Part 29

Nocturnal in its habits, the woodcock spends the daylight hours in close concealment in woods and brakes, often under the shelter of a thick evergreen bush, and, it is said, sometimes partially covering itself with dead leaves. Its red and mottled plumage, which so closely assimilates in colour to the fallen leaves among which it sits, is its best protection--a similar case to that of the nightjar crouching on the dry, open common. Visible it may be, but not distinguishable as a bird amid such surroundings unless the large, lustrous black eyes are caught sight of. When flushed during daylight its flight is owl-like, and its appearance somewhat singular. In the dusk of evening, when seeking its feeding-ground, it flies in a curious manner, darting rapidly this way and that through the glades and open spaces. It obtains its food by probing deep in the soft, damp soil, or in bogs, with its long bill, but how it finds the earthworms and grubs on which it feeds would be hard to say. There is no doubt that the end of the beak is an exquisitely delicate organ of touch, but it is hard to believe that it is thrust deep into the soil merely on the chance of finding something edible.

The woodcock breeds in suitable localities throughout Great Britain and Ireland, but in limited numbers, and not very regularly; but whether the birds that breed with us remain all the year, or migrate to more southern latitudes in autumn, is not known. Most, if not all, of the birds that winter in our islands are visitors from northern Europe. They begin to arrive, chiefly on the east and south-east coasts, about the middle of October, travelling by night, usually in calm, hazy, or foggy weather, and sometimes arriving in immense numbers. As a rule the females arrive first, the later flights being composed of males. It is only when migrating that woodcock are seen in any number together, and at such times their gatherings are probably accidental. On their arrival they quickly scatter over the country, and for the rest of the time are solitary in their habits. The migrants from the north take their departure in March. In this country nesting begins at the end of that month, and in the pairing season the male woos his mate with a curious and pretty performance, not at all like the wild celestial love-antics of his relation, the common snipe. For a time he abandons his shy, skulking habits--a hermit in love, he comes out morning and evening, and for the space of half an hour continues flying to and fro, with a singularly slow flight, and with plumage puffed out, so that he looks twice his ordinary size. Flying, he emits two peculiar notes, one deep and hollow, the other sharp and whistling. This performance of the woodcock is called ‘roding’ in East Anglia. The nest is a slight hollow, placed among dead ferns and fallen leaves in a sheltered situation in a wood. The eggs are four, pale yellowish white, the larger end spotted and blotched with ash-grey and brown of a reddish yellow tint.

A little over a century ago it was discovered that the female woodcock had the habit of removing its young, one at a time, when in danger by flying away with them. But it was said that the young bird was carried in the bill of its parent, and ornithologists declined to believe it, because, as Gilbert White remarked, the long, unwieldy beak of the woodcock was unfitted for such a task. The matter remained in doubt until about twenty years ago; and it is now known that the bird carries her young with her feet, either grasping them in her claws or holding them pressed between her thighs. According to some observers, the bird uses her bill to keep her young one pressed firmly against her thighs when flying with it.

Great Snipe.

Gallinago major.

Crown black, divided lengthways by a yellowish white band; a streak of the same colour over the eye; upper parts mottled with black and chestnut-brown; greater wing-coverts tipped with white; under parts whitish, spotted and barred with black. Length, twelve inches.

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The great, or solitary snipe, sometimes called the double snipe, resembles the common snipe in form and colouring, and in size is intermediate between that species and the woodcock. This species, described in the B.O.U. official list as a ‘straggler,’ hardly comes within the scope of the present work. But although a straggler, it comes regularly, appearing in the eastern and southern counties from the middle of August to the middle of October. These visitors are young birds, and few in number, and as they do not revisit us in spring, it may be assumed that they perish in their winter wanderings--the usual fate of stragglers from the migrating route of the species, or race. The fact that young birds in very many cases migrate in advance of the adults, that they keep to the same lines, and often journey vast distances, clearly shows that migration is performed instinctively. We may call the principle of action in this case crystallised experience, or inherited or historical knowledge, or lapsed intelligence, or by any other pretty name; but it is not ordinary intelligence--the guiding faculty that observes, considers, and profits by experience. And it is possible to believe that the young of the great snipe, when visiting Great Britain in the autumn, are going back to an ancient route abandoned by the species, perhaps thousands of years ago, on account of physical changes in the earth’s surface, or of a change in the system of the bird itself.

Common Snipe.

Gallinago cælestis.

Upper plumage mottled black and chestnut-brown; flanks barred with white and dusky; under parts white. Length, ten inches and a half.

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The common snipe, like the woodcock, breeds in limited numbers throughout the British Islands. But the woodcock nests in woods, and, owing to the increase of plantations, the bird as a breeding species has increased with us. Just the contrary has happened with the snipe. He is a breeder in marshes, fens, and low, wet grounds, and as drainage and cultivation deprive him of suitable localities to nest in, he diminishes in numbers. Most of the birds that winter in our islands are migrants from Scandinavia; they come in October and November, and remain until March. During the winter months they are often compelled by changes in the weather to shift their feeding-grounds, and intense cold is very fatal to them. Their soft, sensitive bills must have a soft soil to probe in, and frost cuts off their food-supply. When approached, the snipe seeks to avoid observation by crouching close to the earth, where its mottled upper plumage fits in well with the colour of the boggy or wet ground; on taking wing it rushes upwards with a violent zigzag flight, uttering at the same time a sharp, scraping cry, two or three times repeated. Late in March or early in April the snipes pair, and it is then that the males begin to practise their curious aërial exercises, familiar to anyone who observes wild bird life, and about which so much has been said by ornithologists. The performance takes place at all hours of the day, but chiefly towards evening, the bird rising to an immense height in the air, and precipitating himself downwards with astonishing violence, producing in his descent the peculiar sound variously described as drumming, bleating, scythe-whetting, and neighing. From this sound the snipe has been named in some districts ‘moor-lamb’ and ‘heather-bleater.’ As to how the sound is produced opinions differ still, although the question has been discussed for over a century. Probably it is in part vocal and partly produced by the wing-feathers.

The snipe makes a very slight nest of a few dried grass leaves and stalks, placed among rushes or by the side of a tussock of coarse grass. Four eggs are laid, yellowish or greenish white, the larger end spotted with various shades of brown. The female hatches the eggs without assistance from her mate, who continues his play in the air at intervals every day until the young are out. Two broods are sometimes reared in the season.

Jack-Snipe.

Limnocryptes gallinula.

Upper parts mottled with buff, reddish brown, and black, the latter exhibiting green and purple reflections; neck and breast spotted; belly white. Length, eight inches.

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The small jack-snipe is exclusively a winter visitor to this country, never remaining to breed. It comes at the end of September and in October, and is found generally distributed in Great Britain and Ireland, but in less numbers than the common snipe. In its habits it is more solitary than that species, and sits closer, often refusing to rise until almost trodden upon; and when it flies it utters no alarm-note. In April it leaves us, after assuming its summer plumage, glossed with beautiful colours. In its breeding-haunts in northern Europe and beyond the arctic circle the male has an aërial performance similar to that of the common snipe, but the sound produced by the bird in descending is different, and has been compared by Wolley to ‘the cantering of a horse over a hard, hollow road; it comes in fours, with a similar cadence and a like clear yet hollow sound.’ It makes its slight nest on the low ground, and lays four eggs, very large for the bird, of a yellowish olive colour, spotted and streaked with brown.

Dunlin.

Tringa alpina.

Crown rufous streaked with black; mantle chestnut variegated with black; rest of upper parts grey; throat and upper breast greyish white and striped; lower breast black; belly white. The female is the largest, and measures eight inches. The winter plumage is chiefly grey on the upper parts; the under parts white with a greyish band on the lower breast.

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[Illustration: FIG. 102.--DUNLIN (summer plumage). ¼ natural size.]

The dunlin is by far the most abundant sandpiper on our coasts during the autumnal and vernal migrations; a considerable number of birds remain throughout the winter, and non-breeders or immature birds are to be met with in summer on the sandbanks and mud flats. The dunlin also breeds in this country, on moors and fells, in the wilder portions of England, Wales, and Scotland, and, in smaller numbers, in Ireland. In autumn they often congregate in such large numbers that a cloud of dunlins is on many parts of the coast as familiar a sight as is a cloud of starlings in more inland districts. The well-known and esteemed writer known as ‘A Son of the Marshes’ thus vividly describes the variable appearance of a vast flock of these birds on the wing: ‘In the distance something is coming up ... that looks like the smoke from the funnel of a steamer; it waves and streams as smoke will do in a rush of wind. Now the smoke has vanished. Again it shows thick, as at first, and then it breaks up in patches. Presently the dark cloud becomes a light one--a great flash of silver. It consists of dunlins coming up the wind at full speed. We can hear the rush of the thousands of wings, and their soft chatter, some time before they reach us. Now they are here; with a humming roar they pass below us up the creek; shoot up, showing black and white as they turn; dive down into the creek again; pass us, and take a sweep over the snow, where they are invisible, for their white under plumage, caused by the turn, is in the light. Another turn, and the dark cloud is passing over the snow and into the creek. One turn more, and we see the cloud of dunlins drop below us on the slub--a vast host of living silver dots moving rapidly over the dark brown mud and grey ooze. As they throw their wings up, as they flirt up from one spot to another, all busy chattering, and dibbling, now here, now there--for we can see all their actions, so close are they to us--I thought that it was one of the most interesting sights I had been privileged to witness.’

At the end of April the great body of dunlins forsake our coasts, going north to breed; those that remain to breed in the British Islands withdraw to the loneliest moors and fells, the summer haunts of the curlew and golden plover. On this account the dunlins are called ‘plovers’ pages’ in some districts.

The language of the dunlin differs from that of most of the sandpipers, being hoarse and somewhat grating; but in spring, on the moors, the male has an agreeable trilling love-call, uttered in the air, or as the bird descends to earth with set, motionless wings and expanded tail.

A slight nest is made on the ground among the heather, and four eggs are laid, greenish white, spotted and blotched with reddish brown.

The great difference in the summer and winter plumage of the dunlin caused it to be regarded formerly, by most persons, as two distinct species: in the chestnut-and-black plumage it was the dunlin; in white-and-grey, the purre. Other local names for this species are stint, ox-bird, and sea-snipe.

Little Stint.

Tringa minuta.

Upper parts variegated with rufous and black; throat and upper breast tinged with rufous and speckled with dark brown; under parts white; bill and feet black. Length, six inches. In winter the upper parts are ashy brown, and there is no rufous on the throat.

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This diminutive sandpiper, no larger than a house-sparrow, and in appearance a miniature dunlin, is the least of its order in the British Islands. It comes to us only during the autumn and spring migrations, but in small numbers, as the British coasts lie a little outside of its main lines of travel. It makes its appearance in August, chiefly on the east side of Great Britain, and is gone by October; in May it reappears, to stay till June, when it resumes its journey northwards. Its known breeding-places are in Northern Norway and Siberia, north of the arctic circle. The eggs are four in number, of the same length as those of the song-thrush, in colour and markings like dunlins’ eggs. The note of this species is described in Yarrell as a ‘whispering, warbling trill, very different from the louder call of the dunlin; ... and the call of a flock is something like the confused chirping of grasshoppers or crickets.’

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Temminck’s stint (_Tringa temmincki_) is a visitor on migration to the coasts of Great Britain, but is less regular, and appears in smaller numbers than the little stint, which it resembles in size and colour.

Curlew-Sandpiper.

Tringa subarquata.

Head, neck, and mantle chestnut, streaked and barred with black and grey; upper tail-coverts white tinged with buff and barred with black; quills and tail-feathers ash-grey; under parts chestnut-red, slightly barred with brown and grey on the belly and flanks. Length, eight inches. In winter the upper parts are ash-brown, mottled with darker and paler brown; breast paler; under parts and upper tail-coverts white.

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This species derives its name from the form of the bill, which is curved downwards, as in the curlew; pigmy curlew is one of its common names. It is an annual visitor on migration to this country, on the east side chiefly, and occasionally penetrates to inland waters. It associates with dunlins on the sand and mud flats, and resembles that species in its feeding habits, but when flying may be easily distinguished by its conspicuous white tail-coverts. On its return from its breeding-grounds it remains on our coasts from August to October. From its winter haunts in the south it begins to arrive at the end of March, the migration continuing until June. At this season the birds are in their full summer dress, which resembles that of the knot. The bird is, Seebohm writes, ‘a miniature knot with a long, decurved bill.’ Its breeding-grounds have not yet been discovered.

Purple Sandpiper.

Tringa striata.

Head and neck dusky brown tinged with grey; upper parts nearly black, with purple reflections; the feathers edged with ash; throat, neck, and breast greyish; below, white; legs and feet ochre-yellow. Length, eight and a quarter inches. In winter the upper parts are sooty and the breast dark ash-brown, with faint lines and mottlings.

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The purple sandpiper is an inhabitant of the British coasts in autumn and winter, and is occasionally seen associating with dunlins on the sand and mud flats, and may readily be distinguished by its darker colour and its lumpier figure, caused by the thickness of its winter plumage. But its favourite haunts are rocky shores, where it feeds among the stranded seaweed on marine insects, small shrimps, and other crustaceans. It is, in fact, a sandpiper with the feeding habits of the turnstone. It is known to breed on the Faröes, where it nests on the fells and mountains and lays four eggs, pale green or olive, blotched with reddish brown, with purplish under-markings. Its eggs have never been found within the British Islands, but it is probable that a few pairs breed annually on some of the islands and on the mainland of Scotland. In its summer haunts in the arctic regions it is said to be the most abundant sandpiper. With us it is not a common species, and is seen in small flocks of half a dozen to a dozen birds.

Knot.

Tringa canutus.

Crown and neck reddish brown with darker streaks; mantle blackish; the feathers spotted with chestnut and margined with white; tail-coverts white barred with black; cheeks, throat, and breast chestnut. Length, ten inches. In winter the upper parts are ash-grey and the under parts white flecked with grey.

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[Illustration: FIG. 103.--KNOT. ¼ natural size.]

This richly coloured and pretty sandpiper with a strange name is one of two species in this order of birds of which the eggs are not known to ornithologists, or do not exist in collections. It is a regular visitor to the British coasts on migration in August, but many birds remain in this country until the following May. In some seasons they are very abundant, especially on the north-east coast of England; and in former times they were esteemed a great delicacy, and were netted in large numbers, to be fattened, like dotterels and ruffs and reeves, on bread-and-milk for the table. According to Camden (‘Britannia,’ 1607), the bird was named after King Canute on account of his excessive fondness for its flesh. Drayton, adopting this explanation of the name, wrote in his ‘Polyolbion’:

The _Knot_ that called was _Canutus_ Bird of old, Of that great King of _Danes_, his name that still doth hold, His apetite to please, that farre and neare was sought, For him (as some have sayd) from Denmark, hither brought.

It is possible that the Danish king introduced the taste for the knot, which lasted down to the end of the seventeenth century.

As long ago as 1820 the knot was found breeding in the Melville Islands (lat. 80°), and later, at various times, in other arctic localities, but in no case were the eggs preserved. During the pairing-time the birds toy with each other in the air, the male uttering a sweet, fluting whistle. On our coasts they are very gregarious, feeding on the extensive mud-flats in large flocks. It has been observed that the young birds that come in advance of the adults in August are strangely tame in disposition. In May, when the return migration to their arctic breeding-grounds takes place, the birds that arrive on our shores from the south have their rich nuptial colours fully developed.

Ruff and Reeve.

Machetes pugnax.

[Illustration: FIG. 104.--RUFF AND REEVE. ⅐ natural size.]

The male in spring dress has the face covered with yellowish caruncles; a tuft of long feathers on each side of the head; throat furnished with a shield-like ruff of feathers; general plumage mottled with ash, black, brown, yellowish, and white, the ornamental feathers being differently coloured in almost every individual. In his winter plumage the male has the face feathered, and is without the ruff and ear-like tufts; under parts pale buff. Length, twelve inches. The female, or reeve, is a third smaller than the male, and in colour resembles the male in his winter dress.

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If by chance the reader has seen in some museum or collection a group of ruffs in full breeding-plumage, displaying their immense, shield-like ruffs of many colours, their beauty, singularity, and wonderful variety must have astonished him. The curious feather ornament is similar in form in all the birds, but the colour varies infinitely, and it is hard to find two birds exactly alike. In some individuals it is entirely white, in others intense purple-black, and between these two extremes numberless varieties are found--buffs, reds, chestnuts, browns of many shades, and mottled black or brown and white, often beautifully streaked, or barred, or spotted, or delicately vermiculated. But, alas! these dead, stuffed birds, standing immovable by means of wire frames--a burlesque on the wonderful living creatures--are the only ruffs he is ever likely to see, since this bird, as a breeding species, has now been extirpated in England. On migration in autumn and spring it still visits our coasts, but in small numbers, and probably not very regularly. These visitors, or stragglers, are without the wonderful feather ornaments, which are nuptial, and assumed about the middle of May, to be worn only for about six weeks.

The ruff is polygamous; and in spring the birds have the habit of meeting on some small dry spot, or hillock, in a marsh to show off and fight for the possession of the females, or reeves. When engaging in combat the birds stand face to face, like fighting-cocks, their great feather shields erected, and thrust at each other with their long beaks. These combats usually take place early in the morning; and formerly, when the birds were abundant, the marshmen made it their business to find the hillocks used by the birds, and set horsehair nooses on them. The birds taken were fattened for the market, and it was owing to this system of persecution during the breeding season that the ruffs were reduced to a mere remnant; and the remnant has since been destroyed by collectors. In Lincolnshire the ruffs and reeves finally ceased to breed in 1882; in Norfolk the last few pairs of the once numerous British race lingered on until within the last three or four years.

Sanderling.

Calidris arenaria.

[Illustration: FIG. 105.--SANDERLING (winter plumage). ¼ natural size.]

Feathers of the upper parts with dark brown centres, edged or spotted with rufous and tipped with grey; base of inner primaries and edge of greater wing-coverts white, and outer feathers of tail-coverts also white; face, neck, and upper breast pale chestnut spotted with dark brown; under parts white; bill black; legs and feet dark olive. Length, eight inches. In winter the upper plumage is ash-grey and the whole under parts white.

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