Part 38

It is very common round all our coasts, but commonest, perhaps, in the North Sea, where flocks of many thousands may often be seen during the winter months.

The main breeding grounds are the wide tundras of Northern Europe and Siberia, but a few pairs nest in the north of Scotland. The nest is usually placed on an islet in a small lake or mere, and composed of a few tufts of moss and heather lined with down. The eggs, eight or nine in number, are yellowish white in colour. As a rule it is a silent species, but during the breeding season the male utters a flute-like "tui, tui, tui."

The male of this species is of a deep black all over, whence it is often locally known as the "Black Duck." Bill black with a bright patch of orange yellow down the centre of the upper mandible. The female and young are sooty brown and lack the orange on the bill. Length 20 in.; wing 9 in.

THE VELVET SCOTER Oedemia fusca (Linnæus)

This species closely resembles the last in habits, but is much scarcer round our coasts and generally keeps farther out to sea.

It is a rather larger bird than the Common Scoter, and of a dense velvety black, with a small white spot behind each eye and a white bar across the wing. The bill is orange yellow, with a large black basal knob and a narrow dark line along the culmen. Legs orange. The female is brown, rather lighter underneath, and has a dull white patch before, and a smaller one behind, each eye. Bill dark. Legs reddish. Length 22 in.; wing 10·75 in.

THE SURF SCOTER Oedemia perspicillata (Linnæus)

This North American species has on several occasions occurred on our coasts.

The male may be at once distinguished from the other Scoters by the presence of a broad patch of white on the forehead and another on the nape. In the female the nape patch is present though often indistinct. There is no white bar across the wing. Length 21 in.; wing 9·5 in.

THE GOOSANDER Mergus merganser, Linnæus

The Goosander is the first of the three species of "Sawbills" that are found in this country. Unlike other Ducks, the bill is moderately long and narrow, and both mandibles have a very rough toothed surface enabling them easily to secure and hold their prey, which consists entirely of fish. They are all expert divers. On the east coast of England this species is not uncommon during the winter months, frequenting estuaries and freshwater lakes, but in the south and west it is of irregular occurrence. In Scotland it is known to nest in a few localities, but on the west coast and in Ireland it is decidedly rare. The nest is placed down a hole among rocks, or in a tree, and in Sweden and Lapland it makes extensive use of the nest-boxes put up for it and other species by the Lapps. The eggs, which may be as many as thirteen in number, are creamy white. The note is a very harsh "kaar," and when swimming this bird is not unlike a Cormorant in general outline. When wounded it will always attempt to escape by diving.

The male has the head and neck dark glossy green; back and scapulars brown, passing to grey on the rump; wing coverts white; lower neck and under parts creamy white, tinged with pink in the living bird. Bill and legs red. The female is rufous brown on the head, greyish on the upper parts and flanks, and buffish white below. She is rather smaller than the male. The young resemble the female. Length 25 in.; wing 11 in.

THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER Mergus serrator, Linnæus

Nearly allied to the preceding species, the Merganser is fairly common round our shores in winter, and nests in considerable numbers in Scotland, both on lakes and tarns, as well as on the coasts in the north and west. In Ireland it is a very common resident, breeding especially abundantly on the west coast. In habits and food it resembles the Goosander, but is less frequently found inland and far more partial to the sea than that species. The nest is not placed in a hole but in thick cover at no great distance from water; the eggs, generally about ten in number, are of a pale greenish drab and are never of that creamy tint which distinguishes those of the former species. In these Ducks the male apparently helps the female in attending on the young and in catching the small fry on which they live.

Although smaller, this species is not unlike the Goosander; the male may always be recognised by his reddish breast, streaked with black; the wing patch is white, barred with black, and on the breast at the point of the wing there is a conspicuous tuft of white feathers, with black margins; the long falcated inner scapulars are black. The female has a distinct black bar across the wing patch, but in other respects, except size, closely resembles the Duck Goosander. Length 24 in.; wing 9·5 in.

THE SMEW Mergus albellus, Linnæus

This species, the smallest and scarcest of the Sawbills, only comes to us in the winter, its breeding haunts being near the limit of tree growth throughout Northern Europe. It may be found on inland rivers and lakes, as well as in sheltered bays and estuaries on the coast. Immature examples with a red head, known as "Red-headed Smews," far out-number the adults, and old males in full plumage are rarely seen.

This is one of the species that occupies the boxes in Sweden and Lapland, and the discovery of its eggs, fifty years ago, was due to the energy and perseverance of an Englishman, John Wolley, who, after four years' search, succeeded in obtaining three eggs together with a sitting bird. The eggs are cream coloured and not unlike those of the Wigeon, but they are slightly smaller.

The adult male is entirely white, except for the mantle and quills, which are jet black. The rump, upper tail coverts, and tail are bluish grey, and the flanks delicately vermiculated with the same colour. Stretching half-way across the breast is a narrow black bar, and a shorter but broader one starts a little farther back. There is a black patch between the bill and the eye on each side, and another high up on the occiput joining its fellow on the opposite side, this black crescent being broken by the overlapping of the slightly elongated feathers of the head.

The "eclipse" plumage somewhat resembles that of the immature male, from which it may always be distinguished by the mantle remaining black. The female is smaller; head and neck reddish brown; remainder of upper parts and breast ashy grey; under parts white. Length 17·5 in.; wing 7·6 in.

THE HOODED MERGANSER Mergus cucullatus, Linnæus

This is a North American species, which has only very rarely visited our shores. It may be distinguished by a semicircular crest or hood over the head, the posterior half of which is white, with a dark edge. The general colour is dark brown above and white below. Length 19 in.; wing 7·75 in.

THE WOOD PIGEON Columba palumbus, Linnæus

Whereas in the case of many species one has to record their increasing scarcity and approaching extermination as far as these islands are concerned, with the Wood Pigeon the case is very different. Nesting in the woods throughout the country, where, owing to strict preservation, trespassers are forbidden and raptorial birds shot, this species has of late years increased with amazing rapidity and may be found in winter in flocks of thousands, which often do considerable damage to the crops. Although as a rule very shy and wary, it becomes in towns, where it is unmolested, absurdly tame, and it may now be found in the London parks and squares disputing with the omnipresent Sparrow the crumbs of bread thrown out by passers-by. It is curious and interesting to note that it is very conservative in its habits, rarely settling on any of the buildings like the wild domestic Pigeons, which are descended from the Rock Dove, but always keeping to the trees and gardens, leaving its tame relative in undisputed possession of the streets and buildings. On one occasion at least it deigned to avail itself of civilisation, for a nest was recently found in one of the parks composed almost entirely of ladies' hairpins.

The nest is usually placed on a tree, but sometimes in bushes or hedgerows. It is made of twigs laid loosely on each other, and is such a flimsy structure that one would never imagine it capable of forming an efficient nursery for so large a bird. Two eggs only are laid, which, as with all Pigeons, are pure white. Two or three broods are often reared in the season, both sexes taking their turn at incubation and rearing the young.

Pigeons when first hatched are covered with coarse yellowish down and are very helpless; they are fed for the first ten days on a sort of soft curd known as Pigeon's milk, which is secreted in the crop, or is, as has been stated, the secretion of two glands placed on each side near the crop, but this latter point requires confirmation. They are fed by regurgitation, the young bird inserting its beak into that of the parent.

The note of the Wood Pigeon is a soft melodious "cooroo, coo, coo." When courting he expands his tail, blows out his crop, and holding his head high in the air utters his coo; he then bows, and raises his expanded tail. His hen, who usually shows but little enthusiasm over the display, has probably moved a little farther off, and the display ends with an awkward hop towards her.

The flight is rapid and sustained, but in the nesting season, and occasionally at other times, an upward soaring flight is indulged in over their nesting home. Its food consists chiefly of grain, seeds, beechmast, and acorns; but at certain seasons, especially when the snow is on the ground, large quantities of green food are eaten, tender turnip tops being much sought after.