British Sea Birds

by Charles Dixon

MANX SHEARWATER.

The Shearwaters are a well-defined group of Petrels, numbering twenty or more species, distinguished by their long, slender bill, long wings, and short tails. As the Fulmars bear a superficial resemblance to the Gulls, so may the Shearwaters be compared with the Auks. Four of these birds are known to visit the British seas and coasts, but only one of them, the Manx Shearwater, Puffinus anglorum, is known to breed within our limits, and to occur in any abundance. The upper parts of this Shearwater are black, the lower parts white. The Manx Shearwater is, so far as is known, a resident in the British seas, and widely distributed along our coasts during the season of reproduction. Like its allies, the Petrels, this Shearwater is closely attached to the open sea, living for the most part away from shore, and only frequenting land during its nesting period. Its flight is much more erratic and rapid than that of the small Petrels, or the Gull-like Fulmar, and reminds one more of the Swift. It may be seen dashing impetuously along close above the waves, this way and that, one moment high above the horizon, the next deep down in the trough of the billows, pausing here and there for a moment with rapid beating wings, legs let down, and feet striking the water, to pick up some scrap of food. During the breeding season it is for the most part nocturnal in its habits, but at other times it seems to be abroad both by day and night. That it can swim well and buoyantly, I know from abundant experience, but whether it dives, as some writers assert, I am not prepared to say. Some Petrels, however, are habitually known to do so, as, for instance, the species composing the genus Halodroma. Shearwaters delight in a rough sea and a brewing storm, every bit as much as the smaller Petrels; no weather seems too boisterous for them. When on our rough night voyage to St. Kilda, we must have passed hundreds of Shearwaters, holding high carnival above the gray waters, flitting round our vessel in weird, erratic flight, like bird ghosts, their gambols in the gloom being most interesting. So far as my experience extends, the food of the Manx Shearwater consists entirely of cuttle-fish and sorrel, but the bird will pick up various scraps thrown from vessels. At St. Kilda this Shearwater is regarded as a delicacy. The natives also obtain quantities of oil from it.

Throughout the summer the Manx Shearwater is nocturnal, and at the approach of darkness becomes very garrulous. Its note may be expressed as kitty-coo-roo, uttered two or three times in succession, and then a pause. So far as I could determine, this note is never uttered by the bird at sea, only when flying about its breeding station, or in or near its burrow, and is only heard at night. At St. Kilda the island of Soay is the grand breeding place of this Shearwater. The St. Kildans visit this island at times during the breeding season, going at night, knocking down the birds as they flutter about, and dragging others from their nests. Four hundred Shearwaters are sometimes slain thus in a single night.

The Manx Shearwater is a somewhat late breeder, its eggs being laid towards the end of May, or during the first half of June. There are no known breeding places of this bird along the eastern coast line of Scotland and England; nor have any yet been discovered on the south coast of England, although I am positive the species nests in the South Hams of Devon. Its breeding area, so far as it is known, is almost precisely the same as that of the Stormy Petrel. Its favourite nesting-places are islands with a good ocean aspect, covered with turf and soft, loamy soil. Although gregarious during this period, many scattered pairs breed here and there along the coast. The bird probably pairs for life, returning year by year to a favourite nesting-place. It usually excavates a long and often winding burrow, making a slight nest of dry grass at the end, on which is laid a single white egg. Both birds assist in making this burrow, which often runs under some mass of rocks, and many holes are begun and deserted for no apparent reason, just as we find to be the case with the Sand Martin and other hole-boring species. At the entrance of all of the holes that are occupied there is a considerable heap of droppings. Few, if any, Shearwaters are astir even at a populous breeding-station during the day; all keep closely to their burrows, remaining stolidly upon their nest until dragged forth, struggling, into the light. Many burrows are made close together, and in some cases one main entrance will lead to several chambers, each containing a nest.

Littoral Land Birds

THE CHOUGH. Chapter vii.

CHAPTER VII.
LITTORAL LAND BIRDS.

Littoral Land Birds—White-tailed Eagle—Peregrine Falcon—Raven—Jackdaw—Hooded Crow—Chough—Rock Pipit—Martins—Rock Dove—Stock Dove—Heron—Various other species.

Our survey of marine ornithology can scarcely be considered complete without a brief allusion to the various land birds that reside upon the coast. Many of these birds are, perhaps, most closely associated with inland districts, but others are just as essentially marine. Some of these species constantly reside by the sea, others are but found there during the bright summer days, whilst others yet again appear during autumn and winter only. Be the shore low sand or marshy slob-land, buttressed by precipitous cliffs, or fringed with rocky beaches and open downs, certain land birds form decided features in the scene, some of them very widely and very generally dispersed. In some cases these species show us how very readily birds can adapt themselves to their surroundings, or reconcile themselves to circumstances, finding as congenial a home on the seaboard as in the woods or fields, or even cities of the interior.