smaller numbers than in the spring, none remaining during the winter. Although timid, the Garganey is easily approached, is elegant in contour and plumage, vivacious in its movements both in the air and on the water, flies in troops, and, while so doing, is seen to sport and play in a thousand ways, and to emit its cry, which is very similar to that of the Land-Rail, which resembles krec-krec or kric-kric, and is often repeated in the same tone, whence its trivial names of Criquet and Criquart.”
The Plate represents a male, of the natural size, and a group of both sexes, reduced. The plant is the
Nuphar lutea.
\ \
DAEILA ACU TA.
g
DAFILA ACUTA. Pintailed Duck.
Anas acuta, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 44. caudacuta, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 38. Dafila caudacuta, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xu. p. 127, pl. 49. acuta, Eyton, Hist. of Rarer Brit. Birds, p. 60. Anas longicauda (Briss.), Brehm, Vég. Deutschl., p. 868. caudata, Brehm, ibid., p. 869. Trachelonetta acuta, Kaup, Natirl. Syst., p. 115. Querquedula acuta, Selb. Ill. Brit. Orn., vol. il. p. 311. caudacuta, Macgill. Man. of Nat. Hist. Orn., vol. ii. p. 170. Phasianurus acutus, Wagl. Isis, 1832, p. 1235.
Amone the British members of the Anatide, or family of Ducks, there are three species which have especial claims to our notice: these are the Mallard, the Teal, and the Pintail. From the first have sprung all our domestic varieties, the excellence of whose flesh need not be dwelt upon; neither is it necessary to speak in praise of the delicate flavour of that of the little Teal ; equal, if not superior, to both, is the flesh of the Pin- tail, a bird which is characterized by a greater elegance of form, and a more pleasing contour, than either of its congeners—one, moreover, which sits on the water with especial grace, and swims with unusual speed. All three species assimilate in the readiness with which they become partially domesticated, imparting life to our lakes and ornamental waters, in their wide and almost general distribution over the globe, and in the total change of costume which takes place at opposite seasons of the year. The plumage of the Pintail, - though not so gay and contrasted as that of the Mallard or the Teal, is very pleasing, from its chaste and harmonious colouring ; in form the bird is slender and elegant, its neck being considerably lengthened, and its two central tail-feathers prolonged to such an extent as to have obtained for it the name of Sea-Pheasant. How great is the contrast between the long central tail-feathers of this species, and the short curled ones of the Mallard !
In the British Islands the Pintail is very local; and although our eastern decoys supply the markets of London with a goodly number about a month before and after Christmas-time, few are either taken or shot at other seasons. Montagu states that it is most abundant in the north of England and Scotland, and espe- cially in the Orkney Islands. ‘‘ This assertion, however,” says Mr. Selby, ‘‘I must in part contradict, as the result of long observation tells me it is of rare occurrence in the northern counties of England ; and the same may be said of the southern districts of Scotland.” Montagu’s assertion, however, with regard to the Orkneys, is confirmed by the late Robert Dunn, who states that it is tolerably plentiful there, particularly in the island of Sanda, where it frequents the inland lakes more than the sea-shore, and leaves early in spring; he never met with it in the neighbouring Shetlands. In Cornwall, Mr. Rodd tells us that it is common at the Land’s End in severe weather.
“A winter visitant to this country,” says Yarrell, ‘‘ it remains here till the spring, and is obtained by wild- fowl shooters on the coast as well as by fenmen on the rivers and lakes of the interior. It is one of the first species taken when the decoys begin to be worked in October.” In Ireland it is a regular winter visitant in small numbers, and, as in England, is locally distributed. With regard to its distribution over other parts of the world, I may mention that it is tolerably common in North Africa, in the Grecian Islands, and thence throughout Europe, from the Mediterranean to the extreme north of Lapland, in Palestine, Asia Minor, throughout India, the Amoorland, China, Formosa, and Japan; in America it is found from the fur-countries to Honduras, and, doubtless, in all those parts of Mexico that are suitable to its habits. In confirmation of this vast extent of range, I may quote the following authorities.
Mr. E. C. Taylor, Dr. Leith Adams, and Mr. S. S. Allen, all enumerate it among the birds of Egypt ; Captain Loche states that it inhabits the three provinces of Algeria; the Rev. Mr. Tristram mentions that specimens were shot near the brook Kedron, in Palestine; Mr. Jerdon says it is one of the most numerous winter visitants to India, frequenting large tanks and jheels, often in immense flocks; Mr. Swinhoe includes it in the lists of birds seen by him at Amoy, and between Takoo and Peking, in China, and in the island of Formosa; Captain Blakiston and Mr. H. Whitely in the birds of Japan ; Von Schrenck in those of Amoor- land; Dr. Walker obtained specimens, during the voyage of the ‘ Fox,’ at Godhaven, in Greenland ; Captain Blakiston in British North America; Mr. Brown includes it in his ‘ Synopsis of the Birds of Vancouver's Island ;’ Dr. Baird states that it is found over the whole of North America; and Mr. Salvin saw it at Belize, and observed it to be common on the Lake of Duenas during winter.
That the Pintail does not habitually breed in this country is certain; but Mr. John Hancock informed Mr. More that he has known it to breed spontaneously in a swamp in Northumberland, which is now drained, and he believes the bird still breeds occasionally on the Northumbrian moors.
The evidence adduced by Mr. Henry Milner and Mr. Wolley in the following extract from the last edition of Mr. Hewitson’s ‘ Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds,’ tends to prove that the eggs of the Pintail are unusually small for the size of the bird, and, moreover, are very like those of the Long-tailed Duck (Harelda glaciahs) ; hence it will be read with interest.
‘“‘ A few years ago,” says Mr. Woolley, “I was very much surprised at the appearance of an egg given me by a gentleman (Mr. Henry Milner), who had brought it from Iceland in 1846, and who assured me it was out of a nest from which he himself had shot a female Pintail as it rose. It seemed so small for the bird, was so different from eggs previously supposed to be genuine, and looked like what I had been accustomed to consider Long-tailed Duck’s. ‘This single egg from Iceland, I accordingly valued very highly, and looked upon it as a veritable Pintail’s, though this discovery of Mr. Milner’s, like all others founded upon single nests, perhaps still wanted confirmation.
“In common with some other ornithologists, I had long been almost in a state of despair about most of those Ducks which do not occasionally, at least, breed in Great Britain. It was this which, more than anything else, determined me to take a journey to the far north; and, for many reasons, the fenny regions beyond the gulf of Bothnia seemed the most promising. On the 7th of June, 1853, I was some hundred miles up the river which forms the boundary between the territories of the King of Sweden and the Czar. Stopping at a house by the water-side, I could get nothing to eat but a few eggs, among which were nine of some kind of Duck, the appearance of which was exactly like the one I have mentioned as being brought from Iceland ; but, having no means of identifying them, I dropped them into the kettle without the least remorse. On the 14th of June, some hundred miles further north, in fact within half an English mile of where I am - now writing (Muonioniska), after a long and fruitless search for eggs, a Duck fluttered up a few yards off. There was arush to the spot, greatly to the peril of the nest, sunk as it was in the moss. It was lined with down, and contained four eggs. The place was marshy, a few yards from the forest, on the rise of the hill. At midnight I went again to try and obtain the bird ; it was just taking a circle over the nest, and it bent its long neck down to see that all was safe. I had a good look at it, as the sun was still shining. Twelve hours afterwards I had a shot at it as it rose rather wildly ; but it did not seem to be hurt, and, as I had to continue my journey, I now reluc- tantly took the eggs; but I hoped that the down would serve to identify them, for amongst it were several breast- feathers. In the meantime, if I could trust my eyes, the bird was a hen Pintail ; the eggs were, perhaps, a week sat upon, and just like some others I had attributed to the same bird. On the 18th of June, I and my line of beaters put up the old ones from three nests at different times in the course of twenty-four hours in a large marsh. I saw two very well, one of which I examined with my glass as it stood with its neck up in an open place some sixty or seventy yards off. It was a Pintail. All the eggs were nearly hatching, and the young, of which I preserved one or two, were all of the same species. I also kept the down and scattered feathers from each nest ; and now I considered I had genuine Pintail’s eggs of my own taking. But the most permanent proof was still wanting—the skin of a bird I myself should obtain from the nest. It was not till last season that I got this proof. On the 20th of May, 1854, I visited the same marsh ; and im a little wooded island of a few yards in circuit, a Duck rose almost under my feet, and I shot it, feeling sure it was a Pintail, as it proved to be. There were six eggs, a day or two sat upon. The nest was made of a few twigs, mixed and lined with down from the mother’s breast. It is usually made of long bleached grass, or anything that comes to hand. This bird breeds generally in marshes, and not very near large pieces of water, The eggs seem to be usually six or seven in number. The Pintail is one of the earliest breeders among the Ducks. They appear as soon as the water begins to open, and may be seen standing in pairs at the edge of the ice. As soon as the Ducks are hard sitting, the Drakes go about in flocks, having apparently deserted their mates.” The eggs are of a clay-colour, slightly tinged with olive, and measure about two inches in length by one inch and a half in breadth.
In Lapland Mr. Wheelright always found the nest of the Pintail in the small willow plantations that skirt the foot of the fells. He obtained his first nest on the 4th of June.
Different as is the garb of the two sexes in winter, as shown on the accompanying Plate, soon after the female has incubated her eggs, the male throws off his finery, and assumes a dress so like that of his mate, that, except in size, the two sexes are very similar in appearance ; the summer dress, however, is carried but a short time; for early in autumn the fine winter costume of the male is again assumed. Selby believed that these changes were produced by a change in the colour of the feathers, rather than by a renewal of them ; but I think that this is not the case, and that the feathers are shed upon each occasion.
The Plate represents an old male, of the size of life, with a reduced figure of a female in the distance.
LE eOV7m_E—_
STREPERA .
CHAULELASMUS
» f a ' 4
J Gould & HC.Richta; del et tith. ee
CHAULELASMUS STREPERA. Gadwall.
Anas strepera, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 43.
— cinerea, Brehm, Vog. Deutsch., p. 871. Chauliodus strepera, Swains. Journ. Roy. Inst., vol. ii. p. 19. Ktinorhynchus strepera, Eyton, Monogr. Anat., p. 137. Chaulelasmus strepera, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 1840, p. 74. Querquedula strepera, Macgill. Man. Nat. Hist., Orn., vol. ii. p. 169.
I sexieve it will be admitted that some species of our water-fowl are numerically much more abundant than others: thus the common Wild Duck is extremely plentiful in all the countries it inhabits ; and the same may be said of the Teal; while the Shoveller and Tufted Duck, although common birds, are fewer in number, and somewhat less circumscribed in their habitat. The Gadwall is not numerous anywhere. In the British Islands, as in Europe generally, except, perhaps, in Holland, its appearance is uncertain, and its numbers never very great ; indeed it mostly occurs either singly or in pairs.
Leadenhall Market, the great emporium for water-fowl, is the best locality for the British collector to obtain specimens for his cabinet—a batch of aquatic birds from the decoys of Suffolk, Norfolk, and ‘Lincolnshire frequently comprising a solitary Gadwall; and examples are often occurring in the great crates of Ducks sent from Holland. In the central and southern parts of the European continent it is about as common as in Holland, North Africa, Asia Minor, and India; in fact we may say that it inhabits the temperate regions of both the Old and the New World; for it is distributed over the whole of the northern portion of America, from the fur-countries to Florida, and in the Old World, from Europe to Japan.
“From Dr. Richardson’s account,” says Swainson, “ it braves the rigours of the arctic regions, breeding in the wooded districts of the Barren Grounds, up to their most northern limits, in lat. 68°; and he shot specimens on the Saskatchewan, towards the middle of May.
«‘The haunts of the Gadwall, in America, are the lakes, rivers, and marshes of the interior, particularly such as abound with reeds and rank aquatic grasses,-in which they so much delight as seldom to visit the sea-coast : their food of course is procured in such situations, and consists of aquatic insects, plants, and seeds. They feed during the night, and pass the day concealed amongst the weeds and rushes. In comparison with the Mallard and other kindred forms, its powers of flight are very superior ; and, unlike most of the river-ducks, it dives with the same facility and frequency as may of the marine ducks.” Anim. in Menag., p. 252.
Little or no imformation respecting the breeding- “Places of the Gadwall in the Old World has been recorded ; and perhaps the only authentic eggs known are those laid by captive specimens in our menageries. The bird has bred repeatedly in the Gardens of the Zoological Society; and an egg “left unhatched,” says Mr. Yarrell, was of a buffy white, tinged with green, and measured two inches and two lines in length, by one inch and eight lines in breadth. Mr. Hewitson, in the third edition of his ‘Coloured Illustrations of the eggs of British Birds,’ states that Mr. Proctor “found a single nest of the Gadwall in Iceland, placed near the edge of some fresh water, among reeds; it was composed of dry grass, and the eggs were five in number.” But Mr. Alfred Newton is somewhat doubtful as to the bird’s breeding in that country ; for in his ornithological notes to Mr. Sabine Baring Gould’s ‘Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas,’ he says, ‘looking upon this as a bird of much more southern range, I have omitted its name from my list, but shall willingly own I am wrong, on receiving good testimony to the contrary.”
Thompson says the Gadwall is of-rare occurrence in Ireland, and enumerates only about twenty examples as having come to his knowledge in eighteen years, but adds that he had been informed by Mr. J. Watters, Jun., of Dublin, ‘that he has seen at least one on sale by wild-fowl dealers in the course of every winter for some years past, all of which had been killed in Ireland,” and remarks ‘this singularly agrees with what is said of the Gadwall in the east of England; for the Rev. Mr. Lubbock informs us that it-is scarce in Norfolk, but is generally seen im Norwich market once or twice in the winter.”
Mr. Jerdon, in his recently published ‘ Birds of India,’ informs us that the Gadwall is by no means a rare bird in any part of that country during the cold weather, that it generally frequents: the more open and larger tanks in moderately large parties, that its flight is rapid, and its voice not unlike that of the common duck, and that it is justly considered one of the best wild ducks for the table. ‘Temminck states that specimens from Japan do not differ in any respect from those found in Europe. |
Structurally the Gadwall is a swimming and buoyant rather than a diving bird, its general contour bemg
graceful, its bill small and narrow as compared with that of other ducks, its feet delicate, and its wings long and pointed. ‘The windpipe,” Mr. Yarrell informs us, “is rather small in calibre, with a slight enlargement of the tube about two inches above the bony protuberance. The voice is loud; and hence it obtained the name of strepera.” Its food, like that of the Common Duck, the Pintail, and the Teal, is said to consist of grasses and water-plants ; its flesh is savoury and excellent.
That with proper care and attention this species might become semidomesticated seems likely. I have mentioned above an instance of its breeding in the Gardens of the Zoological Society; and Dr. Bachman, in a note to Audubon, says:—‘‘In the year 1812 I saw in Duchess County, State of New York, at the house of a miller, a fine flock of Ducks, to the number of at least thirty, which from their peculiar appearance struck me as different from any I had before seen among the varieties of the tame Duck. On inquiry, I was informed that, three years before, a pair of these Ducks had been captured in the mill-pond, whether in a trap or by being wounded, I cannot recollect. ‘They were kept in the poultry-yard, and, it was said, were easily tamed. One joint of the wing was taken off to prevent their flying away. In the following spring they were suffered to go into the pond, and they returned daily to the house to be fed. They built a nest on the edge of the pond, and reared a large brood. The young were perfectly reconciled to domestication, and made no attempts, even at the migratory season, to fly away, although their wings were perfect. In the following season they produced large broods. The family of the miller used them occasionally as food, and considered them equal in flavour to the Common Duck, and more easily raised.” —ud. Orn. Biogr., vol. v. p- 304.
To say there is no external difference in the sexes would be to assert an untruth; but, the male being much less adorned than the males of its congeners, the sexes are necessarily much more alike. The female is in fact very similarly clothed to the female of the common Wild Duck (dnas boschas), but may at all times be distinguished from her mate by her plainer clothing and by the greater delicacy of her structure.
The male has the head and neck greyish brown, spotted and ringed on the nape with dark brown; the under part of the neck, back, and breast lunulated with black; scapularies and sides barred with zigzag lines of white and brownish black ; lesser wing-coverts chestnut-red ; greater coverts, rump, and under tail-coverts black ; speculum pure white, bordered below with black, so as to form three broad bands on the wing of chestnut, black, and white; abdomen dull white; rump and tail-coverts glossed with green; bill blackish olive ; irides hazel ; legs, toes, and interdigital membranes orange-yellow, claws black.
The female has the head mottled brown, streaked with blackish brown ; a pale stripe over the eye; upper and under surface light reddish brown, each feather edged with a lunule of blackish brown in the centre, lesser wing-coverts hair-brown, with paler margins; speculum the same as in the male; tail dark brown, edged and tipped with buffy brown and white; chin and throat white; abdomen white ; bill paler than in the male, and margined with yellowish orange.
The Plate represents a male of the size of life, and a female considerably reduced.
PO OH TL
| | ° VN “VO OULAN '
ee
ero te
NYROCA FERINA. Pochard.
Anas feria, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 45.
rufa, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 515.
Fuligula ferina, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 193. Nyroca ferina, Flem. Phil. of Zool., vol. 11. p. 260.
Aythya ferina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564.
erythrocephala, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 919.
Tue Pochard, like so many other members of the Anatide or Duck tribe, must be regarded as a migrant rather than a resident species in the British Islands; for, although it bas been known to breed therein, the instances are but few in number, and have occurred at uncertain intervals. It is, indeed, strictly a winter visitant, arriving i autumn from, and departing again in spring to, more eastern and northern countries. The numbers which resort to Ireland are but few as compared with those that visit Scotland and England ; and even here it is less abundant in the western portions of the country than it is in the eastern and southern. In Iceland it has been seldom observed, and is said to be only occasionally seen in Norway, Sweden, and Lapland. ‘Temminck gives as its habitat “‘ the north; tolerably common in Russia, in Denmark, and the north of Germany; appears twice a year as a migrant on the coasts of England, Holland, and France; common in autumn on the seas, the lakes, and rivers of Germany, Holland, and France.” It is also found on the great lakes of Algeria; and Mr. Jerdon informs us that it occurs throughout the whole of India, in small parties, generally on the larger and more open tanks, but appears to be more abundant in the western provinces than in Bengal. North America was also included among its habitats until a very recent period ; but Dr. Baird and some other ornithologists regard its American representative as distinet, and it is now known as JV. americana.
As an article of food the Pochard ranks among the best of our winter ducks; but I imagine that its excellence in this respect depends greatly upon the nature of the food of which it has partaken for some time previous to its capture; for, like that of the celebrated Canvas-backed Duck of America (to which it is nearly allied), the flavour of its flesh is somewhat uncertain ; under favourable circumstances it doubtless merits the description given of it by Mr. Walker in the ‘Original,’ ‘Its flesh is exquisitely tender and delicate, and may almost be said to melt in the mouth; but it has little of the common wild-duck flavour, and is best eaten in its own gravy, which is plentiful, without either cayenne or lemon-juice.”
The entire structure of the Pochard denotes that its diving-powers are of no common kind; and accord- ingly we find that it spends some portion of its time on the ocean diving for mollusks and other marine objects; at the same time it evinces a great partiality to rivers, broads, inland lakes, and ponds, on the borders of which it finds an abundance of those succulent grasses and roots of plants which communicate both flavour and tenderness to its pectoral muscles.
No bird is better adapted for the aviary and ornamental waters than the Pochard, and, from the tameness of its disposition and the beauty of its appearance, it is often selected for this purpose.
“Although this well-known bird,” says Swainson, “truly belongs to the natural division of the Puliguline or Sea-Ducks, it is yet one of those very few which frequent fresh water in preference to salt; and it possesses, moreover, a very decided aptitude for domestication ; hence, from being almost a common bird in a state of nature, and therefore easily procured, it is one of those which every gentleman may possess with advantage if his grounds contain a piece of water sufficiently large to admit of enjoyment to the bird, and where its dexterity in diving may interest and amuse the spectator. It becomes very tame in confinement ; ‘and we have Colonel Montagu’s authority for saying that no bird appears sooner reconciled to the menagerie. One that was in his possession, and that had been winged, took to feeding on corn immediately, and after three years’ confinement was in high health and very tame; it should nevertheless have free access to water, being unable to exert itself much on land from the backward position of its legs and the great size of its feet.
‘In the British Islands it is, then, most abundant in the fens of Lincolnshire and Norfolk ; but of late years the numbers have very considerably diminished, and the majority of those that are sent to the London markets, where they are often called Dun birds, are procured by shooting. Mr. Selby says that in the northern parts of England, and in Scotland, it is somewhat rare. This he attributes to the deficiency of some particular food or from those districts being out of its migratory line; we are more disposed, however,
to attribute it to the simple fact that these northern parts of the empire are too cold for the Pochard, in proof of which it passes them over that it may, by going more southerly, secure to itself a warmer atmosphere for the winter.
“The Pochard is a remarkably good diver, swims very rapidly, and flies swiftly, in a compact flock, differing in this from the generality of the Ducks, which fly in a triangular form. Mr. Selby says that it breeds among aquatic herbage, laying twelve or fourteen eggs of a greenish-white colour; Mr. Yarrell, ten or twelve. .
‘In former times, when these birds were much more abundant than they are now, vast numbers were taken with nets. This mode of capture is thus described by Montagu. ‘ Poles were erected in the avenues of the decoy; and after a great number of these birds had collected for some time on the pool, to which Wild Fowl only resort by day, going to the neighbouring fens to feed by night, a net at a given time was erected by pulleys to these poles, beneath which a deep pit had previously been dug; and as these birds go to feed just as it is dark, and are said always to rise against the wind, a whole flock may be taken together in this manner; for when once they strike against the net they never attempt to return, but flutter down its sides till they are received into the pit, whence they cannot rise; and thus, we have been told, twenty dozen have been taken at one catch.’ ”»—Anim. in Menag. p. 259.
The Rev. Mr. Lubbock, in his ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ says :—‘* The Pochard frequents our broads in large flocks @ winter, resting generally in the daytime on some of the larger decoys, and in the evening flight
8 removing to the most extensive waters, such as Brandon Water, Horsey Mere, Hickling Broad, &c. This
durin
last is a favourite haunt of the Pochard, on account of its shallowness, which gives the bird easy access to those beds of weed from which it draws its support. The whole night is spent by these birds in diving for their food; and the ‘ working,’ as the gunners call it, of a large flock of Pochards may be heard on a still night at least half a mile. During this time they, in general, do not present a favourable shot to the fowler, as half the flock is under water, and they sit very widely dispersed. But no sooner does the grey light of morning glimmer faintly than the Pochards begin, as the gumers term it, to ‘head up’ together, in prepa- ration for a flight to their day-quarters, and at this time a very profitable shot is often made with a swivel gon and punt. Although they frequent decoys they will not enter the pipe; or if stragglers do so, they immediately escape by diving back again. The plan of taking this bird by a net stretched on lofty poles, which rises suddenly and takes the Pochards in their flight, has never been resorted to in Norfolk.” The bird is said to breed; occasionally at least, in Norfolk; for, accordmg to Mr. Girdlestone’s memoranda, three examples shot by him on Hickling Broad proved to be young birds, which had doubtless been bred in the neighbourhood ; and it is believed still to breed in Yorkshire ; for some eggs sold in one of Mr. Wolley’s collections were said to be from that county, but, for obvious reasons, the precise locality was withheld.
Mr. Thompson states that ‘im Ireland the Pochard is a regular winter visitant, but varies much in numbers in different years. In some seasons scarcely any are to be seen; the more severe the winter the more numerous they generally are. During portions of two or three successive winters about the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 they were very abundant. Where the river called Conswater joins Belfast Bay, at ‘Adam’s Point,’ is a favourite resort; and one day in particular, during a very severe snowstorm, they were literally in thousands there—the surface of the river exhibited one living mass.”
The voice of the Pochard is a low whistle when not alarmed; at other times it becomes a rough croak.
As will be seen on reference to the opposite plate, the two sexes differ considerably in their colouring, the red head and neck and black breast of the male being replaced by mottled brown in the female.
The front figure represents a male, of the natural size.
aan ‘
ua LAC a i
Q
q
S
LEUC OPH TMELAILMO
A.
N
NYROC
a ATI eee) ee
NYROCA LEUCOPHTHALMOS.
White-eyed or Ferruginous Duck.
Anas nyroca, Giild. Nov. Comm. Petrop., tom. xiv. p. 403.
—— ferruginea et africana, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. 1D. 522.
—— glaucion, Pall. Zoog. Rosso.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 268.
leucophthalmos, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 1009.
Nyroca leucophthalmos, Flem. Hist. of Brit. Anim., p. 121.
leucophthalma, Bonap. Geog. & Comp. List of Birds of Eur. & N. Amer., p. 58. Aythya nyroca, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564.
leucophthalmos, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 917.
Fuligula nyroca, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 201, pl. 55,
Notwirustanpine the numerous specimens of this trim little diving Duck that are to be found in the public and private collections of Great Britain, it is by no means a common bird with us; and by far the greater number of the examples alluded to have been purchased in our markets, to which they had been sent, with other wild fowl, from Holland. There is no reliable evidence of its having been procured in Scotland, although one is said to have been seen in the Edinburgh market by Sir William Jardine ; and Thompson states that it has not been obtained in Ireland. Mr. Rodd does not include it in his ‘ Ornithology of Cornwall.’ There are, however, several recorded instances of its having been killed in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and other parts of our eastern coasts; even in Western Europe it is much more scarce than in the eastern portions, such as Turkey, Southern Russia, &c. ; there, however, it is abundant enough, and in Asia Minor, Persia, and some parts of India. It also frequents the greater part of North Africa. In France, Italy, Portugal and Spain it is not scarce, but is not to be met with every time the sportsman goes out. It is in autumn and winter, and probably in those seasons only, that it is to be found in the western parts of the Continent, the same periods of the year in fact in which it usually occurs with us. On this head, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., writes to me thus :—* According to my experience most Nyrocas are got in Leadenhall market in November. I should say it was very rare to see an adult male, and probably never so early as the month I have named ; although I have had at least eight of these Ducks, four of which were bought in English markets, I never saw but one; and in none of the foreign markets have I ever seen a really adult bird: but I have bought what is even more interesting —the nestling. I doubt if it be possible to tell young male Nyrocas from young females by the plumage alone. They present every variation of shade. Even females vary very much in plumage, but get lighter as the spring advances.”
Although Temminck states that this bird occurs only accidentally and in small numbers in Holland, it is certainly thence that the greater number (both living and dead) are brought to our markets; his statement, therefore, requires some qualification. .
The White-eyed Duck may be readily kept in confinement if provided with suitable ponds, such as those in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, where it not only thrives, but, I believe, has bred. It swims and dives with the greatest ease, and often remains for a long time beneath the surface. Except during its migrations, it generally flies at a low elevation, with a somewhat heavy action. The Rev. F. O. Morris states that “its food, consists of the roots, buds, shoots, and seeds of various aquatic plants, insects, small frogs, the fry of fish, but rarely, according to Temminck, of the fish themselves. Its nest is built among the rushes bordering rivers, ponds, and marshes, is usually composed of the same materials, and is well supplied with down from the breast of the female as a lining. The eggs, which are nine or ten in number, are white, slightly tinged with green, and measure about two inches in length by one inch and a half in breadth. The young are taken to the water and provided with food by their mother as soon as hatched.”
The following notes respecting this species by more recent writers will probably be regarded with interest.
*¢ Although the White-eyed Duck,” says Mr. Stevenson, ‘has been killed in many instances in Norfolk, it can only be considered a rare visitant, occurring at uncertain intervals, and generally in severe winters or during the succeeding spring months. Of recent examples I may mention the following :—
‘‘ Anadult male killed at Horsey, near Yarmouth, on the 16th of April 1850, and four examples shot near Yarmouth in the remarkably cold spring of 1855; of these an adult male was killed on the 12th of February, two other birds during the first week in April, and the fourth about the same time. Of the three last, two were also males in perfect plumage. A pair shot at Dorsingham, near Lynn, in March 1868—the
male, on the 20th, and the female on the 21st. An immature male at Hickling, January 17th, 1867, during very severe weather.
‘Some years back a Duck of this species was taken in the Hanworth decoy; and one taken in a decoy at Hampstead, near Holt, lived fifteen years in confinement. (See ‘ Zoologist’ for 1851, p. 3116.)”
Mr. Salvin, in his ‘ Five Months’ Birds’-nesting in the Eastern Atlas,’ informs us that ‘this bird also breeds at Zana and Dyendeli,” and that he was there “ more fortunate in obtaining its eggs than those of the other species of Ducks.”
The Rev. H. B. Tristram remarks, in his ‘Notes on the Ornithology of Northern Africa,’ that ‘“ the White-eyed Duck seemed tolerably abundant on the Lake Halloula; and one nest rewarded our research.”
Dr. Leith Adams, in his ‘Notes and Observations on the Birds of Egypt and Nubia,’ says the White- eyed seems to be the most common species of Duck, and that he noticed it among the rapids of the Second Cataract.
Mr. 8.8. Allen also mentions it as bemg one of the Ducks which are more or less abundant in Egypt and Nubia, “ being found in large flocks on the sand banks in the river or scattered in smaller parties about the inland marshy pools and canals. But the localities beyond all others favoured by them are the large, shallow, brackish lakes surrounded by marshes, which extend at intervals all along the coast from Alexandria to Port Said, the most important being Lakes Mareotis, Etko, Bourlos, and Menzaleb, on which the town of Damietta stands. To the three last of these lakes particularly, immense numbers of Ducks resort, which suffer no perceptible diminution from the efforts of the Arabs of the neighbouring villages, many of whom make their living by snaring and netting them for sale.”
In Palestine it would seem to be rare, since the Rev. H. B. Tristram mentions that he only met with one now and then.
Mr. Wright remarks that it is perhaps the commonest Duck which visits the island of Malta, where it arrives in the autumn, winter, and spring.
Messrs. Elwes and Buckley state that it is not uncommon in Turkey, and probably breeds there.
Lord Lilford says that the White-eyed Duck arrives in the Ionian Islands generally in March, in small numbers, and breeds in Epirus and Albania, and that it is occasionally seen there in winter but is far from common at that season.
In western Greece, according to Mr. Simpson, it is less numerous than some other allied species, and keeps to the open water more than the true Ducks.
Captain Irby states that in Oudh and Kumaon it is “ extremely numerous in the cold season, and is very good for the table.”
Dr. Jerdon says :—‘ This little Duck is exceedingly common in Northern and Central India, less so in the South. It frequents both tanks and rivers, but prefers grassy tanks, wooded jheels, and rivers. It appears to feed a good deal during the day, and is met with in large parties scattered amosg the grass or weeds, the birds often rising singly.”
Bailly, in his ‘ Ornithology of Savoy,’ informs us that ‘this charming Duck, which our sportsmen and dealers in game call Sarcelle, on account of the small size of its body, seldom comes to our valleys except in spring, March or April. Its appearance in autumn, the season of migration for the other species of the family, is mostly accidental. It usually arrives in couples or small companies, but sometimes singly, among a flight of other species. It is alert and very restless during its stay on our waters; but one sometimes surprises it among thickets of rushes while occupied in searching for food, and it is easily shot as it rises. It is rarely met with in open places. Its flesh has an agreeable taste; and it is often eaten as an ‘ aliment maigre’ on fast-days.”
The principal figure in the accompanying Plate is of the size of life.
nae . ’ : ener ceremerercee er ererenit iat pence —————— sical EY PPP MPT THY POL) f
VNOREO OF VALNOW' aL
BRANTA RUFINA. Red-crested Duck.
Anas rufina, Pall. Reise, tom. ii. p. 713. Branta rufina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564. Fuligula rufina, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. p. 188, pl. 54. Callichen ruficeps, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 922. rufinus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 924, tab. 42. fig. 4. Netta rufina, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 102. Mergoides rufina, Eyton, Cat. of Brit. Birds, p. 57. Aythya rufina, Macgill. Man. Nat. Hist., Orn., vol. ii. p. 191.
So many instances are on record of the occurrence of this fine Duck in England, that I have no hesitation in following my contemporaries in giving it a place in our avifauna, and a figure of it in the present work. It must, however, be regarded as a southern and eastern rather than a northern species, and consequently as an accidental visitor to our islands. That it is tolerably common in