Part 52

Willughby, whose Ornithology was published about a hundred years later, says that Cranes were regular visitors in England, and that large flocks of them were to be found, in summer, in the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Whether they bred in England, as Aldrovandus states, on the authority of an Englishman who had seen their young, he could not say on his own personal knowledge.

Sir Thomas Browne, a contemporary of Willughby, writes, in his account of birds found in Norfolk: 'Cranes are often seen here in hard winters, especially about the champaign and fieldy part. It seems they have been more plentiful; for, in a bill of fare, when the mayor entertained the Duke of Norfolk, I met with Cranes in a dish.'

Pennant, writing towards the close of the eighteenth century, says: 'On the strictest inquiry, we learn that, at present, the inhabitants of those counties are scarcely acquainted with them; we therefore conclude that these birds have left our land.' Three or four instances only of the occurrence of the Crane took place within the memory of Pennant's last editor; and about as many more are recorded by Yarrell as having come within the notice of his correspondents during the present century. It would seem, therefore, that the Crane has ceased to be a regular visitor to Britain. It is, however, still of common occurrence in many parts of the Eastern Continent, passing its summer in temperate climates, and retiring southwards at the approach of winter. Its periodical migrations are remarkable for their punctuality, it having been observed that, during a long series of years, it has invariably traversed France southward in the latter half of the month of October, returning during the latter half of the month of March. On these occasions, Cranes fly in large flocks, composed of two lines meeting at an angle, moving with no great rapidity, and alighting mostly during the day to rest and feed. At other seasons, it ceases to be gregarious, and repairs to swamps and boggy morasses, where in spring it builds a rude nest of reeds and rushes on a bank or stump of a tree, and lays two eggs. As a feeder it may be called omnivorous, so extensive is its dietary. Its note is loud and sonorous, but harsh, and is uttered when the birds are performing their flights as well as at other times.

The Crane of the Holy Scriptures is most probably not this species, which is rare in Palestine, but another, Grus Virgo, the Crane figured on the Egyptian monuments, which periodically visits the Lake of Tiberias, and whose note is a chatter, and not the trumpet sound of the Cinereous Crane. In the north of Ireland, in Wales and perhaps elsewhere, the Heron is commonly called a Crane.

A certain number of Cranes have been noticed in the Shetland Isles, and some in the Orkneys. The latest seen in Ireland was in 1884, County Mayo.

FAMILY OTIDIDÆ

No hind toe.

THE GREAT BUSTARD OTIS TARDA

Head, neck, breast, and edge of the wing ash grey; on the crown a longitudinal black streak; bill with a tuft of elongated loose feathers on each side of the lower mandible; upper plumage reddish yellow, streaked transversely with black; lower whitish; tail reddish brown and white, barred with black. Female--smaller, without a moustache, the streak on the crown fainter. Length nearly four feet. Eggs olive-brown, irregularly blotched with dull red and deep brown.

The Great Bustard was formerly not unfrequent in Britain, but of late years it has become so rare that it is now impossible to describe its habits on the testimony of a living eye-witness. In several parts of the Continent it is indeed still to be met with; but I find so many discrepancies in the various accounts which I have consulted, that it is hard to believe all the writers who describe it to have had the same bird in view. Some of these the reader may examine for himself.

The earliest mention of it which I find occurs in the Anabasis of Xenophon, who describes a plain or steppe near the Euphrates full of aromatic herbs, and abounding with Wild Asses, Ostriches, and Bustards (Otis). The latter, he says, 'could be caught when any one came on them suddenly, as they fly to a short distance like Partridges and soon give in. Their flesh is delicious.' Pliny's description of the Bustard is very brief. He says it approaches the Ostrich in size; that it is called Avis tarda in Spain, Otis in Greece; its flesh is very disagreeable, in consequence of the strong scent of its bones.' Our countryman Willughby, who wrote in the middle of the seventeenth century, gives a longer account. 'The Bustard has no hind claw, which is especially worthy of notice; for by this mark and by its size it is sufficiently distinguished from all birds of the tribe. It feeds on corn and the seeds of herbs, wild cabbage, leaves of the dandelion, etc. I have found in its crop abundance of the seeds of cicuta, with but a few grains of barley even in harvest-time. It is found on the plains near Newmarket and Royston, and elsewhere on heaths and plains. Bustards are birds of slow flight, and raise themselves from the ground with difficulty, on account of their size and weight; hence, without doubt, the name tardu was given to them by the Latins. By the Scotch, on the authority of Hector Boethius, they are called Gustardæ.'

M. Perrault, who wrote in 1676, gives an account of a tame Bustard which was kept for a while in summer in a garden, and died of cold in the winter. 'He killed mice and sparrows with his bill by pinching their heads, and then swallowed them whole, even when of considerable size. It was easy to observe a large mouse going down his throat, making a moving tumour till it came to the turn of the neck; it then moved backwards, and although out of sight, yet its progress was traced by the feathers between the shoulders separating, and closing again as soon as it passed into the gizzard. He was fond of worms, and while the gardener was digging, stood by him and looked out for them. He ate the buds of flowers, and particularly of roses; also the substance of cucumbers, but not the outside. From these observations the Bustard is evidently fitted more particularly to live on animal food.'

The average number of Bustards annually supplied to Chevet, the great game-dealer of the Palais Royal, Paris, about fifty years ago, was six. Its principal place of resort in France was the wild country between Arcis-sur-Aube and Châlons, in most other districts it was as little known as with us.

Several authors of undoubted veracity state that the adult male Bustard has a capacious pouch, situated along the fore part of the neck, the entrance of which is under the tongue, capable of holding several quarts of water--it is said not less than seven. Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary, expresses his doubt whether the bird could carry as much as seven quarts, or fourteen pounds, while flying; he admits, however, that 'it is large, as may be seen in the Leverian Museum'; and he adds, 'that it is only discoverable in adults, as it is most likely intended for the purpose of furnishing the female and young in the breeding with water.' Of this pouch a figure is given by Yarrell, copied from Edwards' Gleanings of Natural History, and there inserted on the authority of Dr. James Douglas, the discoverer. Some doubts having arisen in Mr. Yarrell's mind as to the accuracy of the statement, he took much pains to ascertain the truth by dissecting several adult males, and found no peculiarity of structure--a result which was also arrived at by Professor Owen, who dissected one with a view of obtaining a preparation of the supposed pouch for the Museum of the College of Surgeons. A paper by Mr. Yarrell, read before the Linnean Society since the publication of his admirable work on Ornithology, contains many other interesting particulars respecting this bird, to which the reader is referred.

Bustards have been seen in England at various intervals during the last eighty or a hundred years, sometimes in small flights and sometimes as solitary specimens, more frequently in Norfolk than in any other county, but they have ceased to breed in this country. I lately met a gentleman in Norfolk who well recollected the time when Bustards were to be met with in that county. On the lands near Flamborough Head there used to be droves of them. They were occasionally seen in the middle of the large uninclosed plains with which Norfolk formerly abounded, and in such situations he had himself seen them. When disturbed they move off rapidly, employing both their feet and wings, rising heavily, but at an angle so acute that they advanced perhaps a hundred yards before they attained the height of a man. When once on the wing, they flew swiftly. They formerly bred in the parish of Deepdale, and he could himself recollect an instance when an attempt was made to rear some in captivity from the eggs, but failed. The Bustard is now only a very rare visitor to Great Britain. Its last fertile eggs were taken in Norfolk and Suffolk about the year 1838.

Lin. Trans., vol. xxi. p. 155.

ORDER LIMICOLÆ

FAMILY GLAREOLIDÆ

THE PRATINCOLE GLARÉOLA PRATÍNCOLA

Crown, nape, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, greyish brown; throat and front of the neck white, tinged with red, and bounded by a narrow black collar, which ascends to the base of the beak; lore black; breast whitish brown; lower wing-coverts chestnut; under parts white, tinged with brownish red; tail-coverts, and base of tail-feathers, white; the rest of the tail dusky, much forked; beak black, red at the base; irides reddish brown; orbits naked, bright red; feet reddish ash. Length nine inches and a half. Eggs pale stone colour, spotted with grey and dusky.

The Pratincole, called on the Continent, but without good reason, Perdrix de mer, or Sea Partridge, is a rare visitor to Great Britain, inhabiting for the most part the northern part of Africa, and the countries in the vicinity of the Don, the Volga, the Caspian, and the Black Sea. It has been observed also from time to time in several of the countries of Europe.

In some of its habits it resembles the Plovers, as it frequents open plains and runs with great rapidity. In nidification, also, and in the shape, colour, and markings of its eggs it is associated with the same tribe; while in its mode of flight and habit of catching flies while on the wing, it approaches the Swallows. Hence it was named by Linnæus, Hirundo pratincola, and under this designation it is figured in Bewick. Its true place in the system is, however, undoubtedly, among the waders, several of which not only feed on insects, but are expert in catching them on the wing.

FAMILY CHARADRIIDÆ

THE THICK-KNEE OR STONE CURLEW OEDICNÉMUS SCÓLOPAX

Upper parts reddish ash with a white spot in the middle of each feather; space between the eye and beak, throat, belly, and thighs, white; neck and breast tinged with red, and marked with fine longitudinal brown streaks; a white longitudinal bar on the wing; first primary with a large white spot in the middle; second, with a small one on the inner web; lower tail-coverts reddish, the feathers, except those in the middle, tipped with black; beak black, yellowish at the base; hides, orbits, and feet, yellow. Length seventeen inches. Eggs yellowish brown clouded with greenish, blotched and spotted with dusky and olive.

Though a citizen of the world, or at least of the eastern hemisphere, this bird is commonly known under the name of Norfolk Plover, from its being more abundant in that county than in any other. It is also called Thick-knee, from the robust conformation of this joint; and Stone Curlew, from its frequenting waste stony places and uttering a note which has been compared to the sound of the syllables curlui or turlui. Like the Cuckoo, it is more frequently heard than seen, but that only by night. In some of its habits it resembles the Bustard, and is said even to associate, in Northern Africa, with the Lesser Bustard. Its favourite places of resort are extensive plains; it runs rapidly when disturbed, and when it does take wing, flies for a considerable distance near the ground before mounting into the air. It frequents our open heaths and chalk downs and breeds in Romney Marsh and in the uplands of Kent and Sussex.

By day the Thick-knee confines itself to the ground, either crouching or hunting for food, which consists of worms, slugs, and beetles, under stones, which it is taught by its instinct to turn over. After sunset, it takes flight, and probably rises to a great height, as its plaintive whistle, which somewhat resembles the wail of a human being, is often heard overhead when the bird is invisible. It is singularly shy, and carefully avoids the presence of human beings, whether sportsmen or labourers. Yet it is not destitute of courage, as it has been seen to defend its nest with vigour against the approach of sheep or even of dogs. Nest, properly speaking, it has none, for it contents itself with scratching a hole in the ground and depositing two eggs. The males are supposed to assist in the office of incubation. The young inherit the faculty of running at an early age, being able to leave their birth-place with facility soon after they are hatched; but the development of their wings is a work of time, for their body has attained its full size long before they are able to rise from the ground. Before taking their departure southwards in autumn, they assemble in small parties, numbering from four to six or seven, when they are somewhat more easy of approach than in spring. In the chalky plains of La Marne in France they are very numerous; and here, by the aid of a light cart, fowlers in quest of them have little difficulty in shooting large numbers, the birds being less afraid of the approach of a horse than of a human being. But when obtained they are of little value, as their flesh is barely eatable.

The Thick-knee is migratory, visiting us in the beginning of April to stay till October. His flights are made by night.