The Birds of Great Britain & Ireland

The Egyptian Neophron

Neophron percnopterus.—Savigny.

Neophron percnopterus, Savigny, Ois de l’Egypte, pl. 16.—Catharte alimoche, Cathartes percnopterus, Temm. Man. i. p. 8.—Egyptian Neophron, Selby’s Illustrations, pl. A.—Ornithol. Illust. by Sir W. Jardine and P. J. Selby, pl XXXIII. (from the specimen killed in Somersetshire.)—Gould’s Birds of Europe, adult and young.—Eyton’s Rarer British Birds.—Yarrell’s British Birds.

Africa appears to be the stronghold of this Neophron. We have received it from the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. It is noted by various travellers to occur on the northern coasts, and on the shores opposed to Europe it is extremely abundant; whence, crossing to Southern Europe, the frequency continues, but gradually decreases as we advance northward, and France and Britain may be accounted the utmost limits to which wanderers occasionally stray. Notwithstanding, however, its great abundance in Spain and the opposite African shores, we have no record of its habits. Its general food appears to be carrion in all its forms, and in some parts it is protected on account of its utility in clearing off the putrid substances;⁴ at the same time, it is said occasionally to feed on reptiles and the smaller animals. Of its nidification we are equally ignorant. According to Temminck, it breeds in the most inaccessible places, in the holes or the fissures of some perpendicular cliff; but the source of this information is not mentioned, neither the number or colour of the eggs. Mr Bruce again adds to his description,

It lays but two eggs, and builds its nest in the most desert parts of the country.

The single specimen upon which we rank this species as an occasional “British visitant,” was killed on the shores of the British Channel in October, 1825, and came into the possession of the Rev. A. Mathew of Kilve, in Somersetshire.⁵ When first discovered, it was feeding on the carcase of a dead sheep, and had so engorged itself with the carrion as to be unable or unwilling to fly to any great distance at a time; it was therefore approached without much difficulty and shot. Another bird, apparently of this species, was seen at the same time upon the wing at no great distance, but could never be approached within gunshot. The specimen procured at this time, which its owner kindly introduced to Twizel House for the purpose of being introduced into the “Illustrations of British Ornithology,” we then saw. It was in immature plumage, the dark feathers of the young beautifully mixed with others of a rich cream-yellow. The colour of the naked skin on the head was of a livid flesh-coloured red., that of the legs a pale yellowish grey.

The adult birds have the plumage nearly of a uniform yellowish white or cream colour, excepting the quills, inner webs, and base of the secondaries; the former are blackish, the latter liver brown, which, on the outer webs, gradually shades into the cream colour. The feathers on the hind head and neck, are lanceolate, very pointed and hackled, and appear to be occasionally raised when the bird is either under the impulse of fear or anger. The head, before the ears is bare of feathers, a few straggling hair-like tufts appearing on the chin, and marking superciliary ridges and a circle around the ears. The ski, on these parts, in the adult birds is gamboge yellow; but in the Somersetshire specimen above alluded to, which we saw before it was dried, the colour was livid, this undergoes a change as the bird approaches its mature state. The length of specimens from Southern Africa, is two feet two or three inches. The young of the year, have the head thinly covered with down, and, as observed, have the colouring of the uncovered parts of a less clear appearance than in the adults; the plumage is entirely of a dull blackish brown with yellowish spots on the tips of the feathers. The quills however are black, though not of so clear a tint as in the old birds. In approaching to maturity, the dark parts of the plumage assume a rich purplish brown tint, the feathers appear more glossy, and these dark parts afford a pleasing and strong contrast with the cream yellow of body.

The Jer Falcon

Falco Islandicus, Latham.

Hierofalco Islandicus, Cuv. Reg. Anim. i. 323.—Gryfalco Islandicus, Brisson, (immature plumage.)—Gyrfalcon, Pennant, Brit. Zool.—Faucon Gerfaut, Temminck, Man. i. 17.—Gryfalco candicans, Fleming, Brit. Anim.—The Jerfalcon, Montague, Lowe, Bewick, Selby, Yarrell.

The Baron Cuvier applied to this bird the generic appellation of Hierofalco, placing it at the conclusion of his true falcons; and our countryman Dr Fleming, gives it the same situation, using Brisson’s title of Gryfalco. The absence of the lacerating tooth upon the mandible is the reason assigned for the removal, as all the other parts of the form are acknowledged to be quite typical. In all the specimens we have seen, the tooth has been fully, and in some strongly developed; and we suspect that the want of it is an accidental or occasional circumstance; in the wood-cut, taken from a Scottish specimen, it will be seen strongly marked.

We can only rank this fine species as an occasional straggler among us, and even in the olden time of falconry it does not appear to have been more abundant; they were then sought for abroad, and very high prices were paid for them. The range of the Jer-Falcon seems to be the more northern districts of Europe and America. Iceland was and is one of the most famed strongholds—the capital, so far as the sporting world was concerned—and furnished at a large amount the sorts which were in most esteem in the countries where this ancient sport was pursued.¹⁶ It spreads also along the precipitous coasts of Norway and Sweden, Greenland, and all those ranges of ice-bound shores which verge upon the Arctic latitudes. Dr Richardson mentions it as a constant resident in the Hudson Bay territories, and has ascertained it reaching as far south as fifty-two degrees; and Mr Audubon found several pairs breeding on the coast of Labrador. In Britain an occasional specimen is killed, and perhaps finds its way to some public or private collection. Thus in England it is extremely rare,¹⁷ and north of the Tweed almost as much so; even in Orkney and Shetland Mr Lowe considers it as a visiter, and we are not aware of any instance of the nest being found. It is equally so in Ireland, the MSS. of the late John Templeton record a single specimen, and a letter addressed to Mr Thompson of Belfast, so late as February, 1837, from J. Stewart, Esq. mentions a specimen killed in a rabbit warren close to Dunfanaghy. It is truly a northern and maritime species—maritime most probably from the abundance of food which is generally found around the rocky shores of its principal range, the breeding resort of numberless sea fowl. The manners, flight, and cry, approach very closely to those of the Peregrine, it is even a more daring bird, and like it delights to have its eyrie on some precipitous cliff overhanging the sea. The nest, according to Mr Audubon, is composed of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, but the eggs seem not yet authentically known, though we have some descriptions of them as resembling those of the Ptarmigan.¹⁸ When approaching the nest, it becomes very clamorous, descending on the aggressor in sudden swoops. Dr Richardson writes,

A pair of these birds attacked me as I was climbing in the vicinity of their nest, built on a lofty precipice, on the borders of Point Lake. They flew in circles, uttering loud cries and harsh screams, and alternately stooping with such velocity that their motion through the air produced a loud rustling noise. They thrust their claws within an inch or two of my head.¹⁹

Their food is both the small animals and sea-fowl in their vicinity, but they also make more extended excursions inland, where the grouse and other game form, a most favourite and much sought after repast, and in the fur countries they follow the partial migrations of the ptarmigan. The stomachs of the birds dissected by Mr Audubon²⁰ contained, among other remains, those of fish, but these may have been derived from the intestines of the sea-fowl on which they had been preying, not from fish taken by their own excursions.

The form of the Jer Falcon is very strong and muscular, the tail is rather longer in proportion than that of the Peregrine, and the tarsi are feathered for an inch and three quarters downwards. The length of an adult seems to be from twenty to twenty-four inches. The mature bird is nearly white, spotted only above. Dr Richardson’s description is,

The head is entirely white, and the neck nearly so, there being only a few central brown marks on the feathers of the nape. On the back clove brown forms a pyriform blotch on each feather, and on the rump it is confined to a narrow streak along the shaft. The spots are smaller on the lesser wing coverts, and on the greater coverts, secondaries and scapularies, the brown is disposed in bars, which do not reach the margins of the feathers. The primaries are white, their shafts and one or two inches of their ends only being blackish brown; they are narrowly edged at the tips with white. The tail feathers and their coverts are entirely white. The whole under surface of the bird is pure white, except the ends of the feathers, which are hair brown. The bill is pale greenish grey, becoming darker at the tip; cere and lores wax yellow; legs yellow.

In an adult bird from Hudson’s Bay now before us, the length is 23 inches. The crown and under parts are pure white, a narrow lengthened streak running along the feathers on the sides of the breasts and flanks. The crown and cheeks have the shafts only black. The tail is also pure white, the shafts of the centre feathers only being dark brown; the outer feathers are about half an inch shorter than those in the centre.

The following is the description of a Scotch specimen in the collection at Twizel House. It was shot by Mr Scobie on his farm of Keoldale, in the northern extremity of Sutherlandshire, during the winter of 1835. The chin and throat are pure white, the feathers of the crown with deep hair brown shafts, those of the nape with the brown a little extended on each side of the shaft. Back and wing coverts, with the central part of each feather, hair, inclining to clove brown, the margin all around being pure white; the greater coverts and secondaries are barred with hair brown. The greater quills have their tips, to the extend of nearly two inches, deep hair brown narrowly margined with white; the exterior circles barred with brown, the interior with imperfect bars, or, as the first and second quills, with a narrow list of brown along the side of the shaft. The tail is white, except the two central feathers, which are barred with brown; the bars on the exterior web, imperfect, or not reaching the edge of the feathers. The outermost tail feather on each side is nearly half an inch shorter than the rest. The breast and abdomen are white, each feather having the shaft and a portion on each side of it hair brown, forming guttiform spots, which decrease in size from the breast downwards. The breast, the thighs, and under tail coverts, are immaculate white. The bills is of a pale bluish gray, the tooth in the upper mandible, and the notch in the lower, both strongly developed. Legs and feet bluish gray. From the manner in which the skin has been taken off and preserved, the correct dimensions cannot be ascertained.²¹

In the young of the year, the colour²² is mostly of a dull brown, little white being at all visible. As they grow in age, the white increase, the dark parts of the feathers narrowing to a central blotch; and the mature birds white becomes the predominating colour: some birds are nearly white altogether, but, as hinted at by Dr Richardson, this state may be a variation only sometimes occurring, specimens in this plumage being certainly rare. Our next species is

The Peregrine Falcon

Falco peregrinus.—Linnæus.

Falco peregrinus, Auctorum.—Faucon pellerin, Temm. i. 22.—Peregrine, or Peregrine Falcon, of Brit. Authors.—Great-footed Hawk, Wilson, N. A. Ornithol. ix. p. 120.—(F. Barbarus, and Tartarian Falcon, of Latham, often placed in the synonimes of this bird, are very questionable.)—Provincially named, Duck Hawk, Blue Hawk, Game Hawk, Cliff Hawk.

The Peregrine is one of the strongest and most beautifully formed birds of its section. It is hardly so long in form as the Jer Falcon, nor does it weigh so heavily; but the male Peregrine, when in high plumage and condition, exhibits a compact muscularity of shape, and an open and bold expression, which approach closely to our idea of the symmetry of a bird, formed in all its proportions for swift pursuit and rapine.

The Peregrine, though not common, nor of very equal distribution over the country, can scarcely be called a rare bird: in several favourable districts it is even frequent. In the rich low lying lands of England, it is only met with as a straggler, but in the mountainous counties, part of Yorkshire, for instance, and in the border counties, and many parts of Wales, its eyries were frequent and are still found. On entering the Scottish frontier, it is still more common, becomes rarer in the lower and richer valley of the Forth or Mid-Lothian; but on crossing this, and entering the Highland ranges, it again prevails. In Ireland, it is also found: Mr Thompson writes,

It may be stated in general terms, that the Peregrine Falcon occurs in suitable localities throughout Ireland. In the four maritime counties of Ulster, it has many eyries, and in Antrim, whose basaltic precipices are favourable for this purpose, seven, at least, might be enumerated: of these only one is inland.²³

On the Scottish coasts, almost every precipitous headland is possessed by a pair of “Blue Hawks,” and similar situations elsewhere are the most favourite breeding places of the species, selected, most likely, as by the Jer Falcon, on account of the abundant provender which also nestles around them. Many pairs, however, also breed inland, and the mountain ranges on both sides of the Border abound with eyries; but among a race of birds, which of old were held in so high estimation both in Britain and on the Continent, it was to be expected that some more renowned sites would exist. Thus we have Hambleton in Yorkshire, famed for a breed used to fly at Wild-ducks; in Wales, the rock of Llandidno; and in Scotland, Dumbarton, the Bass, and Isle of Man, all ranked high for the bold and generous dispositions of their Hawks. The birds were preserved with the greatest care, and penalties were attached to their destruction.

It may be here remarked, that several gentlemen now keep hawking establishments, and take the field regularly, sometimes for the sport itself, and also for the purpose of terrifying the game to sit, by causing the falcons to fly over them. We have yet few records of the deeds done in this sport, but in Ireland, John Sinclair, Esq. a friend of our correspondent Mr Thompson, seems devoted to it, and has endeavoured to reclaim not only the noble, but has attempted Eagles and Buzzards, and even the most ignoble of the race, the Harriers, and with a variety of success. This gentleman procures his Hawks from the more northern eyries in Ireland, and uses them chiefly to fly at Woodcocks, and making the best chase; and one peculiarity deserves to be mentioned, that the Falcon stops, as it were, instinctively, so soon as the prey arrives at cover.²⁴

The nest of the Peregrine is generally placed on the face of some precipitous cliff, resting on a shelve of the rock, on a tuft of vegetation, or in a horizontal cleft. It is generally inaccessible to climbing without some assistance, though, in a few instances, I have seen the shepherds take the eggs or young without aid. The nest is composed of a considerable bulk of sticks, coarse stems of grasses or fern carried by the birds; but in one eyrie, which I have known for many years, placed in a horizontal cleft, the eggs are laid on the bare surface among the refuse of the roots of vegetation, a little scooping or working with the breast rendering the spot slightly hollow. The female, when sitting, is easily approached, though warning is always given by the make of any stranger’s approach. At this time he appears high in the air, flying rapidly round, and uttering his piercing and shrill call of alarm. If the young are hatched, the scene is different: both parents generally meet the aggressor, and plainly tell that their boundaries have been invaded. When the site of the nest is approached, both fly rapidly across the face of the cliff, passing and repassing the nest, eyeing at one time the stranger, at another, the objects of their care, and uttering meanwhile cries, which may now be likened to shrieks of anger or despair. Their patience apparently exhausted, a sailing flight is made to some neighbouring pinnacles, where more plaintive cries are from time to time uttered, or the male will, far out of gun-shot above, survey the scene. The least movement or noise of the intruding party, will again bring both parents to the spot, with, if possible, a more rapid passing flight and louder cries. In such situations I have never found it difficult to procure at least one bird, and sometimes both, and in either case have always, in the following season, found the cliff again tenanted, and the nest commonly placed on the same spot. A figure of the egg is given plate II. fig. 1.

The Peregrine is a bird of wide distribution, though a constant native only of the wildest and most mountainous districts; thus, though it has been found in America, it is of more rare occurrence than the Hawks, which delight in wooded tracts, and is scarce, therefore, in the wooded parts of the fur countries.²⁵ It is migratory in Louisiana, and seldom occurs in the middle and southern States, while, in some parts of the United States, Audubon thinks they may breed; and the Falls of Niagara, mentioned as one station, would be quite in accordance with the habits of the bird.²⁶ In the New World, it is upon the northern coast where it is most abundant; Melville Peninsula, the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and the Arctic Sea, are among its most numerous resorts in summer.²⁷ Captain King, it has been said, met with it in the Straits of Magellan, and the specimen of hawk from New Holland, in the Museum of the Linnæan Society, is referred to this species. The latter, however, is considerably smaller in size. It is also mentioned, though with a doubt, as a South African bird by Dr Smith, in his catalogue of the “South African Museum.” If these localities are correct,²⁸ we shall have the bird nearly universal in distribution where situation is favourable; and we think it much more than probable that it may also occur in the Alpine regions of India.

The variation of plumage which takes place in the different ages of the birds of prey, has rendered this species the subject of much confusion and of most varied nomenclature, which has been much increased by the provincial and sporting names which have been applied to the different sexes, states of plumage, and age of the trained birds. The language of falconry was introduced into that of science, and the combination was difficult to unravel. F. communis, hornotinus, and gibbosus, are now ascertained to belong to some states of this bird; and in sporting terms, we have Falcon for the female, and Tercel for the male. We are not so sure, however, of the “Barbary Falcon,” as there are one or two African birds which come near, and whose young states may be very similar; and, except that above noted, we have no modern instance of the Peregrine being received from Africa. The difference in the proportions, and in the notching or emargination of the feathers, is often very marked; and it would be well that a very rigid examination of every part of the specimens which were considered identical, was always made before they are recorded, for we are convinced that many birds have not nearly the extent of distribution which has been assigned to them, and that the representing or analogous species have been taken for them.

The food of the Peregrine residing inland, is principally game of all kinds; on the coast, the various sea-fowl, of which ducks and the curlews are most esteemed. We have seen that the American birds have certain propensities for fish, but few instances have been recorded of small animals being destroyed. The flight, when in the act of seizing or rushing on its feathered prey, is swift beyond description. Ordinarily, it is performed by rapidly repeated strokes of the wings, in which manner it either sweeps over the country surveying for its quarry, or when the latter has been raised, ascends above, following the course until the moment favourable for descent has arrived, when the pinions are folded close to the body, the course directed by the tail, and a diagonal rush upon the victim follows, which, if light, is seized and borne off in a rising curve, or, if of a heavier description, is felled to the ground.²⁹ It is an idea with many that the large Falcons strike their prey with the breast, but the violence of the contact would be felt as severely by the one as the other; and the blow which would stun a pigeon, or a full-grown wild-duck of equal weight, would surely be fatal to both. The weaker or lighter birds are always clutched up; and on the others torn wounds are inflicted, which could only be done by the claws. The bill is not used. It has been mentioned, that the Peregrine often strikes several birds of a covey or flock before returning to his first prey; and Mr Thompson mentions that one of Mr Sinclair’s Hawks, which had taken up her abode in a rookery, when flown at rocks, always struck down several before commencing to prey on one. The same gentleman relates another anecdote to the same point:

Mr Sinclair, when exercising his dogs, towards the end of July, preparatory to grouse shooting, saw them point; and when coming up he started a male Peregrine Falcon off a Grouse just killed by him, and very near the same place he came upon the female bird also on a Grouse. Although my friend lifted both the dead birds, the Hawks continued flying about, and on the remainder of the flock being sprung by the dogs, either three or four more Grouse were struck down by them, and thus two or three brace of Grace were obtained.³⁰

Various Attempts have been made to ascertain the velocity of this Falcon’s flight, but accurate data can scarcely be procured, and our results, in most instances, must be drawn by deduction. It has been rated from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles an hour; at the greatest velocity of its rushes we have little doubt that it is beyond this speed, but in ordinary flight and migration, it may have been perhaps overrated.

The following is a description of the adults of both sexes, procured on the Moffat range of hills during the breeding season, and of the young in its first plumage from the same locality:—

• Male.—Head, back of the neck, and broad streak beneath the auriculars, greyish black, shading into a deep bluish grey on the back and shoulders, rump and tail coverts; the centre of each feather on the back darker, but on the scapulars having the shaft only conspicuous, and a slight irregular clouding towards the tip of the feather; on the rump and tail coverts the grey is paler, and the feathers are indistinctly formed with greyish black; the quills are greyish black, with pale edges, slightly tinged with grey on the outer webs, the three first are darkest; on the lower side they are obscurely spotted on the inner web with reddish white; the second is the longest in the wing, and the first only is notched, (see wood cut;) they reach within half an inch of the tip of the tail; the tail is nearly square, bluish white, with a tint of yellowish grey, pale at the end, and narrowly bound with greyish black; the chin is white; the throat and breast are cream-yellow; the shafts of the feathers on the latter dark, and shewing a very narrow streak: from the breast downwards the lower parts are of a pearl-grey, tinted with rufous, the shafts of the feathers appearing very unmarked, and having those feathers on the lower part of the breast with a deep transverse spot, which gradually changes into bars, more indistinctly marked on the thighs and lower tail coverts; bill is bluish black, yellowish white toward the base of the mandible; cere and legs saffron-yellow; iris deep umber-brown; length nearly sixteen inches that of the wing from shoulder to tip of second quill twelve inches and a quarter.
• Female.—With the distribution of the colours similar, the upper parts generally of a deeper tint, the clouded marking on the back and the bars on the rump and tail more distinct and better marked; underneath, the lower part of the breast, the belly, and thighs, have a more rufous tinge, and less grey intermixed; a longitudinal spotting runs higher up on upon the breast, and the transverse spotting and barring on the other parts is broader, of a deeper hue, and more boldly marked; length about nineteen inches; from shoulder to tip of second quill fourteen inches.

Both the birds now described were shot from the nest.

Young of the first plumage, male.—Upper parts very deep blackish brown tinted with grey, the feathers tipped with rufous, and on the hind head broadly edged with a pale tint of the same colour; quills black, tipped with rufous; tail brownish-black, greyer towards the base, tipped and obscurely barred with reddish white; chin yellowish white, remaining under parts pale and dull reddish orange, tinted with ochraceous, darkest in the centre of the belly, and broadly streaked with umber brown on the centre of each feather; legs lemon yellow, with a tint of green.

A variety in a state of change has the upper parts of a tint intermediate between yellowish brown and clove-brown. The tail, instead of being barred, has an irregular spot on each web of ochraceous, where the pale bands should be, and the longitudinal streaking of the lower parts is wood-brown, instead of the deep ruddy umber-brown seen generally in the young.³¹

The Orange Legged Falcon

Falco rufipes.—Bechstein.

Falco vespertinus, Linn.—Falco rufipes, Bechst. and Modern Ornith.—Faucon a pieds, rouge ou Hober, Temm. Man.—Orange legged Hobby, Lath. Selby, Yarrell.—Ingrian falcon, Lath.

The strictness with which the indigenous Fauna of our islands has been lately examined, has led to the discovery of straggling specimens of this Falcon, finding their way to the British shores. Farther than having seen specimens of the species, we know nothing, and can merely now give a summary of what has been lately ascertained and written of its habits and occurrence. Mr Yarrell appears to have been the first who called the attention of our ornithologists to its occasional appearance in England, and records it in the fourth volume of Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History.

Three examples of this small falcon were observed together at Horning in Norfolk, in the month of May, 1830, and fortunately all three were obtained. On examination, they proved to be an adult male and female, and a young male in immature plumage. A fourth specimen, a female, was also shot in Holkham park.

A notice has been since read to the Linnæan Society, by Mr Foljambe,³⁷ of the capture of a male in Yorkshire,

and an immature specimen was shot in the county of Wicklow, in the summer of 1832, and forms part of the collection of T. W. Warren, Esq. of Dublin;³⁸

and these are all, we believe, that have been hitherto been recorded.³⁹ On those parts of the European continent, that lie adjacent to Britain, the Red-legged Falcon is also rare. It appears to be a bird delighting in a wild mountainous but wooded region; France and Holland are therefore nearly as unsuited to its liking as Britain. In the first, it is accounted rare, and it has not been found at all in the latter; in the Tyrol and Switzerland it begins to appear, ranges through Poland and Austria, and is common in Russia; of its distribution, farther, we have no record. Though agreeing with the Falcons in general form, it must be reckoned as diverging towards the aberrant species; there are some modifications in the form of the wings, and reticulation of the tarsi, and its food seems to be almost entirely insectivorous. Reptiles may also form a part, for we have generally seen the two kinds of sustenance preyed on, while small birds or animals were less hunted.

Mr Gould’s figure of an adult male, from a specimen in the collection of Mr Yarrell, is represented of a uniform blackish grey, without streak or spot; the thighs and vent reddish brown, or chestnut; the legs and feet of a clear reddish orange, and this also agrees with the most of our descriptions. The adult female, according to specimens examined by the same author, has the head and nape of a dark reddish brown, without streaks, changing, on the back and wing coverts, to bluish black, edged with paler blue; underneath the plumage is nearly white, tinted with chestnut on the belly, flanks and tail coverts, and on the breast and sides, dashed along the quills, with a narrow line of brown; the insides of the wings somewhat resemble those of the Merlin of the first year, and the feathers of the tail are crossed on their inner webs, with from six to eight bars of blackish brown on a pale ground. Young birds somewhat resemble the female, but we still want a detailed description of the different changes of plumage. We have not seen correct dimensions given of this bird: it is a longer shaped bird, but is not much larger than the Merlin.

The Kestrel

Falco tinnunculus.—Linnæus.

Falco tinnunculus of authors.—Kestrel of British ornithologists.—Provincially Windhover, Stonegal.

The Kestrel is by far the most abundant of our Falcons, we may add all of the British Raptores; it is also the most universally distributed, and inhabits the most varied localities. Ruined buildings are a favourite resting place, and the spires or towers of churches,⁴⁰ where it roosts and incubates even in the more populous towns, free from alarm at the noise or bustle beneath. Well wooded lands, in the midst of cultivation, and extensive forests, are also its breeding places, where the old nest of a carrion crow or magpie, is at once adopted as its own. We again find it equally abundant in the wilder parts and more mountainous districts of England and Scotland, delighting in those deep ravines or gullies, clothed with natural brush and wood, and having parts varied by some precipitous rock, formed into shelves, whereon grow the wild grasses, heath, or blaeberry,⁴¹ or a drapery of ivy or honeysuckle; under the overhanging brow of some of these a hole is scraped, and the eggs are laid without any protection from the rock or ground. This we conceive to be the most favourite site, almost always selected where many such retreats occur in the county; and we know several glens, where, within a quarter of a mile, there may, in April or May be found from ten to twelve eyries, and in one situation, eight or nine can be perceived at once. Mr Thompson writes us, that in Ireland it is equally common, frequenting the inland and marine cliffs.

Throughout the whole range of noble basaltic precipices, in the north-east of Ireland I have remarked its presence.

In form, the Kestrel is interesting, by some being thought sufficiently varied to form a sub-genus. It is aberrant in many parts of structure and habits, and the similitude which runs through a small group of five or six species, would seem to warrant its sectional division; we, however, at present prefer retaining it as a part of Falco, and a comparison between what are called the Kestrels, (F. tinnunculus, tinunculoides, rupicola, &c.) the Merlin, and the little American F. sparverius, will, we believe, lead to a similar conclusion. The bill is perfectly typical, and the wings, though proportionably shorter, are, in the comparative length of the quills, more so than in the Merlin; the second quill is the longest, in the Merlin it is the third; but it is in the feet and tarsi we find the greatest variation. The legs are clothed with small rough scales, three large plates only covering the joint of the tarsus with the toes; the feet are altogether shorter proportionally, particularly the outer toes, a form of which we observe in the species of Raptores which feed more exclusively on the reptiles or insects; and this we have borne out by the habits of the birds we are describing. The Kestrels feed much less on birds than any of our small European Falcons. The chief food of the common bird is the small mammalia comprised in the genera, mus, sorex and arvicola, and for this purpose, we see a peculiar manner of hunting, and of motionless suspended flight, which has gained for it the common, but expressive appellation, of “Windhover;” they hang, as it were, in the air, balancing themselves by the expanded tail, and an occasional rapid quivering of the wings, and survey the thick bushy or grassy cover beneath, descending gradually as their prey is seen, and at last pouncing on it. Small birds may be occasionally taken in the same manner, when squatted in cover,⁴² but we never recollect of seeing the Kestrel openly pursue or give chase to any prey of this description. During the breeding season, in muirland localities, the sustenance is almost completely changed; the small common lizard (Lacerta agilis) forms the greater part of it, and being extremely abundant, serves the parents, and is also carried to the nests. The larger beetles are also fed on, and we have most frequently observed in their stomachs the remains of the larger Carabi, and Geotrupes,—a fact corroborated by the interesting anecdote recorded by Mr Selby, and which shews still more strongly the alliance to some of the Elani, and more decidedly insectivorous species.

In summer, the cock-chafter supplies to this species an object of pursuit and food, and the following curious account is given from an eye-witness of the fact:—

I had the pleasure this summer, in seeing the Kestral engaged in an occupation entirely new to me,—hawking after cock-chafers late in the evening. I watched him through a glass, and saw him dart through a swarm of insects, seize one of them in each claw, and eat them while flying. He returned to the charge again and again. I ascertained it beyond a doubt, as I afterwards shot him.

We may add also, that there is, in the habits of these small Falcons, a very great analogy to the manners of the Shrikes.

In works on falconry, the Kestrel was said to be “easily reclaimed,” and was trained to fly at small birds, snipes, and quails. Mr Sinclaire of Belfast, however, does not seem to hold them in very high estimation for this purpose; he has trained them so far as, when allowed their liberty, they will attend and soar above him like the Peregrine, and fly at small birds let off from the hand.⁴³ In confinement, it is by far the most familiar Falcon we have ever tamed, by a little attention and kindness losing all shyness, coming at once when called on, perching on the hand and shoulder, and uttering its expressive cry of fondness, which can be so easily distinguished in its eyries, when the parents are returning with food to the young, or when the male approaches his partner upon the nest. A remarkable anecdote is mentioned by Mr Thompson of a Kestrel belonging to his friend Mr Sinclaire. One of these birds, which was kept by that gentleman in the town of Belfast, had its freedom, and flew every evening to roost in an extensive plantation in the country, about a mile distant, in flying to and from which it was at first recognized by the sound of the bells attached to its legs. This bird returned regularly to its town domicile at an early hour in the morning.⁴⁴ We should not have considered this bird the favourite with the ancient falconer, which it appears to have been—boldness of temper, and striking game in open chase, being contrary to its habits in an unreclaimed state.

In this species there is not so marked a difference in the size of the sexes as in some of the birds we have been describing. The male varies in length from fourteen to fifteen inches, the female from about fourteen and a half to fifteen and a half inches. In the adult male, the forehead is yellowish, shading into bluish grey on the crown, and which is continued upon the back and sides of the neck on the cheeks; on the latter the tint is darker, and from the corners of the gape assumes the shape of the dark streak which is so conspicuous in most of the real falcons. On the head and back of neck each feather is narrowly streaked on the centre with blackish grey, and a purplish tint purvades the whole. The back, greater and lesser coverts, and shoulders, are hyacinth red, with a tint of pink or pale reddish purple, which perhaps will be more generally understood by “vinaceous,” each feather having a triangular mark of brownish black at the tip. The quills and secondaries are brownish black, the inner webs with dull white oval spots; tail and upper coverts bluish-grey, the former tipped with white, which is followed by a broad black bar incompleted on the outer web of the exterior feathers; shafts of the centre feathers also black; the under parts are pale buff-orange, more rufous on the belly and thighs; feathers on the throat and neck of a paler tint and spotless,—on the breast and belly with a dark streak in the centre,—on the flanks and lower part of the belly with a triangular spot at the tip, and with a second oval spot on the centre of the feathers; under parts of the wings pure white, with a few oval dark spots at the tips of the feathers.

The female differs in having the whole upper parts hyacinth red, but of a paler and more yellow tint; the head and back of the neck broadly streaked, an each feather of the back, shoulders, and coverts, barred and broadly tipped with blackish-brown; the tail of the same tint, but slightly paler than the upper parts, is narrowly barred for its whole length, and is furnished with the broad terminal band and the white tip; the breast and lower parts are more ochraceous than in the male, and the spotting and streaking of the same form, is broader, and thus appears closer; the underparts of the wings are also tinted with ochraceous.

In the young males, the head and tail have a slight greyish tinge, and the bars are more indistinct or clouded on the latter; the under parts of the wings are also of a purer white than those parts in the females.

In all our British Falcons, the iris is brown, and undergoes no change in the adult birds.

The Sparrow-Hawk

Accipiter fringillarius.—Willoughby.

Accipiter fringillarius, Willoughby and Ray.—Falco nisus, Linnæus.—Sparrow Hawk of Brit. authors.

The Sparrow-hawk, next to the Kestrel, is the most abundant of the British birds of prey, inhabiting all the woodland and more cultivated parts of our islands; while it is also, though more sparingly, met with in the wilder districts, and extends its range to the Hebrides, in which it varies its usual habits, and breeds on the rocky precipices on the coast. Common in the enclosed and wooded parts of Ireland, and known to breed on trees only.⁴⁵ Woods of considerable extent are its most favourite retreats, where it can make excusions, and return either to the nest or its roosting place. Its form allows it to glide with rapidity among the trunks of the trees, and in the thicket, and the ample tail may be seen constantly employed in guiding its direction. In the open country the progress is a flitting or gliding flight, skimming at a short distance from the ground, along the back of hedges or the skirts of some cover; any obstruction on the way, or fence, is passed as it were by a bound, calculated with exactness, the action performed with apparently no exertion, and the former level course on the other side is again pursued; the prey is seized in the same rapid and easy manner, and the stoop to the ground is made, and the object seized almost without the spectator being able to distinguish it. During the course, some stone, stake, or eminence is often selected for a temporary rest; the station is taken up with the utmost lightness, the wings closed with a peculiar quiver of the tail, and the attitude assumed very nearly perpendicular, when it often remains a few minutes motionless; the flight is again resumed with as little preparatory movement as it was suspended. The prey of the male Sparrow-hawk is smaller birds, his weight not permitting him to carry off a heavy quarry; but the female is a very powerful bird, and we have here (and in the group generally) a very marked example of disparity between the size and weight of the sexes. The female can easily kill a partridge or pigeon, and we have seen her carry the latter for the distance of one hundred and fifty yards; Mr Selby mentions a lapwing being among the provender for the young. We know the locality of the nest, and this prey, which must have been brought from a considerable distance, will tell strongly in favour of her strength. The breeding site is always, except in peculiar districts, chosen in a wood; it is placed about middle height in the trees, and is rather a loose and careless fabric, composed of sticks and twigs built on a straggling base. The eggs are from three to five, bluish-white, with large brown blotches.⁴⁶ Previous too, and when the nest is building, the birds may be seen in the vicinity soaring at a moderate height in circles, diving and sporting in the air. When incubation commences, the female is shy; but as time runs, she becomes welded to her task, and will allow a near approach. The male does not watch, and an intruder does not call forth those vehement screams and dashes of despair or anger which we see in the true Falcons. Here, the disposition is more phlegmatic, and it is only when the young can exert their voice, that any approach to the nest is marked, and even then great caution is displayed. In rocky situations the nest is placed on some ledge or shelve, or in a screen of ivy; it is built in the same manner, and is tenanted by birds of like dispositions. Mr Thompson, however, states that an ornithological friend of his,

on climbing a tree to one of their nests, and when within a very few yards of it, was attacked by the female bird, and his cap, at one stroke, sent to the ground.

The male has the upper plumate of an uniform pale blackish grey; tip of the tail and nuchal collar white; quills clove brown, darkest at the tips, with clouded bars on their inner webs. Tail with a dark bar after the white sip, shading upwards, and three bars afterwards indistinct above, decidedly marked beneath. Auriculars, buff orange, darker along the shafts. Throat and chin pale ochraceous, with dark shafts; breast, belly, vent, and thighs, ochraceous; shafts dark, and thickly marked with reddish buff orange; in the centre of the belly tinted with brown; under tail coverts white. Length about twelve inches; from shoulders to tip of fifth quill, eight and a quarter.

The female, with the upper parts clove brown, darkest on the crown, and sometimes tinted with rufous; on the tips of the auriculars, above the eyes, and on the hind head, the tips of the feathers only are dark, and the light bases appearing produce a pale line above the eyes, and a variegation with white on the hind head; the quills and tail are barred with narrow darker bands, conspicuous on the under surface of both. The under parts are of a delicate yellowish white; on the throat and neck streaked with clove brown, sometimes tinted with rufous, and on the other parts, except the lower tail coverts, barred with the same colour, which also runs to a point on the apical bands, and sometimes along the shafts; at times, these bars are much darker than at others, and shew beautifully and distinctly on the pure white breast; feet and legs gamboge yellow, irides rich saffron yellow. Length from fourteen to fifteen inches; one shot this morning (Nov. 1836) fourteen inches three quarters; expense of wings, twenty-four or twenty-five inches. In a young female before us, the upper parts are nearly yellowish brown, tinted with grey, and have the edge of each feather ochraceous; on the head and back of the neck darker, and edged with rufous. The lower parts yellowish white; on the breast, a yellowish brown streak along the shaft of the feather, which, on the lower part of the breast, or on the belly, stretched out at the base to a bar, and produced an appearance at once both barred and streaked. On the thighs and vent, the distribution is in bars of a brownish tint. In the young Goshawk, the breast marking is all longitudinal bars, here it assumes somewhat that of the adult bird; in both the colouring of the markings in the young is brown, the adults a rich black.

Astur, generic characters.—Bill compressed, edge of the mandible with an obsolete lobe, nostrils oval; wings short, fourth quill longest, the first five notched about their centre; tail very ample, rather lengthened; tarsi proportionably shorter than in Accipiter, of the middle strength, the scaling in front more strongly marked; middle toe long, the outer toes and the hallux nearly equal; claw of the hind and inside toes strong and nearly equal.

Note.—European, habits chiefly sylvan, sometimes strike the prey on the wing, breed on trees, occasionally trained to the chase.

The Osprey

Pandion haliæetus.—Savigny.

Falco haliæetus, Linn. &c.—Aigle balbusard, Temm.—Balbusardus haliæetus, Fleming.—Osprey of British ornithologists.—Fish Hawk, Wilson.

The wilder character of the northern parts of our island, thickly studded with lochs and rivers abounding with fish, is much more consonant with the habits of the Osprey than the cultivated margins of the southern streams: consequently we find it a rare bird south of the Forth, individuals which are seen or captured there being stragglers or occasional visitants at a distance from their native haunts.

They are recorded as being occasionally seen in Devonshire, and other parts of the south of England, by Colonel Montague and other writers. Tracing them northwards, we have little indication of their appearance about the “English lakes;” and the bird is not mentioned in Dr Heysham’s catalogue of the animals of Cumberland. Upon the Tweed, they seem to appear periodically, and several specimens have been procured from thence. Two were shot on the property of Lord Home, while frequenting some extensive sheets of water, the resort of immense quantities of water-fowl; and another was killed on the river in 1835. Crossing the Forth, we shall find a pair at least, frequenting each of the larger lochs; and in Ross and Sutherland they are even more abundant. In some districts, four or five may be seen during the day; and at the mouth of the Laxford, in the latter county, we daily saw from two to four fishing at the retreat of the tide; three were frequently seen fishing at a time.

It is north of the Forth, also, that the Osprey breeds, for we have no recorded instance of the duties of incubation being performed in the south. The numerous lochs of the Highlands are thickly studded with islands, wild and rocky, rich and picturesque. On many of them, are the remains of buildings, towers or castles, created in the cause of religion or of war, but now crumbling fast with the advance of time. The chimney of these, or, if it be wanting, the highest pinnacle of the ruin, is selected for the site of the eyry, and on this is built the nest of large and unwieldy structure, composed of sticks and branches. On some islands where no ruin stands, the highest rock is chosen; and on Loch Menteith, the old chestnut trees, we think, serve for a support. The eyries we have seen and examined were, however, always placed on the summit of the ruin, though trees, aged, high, and stumped, were frequent in the vicinity. These nests are returned to year after year, and though one of the partners is often shot, the summer has not half run before another has been obtained. The eggs are of a more lengthened form than what we generally see among the Falconidæ, and are yellowish white, thickly spotted, or blotched with yellowish brown. (See Plate XI. fig. 2.)

When fishing, it flies, with a slow and rather heavy and laborious flight, along the stream or lake, until its attention is arrested, when it balances itself by a rapid motion of the wings, and with the tail expanded. Before striking, a descent is generally made nearer the water, and a renewed inspection is continued, after which the dash or plunge is made with closed wings, and the body is sometimes immersed, and generally quite obscured by the spray of the plunge. If unsuccessful, the bird rises, shakes the water from its plumage in the air, and after a circle around, returns to resume its survey. If, however, the prey has been struck, we have always seen it fly directly to some distant hill or rock, where it is devoured. It is never carried to the shore and immediately eaten; but from the accounts we have received from persons living in the vicinity of their haunts, we have occasion to think that it sometimes feeds in the air, or, at least, soars to a considerable height, and sports with its victim before coming to its resting-place. Water-fowl or game, or the small animals, seem very seldom attacked. It is a true fishing Eagle, and with a well-appointed apparatus; there are instances on record where other prey is resorted to, but we believe such to be caused by necessity, and where the want of unusual subsisence could not be overcome.

The Osprey seems to be frequent in some other countries of Europe, particularly Norway, and is otherwise widely distributed. It is very common in North America, and is known under the name of “Fish Hawk.”⁵⁷ We possess specimens from New Holland, and Temminck records it from Japan and the Cape of Good Hope.⁵⁸

The intensity in the colouring of the plumage of the Osprey varies in two specimens before us. The upper parts in the one are very light, and a great proportion of white is seen in the head. In some, again, we have seen the pectoral band complete; in others, it was scarcely marked, except by a few spots or streaks. The former state Mr Selby considers as marking the younger birds.

A specimen, which appears adult, is in length about twenty-three inches. Bill bluish black, much hooked, and presenting the form of the lower outline in our wood-cut.⁵⁹ The feathers on the hind head, we should almost say the nape, are long and lanceolate, and when raised, shew the commencement of an occipital crest. Head and nape white, streaked irregularly with deep umber brown, a distribution caused by the tips, or half the tips, being of that colour. The posterior part of the auriculars, wings, and back, are dark umber brown. The tips of the feathers on the back and scapulars paler. The quills are very dark, and exceed the tail in length by nearly an inch, white at the base on the insides, and clouded with dark bars; the under wing coverts white, barred with umber brown. The tail is short and square; the feathers composing it ample; the colour umber brown, barred with a paler tint, which is nearly white in the outer plumes; the shafts white; the under parts pure white; the pectoral band indicated by lanceolate streaks of umber brown.

The Common Buzzard

Buteo vulgaris.—Bechstein.

Falco buteo, Linn.—Buteo vulgaris, Bechstein, Fleming.—Common Buzzard of Brit. Ornithologists.

The Common Buzzard is not an uncommon species in Britain, frequenting the more cultivated plains and woodlands of England, as well as the very wildest parts of Scotland. In the former, it is a bird of decidedly sylvan habits, delighting in the more extensive chases and parks where there is abundance of aged timber, or in the tracts which still bear the name of the forests; in the latter frequenting the Alpine districts, and breeding on the edges of the ravines with which they are so abundantly intersected. In either case, the nest is built of large sticks, which a scanty lining of wool or hair; the site, an aged tree or some ledge of rock; the eggs, three or four in number, of a rounded form, bluish or greenish white, with pale brown blotches and spots or streaks most crowded at the thicker end. (See Plate XVI. fig. 1.) In its habits it is sluggish and inactive, or rather it appears to be so; the flight is heavy but buoyant, and when hunting it is performed in low sweeps, during which it surveys the ground, and pounces on any thing living which may catch attention; it never attempts to secure a prey on the wing by pursuit. The food consists of almost every thing,—the smaller mammalia, such as mice or moles, the young of game or moorland birds, frogs, toads, &c. It is often described as watching from an eminence or decayed tree, thence sweeping down on the prey when discovered, and for this purpose remaining for hours in one situation; we have never seen it so employed, and have always considered its long stationary perches as the result of repletion, and as a resting place after the exertion of hunting and feeding, and we have known the same station taken up day after day, and hours spent in a motionless dose. When roused from this perch, or during the season of incubation, the flight is slow and majestic; the birds rise in easy and graceful gyrations, often to an immense height, uttering occasionally from their shrill and melancholy whistle. At this time, to a spectator underneath, and in particular lights, they appear of immense size; the motions of the tail when directing the circles may be plainly perceived, as well as the beautiful markings on it and on the wings, sometimes rendered very plain an distinct by the body being thrown upwards and the light falling on the clear and silvery tints of the base of the feathers. The Buzzard is a fine accompaniment to the landscape, whether sylvan or wild and rocky.

In confinement, the Buzzard becomes very familiar, is easily tamed, and as easily kept. Some interesting anecdotes are related by Mr Thompson in his “Irish Raptores.” A male Buzzard, which had been brought up from the nest,

when let off in the morning, his favourite perch was upon some stacks, where he remained patiently watching for mice, which he has been seen to catch, but he was not always successful, sometimes dashing his talons into the straw and bringing them out empty. He preferred mice to rats, though very expert at killing both. He was quite a pet bird; one of his favourite tricks was to fly on his master’s feet and untie his shoe strings. But he was likewise very bold, and taking a dislike to a certain individual, flew at him whenever he appeared, and endeavoured to strike him about the head. This bird occasionally astonished strangers, by smartly striking them on the hat, so as to send it over their ears.⁶⁷

In geographical range, the Buzzard is pretty general over Europe, except in the low an marshy districts, or the flat and sandy steppes. In North America it seems more sparingly distributed, and chiefly in the northern parts; it was met with by Dr Richardson so high as the fifty-seventh degree.⁶⁸ We possess a specimen from Madeira, for which we are indebted to the attention of W. T. Carruthers of Dormont, but we have been unable to trace its range to any part of the African continent, of which the Madeiras may be considered as partly the suburbs, and where, in this direction, we commence to see a mixture of African and European forms.

The Common Buzzard varies considerably in the colouring of the plumage, scarcely two specimens being similar. The differences consist chiefly in the intensity of the tint of the upper parts, and in the presence of a greater or lesser degree of marking below. The general colour above is some shade of umber brown, varying to hair brown, and brocoli brown; the feathers darker in the centre, often edged with a paler tint, or with reddish yellow, and generally glossed with a rich and shining purple, which is most prevalent in dark coloured specimens. Wings at the tips are deep umber brown, shading into pure white at the base, where the feather becomes soft and downy; they are crossed with irregular clouded dark bars, which decrease in breadth and intensity towards the roots. The under parts are sometimes pale yellowish white, streaked on the throat and breast with shades of brown in different intensity, and on the belly and vent crossed by broad irregular bars; sometimes they are of a uniform tint nearly as dark as the upper surface of the body and very little interrupted, and sometimes a very dark and deep band tinted with purple occupies the whole belly, while the other parts are streaked and marked with a moderate proportion of brown; the plumes of the thighs are generally dark, crossed with reddish; the tail is slightly rounded, the ground colour whitish, of a chaste grey tinted with ochraceous, or of a reddish yellow; it is crossed by a broad bar of umber brown near the tip, and by seven or eight narrow ones of the same colour. In many of its variations it is extremely beautiful. The length of a male specimen before us is twenty inches, that of a female nearly twenty-three.

The Honey Buzzard

Pernis apivorus.—Cuvier.

Falco apivorus, Linn.—Pernis apivorus, Cuvier, Reg. Anim.—Buse Bondree, Temm.—Honey Buzzard, of Brit. Ornithol.

This very interesting bird is one of the rarest British Falconidæ, and is in much request by collectors. We have only seen one newly taken specimen, which was killed in some part of the Lothians, but we are aware that seven or eight birds of this species have been killed within the last five years in the counties of Northumberland and Durham; three of which we saw soon after they were skinned; the whole were procured during the autumnal months, or between August and November, and were probably individually driven out of the line of the equatorial migration from northern parts of continental Europe.⁶⁹ A specimen was also lately killed near Drumlanrig, which came into the possession of J. Bushman, Esq. to whom we are indebted for notice of it. In other parts of England it seems also very rare, in the north of Scotland it has not occurred at all, and its range in Britain may be limited to the south of the Forth. A single specimen only is recorded to have been killed in Ireland in the vicinity of Belfast.⁷⁰ On the Continent, it occurs frequently in France and towards the south, but we do not trace it out of Europe, on the confines of Asia. Its flight is light and buoyant, and it is said to frequent watery places in search of the Libellulidæ, but some original description of its habits is yet a much wanted desideratum. Most authors record its preying on birds, small animals, reptiles, &c. During the greater part of the year we should doubt if much food of this kind was looked after, and we would rather conclude that it was only during the dead of winter that the want of the Hymenoptera and the nests of Bees and Wasps would drive it to seek a stronger and less easily captured prey. As an important addition to its habits, we transcribe entire an account given by Mr Selby of the destruction of a wasp’s nest near Twizell by this bird, which was read before the Berwickshire Naturalist’s Club, in 1836:—

This individual was caught in a steel spring-trap on the 28th of August last, under circumstances which, as illustrative of the peculiar habits of the species, I think it may not be altogether uninteresting to detail. On the afternoon of he 27th August, a large bird, apparently of the hawk species, was observed by Mr B. Atherton in the grounds at Twizell, to rise from the ground beneath the decumbent branches of a Platanus. Upon going to the spot, he observed a number of flying wasps (Vespa vulgaris) flying around, and part of a nest and broken comb scratched out of a large hole at the root of the tree, in which it had been built. The fact was mentioned on his return to the house, and from the circumstances detailed, i conjectured it might possibly be the work of a Honey Buzzard; an inspection of the place an hour or two afterwards strengthened this supposition, as it was evident the aggressor had again been there, having nearly torn the whole of the comb to pieces, and cleared it of the wasps, grubs, and immature young with which it had been filled. At the suggestion of Mrs Selby, two steel-traps were set in the evening, close to the side of the destroyed wasp-hive, and baited with two large pieces of comb taken from another nest, destroyed a few evenings previously. Upon looking at them early the following morning, they appeared undisturbed, but during the course of the forenoon, the bird was again observed upon a tree within view of the traps, and apparently reconnoitering the places, and it then allowed of a near approach. It would appear, that whatever suspicions it might have entertained, it had not long been able to resist the cravings of its appetite, as it was found in the evening secured by its leg in one of the traps. From its size, I conjectured it to be a male, and such it proved upon dissection, and an adult bird, from the difference of colour, as contrasted with two birds of the year in my possession, as well as from the pure yellow of its cere and legs, those parts in the young being of greenish grey. It measured twenty-one inches in extreme length, and three feet seven inches in extent of wing; the cere was of a fine lemon yellow, the top of the bill bluish black, the iris dark bluish grey; the tarsi about one and three-fourths inch in length, feathered in part about half way down, the naked part and feet yellow. The claws very little arched, but sharp; the tail long, fan-like, and extending beyond the closed wings about two inches and a half. The exterior plumage is of an uniform dark or umber brown, including the close-set feathers around the eyes, which, from their tilted disposition and firmness, appear well adapted to protect the face of the bird from the stings of hymenopterous insects. The bottom or lower part of the plumage is white, and thick clothing of down closely invests the whole of the body. The tail hair brown, with bars of a deeper colour. The skin I found to be tough and thick. Upon opening the body, the craw and stomach were found filled with wasps, as well full grown as in the nymph and grub state; no remains or feathers of birds, or bones and fur of mammalia, were to be seen, so that, at this season at least, its food would appear to consist entirely of insects, and particularly the Hymenoptera and their larvæ. The neck and gently curved bill, as well as the straight claws of this bird, shew its departure from the typical Falconidæ, and its decreased predatorial habits. It was in tolerable condition, though not in the fat state of the individual killed at Thrunton, and described by the honourable Mr Liddell in the Transactions of the Northumberland Natural History Society. While alive, it shewed no irascibility of disposition, and did not attempt to strike with its talons, and made no outcry. It was infested with that unpleasant looking paraside, Hippomya viridis, several specimens of which were secured.

In the species before alluded to as being killed near Belfast,

The bill and forehead were covered with cow dung in such a manner as to lead them to suppose the bird had in that substance been scratching for insects. On examination of the stomach, which was quite full, it was found to contain a few of the larvæ, and some fragments of coleopterous insects; several whitish coloured hairy caterpillars; the pupa of a butterfly, an dalso of the six-spot burnet moth, Zygæna filipendulæ, together with some pieces of grass which, it is presumed, were taken in with this last named insect, it being on the stalks of grass that the pupæ of this species of Zygæna are chiefly found.⁷¹

All authors agree in making the Honey Buzzard breed on trees; the number of eggs three or four, small in proportion, and of a yellowish white, blotched and spotted with brown. Mr Gould says, “several instances of its breeding in this country have come to our knowledge,” and again, it constructs a nest of twigs lined with and other soft materials. The nest mentioned by White was built on a tall slender beech; it was large and shallow, composed of twigs, and lined with dead beechen leaves. Willoughy says, speaking of its nest,

We saw one that made use of an old Kite’s nest to breed in, and that it fed its young with the nympha of wasps, for, in the nest, we found the combs of wasps’ nests, and in the stomachs of the young, the limbs and fragments of wasp maggots. In the nest there were only two young ones, covered with a white down, spotted with black. Their crops were large, in which were lizards, frogs, &c.⁷²

The same ornithologist also mentions that he found

a huge number of green caterpillars, of that sort called Geometra, in the stomach and guts of one which he dissected.

Mr White states that the

craw of the female shot in Selborne-hanger, contained the limbs of frogs, and many grey snails without shells.⁷³

The form of this bird is rather graceful; the head small and the bill weak, are evidently not intended for tearing a strong prey. Its structure, however, seems finely adapted for its peculiar mode of attack; and the scaly formed feathers covering the eyelids, and every exposed part of the face, protect them from the stings of the colonies it preys upon. From the account given us by Mr Selby, the feet also appear to be capable of being well employed in scraping, while Willhoughby remarks that “this bird runs very swiftly like a hen.”

A specimen procured in France is in length about twenty inches. The crown, head, and cheeks, clothed with imbricated feathers, smaller and more loosely arranged on the face. These are of an ash grey, gradually shading into the pale umber brown, which prevails over all the upper parts. Quills, with an inch and a half at the tip, very deep umber brown; towards the base they become nearly white on the insides, and are crossed with irregular dark bars or blotches; the third quill is longest, the next nearly equal, and the sinuation of the inner webs of the four first hardly so deep as in Buteo. Secondaries, also with the tips dark umber brown, which forms a bar across the wing, a peculiarity of marking also seen in the other known species of Pernis. The tail is rather long, of a paler tint than the back; there is one broad dark band at the tip, a second more than half way up, and a third crossing at the tips of the upper coverts; the intervening space is clouded with narrow indistinctly clouded bars. The throat is pure white, the shafts of the feathers of the chin only dark; rest of the under parts pure white, having the tips of the feathers marked with a triangular bars of umber brown, darkest along the shafts; insides of the thighs pure white; tarsi feathered nearly half way down.

An adult male killed at Twizell in September, 1835, is in length twenty-one inches and a half. Bill bluish black; cere lemon yellow; tarsi and feet of a deeper tint of the same colour; plumage entirely very deep clove brown; scaly feathers of lore tinted with grey, and with purplish reflections on the wings and back, the feathers white at the base; tail with three indistinct paler bars, and tipped with yellowish white; the basal half of the inner webs of the quills white, clouded with pale clove brown in the form of bars. In the collection of P. J. Selby.

Two other specimens, killed previously, have the head, neck, and under parts white, dashed with pale clove brown; the back, wings, and tail pale clove brown, upon the shoulders having the feathers tipped with yellowish white; the cere and legs greenish yellow. In the collection of P. J. Selby.⁷⁴

In this genus, and some allied ones, the young are generally clothed in a paler plumage. This is confirmed in the two specimens just mentioned, by the greenish yellow of the cere and legs, which do not seem to attain their brilliancy until after maturity; and in one foreign species we have repeatedly seen the same distribution of colour.

The Kite

Milvus regalis.—Brisson.

Falco milvus, Linn.—Milvus regalis, Briss.—Milvus ictinus, Savigny.—Milvus vulgaris, Flem.—Le milan royal, Buff. Temm.—Kite of British ornithologists.—provincially, Glead, forktailed, fishtailed glead.

This very graceful bird is distributed locally from one end of our island to the other. In the New Forest, and many of the woodland districts of England, it is plentiful, particularly in the eastern counties; in Yorkshire we have also frequently seen it, but north of this it becomes more rare, except in the country of the lakes, where some pairs breed. In the south of Scotland it is nearly unknown, but in many parts north of the Forth it is extremely common, and no where more so than in the Western Highlands. It is every where a fine accessary to the landscape, “one of the most harmonious appendages of the forest.” We have often admired its graceful flight and sailing gyrations, heightening the effect of some dark and craggy forest scene, and the quiet is broken by its peculiarly shrill whistle or squeel.⁷⁵ When intruding on the eyrie, both sexes soar in a circling manner, making frequent dashes to the vicinity of the aggressor, uttering their cries with vehemence, shriller and more peculiarly toned. The nest is often placed only about half way up the tree, close to the stem, a slight and flat fabric. The eggs, two or three in number, are less than those of the common buzzard, and are white, speckled with brown. (See Plate XVI. fig. 1.)

The food of the Kite is various; young game, the produce of the farm-yard, and reptiles, particularly the common lizard which is so abundant on the moors in summer, furnish ample food. Where there is a herring fishery near, the refuse, which is daily left on the beach is eaten. We have seen this several years since at Inverary. When the curers retired to their meals, six or seven of these birds would frequently sail down from the neighbouring wood, and uttering their shrill squeel, carry off the cleanings. We are aware of no part where these birds are more abundant than on both sides of Loch Fine; and during the season of the fishery, they may have been attracted to the vicinity of the stations. We have no authenticated instance of the Kite being a native of Ireland, and although, as Mr Thompson remarks, the name of “Kite,” occurs in the statistical surveys, &c. the provincial and more general application of the word to the Buzzard, and some of the larger Raptores, renders it very doubtful that the application was ever correctly made. Rewards were of old offered for the destruction of the “Kite” as a bird of prey, but the doubt here continues the same.⁷⁶ On the continent of Europe it seems equally but as locally distributed.

The Crested Spizætus

Spizaetus cristatellus.—Selby.

Spizaete cristatelle, Temminck, pl. col. 282.—Spizaetus cristatellus, Illustrations of Ornith. by Sir. W. Jardine and Mr Selby, pl. 66.

Spizaetus cristatellus was figured in the “Ornithological Illustrations,”⁷⁷ from a specimen supposed to be captured on the British shores, and we now copy what we then learned regarding it. The specimen in question was sent to Mr Selby, to determine the species, by the honourable H. T. Liddell, of Eslington House, with the following memorandum:—

In the autumn of Mr Wingate, animal preserver at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who informed him that he received the skin a short time previous, in a fresh state, from Aberdeen, and that the account he got with it stated, that it had been killed upon the coast by the captain of a vessel about to enter that port.

The bird proved to be an adult species of Temminck’s Crested Spizaetus, and the description taken at the time was,—

The bill is black, the cere of yellowish green colour, the naked space between the bill and the eyes greenish black; the forehead, throat, sides of the neck, and whole of the under parts, pure white; the legs are long, and the tarsi thickly clothed with white feathers; the crown of the head and nape, yellowish brown, mixed with amber brown; from the occiput springs six or eight elongated dark brown feathers, forming a pendant crest; the whole of the upper parts of the body are of a dark umber brown, each feather with a paler margin; the ridge of the wings is white, the tail long, of a deep clove brown colour, with seven narrow black bars, the tip white; the feet are yellow, the toes reticulated as far as the last phalange, and are armed with powerful sharp and crooked claws, particularly those of the interior and hind toes; length, about twenty inches; the wings, when closed, appear to each about one-half the length of the tail; the first quill is narrow and short, the fourth and fifth the largest in the wing.

This form, so far as we are aware, is Asiatic and South American. The bird now described is a native of Asia and Ceylon, and seems extremely rare.

The Marsh Harrier

Circus rufus.—Brisson.

Falco æruginosus, Linn.—Circus rufus, Brisson.—Buzzard harpaye ou de marais, Temm.—Moor Buzzard of British ornithologists.—Marsh Harrier, Selby.

This species, while it maintains the general form and contour of the Harriers, exhibits stronger proportions in every way. It is, at the same time, very similar in its manners, flight, and mode of hunting; delights in low and marshy grounds, preys on aquatic animals and birds, reptiles, water-rats, wild-ducks, and frogs. It glides over the cover or tall reeds, close to their tops, making a dart when any quarry is raised, but never pursues it; occasionally settles either to rest or seize some prey; and we have several times got within shot by approaching cautiously when it had alighted. They frequent the same beat for many days together, crossing it nearly at the same hours, and hunting the same places in their turn. The nest we have never seen, but it is recorded upon good authority to be placed on some tuft of grass, or a slight eminence in the vicinity of the marsh. The eggs are pure white, and larger than those of the preceding birds. (See Plate XXV, fig. 1.)

The Marsh Harrier appears to be common in many parts of England, but is rare generally in Scotland, the western parts being too precipitous for its habits. It would also seem to be partially migratory, for it appears much more numerously in one season than in another; one year we know of seven or eight specimens being killed upon the Border, while, for the last ten years, it has ben comparatively rare. The general character of Ireland is also unfavourable for the abundance of this species. It occurs, however, in various localities, breeds on the mountains of Monaghon, and of Ballynascreen, Londonderry, but is rare in Donegal.⁸⁶ On the Continent it is found in similar localities, is very rare in Alpine or precipitous districts, and is extremely common in the low-lying countries. In Holland, for instance, it is abundant, five or six being often seen at a time sailing over the reedy margins of the lakes or rivers, and one or two are always appearing as some other creek or bay opens to the view.

There is often a considerable variation in the tints of this species, and of the predominance or want of white on the head and throat. In one specimen before me the whole plumage, with the exception of the forehead, hindhead, throat, and sides of the mount, with the tips of the quills, is very deep umber brown, not distinguished by any lighter shade underneath. The parts excepted are yellowish white. In another specimen the plumage is of a pale reddish umber brown, having the upper tail covert, and base of the outer tail feathers, pale yellowish red; the former shewing a bar like that seen on the Ringtail. The quills are not tipped with white, and the white of the hindhead is very pure, extended above each eye. In the young birds the colours are generally more uniform, and there is no yellowish white about the head; on what has been considered the adult birds, again, the pale colour sometimes extends over the whole head, purist on the occiput, and there is often a patch of the same colour on the scapulars. The most common state of the bird, however, is that first described, umber brown, with the head and throat white, the centre of the crown more or less spotted with brown. Mr Selby mentions a variety which he kept in confinement, having the throat, bastard wing, four quill feathers, and outer tail feathers, pure white. The bill is bluish black; cere, legs, and feet yellow; the claws sharp, but not strong in proportion to the size of the bird, and not much curved, (see fig. 2. of woodcut.) A female measured about twenty-three inches and a half; a male scarcely twenty inches. The usual length of the first is from twenty-two to twenty-four inches, of the latter from nineteen to twenty.

Mr Gould, in his beautiful “Birds of Europe,” has figured a bird as the adult state of the Marsh Harrier, which, if he is correct, shews a curious change of plumage. He is of opinion that all the specimens generally killed in this country are young birds, that the species is very long in attaining maturity, and that it breeds while in the young state of plumage. The bird which he has figure as in perfect livery, has the head, neck, and breast pale, with the white markings to the feathers; the shoulders, secondaries, and tail, of the delicate pale grey common to the male of the Hen Harrier and Ash-coloured Harrier, while the under parts, particularly the lower, are tinted more with rufous. Mr Gould mentions having received it from Himmalaya.

White or Barn Owl

Strix flammea.—Linnæus.

Strix flammea, Linn.—Aluco flammeus, Fleming Br. Animals.—Chouette effraie, Temm. Man.—White Owl, Barn Owl, Screech Owl, of British Ornithologists.

In detailing the habits of this common species, we shall state what in general they are, being aware that in some localities they may vary slightly, and that there are occasional exceptions to its usual manner of feeding, and hunting for its prey.

The White or Barn Owl is by far the most common and equally distributed species over the British Islands, very common in England, and abounding in Scotland, and extending to the north, while it is apparently equally common in Ireland. It is this species only which frequents ruined or unfrequented buildings, the spires of churches, the pigeon cot, or the watch tower; in such situations, some hole is selected within which it can repose by day, or place its nest in the season; the chimney is made use of for such purposes, or some ivied crevice in the mouldering walls may be sought for and found fitting. In a district where buildings of this description are not frequent, some thick pine or evergreen, or one of those varieties of the oak which retain their withered leaves thickly during winter, serve as a retreat by day, the bird generally perched quite upright, and often close to the bole or trunk of the tree; and where it is frequent, a walk through the wood or plantations, and a careful inspection of the evergreens, will commonly discover one, the pure white plumage of the breast being conspicuous, and shining even through the thickest foliage. When they are thus found, they are easily approached very close, and we saw an instance where a spruce tree was climbed till within a few feet of the drowsy bird, which was only fairly roused when an attempt was made to gripe at the legs. When discovered in a chimney, they do not attempt to escape upwards, but turn on their backs and snap and hiss, their common manner of defence where escape seems unattainable. Neither where roused from such retreats do they seem so wary as our other species, always permitting an approach within ten or twelve yards. But in such situations, or in woods, we have never seen the nest, though a hollow tree may be occasionally selected, as mentioned by Temminck. From these retreats a sally is made each evening generally between sunset and dusk; the open glades of the woods are hunted, the meadows and grass fields, in a low and sailing flight. Meadows are a favourite resort for the Arvicolæ, and a newly mown field of hay we have seen very carefully examined. The prey is dropt suddenly down upon without any apparent effort; at times a stop in the steady flight is suddenly made, the bird rises slightly in the air, and immediately makes the stroke or pounce. Sometimes a considerable time is spent on the spot where the prey is seized, as if it was immediately torn and fed upon; but it is more generally carried off at once to be consumed at more leisure, and this is always done at the season of incubation for the support of the young. Excursions are often made to a much greater distance, and with considerable regularity; we have frequently met the White Owl a mile from his cover, and the Irish birds seem to stray even farther. Mr Thompson says,

I have the following evidence of its regular flight to some distance from its domicile, just as twilight commences. Near Belfast, there is a considerable extent of low lying meadows, which are flooded by heavy rains, and at such times are resorted to by various species of wind fowl (Anatidæ.) The flood never attaining such a height as to cover the banks surrounding these meadows, they are frequented by persons for the purpose of shooting wind fowl on their evening flight, and to whom the owl, on as “murderous deeds intent,” occasionally falls a victim.⁹²

This species, and its congeners, have gained a bad character from the supposed destruction to young birds and game, &c. but, so far as we have observed, without reason; and the occasional seizure of some young bird, hare, or rabbit, from the preserve, is amply recompensed by checking the multiplication of the mice, shrews, and campanols, which, when numerous, are extremely destructive to many kinds of vegetation. Depredations on the pigeon cot seem equally without foundation; jackdaws often enter the houses for the purpose of breeding, but at the same time feast on the pigeon’s eggs, and for this, or the depredations of rats, which commonly also abound, has the White Owl been blamed. Our valuable correspondent, Mr Thompson, mentions a case where there forbearance was well exemplified: in a dove-cot or near Belfast, a pair of White Owls had their nest,

this contained four young, which were brought up at the same time with many pigeons, the nests containing the latter were on every side, but the Owls never attempted to molest either their parents or their young.⁹³

They are, in fact, rather protectors than depredators, for, if breeding themselves in the vicinity, the rats will be seriously thinned to supply food for the young. In the instance above alluded to,

never less than six, and so many as fifteen mice and young rats have been observed on the shelf beside the nest, and this was the number left after the night’s repast.

All our records tend to shew that these small mammalia are the principal food of this useful bird, and the numbers destroyed nightly is very great.

The nest is constructed at the bottom of the chosen spot of slender sticks, lined with grasses or straws, wool or hair being seldom an ingredient in its composition; the fabric is in general not bulky, and in some instances little more than what covers the surface is made use of. The eggs are rather round in form, and are pure white; the young, soon after being hatched, are covered with a very soft down of snowy whiteness; with increasing age, the yellow feathers of the upper parts gradually appear, and by the completion of the plumage, there is little difference from the perfect state of succeeding years. When intruded on in the nest, they throw themselves back, hissing and snapping at the unwelcome visiter.

When the White Owl has been roused from his resting place in the day, he flies most unsteadily; he is “not awake,” as is often said at the time by ordinary spectators, and it is certain that in a clear day he does not recover or seem at ease in his flight, and, where the ground is tolerably open, may be almost kept up with by running. On such occasions, it is curious to see the crowd of small birds which flock around his flight; the chaffinch is one of the most prominent aggressors, both in keeping close and in clamour. The same scene takes place when Owl happens to be discovered by these birds reposing in some thicket, and they generally have an assistant in the small blue titmouse, which is even bolder in making attack. The bird all the while sits motionless with a drowsy glimmer of the eyes, and I am not sure that he is never fairly turned out of his retreat. The same motive seems here to attract these little birds, as occurs when a cat or fox is discovered strolling through the thicket; the prowler may be at once discovered to any one acquainted with the peculiar cries uttered by the clamorous host of tiny pursuers.

In confinement, the White Owl is easily tamed, and becomes familiar, sitting in some corner, or hole made on purpose, during the day; but if disturbed, occasionally rising and eating its food. Towards evening it becomes active, and will then come playfully to the person accustomed to the near, putting on the attitudes of a raptorial bird, and coming forward with freedom, and without alarm.

The plumage of an adult bird of this species is beautifully clean and pure. An old male procured many years since reposing in an old chimney in company with its mate, is the purist in tint we have seen. The whole face, ruff, sides of the neck, lower parts and thighs, are of the most silky and unsullied white, a slight tinge of reddish brown being seen around and at the inner corners of the eyes. The ruff, which is often marked on the upper part with yellowish or dark tips, is quite uniform in colour and unmarked. Upper parts pale ochraceous yellow, delicately crossed on the crown, back, shoulders, tips of the quills and secondaries, with irregular wavy bars, each feather except the quills having a small white spot surrounded with black at the tips; the quills are paler towards their base, and are crossed with clouded bars of a deeper ochraceous tint, mottled with gray; inner surface of the wings pure white and spotless. Tail is very pale ochraceous, delicately mottled with blackish gray. Tarsi are clothed with thick plumes at the knees, which gradually become thinner and shorter towards the feet, on which the feathering appears as scattered bristly hairs. This bird we consider as a very pale coloured specimen; in the common state of the plumage, the shades of the colour are deeper, the markings bolder and more decided, more reddish brown around the eyes, and a tint of ochraceous around the ruff, and the bars on the wings appear dull black on the lower side. Length to extremity of the tail about thirteen and a-half inches, the wings exceeding it about half an inch.

In the female, the colours are rather duller, the ochraceous colour often extending upon the lower parts, particularly across the breast; and the belly and vent is often marked at the tips of the feathers with greyish black spots.

The eyes of this species are smaller in proportion than in the other British species. (See wood cut.) The irides deep umber brown. The colour of the bill is yellowish pink. In the extra European specimens of birds which are considered to be identical with this, the under parts are always more tinged with ochraceous.

Tawny Owl

Ulula stridula.—Selby.

Strix tridula, Linn.—Chouette houlotte, Temm.—Ulula stridula, Selby.—Tawny Owl, Brown Owl, Ivy Owl of British Ornithologists.

Most of our writings on British Ornithology have recorded this bird as being next to the White Owl, the most common of our natives; Montague calls it “by far the most plentiful Owl in England.” So far as our observations in the North of England and South of Scotland have extended, this is not the case, the Long-eared Owl appearing much more plentiful, and more generally distributed. While in Ireland, although it is mentioned in the statistical surveys, it has never occurred to Mr Thompson, and we are perhaps without any direct authority for its occurrence there. Like the greater part of the family, it is strictly arboreal in its habits, delighting in dark or gloomy woods of pine or evergreen, enjoying there a grateful shade by day, and a secure retreat for its nest and young in the hollows of the more aged, or the deserted nests which have been placed near the summit of the highest trees. It is not so shy as the Long-eared Owl, allowing a very close approach when discovered in its dormitory; when roused, flying onward only for a short distance in a low lazy flight, and in an extensive wood it will continue long to flit on before, apparently unwilling to rise, until urged by the too near approach of the intruder. It appears even more sensitive to the light than the White Owl, and Montague remarks,

and so defective in its sight in bright day, that it is no uncommon thing for boys to hunt them down with sticks and stones.⁹⁴

During the flight in the day, and when disturbed, it moves in silence, but at night it is this bird which principally utters the peculiarly modulated and toned “hootings,” which are converted into forebodings of evil; this hooting is the more peculiar call of the genus (ulula;) and from its melancholy and sometimes startling noise, has led the superstition in all countries where they are natives. The Barred Owl of America, for instance, seems equally noted with its European congener for this peculiar call.

The Tawny Owl, as noted above, seeks its breeding place in the hollow trees, or the deserted nests of the carrion-crow or magpie, sometimes in the holes of rocks,⁹⁵ and Montague says sometimes in barns. Little preparation for depositing the eggs is made, a general smoothing of the bottom of place of deposit, with the lining of a few slender sticks, straws, or grass. The eggs are from three to four in number, larger than any of the British Owls of a nearly similar size, nearly round, and pure white. (See Plate XXV. fig. 3.)

The food of this Owl is more indiscriminate than that of our two more common species, the White and Long-eared. It is a powerful bird, and will take young hares and rabbits; we have found the bones of one of them in castings, which, though we cannot affirm certainly, we are inclined to think were cast by this bird; rats and the arvicolæ are very favourite food, and the most common; small bird are also taken, and the specimen from which we made the drawings for the illustration of the characters, contained the remains of a thrush. Fish are proved also to form a part of the prey of this bird. Mr Bloxam and Mr Bree both notice it, the latter writes,

Some years since, several⁹⁶ young Owls⁹⁷ were taken from the nest, and place in a yew tree in the Rectory Garden here; in this situation the parent birds repeatedly brought them live fish, bull-heads, (cottus gobio,) Loach, (cobitis barbatula.) Since the above period, I have on more than one occasion found the same fish, either whole or in fragments, lying under the trees on which I have observed the young birds to perch after they had left the nest.

Mr Waterton also confirms the fact; and from the different localities it would appear that this food was pretty generally sought after by the Brown or Tawny Owl. The manner of taking the prey is scarcely so well ascertained, from the account given, the White Owl seized its prey in the water, and we have an anecdote mentioned by Mr Jennings, where the gold and silver fish in the flower garden at Bulstrode were missing and watchmen being appointed saw Owls, which they called the common Brown Owl, alight on the side of the pond, and

there waiting the approach of the fish, captured and devoured them.

Mr Waterton also remarks,

I have found by dissecting the bolus of this species, that it feeds copiously on different sorts of Beetles,

a circumstance not entirely confined to this species.

The plumage of this species varies considerably in its tint and intensity, whence it has been described under more than one title, or composing more than one species; the distributions of the principal workings, however, continue similar, but there is a considerable variation in the form and size of the more subordinate bars or crossings. The tint varies from a deep wood brown colour, to an umber or tawny brown, more or less tinted with ochraceous or reddish; the most common state the plumage is of a yellowish umber brown, the feathers on the crown and nape deep umber brown in the centre, on the back each feather is longitudinally streaked along the shaft with umber brown, and marked across with delicate irregular bars of the same colour. The feathers immediately lying over the wings are pale ochraceous, dark along the centre, and with the outer webs pure white, which forms a conspicuous longitudinal streak when the bird is at rest; the feathers composing the wings have irregular markings of the same tint, and somewhat same distribution with those on the back; the coverts are tipped with a large white spot on their outer webs, secondaries indistinctly barred with wood brown and ochraceous; the quills with deep wood brown and yellowish white on the outer webs, pale reddish brown on the inner. The tail is rounded, indistinctly barred and mottled with wood and pale reddish brown, the light markings palest on the outer feathers.

The ruff is somewhat imperfect from the eyes, but the disk is ample, greyish white, tinted with ochraceous and reddish. The under parts are white, or yellowish white; the feathers longitudinally streaked with deep umber brown, and crossed with occasionally interrupted bars of the same colour, yellowish white and ochraceous. Tarsi and feet thickly feathered as far as the last scales of the toes. The length will run from thirteen and a-half inches and fourteen inches. The form of this species is strong and compact, wings ample, but not long; feet and tarsi muscular; the plumage full, and very soft and downy.

Tengmalm’s Night Owl

Noctua Tengmalmi.—Selby.

We have thought it best to exclude most of the synonyms which are sometimes applied to this species, from the confusion which has been made between it and the next. The last we have quoted with a doubt, but if correct, it will shew how long it is since this little Owl was known; “the ears great,” will not allow it to belong to the next, to which it has been generally attached. The figure of Bewick, and his description, appear also rather to belong to this than the next, except in the drawing of the legs; and it would be worth while for some ornithologist to see the specimen, and ascertain decidedly the species from which his figure was drawn.

This pretty little species is a rare bird in Britain, and can be viewed only as an occasional visitant; “several instances of his capture” are said to have “recently occurred,” but the localities have not been detailed; that in Mr Selby’s collection was killed near Morpeth in Northumberland. It seems pretty common in some parts of the continent, particularly the northern and eastern parts, living in the extensive pine forests, and breeding in the holes of decayed trees. According to Temminck, it is in a great part insectivorous, feeding on phalenæ and coleoptera; the smaller mammalia are also said to be eaten. It is found also in North America, extending to the borders of the Great Slave Lake. The plumage is remarkably loose and soft, at the same time full and ample; the fascial disk is white, shading to yellowish white, and gray towards the outer edges; while around the eyes, and on the feathers which cover the bill, it is of a dull and deep black. The ruff is well marked, and the feathers composing it are broad; opposite the conchal opening it is deep brownish black, beneath it is pale liver brown, the base of the feathers white. The head, upper parts, wings, and tail, have liver brown for their ground colour; on the nape of the base of the feathers is yellowish white, giving the appearance of a pale collar. The colour of the back is nearly uniform. The edges of the shoulders white, and also the scapulars, the latter having a narrow edging of liver brown; the greater coverts, secondaries, and quills, are marked with oval spots or bars on the outer webs. The tail is crossed with three or four narrow interrupted bars of white. The lower parts are white, clouded with liver brown; the tarsi and toes are thinly feathered with soft downy yellowish white plumes; claws rather long, slender, and sharp. Length from top of crown to extremity of the tail, from eight and a-half to nine inches.

Long-Eared Owl

Otus vulbaris.—Fleming.

Strix otus, Linn.—Le Moyen Duc, Buffon.—Hibou, Moyene Duc, Temminck.—Otus vulgaris, Flem. Brit. Animals.—Long-eared Owl of British ornithologists.

The characters of this form are detailed above, and the difference in the form of the ear and external conchal opening are endeavoued to the represented in the woodcut. This is an Owl of strictly arboreal habits, frequenting only the thickest woods, hunting on their skirts at evening, and breeding on trees. The sombre tints of the plumage, beautifully pencilled when inspected nearly, are more unobtrusive than that of the White Owl, and harmonize better with the seclusion of the forest. In a dull winter evening, he is frequently seen abroad before sunset; and when disturbed during the day, the flight, though sailing and buoyant, is bold and strong. He perches openly, and when approached, you can perceive his beautiful orange coloured eyes dilated, brilliant, and expressive, his long egrets raised and depressed; he is aware of being pursued, and a second flight is taken before a very near approach can be gained. This Owl generally makes use of the deserted nest of the carrion crow for his breeding-place, but we have seen it placed about half way up the tree, close to the trunk, in a situation where it was not likely there would be a previous nest. In this instance, the fabric was quite loose, and almost from the appearance of many nests we have examined, that some assistance or repair is given to the old structure by the addition of some fresh sticks before incubation is again commenced. Dr Richardson says, that the Arctic America

it lays three or four roundish white eggs, sometimes on the ground, at other times in the deserted nests of other birds in low bushes.

Four pure white eggs, of a form considerably oval, are generally laid, sometimes as early as the middle of March. Food is most amply supplied to the young, and consists principally of mice and arvicolæ, occasionally small birds.¹⁰¹

The Long-eared Owl is generally distributed over Britain, wherever there is abundance of wood and cover. In the South of Scotland, it is certainly the most common next to the White Owl; we have not yet, however, ascertained its range northward. In Ireland, Mr Thompson remarks, it is resident; and where a sufficient extent of wood exists, as in Down and Antrim, it is a common species. According to this gentleman’s observations, it also strays considerably from its cover, being known to be shot, in the dusk of the evening, a mile from high water mark, in Belfast Bay, by a person waiting in a barrel (sunk in the ooze) for the flying of widgeon.¹⁰² In other parts of the world, the distribution is extensive.

The colouring and distribution of the markings, in this species, is more akin to what we saw prevailed in the Tawny Owl; a chaste blending of ochraceous, white, and gray, reminding one of the shades which prevail among the Caprimulgidæ. The long egrets and brilliant eyes give to it also a peculiar aspect, and altogether it is the most striking among our native species. The ruff is complete; the tips of the feathers being black, shew almost a circle of that colour around the inner angle of the eyes, and folding over the bill; the feathers are white, bordered with the black, immediately next the eye; the outer part of the disk is yellowish brown. The forehead, and the part immediately behind the conchal opening, is finely marked with delicate undulations of gray, white, and ochraceous; the egrets are generally composed of six principal feathers, graduated in length, ochraceous towards the exterior edge, grayish white on the inner, the centre deep black, slightly broken into the edges by each colour. All the upper parts have a ground of grayish white along the shafts of the feathers, streaked with black, and barred and spotted with undulating markings of ochraceous and black; the secondaries become more distinctly barred, and the quills, towards their base, are crossed with uninterrupted bars of dull black and ochraceous or tawny; towards the tips, they became beautifully clouded with gray and blackish brown. The tail is very nearly square, the centre feathers are barred irregularly, those towards the outside decidedly crossed by black and tawny. The under parts are of a rich yellowish white, tinted on the edges of feathers with ochraceous, the centre of each black, breaking off in delicate and interrupted bars of the same tint, particularly on the flanks and lower parts of the belly. The tarsi and toes, to within one or two scalings of the extremity, are thickly clothed with yellowish white downy feathers. Claws are long, not much hooked, or of great strength; the colour wood brown, pinkish at the base during life. The irides are rich and brilliant Dutch or orpiment orange. Length is from thirteen to fourteen inches, and the form is not so robust or muscular as in the Tawny Owl. There is considerable variation in the shades of different individuals of the Long-eared Owl, and also in the closeness of the dark markings; it is, however, a well marked species, and easily distinguished from any of its foreign allies. The nearest in size and colouring is one from Mexico, which has been characterized by the Prince of Musignano.

The Scops-Eared Owl

Scops Aldrovandi.—Willoughby.

Scops Aldrovandi, Willoughby.—Strix scops, Linnæus.—Hibou scops, Temminck.—Scops-eared Owl of British ornithologists.

The Scops-eared Owl is a very rare British visitant, being principally found in the southern districts of Europe, and even there it is migratory, appearing only in the summer months, and in France arriving and departing with the swallow. The instances of its capture in Britain are not very well recorded. There is a specimen in the Foljambe collection, which was believed to be shot in Yorkshire; Mr Fothergill of York has another, which was shot in the spring of 1805, near Weatherby, in the same county;¹¹¹ Mr Selby gives his representation from a specimen said to be killed in the vicinity of London, and mentions in a note having seen a specimen killed near York, in the possession of Mr Bewick,¹¹² and it is stated to breed in “Castle Edendene,” near Stockton-on-Tees.¹¹³

Its habits from observation we cannot detail; from all accounts it seems most abundant, and has been most observe din Italy. Spalanzani is among the first who detailed its habits, and gives its favourite residence as lower wooded regions. Mr W. Spence, who has noticed it more lately, and in a notice in Loudon’s Magazine, observes that one established itself in the garden belonging to his house at Florence, where it constantly uttered its cry from night-fall to mid-night, as intervals between each other as regular as the ticking of a pendulum.¹¹⁴

It is possible to convey by words an idea of the beautiful penciling on the plumage of this little species. It is a delicate blending of smoke gray, chestnut, and yellowish brown, streaked, barred, and speckled with black. On the upper parts the dark markings run along the shaft divaricating into ragged bars; on the breast and belly they are broad streaks along the shafts, the feathers otherwise mottled with zigzag bars of the same colour; the egrets are composed of several feathers with dark centres; the ruff is yellowish white at the base, becoming ochraceous and tipped with black; the disk surrounding the eyes, and composing the face, is smoke gray, very delicately penciled with brown. The feathers on the back white immediately lie over the wings, are rich yellowish white, with dark edges and tips, and from a conspicuous mark as in the Tawny Owl. The secondaries have an oval white spot on the outer web of each, which forms an interrupted bar across the wing. The quills are mottled with brown, or pale yellowish, or greyish brown, on the inner webs having bars formed by the markings being darker, more solid, and more arranged as blotches; on the outer webs interrupted by alternate bars of white, generally edged with a deeper shade. The tail is very slightly rounded, barred alternately with a mottled space, one of a deeper tint, and more clouded arrangement, and one of yellowish or reddish white. The tarsi are covered with yellowish white feathers, streaked with brown down the centre; feet are of bluish yellow; claws horn colour. Irides are described to be of king’s yellow. Length from crown of head to extremity of tail about seven inches and a half; from the same point to end of quills, about eight inches.

The Snowy Owl

Surnia nyctea.—Selby.

Strix nyctea, Gmel.—La chouette Harfang, Buffon, Temminck, Man. d’Ornith.—Snowy Owl of British ornithologists.

This magnificent species is of very rare occurrence on the mainland of the British islands, being more particularly a native of the countries verging upon the arctic circle, whence it reaches to our own more northern islands, and whence, again, occasional stragglers have been capture in the interior of Britain and Ireland. Mr Bullock, in 1812, during his tour to Orkney and Shetland, met with this species, and seems to have been the first to have directed our attention to the fact of their being resident and breeding there. He first met with the species among the sand-hills of Orkney, to which they had resorted for the sake of preying on the rabbits, and afterwards succeeded in procuring specimens on Unst in Shetland, and ascertaining that it bred there and on the island of Zell. Mr Edmonstone, about the same period, presented a specimen to Mr Bullock, which perhaps had induced that gentleman to search for it himself; and since its discovery there, several specimens have been procured, some of which are now in the Edinburgh Museum, and others in private collections. One of the latest captures was sent alive to Dr Neill, Canonmills, in whose garden it spent some months. In England, the instances of its capture are more rare. Montague mentions a specimen in possession of Mr Bullock, which was understood to have been killed in the vicinity of Norwich; and the collection at Twizel House possesses two specimens, which were killed near Rothbury, in Northumberland, during the winter of 1823. In February last a fine male was shot below Selby-on-the-Moor in Yorkshire.¹¹⁵ In Ireland, it has been more frequently seen. Mr Thompson communicated the capture of one to the Zoological Society in 1835, of which he has now enabled us to give a more full account.

About the 26th of March, 1835, a specimen of this bord was sent in a recent state to Dr Adams of Portglenone, by a person who had shot it a few days before in that neighbourhood, and who stated that a similar individual had been seen about the place where it was obtained.

Other specimens have also been seen.

On the 21st On the 21st of the same month, as two of my friends were out snipe shooting at Bruslee, about twenty miles to the south-east of Portglenone, a large white Owl, represented by them as twice the size of the common species of that colour, rose from the heath within a few yards of one of them, who had just discharged both his barrels at a snipe. In Dublin, I subsequently saw a Snowy Owl which had been shot in the County of Mayo, also in the month of March; and am credibly informed that a few others were obtained about the same time in different parts of Ireland. One may be mentioned as having been received from the county of Longford, on the 5th April, by a bird preserver.¹¹⁶

In Europe, the Snowy Owl is found also in Norway, Sweden, and Lapland, but nowhere abundant, and Temminck records it as an occasional visitant to the North of Germany. In North America it seems more plentiful; Wilson mentions having examined eleven specimens within fifteen months, shot in various parts of the United States, and is of opinion that a few remain through the summer in the more northern inland parts, where they are most numerous during winter.¹¹⁷ Dr Richardson says that it frequents,

in summer, the most remote arctic lands that have been visited, but retires with the ptarmigan, on which it preys, to more sheltered districts in winter.

It has been

now and then known to wander as far south as Florida.¹¹⁸

Mr Edmonstone’s description of the habits in a wild state appears the most complete we have yet read, and is taken from observation. It rests generally beneath some stony projection, which protects it from the direct influence of the sun; and some instances have occurred of its being surprised asleep during the day, and forfeiting its life to its supineness.

Its form and manner are highly elegant; its flight less buoyant, and more rapid, than that of the other Owls; and the superior boldness and acuity of its disposition, the uncommon size of its talons, and vigour of its limbs, secure it against danger from feathered enemies.

It affects solitary, stony, and elevated districts, which, by the similarity to it in colour of the rocks, render it difficult to be discovered, and by the inequalities of their surface, afford it shelter from the rays of the sun; but on the approach of twilight, it may be seen perching on the exposed eminences. It then quits its haunts and frequents the cultivated fields, prowling over the low grounds in quest of mice and small birds When first observed to leave its retreat, it is frequently assailed by crows and other birds; but it receives their attacks rather as an amusement than an annoyance, and dashes through the air, despising their hostility.

It preys chiefly on sandpipers, on which it pounces with precision and agility as it skims along the marshes. The specimen given to Mr Bullock’s museum had an entire one in its stomach when I shot it, and a mouse perfectly whole was taken from that of the present specimen.¹¹⁹

Dr Neil has kindly furnished us with the notes which he kept of the habits of the specimen alluded to. This bird continued for a year and a half in his possession vigorous and healthy.

In the beginning of May, 1835, 1 received, at Canonmills Cottage, a live specimen of the Snowy Owl (Syrnia nyctea.) It came in a sort of crib by a trading vessel from Orkney, and arrived in tolerably good plight. A letter from Robert Scarth, Esq. of Skae in Sanda, informed me, that

about the middle of the preceding month of April, a very heavy north-wester had set in, with showers of hail and cold sleet. A large bevy of rooks, snow-flakes, swans, golden-eye ducks, and other northern strangers, were driven by this storm to the island (of Sanda.) A day or two afterwards, a large owl was remarked prowling about the rabbit links (or warrens.)’

Mr Scartb concluded, from the size and appearance, that it must be the Snowy Owl, a rare visitant, not a regular inhabitant, of the Orkneys. He therefore diligently followed the bird till he got within shot, when he fortunately hit one wing, so as to disable from flying, but without other injury. The bird fluttered along the downs, and, when brought to bay, made a stout resistance. It was, however, secured; and the wound having healed, the specimen was dispatched to me as already mentioned.

It was pretty evidently a young bird, or only in its second year, being much spotted and barred with brown. I therefore entertained little doubt of taming it to a considerable extent. I got a very large cage, or rather small house, expressly constructed for it, in which the bird could either squat on the ground or perch aloft, and with a boarded chamber in which it could seclude itself from the light. The care of it was confided to my very intelligent and respectable gardener, Mr William Lawson, (now nurseryman and florist near Glasgow,) who paid every attention to it. It was at first exceedingly timid and shy, and often fasted for twenty-four hours although meat was placed within its reach. For several weeks, therefore, the gardener fed it by literally forcing the meat down its throat. The food was bullock’s liver, or any kind of butcher’s-meat, and occasionally a pigeon or rabbit cut in small pieces.

During the summer and autumn of 1 835 it moulted, and the new plumage was a good deal lighter, or less speckled and barred than formerly. From this change of colour, and from recollection of the relative size and appearance of the sexes in museums, I concluded that the bird was a male. Mr Audubon, the celebrated American ornithologist, happening to visit Canonmills in the course of the season, saw the bird, and, from his intimate knowledge of the same species in North America, at once confirmed our conjecture as to its being an immature male.

I must confess that we did not succeed in taming the owl to the extent which we at first expected. He always remained rather shy and suspicious. What was remarkable, he would allow a live mouse or sparrow to be placed in the cage beside him without touching the tempting prey, at least in our presence. He evidently recognized Mr Lawson and myself, and was little moved at our appearance; but on the approach of a stranger, he opened his mouth, and hissed, or fuffed like a cat, keeping his mouth open as long as the intruder remained near. If much alarmed, or suddenly surprised, he produced a snapping noise or clank, by striking the two mandibles together. The gardener could put his fingers into the owl’s mouth, without having them nipped, or without the bird’s attempting to bite. Perhaps this was the result of habit or education, from Mr Lawson having daily fed him in that mode for some weeks. But the claws were evidently the principal offensive weapons on which the animal depended, and they were sharp, dangerous, and powerful. Mr Lawson observed that, latterly, when he got a favourite piece of meat, he transfixed it, and held it firm with the claw of the back or inner toe, in the manner of our Vulture (Cathartes papa); not with the fore-toes and claws like our Eagle (Falco albicilla). Mr Audubon mentioned, that a Snowy Owl, kept in confinement by him, used to feed on small fishes, or pieces of fish, placed in water, but our bird declined that sort of food. On one occasion the gardener forced a small fish down his throat, and next day the bones were vomited in the form of a pellet, being the only instance in which we observed this circumstance. When a pigeon was given to him, we had to pluck off the feathers before he would touch it.

The hoot of our Owl consisted of two notes, somewhat resembling the call of the cuckoo, but shorter or quicker. He also occasionally uttered a single unharmonious note, not unlike the croaking of a large frog. He did not appear to be in the least distressed by the light. The shaded apartment was an unnecessary precaution, for whenever entered it during the day; indeed, he was rather more lively in the morning than in the afternoon, staring abroad with his bright orange eyes at all that was passing. The Snowy Owl may therefore be set down as a diurnal species, or belonging to the Accipitrine family of Temminck.”

The birds killed in Northumberland frequented a wild and rocky part of the open moor, and were generally seen perched on the snow, or on some large stone projecting from it.¹²⁰ Dr Richardson says that

it hunts in the day. When seen on the barren grounds, it was generally squatting on the earth, but if put up, alighted again after a short flight, but was always so wary as to be approached with great difficulty. It preys on lemmings, hares, and birds, particularly the willow grouse and ptarmigan. I have seen it pursue the American hare on the wing, making repeated strokes at the animal with its foot.¹²¹

Wilson mentions it feeding on carrion occasionally, which he has perhaps borrowed from the account of Hearne, and he also corroborates the account of its hunting by day, and records the bird as a fisher.

He is particularly fond of frequenting the shores and banks of shallow rivers, over the surface of which he slowly sails, or sits on a rock a little raised above the water, watching for fish. These he seizes with a sudden and instantaneous stroke of the foot, seldom missing his aim.¹²²

By some, the nest is described as built on the ledges of precipitous rocks. Dr Richardson says,

it makes its nest on the ground, and lays three or four white eggs.

The nest may be differently placed in different localities; thus the same author records the Long-eared Owl as sometimes breeding on the ground in North America. The plumage of this Owl will be shortly described, the adult birds in the full breeding plumage having a much greater proportion of white. In almost all states, however, except that of the nestling plumage, the face, throat, under sides of the wings, and legs, are pure white; the plumes clothing the face, and covering the base of the bill, have the webs much disunited, and are long and rather rigid; the nostrils, and almost all except the tip of the bill, is concealed, and under the chin, the feathers close to the under mandible fold up, and in a manner half to conceal it also; those covering and behind the ears, are remarkably close, somewhat downy, and form a soft and close protection. The whole plumage is pure white, having the tips of the feathers brownish black or black, and the rest of the feathers crossed with decided bars of the same colour; on the inner webs of the wings, the bars are incomplete, and are only marked next the quill; on the tail, they are often wanting on the outer feathers. In the males, the plumage has fewer barred markings, and they are of a deeper black, the head and upper portion of the back and neck being sometimes nearly without them; in the female, the markings assume a tint of brown. The tarsi and feet are thickly clothed with plumes, having the webs unconnected, and assuming the form of thin bristles; they often entirely conceal the hinder claw, and when the bird is at rest, nothing but the tips of the claws are visible. The irides are gamboge yellow. The dimensions of a female killed by Mr Edmonstone was, in the extent of the wings, five feet five inches; the weight five pounds.

A female in our own collection, from Orkney, is in length, from the crown to the end of the tail, about twenty-five inches. It is by blending the manners of this bird with those of the true Hawk Owls, in conjunction with their form, that we are brought back to a close reunion with the true diurnal Raptores; and we have another bird only to mention, which has been placed with them, but of whose real station we are not at present quite certain. This has very slender claims to a place in our present volume; but as it does not reach very near to our boundaries, we have deemed it proper, in conclusion, shortly to notice it.