Part 13

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The spotted flycatcher is one of our commonest summer migrants, and at the same time one of the least remarked. He is a late comer, arriving about the middle of May; but he does not come after the leaves are out, to conceal himself among them, after the manner of the wood-wren and of other small insect-eaters. From the day of his arrival he is exposed to sight in the places he frequents--parks, skirts of woods, orchards, gardens, and the borders of fields and meadows. The area inhabited by each bird, or pair, is very circumscribed, and contains a few favourite perching-places, which are regularly occupied at different hours of the day. The perching-place is on a projecting branch, or, better still, a dead branch of a bush or tree, a wire fence, or a paling or gatepost. He comes near houses, and he may have a stand within twenty or thirty yards of the door, from which those who come and go may have him full in sight for several hours each day. But little or no notice is taken of him. And it is not strange, for of all our birds he is the least attractive, in his pale, obscure plumage, as he sits silent and motionless, listless and depressed in appearance, showing neither alarm nor curiosity when regarded. Seen thus he is like a silent grey ghost of a little dead bird returned to haunt the sunlight. Despite this listless appearance he is keenly alive to outward things. As the motionless heron watches the water, with the creatures that move like vague shadows in it, the flycatcher watches the air and the living things, minute and swift-winged, that inhabit it. At intervals he quits his perch and makes a dash at some passing insect, which he captures, his mandibles closing on it with an audible snap; then returns to his stand and his watching once more.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.--SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. ¼ natural size.]

His call-note is a feeble chirp, two or three times repeated; and he is said to have a song, which few have heard, composed of a few rambling notes in a low tone.

The flycatcher begins to build soon after its arrival, and a favourite site for the nest is in the ivy growing against a wall; nests are also made in holes in walls and in the trunks of trees, on horizontal branches, and in a variety of situations. The nest is composed of dry grass and moss, mixed with a few feathers, and lined with rootlets and horsehair. Five or six eggs are laid; they are bluish white or pale green in ground-colour, clouded, blotched and spotted with reddish brown.

Flycatchers return to the same nesting-place year after year. One brood only is reared, and the birds leave us by the third week in September.

Pied Flycatcher.

Muscicapa atricapilla.

Upper parts and tail black; wings black, with the central coverts white; scapulars edged with white; under parts white. _Female_: greyish brown instead of black; the white dingy; the three lateral tail-feathers edged with white. Length, five inches.

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The pied flycatcher is comparatively a rare bird, and is unknown to a great majority of the inhabitants of this country, being restricted to a few localities in the north of England and the south of Scotland, and to some parts of North Wales, and the English counties bordering on Wales. In its nesting and feeding habits, and its partiality for orchards and gardens, it is like the spotted flycatcher; but it arrives earlier than that species, usually during the last week in April or the first week in May. Its black-and-white plumage gives it a very different and a much more attractive appearance. The only other point in which the two species differ greatly is in the number and colour of the eggs. Those of the pied flycatcher number from five to eight, and are very beautiful, being of a uniform delicate pale blue, and unspotted.

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A third species, the red-breasted flycatcher (_Musicapa parva_), has been included in the list of stragglers from Central and Eastern Europe to this country.

Swallow.

Hirundo rustica.

Forehead and throat chestnut-brown; upper parts, sides of neck, and a bar across the breast black, with violet reflections; lower parts dull reddish white. Tail long and forked. _Female_: less red on the forehead and less black on the breast; under parts white; outer tail-feathers shorter. Length, seven and a half inches.

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[Illustration: FIG. 44.--SWALLOW. ¼ natural size.]

The swallow, as we usually see him, gliding and doubling in the air with a freedom surpassing that of other birds, has considerable beauty, being richly coloured and of an elegant figure, with sharply forked tail and long, pointed wings. But this is not the reason of the charm he has for us, since there are other more beautiful birds that inspire no such feeling. He is loved above most species on account of his domestic habits and familiarity with man. There would be few swallows in a dispeopled and savage England, with all its buildings crumbled to earth, for he would then be compelled to return to the original habits of the wild swallow, and build his mud cradle in rocky cliffs and caverns. As things are he is not dependent on cliffs, for he has taken kindly to human habitations, and increases with the increase of house-building, until he has become one of the commonest and most generally diffused species. And being a house-bird, and accustomed to the human form, when our summer migrants return to us with the return of the sun, and the others seek their customary homes in woods and groves by the sides of streams and marshes, and on downs and waste lands, the swallow alone comes direct to us to deliver the glad message, so that even the sick and aged and infirm, who can no longer leave their beds or rooms, are able to hear it. What wonder that we cherish a greater affection for, and are more intimate with, the swallow than with our other feathered fellow-creatures!

The swallow is very evenly distributed over the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, but the date of his arrival varies considerably in different districts. In the south of England he makes his appearance early in April, and arrives in the northern counties about the middle of that month, but in the north of Scotland not until the first week in May. He is most abundant about villages and large country-houses and farms; but wherever human habitations exist, however modest in size they may be, he is to be met with. Swallows are eminently gregarious, and even during the breeding season all the birds inhabiting one neighbourhood are accustomed to feed and practise their aërial exercises in company. At this season their gatherings are, however, intermittent, and in part accidental. Where flying insects are abundant the swallows quickly gather. At one time of the day they may be seen coursing up and down the lanes and roads and village streets, gliding close to the ground with great speed; in rough weather they will assemble in scores or hundreds on the sheltered side of a wood, or lane, or a row of elms; but on a warm, damp day, they frequent the meadows and low grounds near the water, where insects are most abundant.

The swallow has a variety of sharp little chirps and twittering notes, and a loud, startled, double alarm-note, uttered at the appearance of a hawk speeding through the air, or at sight of a prowling cat. The appearance of a hawk excites as much anger as fear, and he generally goes in pursuit of it; but the note is understood by other small birds, and has the effect of sending them quickly into hiding. The song, uttered sometimes on the wing, but more frequently when perched, is very charming, and seems more free and spontaneous than that of any bird possessing a set song, the notes leaping out with a heartfelt joyousness which is quite irresistible. The sound differs in quality from that of other birds; it is, perhaps, more _human_: a swallow-like note may be heard in some of the most beautiful contralto voices. The dozen or more notes composing the song end with a little jarring trill, so low as to be hardly audible.

A favourite site for the swallow’s nest is the top of a joist supporting the rafters of a barn or other outhouse to which there is free access. It is a saucer-shaped rim of mud or clay, placed on the wood. The inside is lined with dry grass and feathers. It is quite open at the top, but usually close to the roof. The eggs are four to six in number, and vary much in shape and disposition of markings. They are pure white, spotted with rich coffee-brown, light reddish brown, and purplish grey. During incubation the sitting-bird is fed at intervals by her mate.

Two broods are reared in the season, and the young are fed for some days after quitting the nest. The early broods are believed to leave this country in advance of the adults and the young of the later broods. The final and principal migration takes place at the end of September or early in October, the birds congregating some days before departure in large flocks, sometimes numbering many thousands.

Martin.

Chelidon urbica.

[Illustration: FIG. 45.--MARTIN. ⅓ natural size.]

Head, nape, and upper part of the back black, with violet reflections; lower parts of the back and under parts pure white. Feet and toes covered with downy feathers; tail forked. Length, five and a half inches.

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The martin, or house-martin, is as common and widely diffused in the British Islands as the swallow, and as it lives with man in the same way, making use of houses to build its nest on, it shares the affection with which that bird is generally regarded. Most people, in fact, regard them as one and the same species; for both are of one type, and are domestic in habit, and associate together, and unless looked at with attention they are not seen distinctly, and consequently not distinguished. The martin differs from the swallow in its slightly smaller size; in having its feet feathered and the rump and entire under parts pure white; and in its less sharply forked tail and shorter wings. On the wing it is not so perfectly free as the swallow: it cannot double so quickly, nor fly with such speed and grace.

The martin cannot be called a songster. His most common expression is a somewhat harsh note, often uttered as he sports with his fellows in the air; in the pairing and nesting time he occasionally attempts to sing, usually when clinging to a wall and to the rim of his nest, and emits a slight warbling sound, somewhat guttural, and so low that it can only be heard at a distance of a few yards.

He arrives in this country a little after the swallow, and immediately sets about making a new nest or repairing an old one. This is formed outwardly of mud or clay, and is placed under the eaves of a house, against the wall. He is able to build against a smooth brick or stucco wall, but prefers stone, which has a rougher surface. It is usual to find several nests near together, and the reason is, probably, that the surface of the wall is suitable to build on, and not, as is often stated, because the martins prefer to nest close to each other. The outer shell of the nest, like that of the swallow, is formed of mud or clay, mixed with hairs and fibres to strengthen it, and is placed against the wall at the side and the projecting eaves above, and forms a half or a portion of a hemisphere, a small opening being left at the top for entrance. The lining is composed of feathers and a little dry grass. Four or five pure white, unspotted eggs are laid. Two broods, and often three, are reared in the season.

For some days after the young are able to fly the whole family roost at night in the nest. The young of the first brood, as in the case of the swallow, are the first to migrate. The old birds and the young of the later broods take their departure about the middle of October.

Sand-Martin.

Cotile riparia.

Upper parts, cheeks, and a broad bar on the breast mouse-colour; throat, fore part of the neck, belly, and under tail-coverts white. Legs and feet naked, with the exception of a few small feathers near the insertion of the hind toe; tail forked, rather short. Length, five inches.

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The sand-martin, although common enough in some localities, and found throughout the British Islands, including the Outer Hebrides and the Orkneys, is not a very well-known bird; for, however populous the country may be, and though other hirundines become increasingly domestic and breed under eaves, in porches, barns, and chimneys, he always preserves his original wild character. He is a swallow that is a stranger to man, and breeds in holes and crevices in precipitous cliffs on the sea-coast. But he prefers to excavate a breeding-hole in a perpendicular bank of clay not too stiff for his weak mining implements. Earth-cliffs on the banks of rivers and lakes and on the sea, are resorted to for this purpose, and he also takes advantage of the steep sides of railway-cuttings and sand and gravel pits. A suitable bank or cliff will often attract a large number of sand-martins, and the surface will appear riddled with their holes. It has always caused surprise in those who have observed this bird that it should be able with its small, weak bill to form such deep tunnels in the hard earth. The hole once made is, however, often used by the same birds for several years. They do not work by digging into the earth with their bills as a man digs with a knife or other implement. They perch against the surface and pick out small particles, and by means of this slow, laborious process accomplish their great work. The hole slants upwards, and is from three to four feet in length and two or three inches in diameter. At its extremity the gallery is widened to form a chamber about six inches in diameter, where the bed is made of dry grass, with a few feathers for lining. Male and female take turns in boring, working only in the morning, the rest of the daylight hours being spent in feeding and play. It sometimes happens that in boring their hole a sunken boulder or vein of impenetrable earth is met with; the hole is then abandoned and a new one begun in another place. By the end of May the eggs are laid. These are four to six in number, and are pure white.

When hovering before their holes, and passing to and fro with wavering flight along the face of the bank, the sand-martins have a curious moth-like appearance. While flying about in company they constantly utter a low monotonous note; and this sound is prolonged to a scream when the birds are excited by the presence of some enemy. The male has, besides, a twittering song, uttered on the wing while hovering before the nesting-hole.

Two broods are reared, and as soon as breeding is over the birds forsake the bank and scatter about the country, and may then be seen associating with house-martins and swallows.

The sand-martin is the earliest of the swallows to arrive in this country, and the first to depart; it is rare to meet with them after the middle of September.

Tree-Creeper.

Certhia familiaris.

Upper parts mottled with yellowish brown, dark brown, and white; a pale streak over the eye; throat and breast buff-white, becoming dusky on the belly; wings brown, tipped with white, and barred with white, brown, and dull yellow; tail-feathers reddish brown, stiff, and pointed. Length, five inches.

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[Illustration: FIG. 46.--TREE-CREEPER. ⅓ natural size.]

The little creeper appears to move more in a groove than almost any other passerine bird, and is the most monotonous in its life; yet it never fails to interest, doubtless because in its appearance and actions it differs so much from other species. A small bird--one of the very smallest--with striped and mottled brown upper, and silvery white under, plumage; long and slim in figure, with a slender curved bill and stiff, pointed tail-feathers, it spends its life on the boles and branches of trees, exploring the rough bark with microscopic sight for the minute insects and their eggs and larvæ it subsists on, moving invariably upwards in a spiral from the roots to the branches by a series of rapid jerks; its appearance as it travels over the surface, against which it presses so closely, is that of a mammal rather than a bird--a small mottled brown mouse with an elongated body. It is more of a parasite on the trees that furnish it with food than any other bird of similar habits. Nuthatches and woodpeckers are not so dependent on their trade; their habits and diet vary to some extent with the seasons and the conditions they exist in. The creeper is a creeper on trees all the year round, and extracts all his sustenance from the bark. His procedure is always the same: no sooner has he got to the higher and smoother part of the hole up which he has travelled than he detaches himself from it, and drops slantingly through the air to the roots of another tree, to begin as before. The action is always accompanied with a little querulous note, which falls like an exclamation, and seems to express disgust at the miserable harvest he has gathered, or else satisfaction that yet another tree in the long weary tale of trees has been examined and left behind. The fanciful idea is formed that the creeper has not found happiness in his way of life: it is so laborious a way; he must live so close to the dull-hued and always shaded bark, and examine it so narrowly! The contrast of such a method with that of other small birds--warblers and wagtails, and swallows and finches--is very great. Feeding-time with them is song-time and play-time; their blithe voices and lively antics and motions show how happy they are in their lives. The creeper is a rather silent bird, but he utters in the pairing season a shrill, high-pitched call-note, and the same sound is emitted when the nest is in danger. The song, which is occasionally heard in spring, is composed of three or four shrill notes resembling the call-notes in sound.

The nest is a neat and pretty structure, and is often placed against the trunk of a tree, behind a piece of bark that has become partly detached. A hole in the trunk, or in a large branch, or in a cavity where a portion of the wood has rotted away, is often selected as a site. When the nest is made behind a piece of loose bark, the cavity is filled up with a quantity of fine twigs. Inside, the nest is formed of roots, moss, and sometimes feathers, and lined with fine strips of inside bark. Six to nine eggs are laid, pure white, with red spots. Two broods are reared in a season.

Goldfinch.

Carduelis elegans.

Back of the head, nape, and feathers round the base of the bill black; forehead and throat blood-red; cheeks, fore part of the neck, and under parts white; back and scapulars dark brown; wings variegated with black, white and yellow; tail black, tipped with white. Length, five inches.

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We are rich in finches. No fewer than eighteen members of that family, including the snow-bunting, may be truly described as British. Among our passerine birds they excel in beauty of plumage, and by most persons the goldfinch, in his pretty coat of many colours--crimson, black, and white, and brown, and brilliant yellow--is regarded as the most beautiful of all. Certainly he is the most elegant in shape, the most graceful and engaging in his motions. It is charming to watch a small flock of these finches in the late summer, busy feeding on the roadside, or on some patch of waste land where the seeds, they best love are abundant, when they are seen clinging in various attitudes to the stalks, deftly picking off the thistle seed, and scattering the silvery down on the air. They are then pretty birds prettily occupied; and as they pass with easy, undulating flight from weed to weed, with musical call-notes and lively twitterings, bird following bird, they appear as gay and volatile as they are pretty.

They are found in suitable localities throughout England, and also inhabit Scotland and Ireland, but their distribution in the last two countries is much more local. During late summer and autumn they lead a gipsy life, incessantly wandering about the open country in search of their favourite seeds. They are also seen in winter, but few remain with us throughout the year, the majority passing over the Channel, to winter in a warmer climate. On their return in spring they come to the neighbourhood of houses, and build by preference in an apple or cherry tree in an orchard. The nest is well made, and composed of a great variety of materials--fine twigs, roots, grass, leaves, moss, and wool--and lined with hairs, feathers, and vegetable down. The four or five eggs are white, thinly spotted with reddish brown and pale purple.

[Illustration: _PLATE V._ GOLDFINCH. ⅔ NAT. SIZE.]

As a vocalist the goldfinch does not rank high; but his lively, twittering song, uttered both on the perch and when passing through the air, and his musical call-notes, have a very pleasing effect, especially when the birds are seen in the open country in bright, sunny weather. Unhappily, it is not now very easy to see them, except in a few favoured localities, owing to their increasing rarity. For the goldfinch is a favourite cage-bird, and so long as bird-catching is permitted to flourish without restriction, this charming species will continue to decrease, as it has been decreasing for the last fifty years and upwards.

Siskin.

Chrysometris spinus.

Crown black; a broad yellow streak behind the eye; the plumage variegated with grey, dusky, and various shades of green; wings dusky, with a transverse greenish yellow bar, and a black one above, and a second black bar across the middle of the tertiaries; tail dusky, the base and edge of the inner web greenish yellow. _Female_: colours less bright, and no black on the head. Length, four and a half inches.

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