British Birds in their Haunts Part 27

ORDER HERODIONES

FAMILY ARDEIDae

THE COMMON HERON aRDEA CINeREA

A crest of elongated bluish black feathers at the back of the head; similar feathers of a l.u.s.trous white hanging from the lower part of the neck; scapulars similar, silver grey; forehead, neck, middle of the belly, edge of the wings, and thighs, pure white; back of the head, sides of the breast, and flanks, deep black; front of the neck streaked with grey; upper plumage bluish grey; beak deep yellow; irides yellow; orbits naked, livid; feet brown, red above; middle toe, claw included, much shorter than the tarsus. In _young birds_ the long feathers are absent; head and neck ash-coloured; upper plumage tinged with brown; lower, spotted with black. Length three feet two inches. Eggs uniform sea green.

The Heron, though a large bird, measuring three feet in length from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail, and four feet and a half in breadth from the tip of one wing to the other, weighs but three pounds and a half. Consequently, though not formed for rapid flight, or endued with great activity of wing, its body presents so large a surface to the air, that it can support itself aloft with but a slight exertion. It is thus enabled, without fatigue, to soar almost into the regions a.s.signed to the Eagle and Vulture; and when pursued by its natural enemies, the Falcons, to whom it would fall an easy prey on account of the largeness of the mark which its body would present to their downward swoop if it could only skim the plains, it is enabled to vie with them in rising into the air, and thus often eludes them.

The Heron, though it neither swims nor dives, is, nevertheless, a fisher, and a successful one, but a fisher in rivers and shallow waters only, to human anglers a very pattern of patience and resignation. Up to its knees in water, motionless as a stone, with the neck slightly stretched out, and the eye steadily fixed, but wide awake to the motion of anything that has life, the Heron may be seen in the ford of a river, the margin of a lake, in a sea-side pool, or on the bank of an estuary, a faultless subject for the photographer.

Suddenly the head is shot forward with unerring aim; a small fish is captured, crushed to death, and swallowed head foremost; an eel of some size requires different treatment, and is worth the trouble of bringing to land, that it may be beaten to death on the s.h.i.+ngle; a large fish is impaled with its dagger-like beak, and, if worth the labour, is carried off to a safe retreat, to be devoured at leisure.

If observers are to be credited, and there is no reason why they should not, a full-grown Heron can thus dispose of a fish that exceeds its own weight. A frog is swallowed whole; a water rat has its skull split before it discovers its enemy, and speedily is undergoing the process of digestion. Shrimps, small crabs, newts, water beetles, all is fish that comes to its comprehensive net; but if, with all its watchfulness, the look-out be unsuccessful, it rises a few feet into the air, and slowly flaps itself away to some little distance, where perhaps, slightly altering its att.i.tude, it stands on one leg, and, with its head thrown back, awaits better fortune. While thus stationed it is mute; but as it flies off it frequently utters its note, a harsh, grating scream, especially when other birds of the same species are in the neighbourhood. On these occasions it is keenly on the alert, descrying danger at a great distance, and is always the first to give notice of an approaching enemy, not only to all birds feeding near it on the sh.o.r.e, but to any Ducks which may chance to be paddling in the water.[30]

During a great portion of the year the Heron is a wanderer. I have frequently seen it at least fifty miles distant from the nearest heronry; but when it has discovered a spot abounding in food, it repairs thither day after day for a long period.

In the month of January, if mild, but as a rule in February, Herons show a disposition to congregate, and soon after repair to their old-established breeding-places, called Heronries. These are generally lofty trees, firs or deciduous trees in parks, or even in groves close by old family mansions. One at Kilmorey, by Loch Gilphead, has long been frequented, though within a hundred yards of the house. The nests, huge ma.s.ses of sticks, a yard across, lined with a little gra.s.s, and other soft materials, are placed near each other, as many, sometimes, as a hundred in a colony,[31] or, more rarely, they are placed among ivy-clad rocks, ruins, or even on the ground. Each nest contains three to four eggs, on which the female sits about three weeks, constantly fed by her partner during the whole period of incubation. Two weeks later a second clutch of eggs is sometimes laid and hatched off whilst the first young are in the nest. The power of running would be of little use to a young bird hatched at an elevation of fifty feet from the ground; the young Herons are consequently helpless till they are sufficiently fledged to perch on the branches of the trees, where they are fed by their parents, who themselves perch with the facility of the Rook. Indeed, the favourite position of these birds, both old and young, is, during a considerable portion of the day, on the upper branches of a lofty tree, whither, also, they often repair with a booty too large to be swallowed at once.

By a statute of Henry VIII the taking of Herons in any other way than by hawking, or the long bow, was prohibited on a penalty of half a mark; and the theft of a young bird from the nest was visited with a penalty of ten s.h.i.+llings.

Not to be acquainted with the n.o.ble art of Falconry was deemed degrading: so that the saying, 'He does not know a Hawk from a Heronshaw', was a common expression of contempt, now corrupted into the proverb, 'He does not know a Hawk from a handsaw'.

[30] A Heron in captivity has been known to perch on an old carriage-wheel, in the corner of a courtyard, and to lie in wait for Sparrows and Martins. One of the latter it was seen to pierce while flying, and immediately descending with outspread wings to run to its trough, and, having several times plunged in its prey, to swallow it at a gulp.

[31] Pennant counted eighty in one tree.

THE NIGHT HERON NYCTiCORAX GRISEUS.

Head, back, and scapulars, black, with blue and green reflections; on the back of the head three very long narrow white feathers; lower part of the back, wings, and tail, pearl-grey; forehead, streak over the eyes, and all the lower parts, white; beak black, yellow at the base; irides red; feet yellowish green. _Young birds_ have no crest; the upper plumage is dull brown streaked with yellow; wing-coverts and primaries marked with fish-shaped streaks, which are yellowish; under parts dull white, mottled with brown and ash; bill greenish; irides and feet brown. Length twenty-one inches. Eggs pale blue.

The Night Heron is a bird of wide geographical range; but, on account of its nocturnal habits and the rarity of its occurrence in this country, it has been little observed. It is, however, not uncommon on migration. A specimen was brought to me at Helston, Cornwall, about the year 1836, which had been shot in the dusk of the evening, on Goonhilly Downs. Its long and delicate crest had been stupidly tied into a knot, and by the bruised condition of these feathers the specimen, if it still exists in any museum, may yet be identified.

The Night Heron is said to be not uncommon on the sh.o.r.es of the Baltic, in the wide marshes of Bretagne and Lorraine, and on the banks of the Rhone. It pa.s.ses the day concealed among the thick foliage of trees and shrubs, and feeds only by night. It builds its nest in trees, and lays four or five eggs.

THE COMMON BITTERN BOTAURUS STELLaRIS

Moustaches and crown black; upper plumage yellowish rust-red, spotted with dusky; the feathers of the neck elongated, marked with brown zigzag lines; primaries barred with rust-red and dusky grey; plumage beneath paler, marked with oblong dusky streaks; upper mandible brown, edged with yellow; lower, orbits, and feet, greenish yellow; irides bright yellow. Length two feet four inches. Eggs dingy green.

Macgillivray, who was as well acquainted as most ornithologists with birds haunting moors and swamps, admits that he never heard one, and thinks that a brother naturalist, who describes what, no doubt, he heard, mistook for the booming of the Bittern the drumming of a Snipe.

Lord Lilford tells us that a lady of his acquaintance told him that as a young wife, living near marshes, she often was kept awake by the booming of Bitterns.

In Sir Thomas Browne's time, It was common In Norfolk, and was esteemed a better dish than the Heron.

Willughby, who wrote about the same time, 1676, says: 'The Bittern, or Mire-drum, it is said, makes either three or five boomings at a time--always an uneven number. It begins to bellow early in February, and continues during the breeding season. The common people believe that it thrusts its beak into a reed, and by the help of this makes its booming. Others maintain that it imitates the lowing of an ox by thrusting its beak into water, mud, or earth. They conceal themselves among rushes and reeds, and not unfrequently in hedges, with the head and neck erect. In autumn, after sunset, they are in the habit of rising into the air with a spiral ascent, so high that they are lost sight of. Meanwhile they utter a singular note, but not at all resembling the characteristic 'booming'.

It is called Botaurus, because it imitates _boatum tauri_, the bellowing of a bull. Of 'Botaurus', the names 'Bitour' and Bittern are evident corruptions; and the following names, in different languages, are all descriptive of the same peculiar note: Butor, Rordump, Myredromble, Trombone, Rohrtrummel, Rohrdommel, and Rordrum.

Of late years, so unusual has the occurrence become of Bitterns breeding in this country, owing to collectors, that the discovery of an egg in Norfolk has been thought worthy of being recorded in the transactions of the Linnean Society; and even the appearance of a bird at any season finds its way into the provincial newspapers or the magazines devoted to natural history: Stuffed specimens are, however, to be seen in most collections, where its form and plumage may be studied, though its habits can only be learnt, at least in England, from the accounts furnished by naturalists of a past generation. It comes now only to be shot.

The Bittern is a bird of wide geographical range, as it resorts, more or less, to all countries of Europe and Asia. Specimens are said to differ much in size, some being as large as the Heron, others considerably less; but there is no reason to suppose that they are of different species, a similar variation having been observed in other birds, as in the Curlew, for example, of which I have had in my possession at once four or five specimens all of different dimensions.

The Bittern builds its nest on the ground, and lays four brown eggs, which are tinged with ash or green. The old bird, if wounded, defends itself in the same way as the Heron.

FAMILY CICONIIDae

THE WHITE STORK CICoNIA ALBA

General plumage white; scapulars and wings black; bill and feet red; orbits naked, black; irides brown. _Young birds_ have the wings tinged with brown and the beak reddish black. Length three feet six inches. Eggs white tinged with ochre.

Sir Thomas Browne says, in his _Account of Birds found in Norfolk_: 'The _Ciconia_, or Stork, I have seen in the fens; and some have been shot in the marshes between this [Norwich] and Yarmouth.' His contemporary, Willughby, says:--'The Stork is rarely seen in England; never, in fact, but when driven hither by the wind or some accident. I have received from Dr. Thomas Browne, the eminent naturalist, a figure drawn to the life, and a short description of one which was captured in Norfolk.' Yarrell records instances of a few others which have been killed, at distant intervals, in various parts of England; but the Stork is so rare a visitor with us, that I have no scruple in referring my readers, for a full account of the habits of so interesting a bird, to some more comprehensive work on the subject.

The White Stork was, over 350 years ago, only an irregular visitor to Great Britain.

THE BLACK STORK CICoNIA NIGRA

Upper plumage black, with green and purple reflections; under white; bill and orbits red; irides brown; feet deep red. In _young birds_ the bill, orbits, and feet, are olive green; and the upper plumage is tinged with rust-brown. Length nearly three feet. Eggs dull white, tinged with green, and sometimes sparingly spotted with brown.

A still rarer visitor in Great Britain than the White Stork, from which it differs quite as much in habit as it does in colour; for whereas the one is eminently sociable with birds of its own kind, and devoted in its attachment to human dwellings, the other is a solitary bird, shy and wary, avoiding at all times the sight of men and their habitations. It is a rare bird in most countries of Europe, but is common in several parts of Asia and the whole of the known regions of Africa. It builds a large nest in a lofty tree, and lays from two to five eggs.

FAMILY PLATALEIDae

THE SPOONBILL PLATALeA LEUCORODIA

General plumage white; a large patch of reddish yellow on the breast; a crest of long narrow white feathers pendent over the neck; lore, orbits, and naked s.p.a.ce on the neck, pale yellow; bill black, tipped with yellow; irides red; feet black. _Young birds_ want the yellow patch on the breast and the occipital crest; portions of the wing black. Length thirty-one inches.

Eggs white, spotted with light red.

Spoonbills do not appear to have been common at any time; for though Sir Thomas Browne enumerates them among the birds of Norfolk and Suffolk, where they build in heronries, his contemporary, Willughby, knew them only as natives of Holland. This bird is not unfrequent in East Anglia, and it is met with now and again along the south coast, and has wandered up the Thames valley.

The Spoonbill is a migratory bird, building its nest and rearing its young in the north of Europe and Asia, and retiring in autumn to the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean or to Africa. It is remarkable not only for the singular conformation of its bill, but for 'being one of the very few which have been found to possess no true muscles of the organ of voice; and no modulation of a single tone appears to be possessed by the bird.'[32]

It builds its nest in high trees, or, when these are wanting, among reeds and rushes; and lays four eggs.

[32] Yarrell's _British Birds_.

ORDER ANSERES

FAMILY ANATIDae