Scandinavia, and it should be noted that this species
only ranges eastward from that country to about
Persia, though it breeds throughout Europe, in north
Africa, Madeira, and the Azores. It does not reach
Iceland, the Faeroes, or Shetland in summer. The
bird's strong rapid flight, its cooing note, its habit of
clapping the wings over the back when excited, and its
frail stick nest with two shining white eggs need no
comment, but it may not be so well known that the
food is of the most varied description, though always
Columbce 165
of a vegetable nature. Grain, peas, beans, leaves and
bulbs of turnips, and seeds may be mentioned in
particular. Breeding takes place early and late, three
broods being not uncommonly reared in a season. The
colours are compared with those of the next two species
under the head of the Rock-dove.
The Stock-dove (C. cenas), often shot and sold in
shops as the "Blue Rock," has spread enormously in
Britain during the last thirty or forty years. It was
hardly known to breed as far north as the Border
country before 1875, where the first nest was located
in Scotland in 1877, but now it is locally common to
the extreme north of the mainland and in Ireland. In
wooded districts the bird breeds in hollow trees, but it
often prefers rabbits' holes on warrens or sea-side links,
though trees may be plentiful close at hand. There is
generally some attempt at a nest, while the two eggs
are of a somewhat yellower white than those of the
Ring-dove. The voice is softer than that of its con-
gener, the flight is lighter, the food is the same, as is
the foreign range, except that it reaches to central
Asia and does not include the Atlantic Islands.
The Rock-dove (C. lima] certainly breeds on the
western shores of England and Wales, in Ireland,
the north and west of Scotland, and especially the
islands up to Shetland ; but whether our southern and
eastern birds, even at Plamborough and St Abb's
Head, are not escaped dovecot Pigeons must always
remain somewhat uncertain. Those found inland are
undoubtedly so. Abroad, however, this species occurs
locally in the interior of Europe as well as on the
coasts, breeding from the Faeroes, Scandinavia, and
other northern countries to the Mediterranean basin
166
Order IX
and the Canaries. The range also extends over
western Asia and north India, but complications arise
from the presence of nearly allied species in those
regions. A bird of the cliffs and caves, where it makes
its nest, the Rock-dove passes a little inland to feed,
its general habits being those of the Stock-dove. Our
Rock-Dove
three Pigeons are easily distinguished ; all are greyish
blue with green and purple reflexions on the neck, but
the Wood-pigeon and Stock-dove have a much more
wine-coloured breast, and the former of these has white
on the wings and sides of the neck. The latter has
broken bars of black on the wing and shews no white
anywhere; the Rock-dove has a white rump and two
Cohtmbce 167
distinct black wing-bars. All have a blackish tip to
the tail ; in all the sexes are similar.
The Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur) has been grad-
ually extending its range in our islands to the north-
ward, and now breeds sparingly up to the Borderland.
It is very abundant in our eastern counties and fairly
plentiful on the west, arriving in very late April or
May and leaving about September. It flies quickly
for moderate distances, has a coo which sounds in the
distance like the purring of a cat, and feeds upon grain,
peas, seeds of weeds, and the like. After breeding
it flocks to the stubbles. The nest is very slight and
generally to be found in hedges, bushes, or low trees;
the eggs are often more pointed than is usual in the
Family and slightly cream-coloured. The bird itself is
in both sexes brown with greyer head, neck, and rump ;
the lower parts are wine-coloured, the tip of the tail,
very conspicuous in flight, is white, and there is a patch
of black feathers tipped with white on each side of the
neck. On migration the Turtle-dove has even occurred
in Shetland and Lapland, but it normally breeds from
about the Baltic to Turkestan as well as to the south
of Europe, Madeira, the Canaries and Egypt. Its range
overlaps that of other similar species, such as the Asiatic
Turtle-dove, well known to us as a cage-bird.
ORDER X. PTBROCLBTES
The desert-loving forms included in this Order were
once thought to be very closely akin to Grouse, and
are certainly connected with them, but it now appears
that they come nearer to the Pigeons and the Plover
tribe. They have a short arched bill and short feet,
with toes which, in the only British species, are almost
168 Order X
joined and cased with hairy feathering, the hind-toe
being here absent ; long pointed wings and long tail,
the outer wing-feather on each side and the two central
tail-feathers being elongated into thin points ; a large
crop ; and downy young, which run from the shell.
They walk well, and fly swiftly after the manner of Golden
Plover, while it is a remarkable fact that an Asiatic
species alone visits us, and not one of its southern allies.
Family PTEROCLID^B, or Sand-grouse
To all lovers of birds Pallas's Sand-grouse (Syr-
rhaptes paradoxus) affords one of the most curious cases
of irregular migration. Usually it moves only to short
distances from its summer quarters on the barren
steppes of central Asia, but for some unknown reason,
at intervals of many years, it makes incursions in huge
numbers to western Europe. Small irruptions took
place in 1859, 1872, and 1876, but the main instances
were in 1863 and 1888. On both of these occasions
the birds reached us in May, and on the second a special
law was passed to protect them ; but they all dis-
appeared, with a few exceptions, before the following
spring. No eggs were obtained nearer than Holland
and Denmark in 1863, but in 1888 two sets were found
in Yorkshire, while a nestling was picked up on the
Culbin Sands near Nairn in Scotland by a keeper, who
discovered another in 1889. This incursion finally
reached the extreme west of Ireland. The flight of
this Sand-grouse resembles that of the Golden Plover,
being fast but often circling ; the birds customarily
scrape out holes in which they sit like barndoor fowls,
and then rise unwillingly ; sandy districts naturally
attract them most. The note is of a clucking nature,
Pterodetes 169
the food of various seeds and insects. The three eggs,
deposited without any nest, are yellowish buff with
purplish brown spots and blotches. The male is a
black and buff bird, with grey head, wing-quills, and
tail, the central feathers of the last being greatly pro-
longed ; the throat is rust-coloured, while the breast
and belly are transversely marked with black. The
female has the head like the back and a black stripe
across the throat.
ORDER XI. GALLING
We have now arrived at the very large group which
contains the Grouse, Pheasant and Partridge alliance,
besides our domestic fowls and many splendid foreign
birds, of which the Peacock is best known to the
multitude. The head is comparatively small, with "a
short stout curved bill; the feet are powerful and vary
in length, but in British forms the hind-toe is always
elevated ; the front toes are feathered in the Ptarmigan
and Red Grouse, as is the whole foot in Grouse generally.
Spurs, from one to three pairs, are not uncommon ;
combs, wattles and bare skin on the cheeks or round
or above the eye are prominent features of many species.
In Grouse the bare red skin round the eye is pimply.
The wings are generally rounded ; the tail varies greatly,
as may be seen in the case of Pheasants, Partridges
and Fowls, while it is called vaulted in the last-named.
All the members of the Order possess a crop, and the
downy young run at once and soon learn to fly.
Family TETRAONID.ZEi, or Grouse
The Sand-grouse is, as we have seen, a Grouse only
in name, but we have four representatives of the
170 Order XI
Family in this country, the Capercaillie or Wood-grouse,
the Black Grouse, the Red Grouse, and the Ptarmigan.
The Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) used to breed in
ancient times in all four divisions of the realm, but
finally became extinct in Scotland before the year 1800.
In 1837, however, it was reintroduced to the Loch Tay
district, and is now common in many parts of central
Hen Capercaillie
Scotland, and has spread past the Grampians to Ross-
shire as well as southward to Wigtonshire. Scandi-
navia and Russia are its great strongholds, but it is
found on the great southern ranges of Europe and
across Siberia to Lake Baikal. This magnificent game-
bird, which seems even bigger than it is when it falls
to the gun, is, in the male, blackish grey above and
Gallince 171
pure black below with green-glossed chest ; it has
a heavy and deceptive flight, much swifter than it
appears, though when the young have just left the
nest the cock is content to move from branch to
branch near the ground and act in company with the
hen as guardian. The six or more eggs are deposited
in a hollow scraped in the ground under shelter of
a bush or log or at the base of a tree; they are
yellowish with small close-set orange markings or
blotches. The food consists mainly of Scotch-fir shoots
and berries, and in part of worms and insects, so that
conifer woods are necessary to the bird's well-being. The
cock is polygamous and in spring performs antics before
the hen, which Scandinavians call his " lek " or " spel ";
these he accompanies by hoarse noises slightly remi-
niscent of similar sounds made by Pigeons. The hen
is mottled with brown, buff, and white, the breast being
of a brighter buff.
The Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) may be shortly
passed over, as the habits are much as in the last
species. The colour, however, is black throughout,
except for the white wing-bar and coverts under the
widely forked tail, the female being red-brown with
black markings. This species eschews thick woods,
but loves bracken-covered slopes and rough damp
country of many descriptions ; it eats insects, berries,
seeds, and buds of various plants and does not restrict
itself to fir-shoots ; at harvest-time it cannot be kept
away from the corn "stocks " in the fields, if any be
near. In spring it utters a softer note than the Wood-
grouse, and when sitting in a tree, as it often does,
gives a still better imitation of a Pigeon's coo. The
scanty nest is in heather or rough herbage ; the eggs
172
Order XI
are similar to those of the Capercaillie, but smaller.
Hybrids of the two are occasionally found. Our form
is said to be peculiar to Britain. The typical form
occurs only in Europe.
The Red Grouse (Lag opus scoticus), our familiar
red-brown game-bird, which is not uncommonly much
Red Grouse
blacker or more varied with white than the most
typical specimens, is what is termed " endemic," that
is to say confined to this country. Its moorland
haunts are known to us all, and in its choice of a
residence it thus differs from the Willow Grouse of the
north of the Old World, which is more partial to
Gallince 173
scrubby localities. Yet it sometimes perches on trees,
as that bird constantly does, while many persons
consider them as merely different races of one and
the same species. The flight is very powerful, as
sportsmen know to their cost, and after breeding
Grouse are accustomed to gather in packs; the food
consists mainly of the tips or tender shoots of ling
(Calluna), which must therefore be regularly burnt to
ensure a constant supply of young growth. Otherwise
moors become " diseased." The diet is varied by
berries and seeds, especially, it appears, those of the
moor-rush (Juncus squarrosus). The alarm -note of the
male, " cok, cok," his " crow," and the hoarser call
of the female are matters of common knowledge to
those who visit our moors in Scotland, Ireland, Wales,
England north of Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Stafford-
shire. In Shetland, Surrey, Norfolk, and Suffolk the
bird has been introduced, but with little success except
in Suffolk near Mildenhall. Abroad the same may be
said of south Sweden and the west German frontier.
The nest, nearly always built in heather, is of the
slightest description ; the eight or more eggs are
yellowish with blackish, reddish, or purplish markings,
and are often very beautiful. In the Red Grouse, the
hen-bird is smaller and distinctly yellower, but in its
congener the Ptarmigan (L. mutus) the sexes are very
different. The cock in summer is grey and brown
with black lores and tail, the tip of the latter and the
belly being white. The hen is reddish buff with black
markings. But the wings in both are white, and the
birds turn entirely white in winter, except for the
tail and lores. The Willow Grouse does the same, but
has even the lores white. Moreover the Ptarmigan has
174 Order XI
a third or autumn dress. In south-west Scotland, and
possibly in the English Lake district, this species used
once to be found; now it is confined to the higher
Scottish mountains, for it is always an inhabitant of
stony hill- tops, which it only leaves for somewhat lower
altitudes in time of snow. On these stony slopes or
flats it lays eight or more eggs, generally redder than
those of its congener, with little if any nest, and there
the birds pack after breeding. In similar spots the
Ptarmigan is found from Scandinavia to the Urals,
as well as in the Pyrenees, Alps, and the mountains
of Austria; but in Spitsbergen a larger species takes
its place, while in Iceland, Greenland, and at lower
altitudes in Arctic America and north Asia still other
species occur. The croaking cry of the cock, as he
keeps watch near the sitting hen, is often the only
bird's note heard on the desolate wastes of stones ;
the flight is fairly strong and fast, and the food of the
same nature as in the Red Grouse, with a less pro-
portion of heather-shoots.
Family PHASIANIDJE, or Pheasants, Partridges
and Quails
We may spare ourselves the description of the
Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), which is to be seen in
every game-dealer's shop, but content ourselves with
remarking that the white collar, seldom absent from the
cock, is due to a cross with the Chinese ring-necked
species, and with calling attention to his brilliant
plumage as opposed to the brownish and comparatively
short-tailed hen. Many other kinds of Pheasants have
recently been introduced to Britain, but the typical
bird dates back to about the time of William the
Gallince 175
Conqueror, if not to an earlier period, when it is sup-
posed to have been brought from the river Phasis,
east of the Black Sea. Thence it only ranges eastward
to the Caspian and westward to Greece and Albania,
though many other species are found in the river
valleys of Asia, for Pheasants are naturally inclined
to damp or swampy localities. It is probably native
Pheasant
in south-east Europe. In Britain our birds occupy
the majority of the wooded districts, though less
plentiful in the north. The extremely rapid flight and
quick rise from the ground are characteristic, the crow
of the cock is heard throughout the land, and the
dozen or more olive eggs are probably known to most
of us. The nest is flat and scanty. The food, besides
artificial diet, consists of grain from stubbles, seeds,
176 Order XI
berries, leaves, snails, insects and their larvae, so that
from an economic point of view the Pheasant is as
beneficial to the farmer as it is important to those
who provide our food supplies. The same may be
said of that even commoner game-bird the Partridge
(Perdix perdix), which is native, except where it has
been introduced in the northern islands. It pairs
very early, and any low cover, thick or scanty, serves
to hold the flimsy nest, the eggs being much smaller
and lighter in colour than those of the Pheasant, and
often more in number. The coveys, which "pack"
into larger companies towards autumn, the voice, the
flight, and the methods of shooting the bird call for
no special notice here. The food resembles that of
the Pheasant. Rare in Scandinavia, the Partridge is
plentiful thence to central and eastern Europe, the
Tian Shan and Altai Mountains, while it occurs down to
north Spain and mid-Italy. All are familiar with its
coloration, but the sexes are troublesome to determine
unless adult; a safe guide, however, is to be found in
the wing-coverts, which have buff cross-bars in the
female and longitudinal stripes in the male.
The Red-legged or "French" Partridge (Caccabis
rufa) is now well established in eastern and southern
England, but does not seem inclined to spread to the
north, west, or even south-west. It was acclimatized
in our country about 1770, and is found in France,
Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, the Atlantic
and Balearic Islands, Elba, Corsica, and north-west
Italy. It will be wise, however, not to fix any precise
limits, as the African Barbary Partridge (C. petrosa)
and the more eastern C. saxatilis no doubt overlap
the range of the Red-legged Partridge in places. The
Gallince 177
flight is exceptionally strong and direct, and the note
more grating than that of the Common Partridge, but
the diet is similar. The eggs are larger and of a pale
Red-legged Partridge
yellowish colour with faint rufous spotting. As the
bird is a strong runner, sportsmen used to dislike its
presence, but in these days of driving with beaters
the objection has practically vanished, and the fable
E. B. 12
178 Order XL Gallince
of its harassing its kin is now but seldom heard. The
upper parts are bright brown, with grey crown and
chestnut tail ; the throat is white, the breast grey,
the flanks grey beautifully barred with chestnut and
black, the belly buff; a black gorget surrounds the
throat; the bill and feet are red.
In some seasons the Quail (Coturnix coturnix) is
much more abundant than in others, though, possibly
owing to the immense numbers killed on passage in
the south of Europe, it no longer breeds with us regu-
larly. Nests have, however, been found even in
Shetland, and the bird ranges from the Fseroes across
Europe and Asia, as well as to north Africa. In the
rest of Africa, the Atlantic Islands, Japan, and else-
where we meet with different forms, perhaps hardly to
be considered distinct species. When Quails were
plentiful in Britain, only a small proportion of them
were resident. In shape like a Partridge the male is
of a similar brown colour, but instead of a brown
" horse-shoe " on the breast has two brown bands on
the sides of the neck running down to a patch of
a blacker tint in front. The colours in the female are
less distinct, but she is bigger than the male, as is the
case in the allied foreign genus Turnix (Button-quail).
The habits agree with those of the Partridge, though
the nest, of the slightest description, is more often
among growing crops, while the eggs are whitish boldly
marked with brown. The triple note of the male is
very peculiar and can hardly be mistaken ; that of
the female is low and attracts little attention.
Order XII. Grallce 179
ORDER XII. GRALL.S!
Suborder Pulicariae
Family RALLID-SI, or Rails, Water-hens, and Coots
The members of this Suborder are skulking marsh-
birds, which have downy young that swim at once.
The bill is not very long and in Water-hens and Coots
develops into a naked plate or " shield " on the fore-
head ; the feet are long as a rule, while the lengthy
toes have a membranous edge in Water-hens, and
membranous lobes in Coots. The wings and tail are
comparatively short.
The Land-rail or Corn-crake (Crex crex), which
visits us in numbers between April and September,
and occasionally remains later, has for some unknown
reason decreased considerably in our eastern districts
during the last thirty years, though perhaps not else-
where. Fields of growing corn, grass, and clover,
rush-beds, and thickets of low gorse are its favourite
haunts, and there it lays some seven or eight dull
cream-coloured eggs with rusty red and lilac markings
hi a hole scraped in the soil, with a little lining. The
Land-rail is a ventriloquist and it is often difficult to
say whence its craking voice proceeds, while both sexes
are equally hard to flush ; the flight is slow and heavy,
the food more of worms, slugs, and insects than of
plants and seeds. This species, which is brown, lighter
below and with darker markings above, ranges over
northern and central Europe and Asia and migrates
far south.
The Water-rail (Eallus aquaticus) is a skulking
and silent species known to breed in many marshy
localities in England, southern Scotland, and Ireland,
122
180
Order XII
but specially in the sedge-beds of the Fens and Broads.
It is with us all the year, though its numbers are
increased from abroad in the cold season ; in summer
it ranges from the Arctic Circle in Europe and Asia to
north Africa and Turkestan. It is a darker bird than
the Land-rail and of a more olive colour, the cheeks
and under parts are bluish grey, the bill is red, and the
Water-rail on nest
flanks are heavily barred with black and white. The
food is of the same nature as that of the last species,
allowing for the aquatic habits, but the flight is more
feeble, while the spring cry resembles a groan, and is
called in Norfolk " sharming." The nest, placed in
very thick sedge, generally where there is standing
water, is made of the broad leaves of water plants
Grallw 181
reeds and so forth and contains about eight creamy
white eggs with lilac and red-brown spots and streaks.
The Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana) migrates to
us in March and generally leaves in the late autumn.
It used to breed commonly in East Anglia and sparingly
in the bogs of other parts of the kingdom, including
Ireland, Wales, and Scotland below the Caledonian
Canal, but now the discovery of a nest must be an
exceptional occurrence. The structure is smaller than
that of the Water-rail, but is built in similar places ;
the spots on the eggs are darker and by no means so
large, giving them an entirely different appearance.
The spring note is much clearer and less mournful ;
otherwise the habits of the two species are almost
identical. The male is brighter than the female, and
is olive-brown above with small white spots, the face
and throat being grey, the lower parts lighter with
broad dark stripes on the flanks. This Crake breeds
from mid-Scandinavia and Russia to the Mediterranean
southwards and west Asia eastwards.
The Little Crake (P. parva) belongs to the list of
irregular visitors, but must be mentioned here as having
been mistaken for Baillon's Crake (P. pusilla), though
it has practically no white spots above. Both are very
small as compared with our other Rails, and only visit
us in spring and autumn. Baillon's Crake, however,
has remained at least four times to breed in the eastern
counties, which is not astonishing, as it does so regularly
in Holland, Russia, France, Italy, and thence to South
Africa. Instances of the bird's occurrence are very rare
in Scotland and Ireland, and they are hardly more
frequent in England, no nests having been found since
1858 in Cambridgeshire and 1866 in Norfolk. The
182 Order XII
habits are even more retiring than those of the Spotted
Crake ; the flight, food, and cry are not dissimilar ;
but the nest is generally found near smaller pieces of
water, and the eggs resemble those of the Little Crake
in being yellowish brown with dark brown blotches
and streaks. The colour of the plumage above is brown
with small black and white spots, the cheeks and lower
Coot
parts are blue-grey, the flanks barred with black and
white.
The Moor-hen or Water-hen (Gallinula chloropus),
though it appears black, is really very dark brown
with equally dark grey lower surface ; the yellow bill
backed by a red plate on the forehead, the greenish
legs with their red " garters," and the white under
tail-coverts being other noticeable features. Except
Grallcv
183
in the Arctic regions, it breeds throughout Britain,
Continental Europe, Asia, and Africa, very closely
allied species occupying America, Australia, and certain
islands. The note is of a craking description, and is
most commonly heard towards dusk ; the flight is low
and laboured ; the food consists of insects and their
Coot's nest and eggs
larvae, worms, herbage, or grain in winter. These birds,
naturally shy, come out boldly to feed on grass-land
after rain or towards evening. The nest is a big flat