Part 58

Bill reddish orange; the nail, nostrils, lores, and basal tubercle black; plumage pure white; legs and feet black. Length, sixty inches; weight, about thirty pounds.

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The mute, or tame swan, is as well known to most people as the turkey, goose, and pheasant, and, like the pheasant, is supposed to be a foreign species, said to have been first brought from Cyprus to this country, by Richard I., about the end of the twelfth century. As a semi-domestic species it exists throughout the British Islands, but whether wild birds of its species visit us or not is not known, since wild and semi-wild birds are indistinguishable. The wild mute swan breeds in Denmark and South Sweden, in South Russia and the valley of the Danube, and many other localities, and in winter visits the Mediterranean. The breeding habits of the wild and tame bird are the same, but, according to Naumann, the wild bird in the pairing season has a loud, trumpet-like note, resembling the cry of a crane or whooper swan.

The cygnet is sooty grey in colour, but in the so-called ‘Polish swan’ (Cygnus immutabilis) of Yarrell, which is now regarded by most ornithologists as a variety of the mute swan the cygnets are white.

Whooper Swan.

Cygnus musicus.

Beak: anterior part depressed and black, basal part quadrangular and lemon-colour; plumage white; legs and feet black. Length, sixty inches; weight, about twenty-four pounds.

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The whooper, also called the wild swan and the whistling swan, is a not uncommon visitor to our coasts in winter, and a little over a century ago had a breeding-station in the Orkneys. It is very closely related to the mute swan, but it ranges very much farther north in summer, its breeding-grounds being north of the arctic circle. The nest is bulky, composed of sedge and coarse herbage, and the eggs are four or five in number, and white. Seebohm, who observed its habits in its breeding-grounds, says: ‘The whooper is a ten times handsomer bird than a tame swan in the eyes of an ornithologist, but is not really so graceful--its neck is shorter, and its scapulars are not so plume-like. Instead of sailing about with its long neck curved in the shape of the letter S, bent back almost to the fluffed-up scapulars, the whooper seemed intent on feeding with his head and neck under water.’ He compares the notes of the whooper to a bass trombone; but the notes are short--three or four trumpet-blasts, keeping time with the upward and downward beat of the wings. He adds: ‘The extermination of the whooper in so many of its breeding-places has arisen from the unfortunate habit, which it evidently acquired years ago, before men came upon the scene--a habit which it shares with the goose. Most birds moult their quills slowly, in pairs, so that they are only slightly inconvenienced by the operation, and never without quills enough to enable them to fly. Swans and geese, on the other hand, drop nearly all their flight-feathers at once, and for a week or two, before the new feathers have grown, are quite unable to fly. In some localities the whoopers have had the misfortune to breed where the natives have been clever enough to surround them at the critical period of their lives, and stupid enough to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded of killing the geese that laid the golden eggs.’

Bewick’s swan (Cygnus Bewickii), named by Yarrell after Thomas Bewick, author of a well-known ‘History of British Birds,’ is of frequent occurrence in the British Islands in severe winters, but is not a regular visitant. It is a third smaller than the whooper, which it resembles in figure and habits.

Common Sheldrake.

Tadorna cornuta.

Beak and basal knob bright red; head and upper neck dark glossy green, followed by a white collar, below which is a chestnut band; wing-coverts white; speculum green; scapulars, part of the secondaries, and the primaries black; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers white, the latter tipped with black; lower, central line of the breast and belly dark brown, the rest of the under parts white; legs and feet pink. Length, twenty-six inches. The female is without the knob at the base of the bill, and her colours are not so bright.

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The sheldrakes, or sheld-ducks, are curious and interesting birds, and form a connecting-link between the geese and ducks; but they are more like the former than the latter, and sheld-gander, or sheldgoose, would perhaps be a more suitable name. The common sheldrake is, perhaps, the most duck-like in appearance of all the birds of this genus, and the common name, sheld, which means parti-coloured, really applies to this species only. As in the geese, the male and female sheld-ducks are nearly alike in plumage, and the male does not change colour; and, like the gander, he assists his mate in rearing the young. In the true ducks the drake changes his plumage in summer, becoming like the female in colour, and in most cases (for there are exceptions) he remains apart from the duck from the time that incubation begins until the young are fully grown. Of the seven known species of sheldrake, only one is indigenous to the British Islands. A second species, the ruddy sheldrake (Tadorna casarca), is a rare visitor, or straggler, to our coasts, and it is probable that most of the sheldrakes of this species that are shot from time to time in England are escaped birds.

The common sheldrake is a bird that, once seen, cannot be easily forgotten, its strange guinea-pig arrangement of three colours--black, white, and red--making it one of the most strikingly conspicuous fowls in this country. On account of its handsome and singular colouring it is much persecuted, and as a breeding species is becoming increasingly rare with us. It inhabits sandy sea-coasts, and is only seen as a rare straggler on inland waters. It feeds close to the shore where the sea is shallow, and is partial to coasts where wide stretches of sand, mixed with rocks, are uncovered at low water. It feeds, both in the water and on the flats, on marine insects and molluscs, and breeds in the sandhills along the coast. The nesting-hole is in most cases a deserted rabbit-burrow, but it also burrows for itself, and is known as the ‘burrow-duck’ on many parts of the coast. The hole is six to twelve feet in length, ending in a chamber lined with dry grass and moss. Seven to twelve creamy white eggs are laid, sometimes a larger number. The eggs are enveloped in a quantity of down, which the bird plucks from her own body. It is said that the male takes no part in incubation, but remains near the burrow on guard, and gives timely warning of danger, and when the young are hatched and taken to the sea, assists in rearing and protecting them.

The sheldrake has a harsh cry, but in the breeding season the drake utters a soft, tremulous, whistling note.

Wigeon.

Mareca penelope.

Bill dull blue; forehead and crown cream-white; chin, neck, and throat chestnut; the cheeks and hind neck minutely spotted with deep green; breast white; under parts grey, the flanks pencilled with dark grey; mantle vermiculated grey; shoulder white, with a terminal bar of black, followed by a green speculum tipped with black below; wing- and tail-feathers dark brown; legs and feet dark brown. Length, eighteen inches. Female: above, mottled greyish brown; shoulder whitish; speculum greyish green; under parts mottled buffish white. The drake assumes female plumage in July.

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Next to the mallard, the wigeon is the most familiar freshwater duck in the British Islands. Its abundance, handsome plumage, peculiar voice, and interesting habits, to say nothing of its excellence as an article of food, contribute to make it well known. It is a visitor in winter in very large numbers to our coasts, and seeks its food both on the tidal flats and on inland waters throughout the country, but is always most abundant in the vicinity of the sea. In April and May it migrates to higher latitudes: in Scotland it is partly a resident species, and breeds in many localities; and, in less numbers, it also remains to breed in Ireland. The wigeon differs a good deal from other ducks in its feeding habits: it feeds both by day and night, in the water and on land. On land it is, like the goose, a grass-eater, and in Lapland is known from this habit as the ‘grass-duck.’ In disposition it is one of the shyest and wariest; and at the same time the most gregarious, among the waterfowl, and often unites in immense flocks. It is also very loquacious: its loud, prolonged whistle in two syllables, strongly accented on the first, is described by Seebohm as being ‘very wild and weird, as it startles the ear on the margin of a mountain tarn or moorland lake--a solitary cry, very high in key, not unmusical in tone, but loud and piercing.’ It is called ‘whew duck’ in some localities, from its whistling cry.

The nest is placed amidst coarse grass or heather, and is deeply lined with down. The eggs are seven to ten in number, and cream-coloured.

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A few specimens of the American wigeon (Mareca americana) have been obtained in various parts of Great Britain.

Pintail.

Dafila acuta.

Head and neck bronze-brown, black on the nape; a white stripe down the neck on each side, extending to the white breast and under parts; back and flanks mottled grey; greater wing-coverts buff; speculum green margined with black and white; tail black, the two middle feathers greatly prolonged; under tail-coverts black; bill, legs, and feet slaty grey. Length, twenty-eight inches. Female: mottled brown above and greyish white below; speculum green. In July the male assumes the female dress, and retains it until October.