Part 9

(Botaurus stellaris)

Before drainage and cultivation had driven away so many of the marsh-haunting birds, the boom of the bittern was a familiar sound to the dwellers in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, and this handsome bird regularly nested not only in those districts, but in the Norfolk Broads, as well as in many other counties possessing situations suitable to its habits. Indeed nests were taken now and then up to the middle of last century, and even later; but at the present day the bittern is nothing more than a casual visitor to the British Islands, in fact, so rare have its visits become, that they are generally considered worthy of special record.

A near relative of the heron, the bittern does not expose itself in the open after the fashion of that species, but skulks amid the shelter of reeds and flags, where its presence is made known only by the ordinary raven-like croak, or the loud booming of the male in the breeding-season. From this habit the bittern derives its German name of rohrdommel; and with such surroundings its mottled plumage of light and dark brown mingled with black is designed to harmonise, as is also in all probability the greenish hue of its long, spear-like beak, so admirably adapted to seize and hold the unwary fish or frog that may come within striking distance.

As this resemblance between the plumage of the bittern and its inanimate surroundings is sufficiently apparent from the accompanying Plate, it will be unnecessary to attempt any description of its colouring. It is, however, important to mention that the bird appears to be in the habit of increasing the protective power of its mottled livery, by assuming, probably under the influence of alarm, a statuesque position amid the reeds, with the body held as erect as possible, the neck stretched to its fullest extent, and the head and beak pointing skywards. In this posture it is stated, by those who have had the good fortune to see it, to be almost invisible amid the upright brown stems of reeds and bulrushes.

The range of the bittern is very extensive, including the whole of temperate Europe, northern Africa, and the greater portion of Asia lying between the Himalaya and the Arctic Circle, as well as north-western India and Burma. In South Africa its place is taken by another species, a third kind inhabits Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand, while a fourth is a native of North and Central America, and a fifth is indigenous to tropical South America. The distribution of the group is thus almost cosmopolitan, if we except most of the tropical zone of the Old World; and all the five species are closely related.

In Europe at the present day bitterns are still common in Spain, Holland, many parts of France and Germany, and the swamps of the Danube and Volga. It should be added that in Africa, India, and Burma the species occurs only in winter, being to some extent migratory in its habits.

These shy birds associate in pairs, but in migration time collect in parties previous to setting out on their travels. The nest, which is built of reeds and flags, and lined with grass, is well concealed among the brake in which the pair have taken up their residence, and may be a floating structure. The eggs, which are from three to five in number and greenish blue in colour, are incubated solely by the hen, who is supplied with food by her mate. The chicks remain in the nest until fully fledged, and display extraordinary cleverness in making their way among the reeds.

Little comes amiss to the bittern in the way of food, so long as it is of an animal nature; and its appetite is so great, that it is on the hunt for prey from sunrise till sunset. Water-rats, field-mice, birds of all kinds, fish, especially those inhabiting muddy water, snakes, lizards, leeches, worms, and insects and their larvæ are alike devoured by these voracious birds.

The usual cry of the bittern is, as already mentioned, a hoarse, raven-like croak; and it is only during the breeding-season that the male utters the resounding boom, which has been compared to the bellowing of a bull, and on a still night may be heard at a distance of a mile or more. How this wonderful sound is produced is not yet definitely known.

A wounded bittern is most dangerous to approach, as it will strike with unerring aim at the eye of the gunner who approaches to seize it; and the formidable beak is likewise employed, and generally with success, to repel the attack of any fox bold enough to approach its owner.

It should be added that during the hot summer of 1911 a pair of bitterns bred in the old Norfolk haunts of the species.

THE KAFIR CROWNED CRANE

(Balearica chrysopelargus)

The crowned cranes of Africa, of which there are three species, constituting by themselves an exclusively African genus, are some of the handsomest members of a beautiful and stately group of birds; the fan-like array of bristly feathers on the head, which constitutes the so-called “crown,” conferring on these cranes a regal appearance which is lacking in their smooth-headed relatives.

Of the three species, one (Balearica pavonina) is a native of north-eastern Africa, ranging southwards into West and Equatorial Africa; the second, forming the subject of the accompanying Plate and sometimes known as B. regulorum instead of by the designation here used, is a southern bird, ranging from the Cape to the Zambesi and Loanza valleys; while the third (B. gibbericeps) hails from East Africa.

As regards the distinctive features of these three cranes, the northern species is greenish black above and dark grey below, with most of the feathers of the sharply pointed lanceolate type; the neck is delicate pearl-grey; the secondary quills are chestnut, and the wing-coverts partly white and yellow; the twisted bristly feathers forming the crown are yellow and white with black tips; a bare area on each side of the face is white above and pink below; and black down clothes the throat. This species has a very small wattle on the throat; but in the Kafir crane this wattle, as shown in the Plate, is much larger and mainly red in colour. The southern species is further characterised by the greyer tone of the plumage of the upper-parts, and the white cheek-patch, with only a margin of crimson above. In the East African B. gibbericeps this cheek-patch becomes much larger than in either of the other two species, extending backwards nearly to the nape of the neck.

The carriage of these handsome, well-built birds is upright; while their gait, when they are walking with measured steps, is calm and stately. These birds can, however, run with great speed, so fast indeed that a man can keep up with them only with difficulty. The flight is heavy and slow, with powerful, measured strokes of the wings, and the neck and legs stretched out. The crest, or crown, is at the same time depressed. When in flight, a party of cranes always arrange themselves in wedge-shaped form in order to cleave their passage through the air with the least possible resistance; a very powerful bird taking up the position at the apex of the triangle. As in all cranes, the cry is very loud and resounding; its piercing, trumpet-like notes being due to the complicated structure of the windpipe, which is arranged in coils, and consists of more than three hundred bony rings.

The food of these cranes consists chiefly of various kinds of grain and other seeds, among which those of durrha or Kafir millet form the largest portion. The seed-spikes of grass, buds of trees, and fruits, as well as a certain proportion of insects, are, however, also devoured by these birds.

Very curious are the attitudes assumed by these handsome birds, especially when they are surprised or under the influence of excitement. On such occasions they place themselves in wonderful postures, bending their bodies up and down, spreading out their wings, and then joining their fellows in a dance, during which they often spring a yard high in the air, while all the time their feet are alternately lifted and put down in regular rhythm.

The daily life of the crowned crane displays great uniformity. At sunrise the whole flock flies out into the veldt, where its members search for food at least a couple of hours; then they proceed to the water to drink, and spend the day in digesting their morning’s meal. Their favourite resort for the day is a sandbank far out in a river, where they can stand and preen their feathers or doze without fear of interruption. At evening the flock returns to its sleeping-quarters in the forest.

All the graceful habits of these cranes can be studied in Europe, where the birds flourish in confinement, if given sufficient room. In captivity they soon learn to associate with the human beings and animals with whom they are brought into contact, and are specially keen in discriminating between those who treat them well and those who dislike their companionship. These cranes are also to be met with in every Kafir village, while they are likewise frequently tamed by the European settlers in both South and East Africa.

In Europe the group is represented by the ordinary grey crane (Grus cinerea) and the elegant demoiselle crane (G. virgo), both of which lack the crests of their crowned relatives.

It will be observed that in this notice the name “Kafir” is spelt with one f; this being the proper orthography, as the word is the Arabic “Kafir,” an unbeliever, this being exemplified in the name “Kafiristan,” the land of infidels.

THE SILVER GULL

(Larus argentatus)

In its adult plumage, with the snow-white head, neck, and under-parts, the delicate French grey back and wings, and the white-spotted black tips to the larger flight-feathers, the silver gull, or herring-gull, as it is more commonly called, is one of the most beautiful members of a lovely tribe of birds. Indeed, whether swimming calmly on the surface of the sea, or skimming over the crests of the waves borne on their long and powerful pinions, and every now and then plunging into the water to seize a fish or some floating morsel of food, gulls in general are some of the most elegant and graceful of all birds, their delicate colouring, in which grey and white, relieved to a greater or less extent by black or chocolate, generally predominate, thus giving a refinement to their whole appearance which is wanting in many birds of brilliant plumage. Were it not that their cries, their tempers, and their habits are by no means angelic, gulls might well have been selected as emblems of the angels.

The white and pale grey plumage, replaced in a few species by a wholly white or cream-coloured livery, is, however, developed only in the adults; birds of the year having the back and wings thickly mottled with brown and dark grey, and the tail black, while the head and neck are wholly brown; the beak, moreover, in the species forming the subject of the Plate, being black instead of orange. From this we learn that gulls are descended from birds with relatively dark plumage, which may perhaps have been dwellers on the land; and if this be so, these beautiful birds evidently acquired their present type of colouring only when they took to a life on the ocean wave. In any case, the pale livery of the adult gull must be regarded as a special adaptation to its mode of life; such a garb being the one which harmonises best with the foam-flecked waves of the waste of waters.

The herring-gull closely resembles in colouring the common gull (Larus canus), and like that species is abundant on the British coasts, or, for that matter, on the Thames at London Bridge or the ornamental water in St. James’s Park in winter. It is, however, a much larger bird, attaining a length of about 22 inches in the case of adult males.