British Birds in their Haunts Part 40

[_face p. 262._]]

[Ill.u.s.tration:

Green Sandpiper [F]

Purple Sandpiper [M]

Common Sandpiper [F]

Curlew Sandpiper.]

THE DUNLIN TRINGA ALPINA

Bill a little longer than the head, slightly bent down at the tip; two middle tail-feathers the longest, dusky and pointed; a small part of the tibia naked. _Winter_--throat and a streak between the bill and eye white; upper plumage ash-brown streaked with dusky; upper tail-coverts dusky; lateral tail-feathers ash, edged with white; breast greyish white, mottled with brown; bill black; feet dusky. _Summer_--most of the upper plumage black, edged with rust-red; belly and abdomen black. _Young birds_ have the upper plumage variously mottled with ash-brown, dusky, and reddish yellow; the bill is shorter and straight. Length eight inches. Eggs greenish white, blotched and spotted with brown.

The name _variabilis_, changeable, has been applied to this species of Sandpiper on account of the great difference between its summer and winter plumage. It was formerly, indeed, supposed that the two states of the bird were distinct species; of which the former was called Dunlin, the latter Purre. It is now known that the two are identical, the bird being commonly found to a.s.sume in spring and autumn colours intermediate between the two.

Except during the three summer months, May, June, and July, the Dunlin is common on all the sh.o.r.es of Great Britain, where there are extensive reaches of sand or mud. I have obtained specimens on the coast of Norfolk as early as the twenty-fifth of July; but, generally, it is not until the following month that they become numerous. From this time until late in the winter they are reinforced by constant additions; and in very severe weather the flocks are increased to such an extent that, if it were possible to number them, they would be probably found to contain very many thousands. Such a season was the memorable winter of 1860-61, when, during the coldest part of it, I made an excursion to the coast of Norfolk for the purpose of observing the habits of the sea-side Grallatores and Natatores which, in winter, resort to that coast. Numerous as were the species and individuals of these birds which then flocked to the beach and salt-marshes, I have no doubt, in my own mind, that they were all outnumbered by Dunlins alone. Of nearly every flock that I saw feeding on the wet sand or mud, fully half were Dunlins; many flocks were composed of these birds alone; while of those which were constantly flying by, without alighting, the proportion of Dunlins to all other birds was, at least, three to one. Added to which, while the parties of other birds were susceptible of being approximately counted, the individuals which composed a flock of Dunlins were often innumerable.

At one time, we saw in the distance, several miles off, a light cloud, as of smoke from a factory chimney: it moved rapidly, suddenly disappeared, and as suddenly again became visible. This was an enormous flock of Dunlins, consisting of many thousands at least. They did not come very near us; but smaller flocks which flew about in our immediate vicinity presented a similar appearance. As the upper surface of their bodies was turned towards us, they were of a dark hue; suddenly they wheeled in their flight as if the swarm was steered by a single will, when they disappeared; but instantaneously revealed themselves again flying in a different direction, and reflected glittering snowy white.

Dunlins, while feeding, show a devoted attention to their occupation, which is not often to be observed in land birds. They run rapidly, looking intently on the ground, now stopping to pick up some sc.r.a.p of animal matter which lies on the surface of the sand, now boring for living prey where they detect indications of such prey lying hid.

Occasionally an individual bird appears to suffer from lameness, and halts in its progress as if its legs were gouty. Frequently they chase a receding wave for the sake of recovering a prize which has been swept from the beach: never venturing to swim, but showing no fear of wetting either feet or feathers. While engaged in these various ways, they often keep up a short conversational twitter, in a tone, however, so low that it can only be heard at a very short distance. While flying, they frequently utter a much louder piping note, which can readily be distinguished from the call of the other sea-side birds. I observed that a small detached flock, when disturbed, generally flew off to a great distance; but if other birds were feeding in the neighbourhood, they more frequently alighted near them, as if a.s.sured by their presence that no danger was to be apprehended.

Dunlins have bred in Cornwall and Devon; but in many parts of Scotland, in the Hebrides and Orkneys 'they frequent the haunts selected by the Golden Plovers, with which they are so frequently seen in company, that they have popularly obtained the name of Plovers'

Pages. Sometimes before the middle of April, but always before that of May, they are seen dispersed over the moors in pairs like the birds just named, which, at this season, they greatly resemble in habits.

The nest, which is composed of some bits of withered gra.s.s, or sedge, and small twigs of heath, is placed in a slight hollow, generally on a bare spot, and usually in a dry place, like that selected by the Golden Plover. The female lays four eggs, and sits very a.s.siduously, often allowing a person to come quite close to her before removing, which she does in a fluttering and cowering manner.'[49]

In a few specimens which I obtained, the bill was considerably curved downwards throughout its whole length, thus approaching in form that of the Pigmy Curlew; but the dusky upper tail-coverts sufficiently distinguished it from its rarer congener.

[49] Macgillivray.

PURPLE SANDPIPER TRINGA STRIATA

Bill longer than the head, slightly bent down at the tip, dusky, the base reddish orange; head and neck dusky brown, tinged with grey; back and scapulars black, with purple and violet reflections, the feathers edged with deep ash; breast grey and white; under plumage white, streaked on the flanks with grey; feet ochre-yellow. Length eight and a quarter inches. Eggs yellowish olive, spotted and speckled with reddish brown.

The Purple Sandpiper is described as being far less common than the Dunlin, and differing from it in habits, inasmuch as it resorts to the rocky coast in preference to sandy flats. The few specimens of it which I have seen were a.s.sociated with Dunlins, flying in the same flocks with them, feeding with them, and so closely resembling them in size and movements, that a description of the one equally characterizes the other. It was only, in fact, by the difference of colour that I could discriminate between them; and this I did, on several occasions, with great ease, having obtained my specimens singly while they were surrounded by other birds. According to Mr.

Dunn, 'The Purple Sandpiper is very numerous in Orkney and Shetland, appearing early in spring, and leaving again at the latter end of April; about which time it collects in large flocks, and may be found on the rocks at ebb-tide, watching each retiring wave, running down as the water falls back, picking small sh.e.l.lfish off the stones, and displaying great activity in escaping the advancing sea. It does not breed there.'

This species has a wide geographical range. It has been often observed in the Arctic regions, where it breeds. It is well known in North America, and is found in various parts of the continent of Europe, especially Holland.

TEMMINCK'S STINT TRINGA TEMMINCKI

Bill slightly bent down at the tip, much shorter than the head; tail graduated. _Winter_--upper plumage brown and dusky; breast reddish; lower plumage and outer tail-feathers white; bill and feet brown. _Summer_--All the upper feathers black, bordered with rust-red; breast reddish ash, streaked with black. Length five and a half inches. Eggs unknown.

Temminck, in whose honour this bird was named, states that it 'inhabits the Arctic Regions, and is seen on its pa.s.sage at two periods of the year in different parts of Germany, on the banks of lakes and rivers; probably, also, in the interior of France; never along the maritime coasts of Holland; very rare on the Lake of Geneva.

Its food consists of small insects. It probably builds its nest very far north.' A few have been killed in England, and it occurs in many parts of Asia and in North Africa, but it is nowhere abundant, being an irregular visitor, only on migration.

LITTLE STINT TRINGA MINUTA

Bill straight, shorter than the head; two middle and two outer feathers of the tail longer than the rest ('tail doubly forked'); tarsus ten lines; upper plumage ash and dusky; a brown streak between the bill and the eye; under plumage white; outer feathers of the tail ash-brown, edged with whitish; middle ones brown; bill and feet black. Length five and a half inches. Eggs reddish white, spotted with dark red-brown.

A rare and occasional visitant, appearing from time to time in small flocks on the muddy or sandy sea-coast. My friend, the Rev. W. S. h.o.r.e (to whom I am indebted for many valuable notes, incorporated in the text of this volume), obtained several specimens of this bird in October, 1840, on the Laira mud banks, near Plymouth. In their habits they differed little from the Dunlin. They were at first very tame, but after having been fired at became more cautious. In their food and mode of collecting it, nothing was observed to distinguish them from the other Sandpipers. They come on pa.s.sage in spring and autumn.

THE RUFF AND REEVE MACHeTES PUGNAX

_Male in spring_--face covered with yellowish warty pimples; back of the head with a tuft of long feathers on each side; throat furnished with a ruff of prominent feathers; general plumage mottled with ash, black, brown, reddish white, and yellowish, but so variously, that scarcely two specimens can be found alike; bill yellowish orange. _Male in winter_--face covered with feathers; ruff absent; under parts white; breast reddish, with brown spots; upper plumage mottled with black, brown, and red; bill brownish. Length twelve and a half inches.

_Female_, 'The Reeve'--long feathers of the head and ruff absent; upper plumage ash-brown, mottled with black and reddish brown; under parts greyish white; feet yellowish brown. Length ten and a half inches. _In both s.e.xes_--tail rounded, the two middle feathers barred; the three lateral feathers uniform in colour. Eggs olive, blotched and spotted with brown.

Both the systematic names of this bird are descriptive of its quarrelsome propensities: _machetes_ is Greek for 'a warrior', _pugnax_ Latin for 'pugnacious'. Well is the t.i.tle deserved; for Ruffs do not merely fight when they meet, but meet in order to fight. The season for the indulgence of their warlike tastes is spring; the scene, a rising spot of ground contiguous to a marsh; and here all the male birds of the district a.s.semble at dawn, for many days in succession, and do battle valiantly for the females, called Reeves, till the weakest are vanquished and leave possession of the field to their more powerful adversaries. The att.i.tude during these contests is nearly that of the domestic c.o.c.k--the head lowered, the body horizontal, the collar bristling, and the beak extended. But Ruffs will fight to the death on other occasions. A basket containing two or three hundred Ruffs was once put on board a steamer leaving Rotterdam for London. The incessant fighting of the birds proved a grand source of attraction to the pa.s.sengers during the voyage; and about half of them were slain before the vessel reached London. Ruffs are gluttonously disposed too, and, if captured by a fowler, will begin to eat the moment they are supplied with food; but, however voracious they may be, if a basin of bread and milk or boiled wheat be placed before them, it is instantly contended for; and so pugnacious is their disposition, that even when fellow-captives, they would starve in the midst of plenty if several dishes of food were not placed amongst them at a distance from each other.

Many years have not pa.s.sed since these birds paid annual visits in large numbers to the fen-countries. They were, however, highly prized as delicacies for the table, and their undeviating habit of meeting to fight a pitched battle gave the fowler such an excellent opportunity of capturing all the combatants in his nets, that they have been gradually becoming more and more rare. The fowler, in fact, has been so successful that he has destroyed his own trade.

Another peculiarity of the Ruff is, that the plumage varies greatly in different individuals--so much so, indeed, that Montagu who had an opportunity of seeing about seven dozen in a room together, could not find two alike. These birds are now become rare, but occasional specimens are still met with in different parts of Great Britain, and at various seasons; but if they are ever served up at table, they must be consignments from the Continent.

The female builds her nest of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, among reeds and rushes, and lays four eggs. The brood, when hatched, remain with her until the period of migration; but the males take no interest in domestic affairs. The few that have not been caught become more amicably disposed during the latter portion of the year. They lose the feathery shields from whence they derive their English name, and, a.s.suming a peaceful garb, withdraw to some southern climate. The Ruff is about one-third larger than the Reeve; and the latter is, at all seasons, dest.i.tute of a prominent collar. Formerly these birds bred in the east of England.

GREEN SANDPIPER ToTa.n.u.s oCHROPUS

Upper plumage olive-brown, with greenish reflections, spotted with whitish and dusky; lower plumage white; tail white, the middle feathers barred with dusky towards the end, the two outer feathers almost entirely white; bill dusky above, reddish beneath; feet greenish. Length nine and a half inches. Eggs whitish green, spotted with brown.

This bird, which derives its name from the green tinge of its plumage and legs, must be reckoned among the rarer Sandpipers. In habits it differs considerably from most of its congeners, in that it is not given to congregate with others of its kind, and that it resorts to inland waters rather than to the sea. It is seen for the most part in spring and autumn, at which seasons it visits us when on its way to and from the northern countries in which it breeds. Specimens have been killed late in the summer, from which it has been inferred that the Green Sandpiper sometimes breeds in this country; but the fact does not appear to have been confirmed by the discovery of its nest.

While migrating it flies very high, but when scared from its feeding-ground it skims along the surface of the water for some distance, and then rises high into the air, uttering its shrill whistle. In its choice of food, and habits while feeding it resembles the Common Sandpiper. It lays its eggs in deserted nests and old squirrel dreys--and breeds probably in wild parts of Surrey, Suss.e.x and Hampshire. The Son of the Marshes considers that it does so.

THE WOOD SANDPIPER ToTa.n.u.s GLAReOLA

_Winter_--a narrow dusky streak between the bill and eye; upper parts deep brown, spotted with white; breast and adjacent parts dirty white, mottled with ash-brown; under plumage and tail-coverts pure white; tail-feathers barred with brown and white; two outer feathers on each side with the inner web pure white; bill and legs greenish. _Summer_--head streaked with brown and dull white; the white of the breast clearer; each of the feathers of the back with two white spots on each side of the centre. Length seven and a half inches.

This species closely resembles the last both in appearance and habits.

It received its name of Wood Sandpiper from having been observed occasionally to resort to boggy swamps of birch and alder, and has been seen even to perch on a tree. Its most common places of resort are, however, swamps and wet heaths. Like the last, it is a bird of wide geographical range, nowhere very abundant, and imperfectly known, coming only on pa.s.sage in spring and autumn.

THE COMMON SANDPIPER ToTa.n.u.s HYPOLEUCUS

Upper parts ash-brown, glossed with olive; back and central tail-feathers marked with fine wavy lines of rich dark brown; a narrow white streak over each eye; under plumage pure white, streaked at the sides with brown; outer tail-feathers barred with white and brown; bill dusky, lighter at the base; feet greenish ash. Length seven and a half inches. Eggs whitish yellow, spotted with brown and grey.

To this bird has been given not inappropriately the name of Summer Snipe. In form and mode of living it resembles the Snipe properly so called, and it is known to us only during summer. Unlike the last two species, it is a bird of common occurrence. One need only to repair to a retired district abounding in streams and lakes, at any period of the year between April and September, and there, in all probability, this lively bird will be found to have made for itself a temporary home. Arrayed in unattractive plumage, and distinguished by no great power of song--its note being simply a piping, which some people consider the utterance of one of its provincial names, 'w.i.l.l.y Wicket'--it may nevertheless be p.r.o.nounced an accomplished bird. It flies rapidly and in a tortuous course, likely to puzzle any but the keenest shot; it runs with remarkable nimbleness, so that if a sportsman has marked it down, it will probably rise many yards away from the spot; it can swim if so inclined; and when hard pressed by a Hawk, it has been seen to dive and remain under water until all danger had pa.s.sed away. It has never been observed to perch on the twigs of trees, but it has been noticed running along the stumps and projecting roots of trees. Its favourite places of resort are withy holts (where it searches for food in the shallow drains), moss-covered stones in rivers, the shallow banks of lakes, and the flat marshy places intersected by drains, which in low countries often skirt the sea-sh.o.r.e. Its food consists of small worms and the larvae and pupae of the countless insects which spend their lives in such localities. It may be presumed, too, that many a perfect winged insect enters into its dietary, for its activity is very great. Even when its legs are not in motion, which does not often happen, its body is in a perpetual state of agitation, the vibration of the tail being most conspicuous.

Sandpipers do not congregate like many others of the Waders; they come to us generally in pairs, and do not appear to flock together even when preparing to migrate. The nest is a slight depression in the ground, most frequently well concealed by rushes or other tufted foliage, and is constructed of a few dry leaves, stalks of gra.s.s, and sc.r.a.ps of moss. The Sandpiper lays four eggs, which are large, and quite disproportionate to the size of the bird. Indeed, but for their peculiar pear-shaped form, which allows of their being placed so as to occupy a small s.p.a.ce with the pointed ends all together, the bird would scarcely be able to cover them. The parent bird exhibits the same marvellous sagacity in diverting the attention of an intruder from the young birds to herself, by counterfeiting lameness, which has been observed in the Plovers. The young are able to run within a very short time after exclusion from the egg, there being an instance recorded in the _Zoologist_ of a gentleman having seen some young birds scramble away from the nest while there yet remained an egg containing an unhatched chick. Early, too, in their life they are endowed with the instinct of self-preservation, for Mr. Selby states that if discovered and pursued before they have acquired the use of their wings, they boldly take to the water and dive.