Nature's Carol Singers

Part 1

Natural History Works

By R. Kearton, F.Z.S.

With Illustrations from Photographs taken direct from Nature by C. and R. Kearton.

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NATURE’S CAROL SINGERS

NATURE’S CAROL SINGERS

RICHARD KEARTON, F.Z.S.

Author of “Wild Nature’s Ways,” “The Adventures of Cock Robin and His Mate,” etc. etc.

ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS DIRECT FROM NATURE BY

CHERRY AND RICHARD KEARTON

CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE. MCMVI

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PREFACE.

Their plumage dazzles not, but yet can sweeter strains be heard? Let other feathers vaunt the dyes of deepest rainbow flush, Give me old England’s nightingale, its robin and its thrush. COOK.

Despite the fact that we live in a small and thickly populated country, we are singularly rich in song birds, thanks to our numerous old furze-clad commons, game preserves, and a healthy sentiment in the great majority of rich and poor alike towards the wee, feathered carol-singers that make grove and hillside ring with their sweet, happy music.

This little book deals in a concise and popular manner with the appearance, haunts, habits, nests, eggs, songs, and call notes of the winged melodists that breed in various parts of the British Islands. I have endeavoured to describe them in such a way that the reader may be able to identify them for himself or herself in wood and field, and where two species bear a similarity of appearance or song, to emphasise the points wherein they differ.

Part 2

The study of our native song birds will be found to contain many delightful curiosities, and to present not a few entertaining problems. For instance, all our first-class melodists, such as the Nightingale, Song Thrush, Blackcap Warbler, Woodlark, and Garden Warbler, are dressed in the most sober of sober colours. Male migrants generally arrive upon our shores before the females, and at once commence to sing and practise all kinds of curious antics in order to attract the attention of their prospective brides when they arrive. Individual birds of the same species vary greatly in the quality of their songs, and nearly all the members of a species sometimes sing better in one part of the country than another. Birds are first-class plagiarists, and not only copy each other’s notes, but upon occasion actually improve the quality of the music they borrow. Some of them, such as the Chaffinch, practise their notes thousands of times per day, and a Song Thrush sings as many as sixteen hours out of the twenty-four.

The following questions in regard to the behaviour of some of our feathered melodists are amongst those put to me by both young and old after my lectures, and contain a good deal of food for reflection: Why do some birds sing by night as well as by day after they have mated? Why do some birds cease to sing as soon as their young ones are hatched, and others continue practically all the year round? Why does a caged Skylark sing blithely in a dingy alley, where he has no mate to attract, no rival to challenge, nor any apparent condition of life to induce a feeling of happiness? Why does a Skylark practise its notes on the ground more during the closing than the opening part of the season? How do birds know of a coming change in the weather and sing joyously to foretell it long before man, with all his acquired experience, is aware of the fact? Why do some winged melodists, such as the Blackbird for instance, sing the best during a shower of rain? Is it in anticipation of an increased supply of food? Would a chick that had never heard the song of its own species be able to sing it when it grew up?

No answer to many of these interesting questions that are constantly cropping up will be found in any ornithological work with which I am acquainted, and they show two things clearly to my mind, viz.: How little we really know about even our common song birds, and what a great desire there is on the part of the public to find out.

Nature is never prodigal in the giving up of her secrets, but the diligent student is sure to discover some interesting fact or solve some entertaining problem; and I would urge all young people who care for the delights of the country to take up the study of Nature’s charming musicians. They will find it deeply interesting to learn to identify birds by their songs and call notes, and even to imitate the latter with sufficient skill to attract members of the species to which they belong.

Finally, I trust I may be permitted to hope that this little book will stimulate an interest in our song birds, which have always been a never-ending source of solace and delight to me.

R. KEARTON.

Caterham Valley, November, 1906.

CONTENTS.

PAGE CUCKOO 1 ROBIN 16 BLACKBIRD 26 TWITE, OR MOUNTAIN LINNET 32 WOOD WREN 38 RING OUZEL 43 TREE PIPIT 48 WOODLARK 53 COMMON WREN 58 GRASSHOPPER WARBLER 66 SKYLARK 71 REDSTART 77 MEADOW PIPIT 82 WILLOW WREN 87 HEDGE SPARROW 93 GREENFINCH 98 DARTFORD WARBLER 103 MISSEL THRUSH 108 DIPPER 114 CHIFFCHAFF 120 WHITETHROAT 125 NIGHTINGALE 130 LESSER WHITETHROAT 136 SISKIN 140 SEDGE WARBLER 144 LESSER REDPOLE 149 REED WARBLER 153 ROCK PIPIT 159 GARDEN WARBLER 163 MARSH WARBLER 168 REED BUNTING 173 GOLDFINCH 177 BLACKCAP WARBLER 182 BULLFINCH 188 WHEATEAR 194 STONECHAT 198 WHINCHAT 202 SONG THRUSH 205 YELLOW HAMMER 214 STARLING 219 CHAFFINCH 226 PIED FLYCATCHER 233 LINNET 238 SWALLOW 244 GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN 248

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE Blackbird, Female, admiring her single giant chick 29 Blackbird’s Nest 27 Blackcap Warbler, Female, feeding young 185 Blackcap Warbler’s Nest and Eggs 183 Bullfinch, Female, on the Nest 191 Bullfinch’s Nest and Eggs 189 Chaffinch on the Nest 227 Chaffinches, Sparrows, and Starling feeding in Winter 229 Chaffinches, Young 231 Chiffchaff and Nest 121 Chiffchaff’s Nest and Eggs 122 “Come and hear the Cuckoo sing” 6 Cuckoo, Adult 5 Cuckoo, Young, and his Tree Pipit foster-mother 9 Cuckoo, Young, asking for food 13 Cuckoo, Young, in Meadow Pipit’s Nest, Bird’s own eggs thrown out on to edge of structure 3 Cuckoo, Young, waiting for its foster-mother with food 7 Cuckoo’s Egg in Meadow Pipit’s Nest 3 Dartford Warbler 105 Dipper and Nest 116 Garden Warbler on Nest 165 Garden Warbler’s Nest and Eggs 166 Golden-Crested Wren at Nest 250 Goldfinch’s Nest and Eggs 179 Grasshopper Warbler on Nest 68 Greenfinch, Male, in a Garden in Winter 99 Greenfinch’s Nest and Eggs 101 Hedge Sparrow and Young 95 Hedge Sparrow’s Nest and Eggs 94 Lesser Whitethroat feeding young 138 Lesser Whitethroat’s Nest and Eggs 137 Lesser Redpole’s Nest and Eggs 151 Linnet bringing food for young 241 Linnet’s Nest and Eggs 239 Marsh Warbler on the Nest 170 Meadow Pipit, Adult 84 Meadow Pipit’s Nest and Eggs 85 Meadow Pipit, Young, sheltering behind a stone 83 Missel Thrush at Nest 112 Missel Thrushes, Newly-fledged 110 Nightingale (Frontispiece) Nightingale’s Nest and Eggs 133 Pied Flycatcher, Male, outside nesting hole 234 Redstart, Female, with food for chicks 78 Redstart, Male, with food for young 79 Redstart’s Nest and Eggs beneath a stone on the ground 80 Reed Bunting, Female, and Young 175 Reed Warbler, Young 156 Reed Warblers at Home 155 Reed Warbler’s Nest and Eggs 154 Ring Ouzel, Female, covering young in nest during a shower of rain 46 Ring Ouzel’s Nest 45 Robin, Cock, bringing food for his chicks 19 Robin, Female, bringing food to her young 23 Robin, Young, in its first coat of feathers 21 Robin’s Nest 17 Rock Pipit’s Nest and Eggs 161 Sedge Warbler on Nest 145 Sedge Warbler’s Nest with Cuckoo’s Egg in it 145 Siskin’s Nest and Eggs 142 Skylark, Mother, feeding chicks 74 Skylark’s Nest and Eggs 72 Song Thrush at Nest 206 Song Thrushes, Young, waiting for mother 211 Song Thrush’s Nest and Eggs 208 Starling, Adult, in Winter 223 Starling in its first coat of feathers 221 Stonechat’s Nest and Eggs 199 Swallow, Newly-fledged 246 Swallows, Young, on telegraph wires 245 Tree Pipit about to alight on young Cuckoo’s back with food 11 Tree Pipit coming with food for young Cuckoo 10 Tree Pipit feeding young Cuckoo whilst standing on his shoulders 14 Tree Pipit, Female, about to enter nest 51 Tree Pipit stretching herself after having fed young Cuckoo 2 Tree Pipit’s Nest and Eggs 49 Twite on Nest in Honeysuckle tied against a storm-swept Hebridean garden wall 35 Twite, Young, just fledged 34 Twite’s Nest and Eggs 33 Wheatear, Male, bringing food for young 196 Wheatears, Young, waiting for food 197 Wheatear’s Nest and Eggs beneath a stone 195 Whinchat’s Nest and Eggs 203 Whitethroat on Nest 128 Whitethroat’s Nest and Eggs 127 Willow Wren bringing food to young in nest 91 Willow Wren’s Nest and Eggs 88 Willow Wrens, Young 89 Woodlark, Newly fledged 56 Woodlark’s Nest and Eggs 55 Wood Wren, Female, about to enter nest 40 Wood Wren’s Nest and Eggs 39 Wren about to enter Nest with food for chicks 62 Wren’s Nest amongst Ivy growing on the trunk of a tree 60 Yellow Hammer on Nest 215 Yellow Hammer’s Nest and Eggs 217

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