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

NATURE’S CAROL SINGERS.

=THE CUCKOO.=

“Not the whole warbling grove in concert heard When sunshine follows shower the breast can thrill Like the first summons, Cuckoo, of thy bill.”

--Wordsworth.

“Sumer is icumen in, Loude sing Cuckoo.”

The Cuckoo is a strange, mysterious bird whose history is not yet fully known in spite of all the careful attention it has received at the hands of naturalists for generations.

It arrives in this country during April, and departs again in July, leaving its uncared-for young ones to follow, in August and September, to the winter quarters of the species in Africa’s sunny clime.

The bird makes no attempt whatever at nest-building, but deposits its eggs singly, as a rule in those of small birds, and allows the little dupes to hatch out and rear its young. From its similarity in appearance to a small hawk the ancients believed that in the winter it changed into one. They were also firmly convinced that young Cuckoos not only swallowed all the other chicks in the nests in which they were hatched out themselves, but, as a mark of ingratitude, finally devoured their foster-parents. Although this was, of course, quite wrong, the real facts of the bird’s life and career are quite as romantic, as we shall see presently.

Up to quite recently, people supposed that the female Cuckoo, when about to lay, watched the nest of some small bird until the owner left it in search of food, when she stealthily sat down and dropped one of her own eggs into the structure. Unfortunately for this theory, it would not hold good in the case of domed nests built by such species as the Common Wren and Willow Warbler, both of which are occasionally victimised. This puzzle has been satisfactorily solved by the discovery of the real facts. The Cuckoo lays her eggs upon the ground, and, picking them up in her bill, deposits them in the homes of birds whose own productions they will to some extent match in colours.

Cuckoo’s eggs vary very widely in point of coloration. They are usually reddish grey, mottled and spotted closely with darker markings of the same colour, or pale greyish-green marked with spots of a darker hue. I have met with them matching in colours those of the Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, and Reed Warbler so closely that they were scarcely discernible except for their larger size, and a blue specimen has been found in the nest of a Hedge Sparrow.

Some naturalists are of opinion that a Cuckoo is able to lay an egg of any colour at will, whilst others favour the opinion that if an egg closely resembles in point of coloration those of the bird, say a Tree Pipit, in whose nest it has been placed, that young Cuckoo’s grandfather and grandmother were also reared by Tree Pipits.

Another important fact which aids deception when trying to impose upon small birds is that a Cuckoo’s egg is only one-quarter the size of what might reasonably be expected from the dimensions of its layer. It is much heavier, however, than any other egg of its size, and has a thicker shell.

Competent naturalists have asserted that the Cuckoo lays as many as five eggs during a season, and although only one specimen as a rule is found in the nest of an intended foster-parent, as many as three may be met with, but whether deposited by the same individual or not, it is, of course, impossible to say. Hedge Sparrows and Robins are the greatest victims, but even the Jay, Wood Pigeon, and Carrion Crow have been successfully imposed upon.

With a view to finding out whether the deceptive path of the bird that “tells its name to all the hills around” is a smooth one or not, some years ago I had four wooden eggs made and painted to resemble those of the Song Thrush. I tried my counterfeits upon several different species, such as Starlings, Song Thrushes, and Grasshopper Warblers, and deceived them straight away without the slightest trouble, but when I attempted to impose upon a Ringed Plover, whose eggs I found in a little declivity on a shingly beach, she detected the fraud at once, and tapping my dummy eggs with her bill, turned round and walked away in disgust.

In order to prove how easily some birds are duped, I may mention that two lady friends of mine have, for the last three or four seasons, taken a clutch of Starling’s eggs out of a hole in a stable wall, and replaced them by one common fowl’s egg, and that on each occasion the foster-mother has successfully hatched out a chick.

The young Cuckoo arrives into the world without a scrap of down or the sign of a feather on its dusky, ugly little body. Very soon after it is hatched it begins to show signs of great restlessness and energy, endeavouring to throw out whatever else there may be in the nest in the shape of eggs or young. Nature has equipped the little monster well for its murderous task, by providing a hollow between its broad shoulders for the reception of its victims. It makes great efforts to get beneath whatever else is in the nest in which it has been hatched, and when it gets an egg or chick upon its back, with raised wings, head depressed, and a foot firmly planted on either side of the nest, it rears its burden and casts it out.

This wonderful performance was first observed by the great Dr. Jenner of vaccination fame, and afterwards confirmed by the observations and wonderfully accurate pictures made by my friend Mrs. Blackburn. Curiously enough, her daughter, Miss Blackburn, found the Meadow Pipit’s nest from which her mother saw the rightful owners ejected by the young Cuckoo and also the nest belonging to the same species figured on page 3 of this work.