Part 93

Mr SELBY thus speaks of it in the second volume of his Illustrations:—“The Bernicle is amongst the number of our winter visitants, annually resorting in vast numbers, upon the approach of autumn, to the western shores of Britain, and to the north of Ireland. Upon the Lancashire coast, the Solway Frith, &c. it is very abundant; frequenting the marshy grounds that are occasionally covered by the spring-tides, and such sands as produce the sea-grasses and plants upon which it feeds. Upon the eastern and southern shores of Britain it is of rare occurrence, its place being supplied by its nearly allied congener, the Brent Goose (Anser Brenta); which again is as rarely seen upon the opposite coast of the island. Like the rest of the genus, the Bernicle is a very wary bird, and can only be approached by the most cautious manœuvres. It is sometimes shot by moonlight, when it comes on the sands to feed, by persons couched on the ground, or from behind any occasional shelter in such places as the flocks are known to frequent. Its flesh is sweet and tender, and highly esteemed for the table. Upon the approach of spring it leaves our shores for more northern countries, and by the middle of March the whole have retired.” It is known to breed in Iceland, Spitzbergen, Greenland, &c. as well as in Lapland, the northern parts of Russia, and northern Asia. It also inhabits Hudson’s Bay and other polar districts of the American continent. During its equatorial or winter migration, it is abundant in Holland, France, and parts of Germany.

The eggs, which I describe from specimens deposited in the rich museum of the University of Edinburgh, measure two inches and seven-eighths by one inch and seven-eighths, and are of a uniform yellowish-cream colour.

I have represented an adult male in spring, and a female of the preceding year.

ANAS ERYTHROPUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 197.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 843.

ANSER LEUCOPSIS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 377.

BARNACLE GOOSE, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 355.

Adult Male in Spring. Plate CCXCVI. Fig. 1.

Bill much shorter than the head, higher than broad at the base, somewhat conical, slightly depressed towards the end, narrowed and rounded at the tip. Upper mandible with the dorsal line sloping, the ridge broad and flattened, the sides sloping, the edges soft and obtuse, the oblique marginal lamellæ short, transverse, about thirty on each side, besides minute anterior ones; the unguis roundish, convex, striato-denticulate on the inner edge. Nasal groove elliptical, commencing at the base and extending to the middle of the bill, parallel to the ridge, filled by the soft membrane of the bill; nostrils lateral, submedial, longitudinal, narrow-elliptical, open, pervious. Lower mandible straight, with the angle very long, rather wide, and rounded, the sides sloping rapidly upwards, the edges soft and obtuse, with about thirty-eight distinct lamellæ on an inflected plane.

Head small, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and slender. Body full, slightly depressed. Feet short, stout, placed a little behind the centre of the body; legs bare a little above the tibio-tarsal joint. Tarsus short, a little compressed, covered all round with angular reticulated scales, which are smaller behind. Hind toe extremely small, with a very narrow membrane; third toe longest, fourth a little shorter, but longer than second all the toes reticulated above at the base, but with narrow transverse scutella towards the end; the three anterior connected by a reticulated membrane, the outer with a thick margin, the inner with the margin extended into a two-lobed web. Claws small, arched, rather compressed, except that of the middle toe, which is bent obliquely outwards, depressed, with a curved edge. Wings of moderate length, with an obtuse protuberance at the flexure.

Plumage close, rather short, compact above, blended on the head, neck, and lower parts of the body. The feathers of the head and neck very narrow, of the back very broad and abrupt, of the breast and belly broadly rounded. Wings when closed extending about an inch and a quarter beyond the tail, acute; primaries very strong, curved, the second longest; secondaries long, broad, rounded. Tail very short, rounded, of sixteen stiff rounded and acuminate feathers.

Bill, feet, and claws black. Iris dark hazel. Anterior part of the head, including a broad space above the eye, the sides of the head, and the throat, white; the feathers margining the bill, and a line from the bill to the eye, curving below the lower eyelid, and running along the upper, brownish-black. Neck all round glossy black, of which colour are the anterior or dorsal feathers, the scapulars, and the wing-coverts, towards their extremities, while their bases are ash-grey, and their terminal margins white. The shorter feathers on the middle of the back are similar; those on the rump and the tail-feathers deep black. The quills are greyish-black, darker towards the tips, the outer webs more or less tinged with ash-grey. The breast, sides, and abdomen greyish-white, the upper feathers of the sides with more grey; the upper and lower tail-coverts, and the sides of the rump, pure white.

Length 27 inches, extent of wings 4 feet 8 inches; bill along the ridge 1-1/2, in depth at the base 10/12, in breadth 9/12; tarsus 2-10/12, middle toe and claw 2-10/12; wing from flexure 17; tail 6; the feet extend beyond the tail 3-1/2 inches. Weight 4 lb. 1 oz.

Adult Female. Plate CCXCVI. Fig. 2.

The Female, which is much smaller, has the same colours, the black parts being tinged with brown, and the tints generally duller.

Length 23-1/2 inches, extent of wings 4 feet 4 inches; the feet extend beyond the tail 2-1/2 inches. Weight 2 lb. 9 oz.

THE HARLEQUIN DUCK.

FULIGULA HISTRIONICA, BONAP.

PLATE CCXCVII. MALE AND FEMALE.

I have the pleasure of presenting you with three figures of the Harlequin Duck, one a male in all the perfection of its spring plumage, the bird having attained complete maturity, another male two years old, and an adult female shot in the pairing season. No figures of the adult male or of the female have, I believe, hitherto been published.

To the south of the Bay of Boston the “Lord and Lady Duck” is rarely seen on our coast; but from that neighbourhood it becomes more plentiful as you proceed eastward; and, on reaching Maine and the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, you may see it at any period of the year among the rocky islands there. It breeds on the Seal, White Head, and Grand Manan Islands, and along the coast of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Many, however, proceed much farther north, for specimens were obtained by Captain JAMES CLARK ROSS in the highest latitudes visited by him. It is extremely attached to certain localities, from which it rarely wanders unless greatly molested, and it thus remains about the islands, or the parts of the coast on which it breeds, unless it be forced off by very severe weather in winter. Few persons shoot it for its flesh; not that it is inferior as food to other deep-diving ducks, but because it is comparatively small, and difficult to be obtained. Not only is it at all seasons remarkably shy and vigilant, but even if approached when on rocks, it plunges into the water the moment its keen eye catches a glance of you, dives with all the agility of the Black Guillemot, and seldom rises within shot. If you shoot at it when passing on wing, even should it be beyond reach, it plunges into the water the moment it perceives the flash,—a habit which is also occasionally observed in the Black Guillemot. It being usually found in flocks of one or two families, or of from twelve to fifteen individuals, some one always acts as a watchful sentinel, whose single note of alarm is sufficient to induce the whole to move off without hesitation. Notwithstanding all this vigilance, however, my party procured a good number of them at different times, by lying in wait for them under cover of some rocks, in the neighbourhood of which they were known to alight at certain hours of the day, to bask in the sun and dress their plumage. On these occasions a shot seldom failed to kill several, for they fly compactly and alight close together.

On the 31st of May 1833, I found them breeding on White Head Island, and other much smaller places of a similar nature, in the same part of the Bay of Fundy. There they place their nests under the bushes or amid the grass, at the distance of twenty or thirty yards from the water. Farther north, in Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, they remove from the sea, and betake themselves to small lakes a mile or so in the interior, on the margins of which they form their nests beneath the bushes next to the water.

The nest is composed of dry plants of various kinds, arranged in a circular manner to the height of two or three inches, and lined with finer grasses. The eggs are five or six, rarely more, measure two inches and one-sixteenth by one inch and four-and-a-half eighths, and are of a plain greenish-yellow colour. These measurements differ a little from those of an egg sent to me by my friend Mr HEWITSON of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and which had been found in Ireland by Mr ATKINSON. After the eggs are laid, the female plucks the down from the lower parts of her body, and places it beneath and around them, in the same manner as the Eider Duck and other species of this tribe. The male leaves her to perform the arduous, but no doubt to her pleasant, task of hatching and rearing the brood, and, joining his idle companions, returns to the sea-shore, where he moults in July and August. The little ones leave the nest a few hours after they burst the shell, and follow their mother to the water, where she leads them about with the greatest care and anxiety. When about a week old she walks with them to the sea, where they continue, in the same manner as the Eiders. When discovered in one of these small inland lakes, the mother emits a lisping note of admonition, on which she and the young dive at once, and the latter make for the shores, where they conceal themselves, while the former rises at a good distance, and immediately taking to wing, leaves the place for a while. On searching along the shores for the young, we observed that, on being approached, they ran to the water and dived towards the opposite side, continuing their endeavours thus to escape, until so fatigued that we caught four out of six, When at sea, they are as difficult to be caught as the young Eiders.

The flight of the Harlequin Duck is rapid and generally straight. At sea it flies at a small height, but when flying over the land, or even when approaching it, should there be any suspicion of danger, it rises to a considerable height. Its food consists of shrimps, small fishes, roe, aquatic insects, and mollusca, which it procures by diving. The flesh is dark, and generally tastes of fish, but that of the female is good during the period of her sojourn on the fresh-water ponds.

The male takes three years to acquire his full plumage, although many individuals breed in the second year. The female is perfect in the second spring. Dr RICHARDSON, in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, describes a male killed on the eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains, whence it appears that at times it goes far inland; and it is very probable that its habits differ greatly in different localities.

ANAS HISTRIONICA, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 204.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 849.

HARLEQUIN DUCK, ANAS HISTRIONICA, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. viii. p. 139. pi. 72, fig. 4.

FULIGULA HISTRIONICA, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 394.

CLANGULA HISTRIONICA, HARLEQUIN DUCK, Swains. and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 459.