Part 15

After a tussle the hapless victim is carried off and impaled on a thorn near its captor's nest, to be eaten at a future time; it is these larders of impaled victims that have earned for him the name of Butcher Bird. Beetles, bees, and insects of all kinds are also included in his menu, and young half-fledged birds are considered a great delicacy.

The nest is a large and loose structure of twigs, roots, and moss; it is lined with hair and wool, and placed about eight or ten feet from the ground in a thick hawthorn hedge. The eggs are usually of a pale green colour, with a zone or band of olive brown mottlings round the larger end. In some districts a variety is found in which the ground colour is pinkish and the markings reddish brown. The Shrike has no song, but makes a great variety of harsh noises and chucklings as it sits on its post of vantage, bending down and flirting his tail at the same time. The call-note is a harsh "chack." Like the Swift, Cuckoo, and several other species, he does not stay with us long, but having reared his brood, the whole family wander south, and soon leave our shores.

The adult male has the crown, nape, and upper tail coverts grey; frontal band, lores, and ear coverts black; back chestnut; tail feathers black, all except the central pair with white bases; under parts rose buff.

The female has the upper parts brown, mantle rufous, with small narrow black crescentic bars on the feathers; under parts greyish white barred like the mantle. The young bird resembles the female, but is more barred. Length 7 in.; wing 3·7 in.

THE WOODCHAT Lanius pomeranus, Sparrman

Single examples of this species have from time to time visited the southern and eastern counties of England during migration, and possibly they may have nested on one or two occasions. It is a common and abundant breeding species in Southern and Central Europe, from whence it migrates in winter to tropical Africa.

The forehead, lores, ear coverts, and sides of the neck and back are black; crown of the head chestnut; scapulars white; wings blackish, primaries with white bases, secondaries and coverts tipped with white; and upper tail coverts grey turning to whitish; tail feathers black tipped with white; under parts whitish. The female is duller and tinged with rufous on the upper parts. Length 7·1 in.; wing 3·8 in.

THE MASKED SHRIKE Lanius nubicus, Licht.

This is a south-eastern species, one example of which was shot in Kent in July 1905.

It is a rather smaller bird than any of our other Shrikes. The upper parts are chiefly black; scapulars, speculum, and a band across the forehead white. Chin, throat, and under tail coverts white; flanks and breast ferruginous. Length 6·8 in.; wing 3·5 in.

THE WAXWING Ampelis garrulus, Linnæus

Breeding as far north as the limit of tree growth will allow, the Waxwing is only known in these islands as an irregular winter visitor. It migrates yearly to South-east France, Italy, and Turkey, and only under stress of weather do its migrations extend westwards, so as to include our islands. Its food consists chiefly of berries, though insects also form no insignificant part of its diet. When in these islands it will usually be found in plantations. It is a short thick-set bird, having a steady and rapid flight when on the wing. The general colour is greyish brown, and it has a flat and backwardly-directed crest that can be erected at will. The accompanying plate gives so good an idea of this bird, which has no affinities with any other species, that further description is unnecessary. The sexes are alike, but in the males the vermilion waxtips of the quill and tail feathers, to which it owes its popular name, are larger and more numerous.

In fully adult birds the yellow line of the outer vein of the primaries is continued on the inner vein, forming an arrow-shaped marking. Length 7·5 in.; wing 4·5 in.

THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER Muscicapa grisola, Linnæus

Dull in colour and lacking in vocal ability, this bird makes up for these deficiencies by his tameness and fascinating ways. It does not reach this country till early in May, while in backward seasons it is the end of that month before the main bulk of them have arrived at their summer quarters. It is common throughout these islands, nesting in gardens and woods, and feeds entirely on small insects, which are invariably captured on the wing. The nest, which is placed against a tree, in ivy near a wall, or frequently on the beam in a verandah or outhouse, is composed entirely of moss loosely felted together with cobwebs and lichens, and is lined with horsehair and a few feathers. The eggs are bluish, mottled and spotted with rusty red spots. From its quiet ways and unobtrusive plumage they often escape observation, even in the vicinity of the nest, on which the female sits very closely. The cock, however, may often be seen on his favourite perch, generally a dead bough, or some wire railings, from which he darts down constantly to seize some unfortunate insect that has attracted his attention, after which he immediately returns to his perch to wait for more. When the young are hatched his time is fully occupied in catering for their wants, and we may miss him, or only see him for shorter periods, as it becomes increasingly necessary for him to keep on the move and find his food instead of waiting until the unsuspecting prey comes to him.

In July and August, however, when family cares are over, we shall see a good deal of this species; both old and young chasing insects from various exposed perches, and announcing the successful capture by a telling snap of the bill. Towards the end of August, long before lack of food or storms toll the knell of departing summer, they start on their long journey to the south; we may not have taken much notice of them while they were with us, but their departure leaves a gap, and we then realise the part they played in the picture of a summer's garden.

The upper parts are tan brown, with dark streaks on the crown, and pale margins to the wing coverts. Under parts whitish, streaked on the throat, breast, and flanks with brown. The sexes are alike in plumage. The young are similar in colour to the parents, but spotted with buff. Length 5·8 in.; wing 3·3 in.

THE PIED FLYCATCHER Muscicapa atricapilla, Linnæus

Similar in habits but different in appearance, the Pied Flycatcher is much rarer and more local than the preceding species. Its breeding haunts are chiefly in the west, in Wales, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, though it has occasionally bred in other counties. As a migrant, however, it occurs regularly in the south and east, and, though not very numerous, a goodly number pass through the country, entering by the south coast and leaving again in the east from Norfolk northwards. A return migration takes place in August and September.

During these migrations it may, of course, be found in various kinds of country, but its breeding haunts are restricted to well-wooded spots, gardens, orchards, and the outskirts of woods.

The song is more elaborate than that of the Spotted Flycatcher, but it is by no means a great effort, and may be syllabled "tzit tzit tze trui trui trui!" several times repeated. The nest is always placed in some hole, usually in a tree, though exceptionally in the crevice of a wall; it is composed of bents and moss, and lined with feathers and hair. The eggs, sometimes numbering as many as nine, are of a uniform pale blue. Insects form its chief diet, but it is not so exclusive an insect-feeder as the preceding species, nor does it seize so much of its food on the wing, but frequently drops from its perch to pick a spider or other creeping thing from the ground.

In spring the male is black, with a white forehead and white outer margins to the secondaries. The under parts are white. The female has the upper parts olive brown, and those parts which are white in the male, rather buffish in tint. The young bird is spotted, but after the first moult it resembles the female, except that the wing patches in the male are more distinct. The young male assumes his full plumage at his first spring moult. Length 5 in.; wing 3·1 in.

THE RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER Muscicapa parva, Bechstein

This species is of irregular and local distribution in Eastern Europe as far west as certain portions of Germany and South-east France, and it is only a few stragglers, driven out of their course by adverse weather or carried along by a rush of other migrants, that reach our coast.

In size it resembles our common species of Flycatcher, but differs in coloration. The adult males are of a uniform greyish brown above, with ashy grey cheeks and with the chin and throat reddish orange. The females and young lack the ash grey on the head, and the reddish orange of the chin and breast is very much paler. Young males do not acquire the red breast for two or three years. The four outer pairs of tail feathers have conspicuous white bases. Length 5·1 in.; wing 2·8 in.

THE SWALLOW Hirundo rustica, Linnæus

Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries surrounding bird life, and awaking, even in the most unthinking, some sense of wonder, is the way in which some of the smallest and most delicate of birds cross enormous stretches of land and water twice a year. This mystery of migration has been especially typified in many countries and from olden times in the Swallow. Essentially a bird of the air, choosing the houses of man for nesting-places, and extremely abundant throughout our islands, he cannot fail to force himself on our attention and to become so associated in our minds with summer days that his first appearance in spring is eagerly looked for. As soon as the March winds have died down the first few stragglers make their appearance, and the early October gales are well over before the last has left.

During the whole of April they continue to arrive and disperse through the country, and by the beginning of May we shall find them revisiting the same chimney or eave where their brood was hatched in the previous year. They have but a feeble love-song, merely a rapid twittering, which is especially indulged in during the early hours of dawn, while waiting for the sun to call to life the flies and gnats on which they breakfast. Choosing a beam in a barn or outhouse, or a projecting brick in some old chimney as support, they build a neat cup-shaped nest of mud strengthened with straw to bind it together, and line it with bents, dry grass, and feathers. The eggs, generally six in number, are of a white ground colour dotted or blotched with reddish brown. The duties of incubation devolve on the hen, who is frequently fed by her mate, but soon after the young are hatched and she is free once more to seek her own food, both parents take their share in the duties of housekeeping.