Part 75

Sterna cantiaca.

Bill and feet black; upper part of the head black; mantle pearl-grey; rump, tail, throat, and under parts white; the breast suffused with rose. Length, sixteen inches.

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This is the largest of the British terns, being as much superior as the little tern is inferior in size to the arctic and common species. In its manner of flight and language it differs somewhat from the others. At a distance the under parts appear to be of a snowy whiteness; in the captive or dead bird the white plumage is seen to be suffused with an evanescent delicate pink colour. On the wing the Sandwich tern does not look so graceful and beautiful as the smaller species: the flight is heavier, straighter, unwavering, the wings beating more rapidly. Its scream is shorter, less inflected, and has a harsh and even grating sound.

This tern suffers much from the persecutions of the egg-collector, as well as of that base kind of sportsman who is allowed to amuse himself in August and September by slaughtering terns. On the Farne Islands, which are protected during the breeding season, there now exists a considerable colony of Sandwich terns, numbering about one thousand pairs, and a few smaller colonies are found on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, and on some of the lakes of those countries. On the Farnes the birds breed on one of the islands on a flat surface overgrown with sea-campion, and here their nests are placed so close together that it is difficult at times to walk over the ground without treading on the nests containing eggs or young birds. The eggs are two or three in number, and are stone-colour with a yellow tinge, thickly spotted with grey or brown.

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Besides the five species described, there are eight terns set down in the books as British. Of these, the Caspian tern, gull-billed tern, and black tern, are described as ‘irregular visitors,’ and come in small numbers; the whiskered tern, white-winged black tern, sooty tern, Scopoli’s sooty tern, and noddy, are all rare stragglers, the last three from the tropics. The black tern (Hydrochelidon nigra) was in reality a British bird in former times, a summer visitor, breeding in immense numbers in the fens and marshes in some of the eastern counties. It bred ‘in myriads’ in Norfolk as late as 1818, and, in diminishing numbers, down to 1835. ‘Drainage and persecution’ caused the destruction of this graceful species.

Kittiwake.

Rissa tridactyla.

Bill greenish yellow; legs and feet black; mantle deep grey; head, neck, tail, and under parts white. Length, fifteen and a half inches.

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The kittiwake takes its pretty name from its usual cry, composed of three notes, two quick and short, and one long. It is the smallest of the British gulls, excluding the stragglers, and is also one of the handsomest and most interesting in its habits. It is more of a sea-bird than most gulls, feeding principally on small fish, which it captures after the manner of a tern, hovering motionless for a few moments, then dashing down on to the water with great force. It is common round the British Islands throughout the year, but probably most of the birds that breed on our coasts migrate to more southern regions in winter, their places, meanwhile, being taken by visitors from the north. Its breeding-sites, often shared with the guillemot and razorbill, are precipitous rocky cliffs fronting the sea, the nest being placed on the ledges and wherever a projecting rock affords standing-room for a bird of its size. When the colony is a numerous one the birds may be seen whitening the face of the precipice from within a few feet above high-water mark to within a few feet of the top. The nests, often placed so near together as to be almost touching, are rather bulky, built of seaweed mixed with turf, and lined with dry grass. Two or three, sometimes four, eggs are laid, varying in ground-colour from greenish blue to olive-brown, or buff, or buffish brown, spotted and blotched with reddish brown, and under-markings of pale brown and grey.

Where suitable sites exist, and the birds are not too much molested, the kittiwakes have breeding colonies on the British coasts from the Scilly Islands and the Cornish and Devon cliffs right away to St. Kilda in the north. The kittiwakes breed later than most gulls, unfortunately for them. It has been pointed out again and again that the young birds are often hardly able to feed themselves, and in many cases are not yet out of their nests, at the end of July, which is also the end of the close time for sea-birds. It then becomes lawful for the scoundrels who practise this form of sport to slaughter the kittiwakes--both the helpless young and the parent birds that are engaged in feeding and protecting them.

Herring-Gull.

Larus argentatus.

Bill yellow; legs and feet flesh-colour; mantle grey; head, tail, and lower parts white; outer primaries black. Length, twenty-four inches.

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The herring-gull, which derives its name from its habit of following the shoals of herrings, is common on our coasts throughout the year. Like most gulls, it searches the shore at ebb-tide for stranded marine animals, dead and alive, and garbage of all kinds. It quarrels with ravens and crows over the carcass of a dead sheep, and, like the raven, is a plunderer of eggs and young birds from the cliffs. It is often seen at a distance from the sea, roaming over the moors in search of prey or carrion; and it also feeds on insects and, like the black-headed gull, sometimes follows the plough to pick up worms and grubs. It nests on precipitous, rocky shores, usually making choice of the summit or upper ledges. It also breeds on flat islands, sometimes in company with the lesser black-backed gull, which it resembles in size and general appearance. It usually breeds in communities, but is not so strictly gregarious as most gulls at this season. The nest, which is usually somewhat bulky, is composed of seaweed and herbage, and lined with dry grass. Three eggs are laid, stone-colour or light olive-brown, spotted and blotched with dark umber.

Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Larus fuscus.

Bill, legs, and feet yellow; summer plumage of the adult white, except on the mantle, which varies from slate-grey to black. Length, twenty-three inches.

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From its abundance, its large size--which is nearly the same as that of the herring-gull--and its extremely conspicuous black-and-white plumage at maturity, the lesser black-back is one of the most familiar birds on our coasts. The young differ greatly from the adults, having a slate-grey beak, flesh-coloured legs, and a general brown plumage. The mature breeding colours, including yellow on legs and bill, with a vermilion patch on the lower mandible, are not perfect until the fourth year. Judging solely from this fact of its slow growth to maturity, we may take it that the lesser black-back lives long--that its natural term, as in some accipitrine species, probably exceeds a century. It is certainly the case that this gull is able, not only to keep itself alive, but to keep up its numbers, notwithstanding its large size and the dislike with which it is regarded on account of its predacious habits. The unfeathered biped is ever anxious to keep all the killing and plundering in his own hands. The voice of this gull is very powerful and far-reaching, and, when soaring with its fellows, occasionally all the birds unite their voices in a chorus of short and long cries, laughter-like in character, yet with something solemn, and even desolate, in the sound, as of the sea. It is gregarious and social at all seasons, and breeds in gulleries, where the nests are placed close together on the level ground. The three eggs are of a light stone colour, spotted and blotched with blackish brown and grey. The largest and best-known colony on the British coasts is at the Farne Islands, and of that colony Seebohm writes: ‘It is a wonderful sight on approaching an island to see the green mass sprinkled all over with large white-looking birds, every one standing head to wind, like an innumerable army of white weathercocks.’ It is also fine to see and hear them, when a person walks about among the nests, stooping occasionally to examine eggs or handle the yellow, black-spotted chicks: the birds hover in a dense cloud over his head, their deep, powerful cries mingling in one mighty uproar, and, at short intervals, one or two birds dash down out of the bird-cloud as if to strike his head, and, missing it by an inch or two, reascend to repeat the action.

Common Gull.

Larus canus.

Bill greenish at the base, yellow at the tip; legs and feet greenish yellow; mantle ash-grey; first two primaries black, with a white patch near the extremity; the rest black near the end; head, neck, tail, and under parts white. Length, eighteen and a half inches.

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The name of this species is somewhat misleading, as it is less numerous on most of our coasts, and in estuaries and rivers, than the black-headed species, which indeed is often called the common gull. When flying about in company, the two species are indistinguishable in the winter plumage. The common gull has no breeding-place south of the Border. In Scotland and its islands there are several colonies, and in Ireland a few. In its habits it is intermediate between the marine and inland species, and its gulleries are placed both on islands near the sea-coast and in lochs at a distance from the shore. Like the herring-gull and black-headed gull, it follows the plough to pick up worms and grubs, and roams over moors, marshes, and pasture-lands in search of insects, small vertebrates, and carrion. The nest is bulky, and composed of seaweed, herbage, and dry grass. Three eggs are laid, olive-brown, spotted and streaked with blackish.