Part 78

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The sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) and the greater shearwater (P. major) are occasionally met with in autumn and winter on the British coasts. A third species, the dusky shearwater (P. obscurus), has a place in the list of British birds, two specimens having been obtained in the United Kingdom.

Fulmar.

Fulmarus glacialis.

Bill yellow; legs and feet grey; mantle and tail grey; quills dusky; head, neck, and under parts white. Length, nineteen inches.

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The fulmar is the largest of the petrels; it exceeds the black-headed gull and common gull in size, and is a giant by comparison with its diminutive relation, the stormy petrel. It is a circumpolar species, and in winter inhabits the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the northern hemisphere. On the British coasts it is a rare straggler in winter, and its only breeding-station in the United Kingdom is at St. Kilda. It is said that formerly there were several colonies on the west coast of Scotland, but these no longer exist. In its manner of flight and general appearance the fulmar is gull-like, and may easily be mistaken for a gull. Like other petrels, it lives, when not engaged in breeding, on the open sea, and it often follows the deep-sea fishing-boats and whalers, to feed on the offal thrown out and portions of blubber floating on the water. Seebohm says that ‘if a piece of meat be thrown to them, they often seize it before it sinks, but instead of diving after it, as a duck or guillemot would do, they alight on the surface feet first, and in the most comical way let themselves sink down in the water with uplifted wings.’

The fulmar lays a single white egg in a shallow hole dug in the peaty soil. Dixon has the following graphic account of the breeding-haunts and habits of the fulmar: ‘In many places, although the cliff is very precipitous, it is covered with grass, sorrel, and other plants, and a loose, rich soil. It is in such spots that the fulmar breeds in the greatest numbers. I shall never forget the imposing effect of this noble bird-nursery.... When I reached the summit the scene was grand: tens of thousands of fulmars were flying silently about in all directions, but never by any chance soaring over the land; they passed backwards and forwards along the face of the cliff, and for some considerable distance out to sea, whilst the waves, a thousand feet below, were dotted thickly with floating birds. The silence of such an animated scene impressed me: not a single fulmar uttered a cry.... No bird flies more gracefully than the fulmar: it seems to float in the air without any exertion, often passing to and fro for minutes together with no perceptible movement of its wings.... It is a remarkably tame bird, fluttering along within a few feet of you, its black eye glistening sharply against its snow-white dress.... In some parts of the cliffs, where the soil is loose and turf-grown, the ground is almost white with sitting fulmars. Every available spot is a fulmar’s nest; and as you explore the cliffs, large numbers of birds fly out from all directions where they had not previously been noticed.... It very rarely burrows deep enough in the ground to conceal itself whilst incubating, and in the majority of cases only makes a hole large enough to half-conceal itself, whilst in a great many instances it is content to lay its eggs under some projecting tuft, or even on the bare and exposed ledge of a cliff, in a similar place to that so often selected by the guillemot.... The nests are very slight, and in a great number of instances are dispensed with altogether.’

Of the number of fulmars, the same observer says: ‘The myriads of birds were past all belief: the air was darkened with their numbers; still the cliffs were white with birds, and I calculated that not more than one in ten had risen. The fulmars filled the air like large snowflakes, and the hordes of puffins looked like a huge swarm of bees, darkening the air as far as we could see. Myriads of birds swept round the vessel or filled the air above; the face of the cliffs seemed crumbling away as the living masses swept seaward; yet, singularly enough, little noise was made beyond the humming of countless wings. The mighty peaks of these solitary ocean rocks were indistinctly seen through the surging cloud of birds, that seemed almost as if it would descend and overwhelm us.’

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Two petrels remain to be noticed: the capped petrel (Œstrelata hæsitata) and Bulwer’s petrel (Bulweria columbina), one straggler having been obtained of the first species, and two of the second, on the east coast of England.

Great Northern Diver.

Colymbus glacialis.

Bill black; irides red; head and neck black, glossed with purple on the upper throat, and with green on the lower neck; two throat-bands black barred with white; mantle black spotted with white; under parts white. Length, thirty-three inches.

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The great northern diver, or loon, is called great because he exceeds the other divers in size; in this sense he is also great in relation to birds generally, since he is as big as a goose, and therefore the equal of the few species that are greatest. In form he differs widely from the geese. An oceanic bird that escapes from its enemies by diving, and is never seen on the wing except when migrating, and never on land except when breeding, his form has been modified so as to make swimming and diving as easy to him as careering through the air is to the swift, and climbing on trees to the woodpecker. The beak is straight, conical, and sharp-pointed; the head, neck, and body, grebe-like in form; and the legs set so far back that the bird is almost incapable of progression on land. It is very wonderful that a creature that spends so great a part of its time on and in the water, without leaving it, should yet retain wing-power sufficient to perform long bi-annual migrations. Probably it does not take very extended flights; when found on inland waters during migration, it often appears incapable of flight, and if in a small stream is easily taken. In its flying powers it appears, with the grebes and auks, to occupy a position midway between the ever-soaring, aërial gannet and the penguins, that are incapable of flight. In their dark rich, variegated upper, and white under, plumage, the divers again resemble the grebes. The glossy black back, thickly strewn with symmetrical white spots, gives the present species a beautiful and somewhat singular appearance. Out at sea it is a silent bird--silent and shy and solitary--with the cormorant-like habit of making itself invisible by sinking its body beneath the water. In the breeding season it utters cries of a very strange character, powerful and uncanny in their effect on the mind, and compared by different listeners to screams uttered by tortured children, and to shrieks of insane laughter. It is a winter visitor to the British Islands, chiefly to the west coasts of Scotland and England: but as it has occasionally been met with in summer in full nuptial plumage, it is thought by some ornithologists that a few pairs may remain to breed in some of the secluded lakes in the west of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. It has not yet been found breeding anywhere in continental Europe; its known breeding-grounds are in Iceland, and in America, from Greenland to Alaska. It breeds in secluded lakes and tarns, at no great distance from the sea, and prefers an island to nest on; but where no island exists the nest is placed on the shore close to the water. Two eggs are laid, varying in ground-colour from olive-brown to russet-brown, spotted somewhat thinly with black.

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The family of divers (Colymbidæ) consists of four species, all contained in one genus; and of the four, three are British. In habits, as well as in structure, they are so closely related that a very brief description of the other two is all that will be necessary. The black-throated diver (Colymbus arcticus) is much smaller than the great northern diver, its length being twenty-six inches. Bill black; irides red; crown and hind head ash-grey; upper parts blackish, spotted and barred with white; throat purplish black, with a half-collar of short white streaks; sides of neck striped with black and white; under parts white.

This diver breeds in small numbers on the west coast of Scotland and in the Outer Hebrides. To other parts of the country it is an accidental visitor. It is less oceanic in its habits than the last species described, and goes to a greater distance from the sea to breed. Two eggs are laid, similar in colour to those of the great northern diver.

The red-throated diver (Colymbus septentrionalis) is the smallest of the three species, its length being twenty-three inches. It has the head, throat, and sides of the neck mouse-colour; crown spotted with black; neck marked with black and white lines; on the front of the neck a large orange-coloured patch; back dusky brown; under parts white.

This species breeds in the west and north of Scotland, and in the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands.

Great Crested Grebe.

Podiceps cristatus.

Crown and crest and ruff dark brown and chestnut; cheeks white; upper parts dark brown; secondaries white; under parts silky white. Length, twenty-two inches.

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The great crested grebe still survives as a British species, although it is a large and handsome bird, and, like all those to which such a description applies, it has been much persecuted. Among our large water-birds there are few more strikingly handsome and stately in appearance than this grebe in its full breeding-plumage, when viewed as it floats, unalarmed, on the secluded reed-fringed water it loves. The swan, in its immaculate white dress, with proudly arched neck and plume-like scapulars, when seen ‘floating double,’ is to many minds the most perfect type of a beautiful waterfowl; certainly it is the most familiar. The great grebe has a very different appearance, with its straight neck, long, boat-shaped body, dark upper and silvery under plumage, and its broad ruff and double, ear-like crest; but in some aspects he is not less attractive than the white, larger bird, especially when sailing peacefully in close proximity to tall, slender reeds, their beauty, and that of the bird, enhanced by the ‘magic of reflection,’ when both seem part of the glassy pool, and made for one another.

Although in sadly diminished numbers, the great crested grebe still breeds regularly in many localities in England, especially in the eastern counties, and in a few situations in Wales and Ireland. In the northern counties of England it is very rare, and does not breed in Scotland: it is there a winter migrant from the north of Europe.

The habits of the grebe when on the water are similar to those of the diver. It is adapted to a swimming and diving existence; feeds on fish, frogs, water-beetles, and other small aquatic creatures; when alarmed it sinks its body deeper and deeper into the water, and when pursued, or in danger, seeks to escape by diving. It makes little use of its wings, except when migrating. At most times it is a silent bird, but in the breeding season utters a harsh, grating cry.