Part 47

THE TURTLE DOVE TURTUR COMMÚNIS

Head and nape ash, tinged with wine-red; a space on the sides of the neck composed of black feathers tipped with white; neck and breast pale wine-red; back ash-brown; primaries dusky; secondaries bluish ash; scapulars and wing-coverts rust-red with a black spot in the centre of each feather; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; tail dusky, all but the two middle feathers tipped with white, the outer feather edged with white externally; irides yellowish red; feet red; bill brown. Eggs white.

Nearly three thousand years ago the Turtle Dove had the distinction of being enumerated among the pleasant things of spring: 'Lo, the winter Is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land.' Less sweetly, but to the same effect, sings a poet of the last century:

The cuckoo calls aloud his wand'ring love. The Turtle's moan is heard in ev'ry grove; The pastures change, the warbling linnets sing. Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring! PHILIPS.

There is no melody in the song of the Turtle, as it consists of a single note, a soft, sweet, agitated murmur, continued without pause for a long time, called a 'moan' both by Latin and English poets, not from its being suggestive of pain, but because there is no other word which describes it so nearly. I have already had occasion to remark how unsatisfactory are most of the attempts which have been made to represent the songs of birds by combinations of letters, but the Latin name of the Turtle-dove, Turtur, is a notable exception. Pronounced 'tur-r-r tur-r-r', it will instantly recall the note to any one who has once heard it. The French name also, Tourterelle, can belong to this bird alone.

The Turtle Dove is found in all the southern countries of Europe, in Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, including the islands south of China. In England it is a visitor in the southern and midland counties only, arriving in spring and remaining with us until the end of September. Its favourite places of resort are groves, belts of trees, and tall hedgerows in cultivated districts. Here it builds its unsubstantial nest of a few sticks, and lays two eggs. Its food consists of seeds of various kinds, and it has the discredit of resorting to fields of green wheat for the sake of feeding on the milky grain. I am doubtful whether this charge can be sustained. Often enough when walking through a cornfield one may see two or three Turtle Doves rise suddenly from the thick corn with a rustle and low cry of alarm, rapidly dart away in the direction of the nearest grove, disappearing in the shade, all but a white segment of a circle, formed by the tips of their tail-feathers; but on examining the spot from which they rose, I have been unable to detect any ears of corn rifled of their contents, though the ground was thickly matted with weeds, which might have furnished them food. I am informed by a young friend that he has often shot them while in the act of rising from such situations and has invariably found their crops distended with the green seed-vessels of a weed common in corn-fields, the corn-spurrey (Spérgula arvensis). This being the case, the Turtle Dove is more a friend than an enemy to the farmer, even if it sometimes regales on ripe grain or interferes with the occupation of the gleaner. It is also very partial to vetches. I have met with an instance where a Turtle Dove paid daily visits to one particular spot, under a hedge in a field, and though fired at by the owner of the field many times, under the idea that it was a rare bird, it soon returned; and when at last shot, its crop was found to be full of vetch seeds which had been accidentally spilled from a bag.

The Turtle Dove is smaller than any of the other British Doves. When flying, it seems scarcely larger than a Missel Thrush; but it is more slender in shape, and its wings are much longer. It beats its wings, too, more rapidly, and moves through the air with greater velocity. The tints of its plumage are more varied than in the other British species, but far inferior in brilliancy to many foreign ones.

The Turtle Dove so frequently kept in a cage is the Collared Turtle Dove (Columba risoria), a native of India and China. This species is distinguished by a black crescent on the back of the neck, the horns of which nearly meet in front. Turtle Doves are much kept in Germany, owing to a strange popular superstition that they are more predisposed than the human species to nervous disorders and rheumatism, and that when any of these complaints visit a house, they fall on the birds rather than on their owners.

Cant. ii. 11, 12.

'Nec gemere aëria cessabit Turtur ab ulmo.'--VIRGIL. Nor shall from lofty elm the Turtle cease to moan.

ORDER PTEROCLETES

FAMILY PTEROCLIDÆ

THE THREE-TOED SAND-GROUSE

Legs and toes feathered to the claws; no hind toe. Length sixteen to twenty inches.

This species was not known with us till 1859. Great flights visited this country in 1863, in 1888, and in 1889 when a few pair bred here.

ORDER GALLINÆ

FAMILY TETRAONIDÆ

THE CAPERCAILLIE TETRAO UROGÁLLUS

Feathers of the throat elongated, black; head and neck dusky; eyes with a bare red skin above and a white spot below; wings brown speckled with black; breast lustrous green; abdomen black with white spots; rump and flanks marked with undulating lines of black and ash colour; tail black with white spots; beak horn white; eyebrows naked, red, beneath the eye a white spot. Length thirty-six inches. Female--a third smaller, barred and spotted with tawny red, black, and white; throat tawny red, unspotted; breast deep red; tail dark red with black bars, white at the tip; bill dusky. Eggs dull yellowish white speckled with yellowish brown.

The Capercaillie, Wood Grouse, or Cock of the Woods, was a rare bird in Scotland in Pennant's time (1769), and was found only in the Highlands north of Inverness. It became extinct in the eighteenth century, but was re-introduced in 1837 in Scotland, and it is now common in firwoods there, especially in Perthshire. In the pine forests of Sweden and Norway it is still indigenous, but, being a large and beautiful bird, is much sought after, and is annually receding from the haunts of men. It is also found in some of the central countries of Europe, as Poland and the Jura mountains, where it is said to be rather common. It is not only an inhabitant of woods, but passes its time for the most part in trees, and feeds in great measure on the young shoots of the Scotch fir. In summer it adds to its dietary berries, seeds, and insects, for which it searches among bushes or on the ground, returning to the woods to roost. The male bird has obtained great celebrity for his marvellous performances when serenading the hens during the morning and evening twilight in spring. "During his play, the neck of the Capercaillie is stretched out, his tail is raised and spread like a fan, his wings droop, his feathers are ruffled up, and, in short, he much resembles in appearance an angry Turkey Cock. He begins his play with a call something resembling the words peller, peller, peller; these sounds he repeats at first at some little intervals, but, as he proceeds, they increase in rapidity, until, at last, and after perhaps the lapse of a moment or so, he makes a sort of gulp in his throat, and finishes by drawing in his breath. During the continuance of this latter process, which only lasts a few seconds, the head of the Capercaillie is thrown up, his eyes are partially closed, and his whole appearance would denote that he is worked up into an agony of passion." This performance, however attractive it may De to those for whose benefit it is intended, exercises a fascination over himself which is often dangerous; for the sportsman, well acquainted with the sound, is thus guided to his perch, and, shy though the bird is at other times, is able to get near him unperceived or unheeded, and summarily closes his performances. The Capercaillie hen makes her nest upon the ground, and lays from six to twelve eggs. She is said to sit for four weeks. The young keep with her until towards the approach of winter. The size of the full-grown bird varies considerably according to the latitude in which it is found. In Lapland the male weighs about nine or ten pounds, but in the southern provinces of Sweden as much as seventeen pounds. The hen usually weighs from five to six pounds.

THE BLACK GROUSE TETRAO TÉTRIX

Throat-feathers not elongated; plumage black with violet reflections; a broad white band on the wings; secondaries tipped with white; lower tail-coverts white; tail much forked, the outer feathers curved outwards. Eyebrows naked, vermilion; beneath the eye a white spot. Length twenty-three inches. Female--smaller; head and neck rust-red barred with black; rump and tail-feathers black barred with red; belly dusky brown with red and whitish bars; tail slightly forked. Eggs dull yellow spotted and speckled with reddish brown.

The Black Grouse is a native of the northern countries of Europe and of the mountainous districts of the central part of the Continent. In the south it is unknown. Of a hardier nature than the Pheasant, and less fastidious in its dietary, it braves the most inclement seasons, and is never stinted in its supply of food. Moreover, as it rarely wanders far from its heath-clad home, it would probably, if it enjoyed the privilege of insignificance, be abundant in all the extensive waste lands of Britain. But its large size, the excellent flavour of its flesh, and the excitement of the sport which it affords all tend to keep down its numbers, so that a moor well stocked with Black Grouse is a possession not to be thought lightly of by the highest and wealthiest. The male bird is, in sporting phraseology, a Black Cock, the female a Grey Hen; and it is the etiquette of the field to shoot Cocks only, the Hens being left for breeding. The Black Cock resembles, in one of its most striking peculiarities, its near relative, the Capercaillie. 'During the spring', says Mr. St. John, 'and also in the autumn, about the time the first hoar frosts are felt, I have often watched the Black Cocks in the early morning when they collect on some rock or height, and strut and crow with their curious note, not unlike that of a Wood Pigeon. On these occasions they often have most desperate battles. I have seen five or six Black Cocks all fighting at once; and so violent and eager were they, that I approached within a few yards before they rose. Usually there seems to be a master-bird in these assemblages, who takes up his position on the most elevated spot, crowing and strutting round and round with spread-out tail like a Turkey Cock, and his wings trailing on the ground. The hens remain quietly near him, whilst the smaller or younger male birds keep at a respectful distance, neither daring to crow, except in a subdued kind of voice, nor to approach. If they attempt the latter, the master-bird dashes at the intruder, and often a short melée ensues, several others joining in it, but they soon return to their former respectful distance. I have also seen an old Black Cock crowing on a birch-tree with a dozen hens below it, and the younger Cocks looking on with fear and admiration. It is at these times that numbers fall to the share of the poacher, who knows that the birds resort to the same spot every morning.'

The food of these birds is abundant in quantity, and though simple, yet partakes of an extensive assortment of flavours. Twigs of the fine-leaved heath (Erica cinerea), and heather (Calluna); buds of the willow and birch; the tender shoots of cotton-grass, sedge, and grass; and whortleberries, cranberries, and crowberries, are the principal items of their bill of fare, varied according to the season. In the months of February, March and April, they do much mischief to plantations by destroying the tender shoots of Scotch and Silver Fir. 'In searching for food, the Black Grouse frequents the lower grounds of the less-cultivated districts, not generally removing far from the shelter of woods or thickets, to which it betakes itself as occasion requires. It sometimes makes an excursion into the stubble-fields in search of the seeds of cereal plants, and in summer and autumn includes those of the grasses and rushes. While thus employed, it walks and runs among the herbage with considerable agility, and, when apprehensive of danger, flies off to a sheltered place, or settles down and remains motionless until the intruder passes by. It perches adroitly, and walks securely on the branches; but its ordinary station is on the ground, where also it reposes at night. It may often, especially in spring, be seen on the turf-top of the low walls inclosing plantations. Its flight is heavy, direct, and of moderate velocity, and is capable of being protracted to a great distance.'

The Grey Hen constructs a rude nest of withered grass and a few twigs in the shelter of some low bush, and lays from five to ten eggs. The male bird takes no part in the bringing up of the brood, but leaves the duties of incubation and attention to the wants of his family to the hen, who devotes herself wholly to the careful nurture of her little ones. While the poults are in their nonage, she assiduously leads them about where food is most abundant; and if surprised by an intruder, leaves them to hide among the heath and ferns, creeps rapidly herself to some distance, and then rises in a fluttering manner, so that a stranger to her habits would suppose her to be wounded. By August 20, the young are supposed to be fully fledged, and the sportsman is expected not only to show his skill as a marksman, but his quickness of eye in discriminating between males and females as the covey rises. The former are to be distinguished by their richer colouring, and by the more strongly marked white on the wings. At this season the old Black Cocks club together.

The Black Cock is found in greater or less quantities in the moorland districts of many of the English counties, but is most abundant in the north of England and Wales, and in Scotland.

Macgillivray.

THE RED GROUSE LAGÓPUS SCÓTICUS