Nests and Eggs of Familiar British Birds Part 3

JAY PIE. JAY PIET.

FIGURE 10.

In scientific language _Corvus glandarius_, or _Garrulus glandarius_; the specific name is from the Latin, and signifies of or belonging to acorns; the second generic name is also Latin, and means chattering or talkative, a leading characteristic of this bird, whose harsh cry is frequently heard amid the stillness of the solitary woods.

"Proud of cerulean stains From heaven's unsullied arch purloined, The Jay screams hoa.r.s.e,"

says Gisborne, in his "Walks in a Forest," and all persons who are accustomed to woodland scenery, must have been startled, ever and anon, by the grating syllables _wrak, wrak_, shortly and sharply repeated by this bird, and have noticed the dull gleam of its blue wings, as it pa.s.sed in a heavy scurrying manner from tree to tree, or shuffled away down the glade, as though it had committed some crime, and was fearful of being taken.

The Blue-winged Jay is a name commonly given to this certainly handsome bird, whose plumage of delicate brown, variegated with white and black, and set off with "cerulean stains," as Gisborne says, give it a striking and pleasing appearance, notwithstanding its general air of dullness and apprehension. It is true, we seldom have an opportunity of observing it closely, except in a state of confinement, where it is not likely to be very lively, for it is a bird of the wild woods, and likes not to be deprived of its free range, and brought into close companions.h.i.+p with man. Sometimes, however, if taken young and properly trained, it becomes a very amusing domestic pet, having a decided talent for mimicry, and being gentle and teachable.

The nest of the Jay is commonly built in a high coppice wood, or hedge, generally many feet from the ground, although it is seldom seen near the tops of tall trees, like those of the Magpie and Crow. Montagu says, "He who feels inclined to study the nidification of this bird, must search the lower branches of the oak, or inspect the woodbine mantling round the hazel."

Morris describes the nest as "of an open shape, formed of twigs and sticks, and well lined with small roots, gra.s.ses, and horse-hair. Some are much more cleverly constructed than others." And certainly from the representation which he gives of one, we should take the Jay to be a much neater builder than any of its _congeners_, as birds of the same family or genus would be called.

The eggs are five or six in number, of a greenish or yellowish white, freckled all over with two shades of light brown.

Several variations from this common pattern have been found and described, some being lighter and some darker, and some having a greater degree of polish on them than others.

The Jay is an omnivorous feeder; but is said to have a great partiality for acorns; and also for the eggs and young of game-birds, hence he is shot without mercy by those interested in their preservation.

Let us see what Bishop Mant says of him.

"He who makes his native wood Resound his screaming, harsh and rude, Continuously the season through; Though scarce his painted wing you'll view With sable barred, and white and grey, And varied crest, the lonely Jay!"

GREEN WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.

LARGE GREEN WOODp.e.c.k.e.r. NICK-A-p.e.c.k.e.r. ECLE. HIGH-HOE. HEW-HOLE. AWL, OR RAIN-BIRD, OR FOWL. POPINJAY. WHITTLE. YAFFLE. YAFFER. YAPPINGALL.

WOODSPITE. WOODWALL, OR WELE.

FIGURE 11.

We have in England six species of Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, namely, the Black, the Green, the Greater Spotted, the Lesser Spotted, the Hairy, and the Three-toed, but only the one above-named is at all common. It is a handsome bird, with green and brown plumage, prettily marked and barred with white; the bill is large and black, which colour extends over the sides of the head and part of the throat; there is a light-coloured rim round the eye, and a crest like a crimson cap, also a few feathers of the same rich colour set in the black patches of the throat. A truly handsome bird, rather awkward in appearance, on account of the shortness of the tail, and the large size of the feet, head, and bill.

A shy, unsocial bird, too; not fond of exhibiting its beauties; for ever tap-tapping the hollow beech, or other tree, in the depth of the solitary woods; often heard but seldom seen, and when it is, in all sorts of inelegant positions, creeping up or down the rugged bole, clinging to the broken bough, crouching close, and peeping and peering into every hole and crevice, in search of its favourite food--insects and their eggs, spiders, and grubs and caterpillars; and boring into the decayed bark with its hard wedge-shaped bill. The old poet Chaucer describes a very busy, inquisitive person as being

"As prate and prying as a Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, And ever inquiring upon everything."

And Gisborne gives us a true picture of this restless and curious bird:--

"With shrill and oft-repeated cry, Her angular course, alternate rise and fall, The Woodp.e.c.k.e.r prolongs; then to the trunk Close clinging, with unwearied beak a.s.sails The hollow bark; through every call the strokes Roll the dire echoes, that from wintry sleep Awake her insect prey; the alarmed tribes Start from each c.h.i.n.k that bores the mouldering stem; Their scattered flight with lengthened tongue the foe Pursues; joy glistens in her verdant plumes, And brighter scarlet sparkles in her crest."

We have here perhaps a little bit of what is called poetic licence; true, it has been said that the Woodp.e.c.k.e.r taps on the tree to alarm the insects lurking within, and make them come out to see what is the matter, but it is most likely done to ascertain which are the parts most unsound and pervious to the bill. In the above lines is an allusion to the shrill cry of the bird; this, heard amid the stillness of the wood, is perfectly startling; like a peal of unearthly laughter, it bursts forth and rings around; it has been compared to the syllables _glu_, _glu_, _glu_, _gluck!_ finis.h.i.+ng off with a sharp _gk_, as though a laugh had tumbled down and broken its neck, turning into something like a cry before it expired. Only just as you are thinking it is really dead and done for, out it bursts again louder than ever, and you listen aghast to

"The ringing of the Whitwall's shrilly laughter, Which echo follows after,"

but is never able to overtake. And we are here reminded of the long array of names with which this noisy fellow is honoured; a different one for almost every locality, and having reference mostly to the cry of the bird, or its singular habits. The scientific name is _Picus viridis_; the first signifying a Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, and the last green.

"The Woodp.e.c.k.e.r," says Mudie, "is especially a bird of the ancient forests. You do not find it in the hedge or the coppice, where so many of the little birds, especially the summer migrants, build their nests, and spend their mid-days, when the reflections of the sun come bright on all sides of the foliage, in picking the soft caterpillars from the leaves, or capturing the insects that resort thither for the purpose of depositing fresh myriads; and when they have thus secured the shelter and beauty of their habitation, farewell the evening, and again hail the morning with their joyous songs. The aged tree is all to the Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, and he is much to the aged tree." Yes, for he eats the insects which are revelling in its decay, and of the fine dust thereof he makes his nest, if nest it can be called, which is merely a hole in the trunk, high up, perhaps twenty or thirty feet, lined with the small particles of rotten wood.

All the Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs lay white or nearly white eggs, and all, with whose habits we are acquainted, are early builders; the common green species, found in most of the southern parts of Britain, commences making a new, or repairing its old nest as early as February; the eggs are from four to eight in number. The young are hatched in June.

WRYNECK.

CUCKOO'S MATE, MAID, OR MESSENGER. RINDING, SNAKE, TURKEY, BARLEY, OR TONGUE BIRD. EMMET-HUNTER. LONG-TONGUE.

FIGURE 12.

This bird, which appears to be a kind of connecting link between the Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs and Cuckoos, having some of the characteristics of both, is only a summer visitant of this country, generally arriving in April.

Its scientific name is _Yunx torquilla_; the first is undoubtedly Greek, but its meaning is not very obvious; the second comes from _torqueo_--to turn or twist, and refers to a singular habit which the bird has of twisting its neck with a kind of slow undulating motion, like that of a snake; hence also the common English name Wryneck, and one or two others given above. The Welsh consider this the forerunner of the Cuckoo, and call it _gwas y gog_, or the Cuckoo's attendant. In the northern counties of England the common people call it Cuckoo's Maiden; it generally comes to us a few days in advance of that bird, as though it were deputed to prepare a place for it.

Although it can boast of no bright and gaudy colours, the Wryneck is a most elegant bird, both in shape and plumage.

"The embroidery of that vesture grey No pen nor pencil can pourtray,"

says Bishop Mant. But it is seldom that one can get a good sight of its beautifully marked and mottled dress, for it is, like the Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, a shy and retiring bird; like that, too, it lays its eggs in a hole of a tree, lined with the decayed wood; they are six or seven in number generally, sometimes nine, and even ten, have been found in one hole; the colour is a pure white, or slightly tinged and spotted with yellowish brown. The time of incubation is fourteen days, and the female is so much attached to the young birds, that she will often suffer herself to be taken rather than desert them. These birds resort to the same spot year after year; it is at various heights from the ground, and sometimes the deserted nest of a Woodp.e.c.k.e.r or other bird is used.

NUTHATCH.

NUT-JOBBER. WOODCRACKER.

FIGURE 13.

The _Sittine_ Birds, or Nuthatches, are little short-bodied creatures, with large heads, and very small tails; the bill is tolerably long, straight, and slender, pentagonal, or five-sided at the base, or part where it is inserted into the head. They are pretty lively birds, and seem to occupy a position between the _Certhias_, or Tree Creepers, and the _Parine_ Birds or t.i.ts. We have but one species in this country, known as the _Sitta Europea_, or European Nuthatch; the generic name being derived, as Morris thinks, from some word in a primitive, or early language, (from _primus_--first,) from which also comes the term hatchet, and having reference to the habit of hacking and hewing at the nuts, on which this bird chiefly feeds.

The Nuthatch is not found generally throughout Britain, only in certain localities, and very rarely in the northern parts. It has long curved claws, by means of which it ascends the trunks of the trees, and clings about the branches much like the Creepers and Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, frequently descending head downwards, which few other birds are able to do. It bores into the nuts with its strong-pointed bill, and feeds upon the kernels; it also with the same instrument extracts the insects from the holes and crevices, and thus varies its diet. Its motions are abrupt and jerking, so that it always appears in a desperate hurry, and it keeps up a constant _quit, quit_, as though giving warning to its landlady of an intention to leave its lodgings forthwith. Bewick says that it will pick bones, and that it lays up a store of food for the winter in various little granaries.

For a nesting-place it makes choice of some hole in a tree, which it lines with dried leaves, moss, scales of fir-cones, bits of bark, and it may be, a little hair. If the entrance is too large it is partly closed up with clay, so as to leave but just room for the bird to enter. The eggs are from five to seven or eight, sometimes nine in number; they are greyish white, with spots or blotches of reddish brown.

The following interesting account of a pair of Nuthatches engaged in making their nest, is from the pen of a contributor to a periodical called "The Naturalist;" the date of the occurrence was the 18th. of April.--"The birds had fixed upon a hole in an ash tree, about twenty feet from the ground, and were contracting it with a plastering of mud, for which they flew to a small pond about fifty yards distant from the tree, and took pieces in their beaks about as big as a bean, which they laid on, and smoothed with their chin. Sometimes one of them would go inside and remain for a short time, I suppose for the purpose of smoothing the mud there. They would every now and then leave off from their task, and chase one another up the trunk and round the branches of the tree with amazing rapidity, uttering all the while their flute-like whistle. They both seemed to take an equal share in the labour; and had, like the House Martin, small pieces of straw mixed with the mud, for the purpose of making it bind better. They seemed to be quite at ease on the ground, and hopped about much after the same manner as the Sparrow. The male bird was easily distinguishable by his brighter plumage."

CUCKOO.

COMMON, OR GREY CUCKOO. GOWK, OR GECK. COG, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.

FIGURE 14.

Of the _Cuculine_ Birds, or Cuckoos, none are permanently resident in countries subject to severe winter cold. They feed mostly on insects, worms, or soft fruit, gliding amid the trees in search of their food in a peculiarly rapid and noiseless manner. In pa.s.sing from branch to branch they generally leap; they do not climb like the Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs and Creepers, although they have much the same conformation of feet, the outer toe being directed backwards, as well as the first; this is called _Zy-go-dac-ty-lous_, a Greek word, signifying that the toes are yoked, or in pairs, two before and two behind. We have thought it well to introduce this queer word to our readers, lest they should stumble over it, as they are likely to do, in many works on Natural History which they may consult, and be frightened at its uncouth appearance; they will now know what is meant by _zyG.o.dactylous_, or _dactytic_ birds, such as Owls, Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, Cuckoos, etc. But having explained thus much, we should go a step farther, and introduce also _A-ni-so-dac-ty-lous_, Greek again, meaning unequally yoked, that is, when there is a wider interval between one pair of toes than between the other.

Of Cuckoos the British Naturalist knows of three species; the Great Spotted Cuckoo, inhabiting chiefly the northern and western coasts of Africa, and only now and then paying a short visit to these northern climes; the Yellow-billed, or American Cuckoo, or Cowcow, as some call it, which is a more frequent, although still a rare visitant, and the Common Grey species, termed _Cuculus canorus_, that is, the Musical Cuckoo, with whose curious cry--_cuck-oooo_, most of our readers must be familiar. It may not be generally thought that there is much music in this _monotonous_, that is, single-toned call, but we are a.s.sured by a competent authority, that this is the only feathered performer who sings in strict accordance with musical numbers, its notes being the fifth and third of the diatonic scale. But be that as it may, the cry of the Cuckoo is extremely pleasant to most ears, when first heard, soon after the bird arrives in this country, which is sometimes about the middle of April, "in April, come he will," says the old proverb; we know that the fresh floral season of suns.h.i.+ne and country delights, has fairly set in, and all through the summer, to the time of his departure, in August or September, we love to listen to the far-away, dreamy kind of call, for it seems like an invitation to 'follow, follow,' some invisible leader, through greenwoods and flowery dingles, and into scenes of quietude and peace; then, too, there is a kind of mystery about it which excites the curiosity, for who ever sees the utterer of these dreamy sounds. We are inclined to say with Wordsworth,--

"Oh, Cuckoo, shall I call thee bird, Or but a wandering voice."

And indeed the Cuckoo is a flying and feathered marvel altogether; we should fill this book were we to repeat all the strange tales that have been told about it, and by grave authorities too, from Aristotle of ancient Greece, to Dr. Jenner, and the rest of modern England. Amid all the disputations that have arisen upon the points of this bird's natural history, we can only clearly gather that it is a summer migrant, coming and going at the times just mentioned; that while with us it is to be found in all wooded and sheltered parts of the island, frequenting most parks and pasture-grounds, groves and thickets, it is more likely to be seen at early morning and evening, than during the broad daylight, and its cry has been heard at all hours of the night, proving it to be somewhat nocturnal in its habits,--_nox_, you know is the Latin for night, and from thence comes this word.

The Cuckoo lives almost entirely upon insects, devouring great numbers of hairy caterpillars. It makes no nest of its own, but lays a single egg in that of some other bird, or conveys it thither in its bill. Its eggs are small for the size of the bird, in colour white, with a greyish, or it may be a reddish tinge, with cinereous (that is, ashy) or grey brown speckles. How many of these the bird lays no one can tell, but it has the judgment, or compa.s.sion, or whatever it may be, to give the Pipit, Hedge Sparrow, Wagtail, or other small bird so favoured, the task of rearing but one of its young, which soon grows to be quite a monster in the eyes of its foster parent, and sometimes, says the old Greek, Aristotle, eats her up; but this is just a physical impossibility, and a most vile slander. Whether the intruder, as Dr.