British Birds in their Haunts Part 45

THE PUFFIN FRATERCULA aRCTICA

Crown, collar, and upper parts, black; cheeks, region of the eyes, and throat, greyish white; under parts pure white; bill bluish grey at the base, yellow in the middle, bright red at the tip; upper mandible with three transverse furrows, lower, with two; iris whitish; orbits red; feet orange-red. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs whitish, with indistinct ash-coloured spots.

Unlike the majority of sea-birds which have been pa.s.sing under our notice, Puffins visit the sh.o.r.es of the British Isles in summer, and even in winter they are not absent. They make their appearance about April or May, not scattering themselves indiscriminately along the coast, but resorting in vast numbers to various selected breeding-places, from the Scilly Islands to the Orkneys. Their home being the sea, and their diet small fish, they possess the faculties of swimming and diving to a degree of perfection. They have, moreover, considerable powers of flight; but on land their gait is only a shuffling attempt at progress. Their vocation on sh.o.r.e is, however, but a temporary one, and requires no great amount of locomotion. Soon after their arrival they set to work about their nests. Fanciful people who cla.s.s birds according to their constructive faculty as weavers, basket-makers, plasterers, and so on, would rank Puffins among miners. Building is an art of which they are wholly ignorant, yet few birds are lodged more securely. With their strong beaks, they excavate for themselves holes in the face of the cliff to the depth of about three feet, and at the extremity the female lays a solitary egg--solitary, that is to say, unless another bird takes shelter in the same hole, which is not unfrequently the case. Puffins generally show no overweening partiality for their own workmanship; sloping cliffs which have been perforated by rabbits are favourite places of resort; and here they do not at all scruple to avail themselves of another's labour, or, if necessary, to eject by force of beak the lawful tenant. If the soil be unsuited for boring, they lay their eggs under large stones or in crevices in the rock. The old bird sits most a.s.siduously, and suffers herself to be taken rather than desert her charge, but not without wounding, with her powerful beak, and to the best of her ability, the hand which ventures into her stronghold.

Myriads burrow on Lundy Island. _Lunde_ means Puffin, and _ey_ Island, the name being given by the old Scandinavian rovers who settled there.

The young are fed by both parents, at first on half-digested fish, and when older on pieces of fresh fish. At this period they suffer their colonies to be invaded without showing much alarm, and are either shot, knocked down with a stick, or noosed without difficulty. As soon as the young are fully fledged, all the Puffins withdraw to southern seas, where they pa.s.s the winter, and do not approach land until the return of the breeding season. "A small island near Skye, named Fladda-huna, is a great breeding haunt of Puffins, a species which arrives in the earlier part of May, literally covering the rocks and ledgy cliffs with its feathered thousands. Although these have no concern with our Grouse-shooting season, they almost totally disappear on the twelfth of August."[56] It was just about this period (August 7) in the present year (1861) that I observed several large flocks of Puffins, floating with the tide through the Sound of Islay, and was told by an intelligent gamekeeper that "these birds habitually _swim_ through the sound at this season, but always _fly_ when returning".

The reason probably is that the young are not at the former period sufficiently fledged to undertake a long flight, though they find no difficulty in swimming. By spring they have attained their full strength, and are able to adopt the more rapid mode of progress. In Scotland there are many large colonies, also in the cliffs by Flamborough Head, and on the Farne Islands.

Puffins and some other sea-birds appear to be either liable to a fatal epidemic or to be surprised by some atmospheric disturbance, being unable to resist which, they perish in large numbers. I have seen a portion of the sea-sh.o.r.e in Cornwall strewed for the distance of more than a mile with hundreds of their remains. All the softer parts had been apparently devoured by fishes and crustaceous animals, and nothing was left but the unmistakable parrot-like beaks. A friend informs me that he witnessed a similar phenomenon in Norfolk, in September, 1858; but in this instance the carcases of the birds were not devoured, and the birds were of different kinds. He estimated that about ninety per cent. were Guillemots, and the remainder Puffins, Razor-bills, Scoters, and a sprinkling of Black Throated Divers. A similar mortality among sea-birds is recorded in the _Zoologist_ as having taken place on the coast of Norfolk, in May, 1856. On this occasion they were so numerous as to be thought worth collecting for manure.

Other names by which the Puffin is known are Sea Parrot, Coulterneb, Mullet, Bottlenose; and, in Scotland, Ailsa Parrot, Tammie-Norie, and Tammas.

[56] Wilson's _Voyage round the Coast of Scotland_.

FAMILY COLYMBIDae

THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER COLYMBUS GLACIaLIS

Bill, with the upper mandible, nearly straight, upwards of four inches in length; head and neck violet-black, with a double gorget white, barred with black; upper parts black, spotted with white; under parts white; bill black; irides brown; feet dusky, the membranes whitish. _Young_ very like the next, but distinguishable by their superior size and the direction of the bill. Length thirty-three inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, with a few spots of purplish brown.

The name Divers is, on the sea-coast, loosely applied to a _tribe_ of sea-birds, including the Grebes, Cormorants, and other birds, which, when pursued, place their safety in diving rather than in flying. In works on natural history the term is, however, employed to designate the genus COLYMBUS, and with great propriety; for, however skilled any of the above birds may be in this mode of progression, the true divers surpa.s.s them immeasurably. First among these in size and dignity is the Great Northern Diver, a native of high lat.i.tudes in both hemispheres, never perhaps coming farther south than the Shetlands for breeding purposes, and visiting our waters only during winter.[57] The Northern Diver, or Imber or Ember Goose, appears to be tolerably frequent in British waters. In Scotland it prefers salt-water lochs and sandy bays to the open sea, though occasionally seen some miles from land. It swims deep in the water, but advances rapidly. When in pursuit of prey it sinks beneath the surface without plunge or splash, the head disappearing last, and it traverses perhaps two or three hundred yards of water before it rises again. Montagu says that it propels itself by its feet alone; Audubon, on the contrary, states that it uses the wings under water. The latter author is most probably correct, for it dives more swiftly than the Grebes, and these birds undoubtedly make a vigorous use of their wings. Where shoals of small fish, such as sand-eels and sprats, abound, or where fish even of a much larger size are numerous, the Northern Diver finds a rich harvest. Occasionally while thus engaged it meets its death by dashing into the herring nets, and there getting entangled. A fine specimen was recently shown to me in the island of Islay, which had been thus captured. Though it has never been known to take wing in attempting to elude pursuit, it is often seen flying with strength and rapidity, outstripping even the Grebe, which, in proportion to its size, is furnished with far larger wings than itself.

The adult male, which is a very handsome bird, is of rare occurrence, most of those which visit our sh.o.r.es being young birds.

The nest is usually placed near the edge of a reedy lake or large river, having a well-beaten track leading to it from the water's edge.

This is formed by the bird in its clumsy effort to walk, a feat which it only performs on such occasions. The nest itself is bulky, and is formed of the vegetable substances found in the immediate vicinity, such as gra.s.ses and other herbaceous plants. It contains two, and sometimes three, eggs. The young are able to swim and dive very soon after they are hatched, and are fed for about a fortnight by their parents, at the expiration of which time they have to hunt for themselves.

[57] Mr. Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 426, quotes Sir Thomas Browne as an authority for the fact that Divers formerly bred in the Broads of Norfolk. A careful examination of that author will show, however, that Sir Thomas Browne had seen only a single specimen of the Northern Diver, his 'Divers', or 'Dive-fowl', being the Crested and Lesser Grebes, etc., which, as we have seen above, continue to breed in the Broads.

THE BLACK-THROATED DIVER COLYMBUS ARCTICUS

Bill slightly curved upwards, with the middle of the lower mandible equal in width to the base, exceeding three inches in length; head ash-grey; throat and front of the neck black, l.u.s.trous with violet and green; beneath the throat a narrow band streaked with white and black; sides and front of the neck streaked with white and black; back black, with a longitudinal patch of white and black bars on the upper part; scapulars with twelve or thirteen transverse white bars; bill dusky; iris brown; feet dusky, with whitish membranes. _Young birds_ have the head and back of the neck greyer and the upper plumage dark brown, edged with bluish ash; under plumage white; cheeks white, spotted with ash; upper mandible ash-grey, lower dull white. Length twenty-four to twenty-eight inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, spotted with purplish brown.

This Diver differs from the preceding species princ.i.p.ally in being of inferior size. The predominant tints of the plumage are the same, and the habits of the two are so similar that a separate description is unnecessary. The present species is, however, far less common, though it breeds in the Outer Hebrides and in Scotland, where both eggs and young birds have been observed, and migrates southward in winter. It lays two eggs, near the edge of a fresh-water loch; and Mr. Selby observed that a visible track from the water to the eggs was made by the female, whose progress upon land is effected by shuffling along upon her belly, propelled by her legs behind. In the breeding season the old birds are often seen on the wing, at which time also they have a peculiar and loud cry, which has been compared to the voice of a human being in distress.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

Red Necked Grebe.

Black Necked or Eared Grebe.

Slavonian Grebe.

Great Crested Grebe [F] Winter [M] Summer

[_face p. 298_.]]

[Ill.u.s.tration:

Manx Shearwater [M]

Stormy Petrel

Fork Tailed Petrel [F]

Fulmar]

THE RED-THROATED DIVER COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS

Bill slightly curved upwards, with the edges of both mandibles much incurved, not exceeding three inches in length; head, throat, and sides of the neck mouse-colour; crown spotted with black; neck both above and below marked with white and black lines; on the front of the neck a large orange-coloured patch; back dusky brown; lower parts white. _Young birds_--upper plumage mouse-colour, darker on the back, where it is marked by longitudinal white lines; wings dusky; feathers on the flanks dusky, some of them edged with white; all the under plumage pure white. Length twenty-six inches. Eggs chestnut-brown, spotted with darker brown.

The name 'Loon,' given in some districts to the Crested Grebe, is elsewhere given to the Red-throated Diver. The term is an old one, for our countrymen, Ray and Willughby, quoting yet more ancient authorities, describe the Northern Diver under the name of 'Loon', and the Black-throated Diver under that of 'Lumme', the latter being the name of the bird in Iceland and Norway, and the former probably an English corruption of the same word, which in the original signifies 'lame'.

On no part of our coast must we expect to hear this bird popularly called by the name of 'Red-throated', for, though common on many parts of the coast, almost all the specimens observed are young birds of the year, which have the throat pure white. Several were brought to me by the sea-side gunners on the coast of Norfolk. In May birds with red throats are noticed. A writer in the _Zoologist_[58] says that they are very numerous in winter off the coast of the Isle of Wight, pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing in small flocks and in two lines about a mile apart. Of the hundreds which fell under his notice one only had a red throat, and this was captured under singular circ.u.mstances. On April 24, 1839, some fishermen observed an object floating which they imagined was a keg of spirits, but which proved to be a large fish of the kind known as the Fishing Frog, or Angler. On hauling it on board with their boat-hooks, the fishermen discovered that the animal had nearly choked himself by swallowing, tail foremost, an adult Red-throated Diver. The head of the bird protruded from the throat into the mouth of the captor, and, strange to say, it had not only survived its imprisonment, but was unhurt. It was extricated and presented to the Zoological Gardens, where it lived for six months.

Another writer in the same magazine[59] says that he saw a large number in Norway during the breeding season, but not one without the dark red throat.

This species, like the rest of the genus, obtains its food by diving; when pursued it rarely tries to escape by taking wing, though it has the power of flying with great rapidity. During the breeding season especially, it often flies about over the water with its long neck outstretched, and uttering a wailing scream.

I am informed by a friend, that while fishing in a boat in calm water off the coast of North Devon, he has many times seen Divers pa.s.s through the water, at a considerable depth below, propelling themselves by a free and active use of their wings.

From October to May only these Divers frequent our coast. Towards the end of spring they withdraw northwards and build their nests, of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s and other herbs, close to the edge of a fresh-water loch.

They lay two eggs, and the male is said to take his turn in the office of incubation. Many stay to breed in the Orkneys and Outer Hebrides, and in Ireland.

[58] Vol. iii. p. 974.

[59] _Zoologist_, vol. ix. p. 3084.

FAMILY PODICIPEDIDae

THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE PoDICEPS CRISTaTUS

Bill longer than the head, reddish, the tip white; distance from the nostril to the tip seventeen or eighteen lines; cheeks white; crest and ruff dark brown and chestnut; upper plumage dark brown; secondaries white; breast and under parts silky white; bill brownish red; irides red; feet dull green.

_Female_--crest and ruff less conspicuous, colours generally less bright. _Young birds_ have neither crest nor ruff. Length twenty-one inches. Eggs white.

The Great Crested Grebe is thus described by Sir Thomas Browne, under the name of Loon: 'A handsome and specious fowl, cristated, and with divided fin-feet placed very backward. They come about April, and breed in the broad waters; so making their nest in the water, that their eggs are seldom dry while they are set on.' Fifty years ago the Loon continued to be so common on the Broads of Norfolk that eighteen or twenty might be counted together. It is more or less resident in England and Wales--in the meres of the Midlands and the lakes of Breconshire, and has lately bred in the vicinity of the Clyde.

The movements of this bird in the water are described as most graceful; in swimming it vies with the Swan, and it is a skilful diver. As seen perched up in a museum its form is ungainly, but in its native element it might serve as the standard of perfection among water birds. The legs, compressed so as to present a sharp edge, cut the water with a minimum of resistance; the webbed feet are placed so far backwards that they fulfil at once the office of propellers and rudder; the body is conical and covered with satiny plumage, which throws off water as perfectly as the fur of the otter; the long neck tapers to exceedingly narrow dimensions and terminates in a small head produced into a slender bill. The conformation of the greyhound is not better adapted for fleet running than that of the Grebe for rapid diving. The chase, I need scarcely add, consists of fish; but the Loon will feed on frogs, tadpoles, and any other small animals which fall in its way. It frequents fresh water during the summer months, but on the approach of winter repairs to the sea, not, it would seem, from any desire of varying its food, but to avoid being frozen up. It builds its nest among rushes or decaying weeds, but little above the level of the water, and lays four eggs, the male a.s.sisting his partner in the office of incubation.

The young can dive and swim immediately that they are hatched; but if the mother be suddenly alarmed while they are with her, she takes them under her wing and dives with them.

The name Loon is supposed to be a corruption of the Finnish designation, Leomme or Lem, 'lame', given to several of the _Colymbidae_ on account of the awkwardness with which they advance on land.

The Loon is found in lakes throughout a great portion of both the eastern and western hemispheres, but not very far to the north. It rarely flies, except at the period of migration, when it pa.s.ses swiftly through the air, with neck and feet extended to their full length.