VII. Raptores.
Rapacious birds, with strong, curved, pointed, and sharp-edged beak; legs short and robust, three toes before and one behind, armed with strong, crooked talons. The order includes—
I. Nocturnes, Owls.
II. Diurnes, Eagles, Vultures, Hawks.
CHAPTER I.
THE NATATORES, OR SWIMMING BIRDS.
The Natatores are obviously devoted, by their organisation, to an aquatic life. Their constant haunts are found on the great rivers and lakes, or on the coast. They are chiefly characterised by the form of their feet. The toes are united by marginal membranes in the Coots and Water-rails, or in others by the extension of webs between and uniting the toes, of a soft membrane slightly lobed; hence the name of Palmipedes, or web-footed, usually applied to them. These broad palmate feet, acting at the end of a long lever, strike the water with great force when fully expanded, being favoured by their backward position. When the bird recovers its stroke, the toes are relaxed in their forward movement, preparatory to another effort; thus progression through the water is obtained.
Some of the swimming birds in their flight are feeble and slow; others are incapable of even rising from the water, being only furnished with rudimentary wings. Again, there are species which possess extraordinary powers of traversing the air, their well-developed wings enabling them to pass through space with wonderful rapidity. The Albatross is met with on the high seas at a vast distance from the shore. Others, as the Petrels, seem to revel in storms and tempests, mingling their wild cry with that of the storm-tossed waves. The sailors, who look anxiously to windward at the dark horizon, where the clouds are surcharged with torrents of rain ready to burst on the ship, are assured of the approaching tempest by the circling flight of the white-winged Albatross, as it is seen through the obscure and threatening mist.
The whole order of Natatores swim and dive without saturation, their plumage being anointed by an oily liquid furnished by certain glands in their skin, which renders them impervious to moisture. This immunity from the effect of water is further assisted by the disposition and structure of their feathers, which, being smooth and three-cornered, with the barbules closely interlaced, cause the water to glide off their polished surface; while the down beneath the feathers of which we have spoken protects their bodies from the cold, maintaining their natural heat, and enabling them to resist the cold of the most rigorous winter.
The Natatores are numerous both in species and individuals, having their habitat in all countries. According to Prince Charles Bonaparte, one of the most eminent of European naturalists, those which frequent the sea-shore alone constitute one-fourteenth part of all the birds on the globe, and the number of species he reckons at nine thousand four hundred. They feed on vegetables, insects, mollusks, and fishes. They seek the coast in the breeding season, where they build their nests on the sand, or in nooks and crannies of the rocks, or on the margin of lakes and rivers.
In the spring the sea-birds assemble in large flocks, pair off, and proceed to deposit their eggs in nests constructed generally without skill, but always lined or carpeted with a fine down, which forms a soft warm bed for the embryo progeny. Certain localities are frequented by preference, which are occupied by innumerable flocks in the breeding season, all of which seem to live together in perfect harmony. Some of the families of the Natatores are valuable additions to the poultry-yard. Ducks and Geese furnish delicate and nourishing food for man; the Swan is gracefully ornamental on our lakes and ponds. The down of all the aquatic birds is of immense value to the commerce of northern countries. The eggs are good to eat, and in many countries the inhabitants consume them in great quantities. Nor does their usefulness end here. Guano, so eagerly sought for by the farmer, is the excrement of aquatic fowls—the accumulation of ages, until, in the South Pacific Ocean, it has formed whole islands, some of them being covered with this valuable agricultural assistant to the depth of ninety or a hundred yards. Nor is this so marvellous, if it is considered that twenty-five or thirty thousand sea-birds sleep in these islets night after night, and that each of them will yield half a pound of guano daily. Our lands receive valuable assistance to fertility from this unrivalled material, which owes its power to the ammoniacal salts, phosphate of lime, and fragments of feathers of which it is composed.
The order of Natatores, or Palmipedes, consists of four families:—1. Brevipennes, or Divers; 2. Longipennes, or Skimmers; 3. Totipalmates, or Pelicanidæ; 4. Lamellirostres, including Geese, Ducks, Swans, and Flamingos.
The Divers (Brevipennes).
Penguins, Aptenodytes; Auks, Alca; Grebes and Divers, Colymbus; Guillemots, Uria.
The birds which constitute this family of the Natatores are characterised by wings so thin and short as to be totally useless for the purposes of ærial locomotion. They are also called Brachypteres, from the Greek compound βραχυς, short, and πτερα, winged. These are all habitual divers and indefatigable swimmers, using their wings as fish do their fins. To raise these after making the down-stroke requires a considerably greater effort than a bird of flight makes in raising its wings in the air, for which reason the second pectoral muscle in this and other diving birds has an unusually large development to give further strength. Their plumage is smooth and silky, and impervious to water from its oily nature. They live chiefly on the sea, coming ashore in the breeding season.
The Divers, Colymbus, are distinguished from other Brachypteres by their beak being longer than the head, straight, robust, and nearly cylindrical, slightly compressed on the sides, acute, the upper mandible longer than the lower; their toes, in place of being each furnished with marginal membranes, have the three united by a single membrane; their feet being placed far backward and on the same perpendicular line with the tibia—an arrangement very unfavourable for walking, compelling the birds to take a vertical position, rendering their movements on land both painful and difficult.
They are, however, intrepid swimmers, and they dive with such alertness that it requires a quick eye and hand to shoot them. They are inhabitants of northern seas; there they build their nests in some solitary islet or desert promontory, where they lay two eggs, oblong in shape, and more or less shaded of an Isabella white. Fish, particularly the herring, form their principal food; crustaceans and marine vegetables are also eaten by them. Their flesh is tough and leathery, and tastes disagreeable. In the winter they migrate to temperate countries, where they frequent the rivers and lakes, returning to the northern regions when the ice has broken up.
There are three species described: the Great Northern Diver, Colymbus glacialis; the Arctic Diver; and the Imber Diver. But there is considerable doubt on this subject, the young of C. glacialis of the first and second year being so unlike the parent birds as to have been long supposed a distinct species.
The Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glacialis).
English Synonyms.—Northern Diver: Montagu, Selby. Speckled Diver, Ember Goose: Gunner. Ring-necked Loon.
Latin Synonyms.—Colymbus glacialis: Linn., Adult, Latham, Jenyns, Brien. Colymbus Immer: Young, Linn., Latham.
French Synonym.—Plongeon Imbrim: Temminck.
Fig. 80.—Great Northern Divers (Colymbus glacialis).
The Great Northern Diver is among the mass of those birds which seek their food on the bosom of the great deep. It is not numerous in British waters, and can scarcely be called gregarious, although adults sometimes, and the young more frequently, form small parties of two to five. A wanderer on the ocean, it not only frequents the margins of the sea, fishing in the bays and estuaries, but it is also met with many miles from the shore. Narrow channels, firths, coves, sea-locks, and sandy bays are, however, its favourite resorts; there it floats, the body deeply immersed in the water. But though deep in the water, it moves on steadily and majestically; it overtakes and shoots ahead of all its more buoyant congeners. But let us watch the actions of a pair of these children of the ocean, and listen while Mr. McGillivray describes one of those picturesque scenes in which he delights. "It is now the end of spring, when the returning warmth gives an increase of animation to the wandering tribes of the winged inhabitants of the ocean air; but the Loon makes comparatively little use of his wings, and his great bulk and robust frame would be ill adapted for the hovering flight of the Gulls and Petrels. There he comes, followed by his mate, advancing with marvellous speed. They have rounded the point, and now stop for a moment to cast a searching glance along the shore, lest an enemy should be lurking there. Forward they start—the smooth water rippling gently against their sides. Small effort they seem to make, and yet powerful must be the stroke of the oars which impel masses so large at so rapid a rate. Now and again they dip their bills into the water; then the head and neck. One glides gently under the surface, without plunge or flutter, and in a few seconds it appears with a fish in his bill, which, with upstretched head and neck, it swallows. The other having also dived, appears with a fish, larger, and less easily managed. She beats it about in her bill, plashing the water, and seems unable to adapt it to the capacity of her gullet; but at length, after much striving, she masters it, and continues her search. Backwards and forwards, over the clear sand of the shallow bay, they glide in their quiet way, and now they have both dived with their heads towards us. One rises close to the sea-weed, and so near to us, that we might almost count the spots on his back. The other, in emerging, has perceived us, and somehow communicates the discovery to her mate. They swim about for a short while with erected necks, then sink into the water, their heads disappearing last; and when we see them again, they are three hundred yards distant, standing out to sea, with half-submerged bodies." "If shot at and not wounded," continues this most picturesque of writers on Natural History, "it never flies off, but dips into the water and rises at a great distance, and unless shot dead, there is little chance of procuring it, for its tenacity of life is great, and its speed far exceeds that of a four-oared boat."
The great American naturalist, Audubon, has left a most interesting account of this bird in his "Ornithological Biography." After describing the various Transatlantic localities in which he has studied its economy, he describes its nest. "One that I saw," he says, "after the young had left it, on Lake Cayuga, was almost afloat, and rudely attached to the rushes, more than forty yards from the land, though its base was laid on the bottom, the water being only eight or nine inches deep. Others I examined in Labrador were placed on dry land, several yards from the water, and raised to the height of nearly a foot above the decayed moss on which they rested. The nest, however placed, is bulky, and formed of withered grasses and herbaceous plants found in the neighbourhood. The true nest, which is from a foot to fifteen inches in diameter, is raised to the height of seven or eight inches. Of the many nests I have examined, more contained three than two eggs, and I am confident that the former number most frequently occurs."
Of this handsome bird Sir John Richardson remarks, contrary to the generally-received notion, that it is seldom seen either in the Arctic Sea or Hudson's Bay, but that it abounds in all the inland lakes. It is rarely found on land, being ill fitted for walking, but admirably adapted to aquatic habits, swimming with great swiftness and for considerable distances under water; and when it does come up, seldom exposing more than its neck. It flies heavily, but rather swiftly, and in a circle round those who have disturbed it in its haunts; its loud and melancholy cry resembling the howling of the Wolf, or the distant scream of a man in distress. When the Loon calls frequently, it is supposed to portend a storm. In the bad weather preceding the advent of winter on the smaller northern American lakes, previous to migration, their wild, weird note is so unnatural, that both the Indians and settlers ascribe to it supernatural powers.
The Imbrine Diver, L'Imbrim of Buffon, is also a fine bird of blackish plumage shaded with white, the belly and a ring round the neck being also white. The head is of a changeable black and green colour. When it has young, in place of diving under water, as its ordinary habit is when threatened, it boldly attacks its enemies with its beak. Its skin serves the Greenlanders as clothing. It inhabits the Arctic seas of both hemispheres, is abundant about the Hebrides, in Norway, in Sweden, and even on the coast of Scotland. Its appearance on the French coast is very irregular, and only after great storms.
The Arctic Diver, C. arcticus, has the beak and throat black; summit of the head ashy grey; the breast and the sides of the neck white, with black spots; the back and rump black; the coverts of the wings with white spots, and all the lower parts pure white. The bird, though rare in England and France, is very common in the North of Europe. It is found on the lakes of Siberia, of Iceland, in Greenland and Hudson's Bay, and sometimes in the Orkney Islands. The women of Lapland make bonnets with its skin dressed without removing the feathers; but in Norway it is considered an act of impiety to destroy it, as the different cries which it utters are said to prognosticate fine weather or rain.
The Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus).
English Synonyms.—Black-throated Loon, Black-throated Diver: Montagu, Selby.
Latin Synonyms.—Colymbus arcticus: Linn., Latham, Temminck, Jenyns, Yarrell, Bonaparte.
French Synonyms.—Plongeon Lumme: Temminck. Plongeon Arctique: Cuvier.
Smaller and more slender than the Great Northern Diver, this species retains many of its characteristic habits. It floats deep in the water, and when alarmed swims at surprising speed, with outstretched neck and rapid beat of the wings, and little more than its head above the surface. It flies high and in a direct course with great rapidity. Mr. Selby describes an ineffectual pursuit of a pair on Loch Shin, in Sutherlandshire, which was long persevered in. In this case submersion frequently took place, which continued for nearly two minutes at a time, and they generally reappeared at nearly a quarter of a mile distant from the spot at which they went down. In no instance did he ever see them attempt to escape by taking wing. "I may observe," says this acute ornithologist, "that a visible track from the water to the nest was made by the female, whose progress on land is effected by shuffling along upon her belly, propelled from behind by her legs." When swimming, they are in the constant habit of dipping their bill in the water with a graceful motion of the head and neck.
The eggs, of which there are two, sometimes three in the same nest, are of a very elongated oval form, three inches in length, two inches in their greatest girth, and of a brownish olive sprinkled with black or dark-brown spots, and are larger at one end than at the other.
The Red-throated Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis).
English Synonyms.—Red-throated Loon, Red-throated Diver: Montagu, Selby, Yarrell. Speckled Diver: Montagu.
Latin Synonyms.—C. septentrionalis: Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte, Temminck. C. borealis, Siviatus, and stellatus: Latham.
French Synonyms.—Plongeon Col Marin, ou à Gorge Rouge: Temminck.
The Red-throated Diver is smaller than either of the preceding, the plumage is dense and firm, the wings of moderate length, the tail rounded and firm.
From the beginning of October to the middle of May these birds are constantly found on our northern coasts, and on the rivers and estuaries with which they abound. When on a long journey, they keep at a great height, moving rapidly in a direct course with outstretched wings. On these occasions they exceed the speed of most of their congeners. With their long outstretched necks and snow-white breasts, from their comparatively short wings, they present a curious and novel sight. When swimming they are extremely vigilant, and permit nothing to approach them. On the appearance of a boat they glide as it were out of sight under the water, without noise or flutter, and thence pursue their way with great rapidity, using wings as well as feet to propel themselves.
The Penguins (Aptenodytes)
Belong exclusively to cold countries. They rarely quit the vicinity of land, yet only take to the shore in the breeding season, or when driven by squalls and storms from their favourite element. On shore they are compelled to sit erect. They carry the head very high and the neck stretched out, while their short winglets are advanced like two diminutive arms. When they sit perched in flocks on some lofty projecting rock they might be mistaken at a distance for a line of soldiers.
Fig. 81.—Penguin (Aptenodytes).
At certain periods of the year the Penguins assemble on the beach as if they preconcertedly met for deliberation. These assemblies last for a day or two, and are conducted with an obvious degree of solemnity. When the meeting results in a decision, they proceed to work with great activity. Upon a ledge of rock, sufficiently level and of the necessary size, they trace a square with one of its sides parallel and overlooking the edge of the water, which is left open for the egress of the colony. Then with their beaks they proceed to collect all the stones in the neighbourhood, which they heap up outside the lines marked out, to serve them as a wall, to shelter them from the prevailing winds. During the night these openings are guarded by sentinels. They afterwards divide the enclosure into smaller squares, each large enough to receive a certain number of nests, with a passage between each square. No architect could arrange the plan in a more regular manner.
What is most singular is that the Albatross, a bird essentially aërial, and adapted for flight, associates at this period with these half fish, half birds, the Penguins; so that the nest of an Albatross may be seen next the nest of a Penguin, and the whole colony, so differently constituted, appear to live on the best terms of intimacy. Each keeps to its own nest, and if by chance there is a complaint, it is that some Penguin (probably the king Penguin, for he is generally the greatest thief) has robbed the nest of his neighbour, the Albatross.
Other sea-birds come to partake of the hospitality of the little republic. With the permission of the masters of the coterie they build their nests in the vacancies that occur in the squares.
The female Penguin lays but one egg, which she only abandons until hatched for a few instants, the male taking her place while she seeks her food. The Penguins are so numerous in the Antarctic seas that a hundred thousand eggs have been collected by the crew of one vessel.
The Manchots ([Fig. 82]) have been described by most of the French naturalists as a distinct species, but there is little doubt of their being only a variety of the Aptenodytes. They abound in the southern seas. Their short, stunted wings, which quite incapacitate them from flying, are reduced to a flat and very short stump, totally destitute of feathers, being covered with a soft down, having something of the appearance of hair, which might be taken for scales. Like the Penguin, the Manchots are excellent swimmers and incomparable divers, and their coating of down is so dense that it even resists a bullet; it is consequently difficult to shoot them.
Everything about these birds indicates their adaptation to an aquatic life. Their feet are placed at the extremity of the body—an arrangement that renders them awkward and heavy when ashore; where, in short, they only come to lay and hatch their eggs. They begin to assemble in great numbers at the commencement of October. Their nests are a very simple construction; for they content themselves with digging in the sand a hole deep enough to contain two eggs—but more often one than two.
Fig. 82.—The Manchot (A. Patachonica).
In spite of the limited number of eggs, the quantity of these birds found in the south of Patagonia is something prodigious. When sailors land in these high latitudes they take or kill as many as they choose. Sir John Narborough says, speaking of those at the Falkland Islands, that "when the sailors walked among the feathered population to provide themselves with eggs, they were regarded with sidelong glances." In many places the shores were covered with these birds, and three hundred have been taken within an hour; for generally they make no effort to escape, but stand quietly by while their companions are being knocked down with sticks.
In another islet, in the Straits of Magellan, Captain Drake's crew killed more than three thousand in one day. These facts are not exaggerated. This island, when visited by these navigators, was, so to speak, virgin; and the birds had succeeded each other from generation to generation in incalculable numbers, hitherto free from molestation.
The Penguins have no fear of man. Mr. Darwin pleasantly relates his encounter with one of these birds on the Falkland Islands. "One day," he says, "having placed myself between a Penguin (A. demersa) and the water, I was much amused by the action of the bird. It was a brave bird, and, till reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards. Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped him. Every inch gained he kept firmly, standing close before me firm, erect, and determined, all the time rolling his head from side to side in a very odd manner, as if the powers of vision only lay in the anterior and basal part of each eye." This bird, Mr. Darwin states, is called the Jackass Penguin, from this habit, when on shore, of throwing its head backwards, and of making a loud strange noise very like the braying of an ass.
They defend themselves vigorously with their beaks when an attempt is made to lay hands upon them; and when pursued, they will pretend to retreat, and return immediately, throwing themselves upon their assailant. "At other times they will look at you askance," says Pernetty, "the head inclined first on one side, then on the other, as if they were mocking you." They hold themselves upright on their feet, the body erect, in a perpendicular line with the head. In this attitude they might be taken for a party of choristers with white surplices and black gowns. Their cry strikingly resembles the braying of an ass. Navigators passing these islands of the southern seas might suppose that they were densely inhabited, for the loud roaring voices of these birds produce a noise equal to that of a crowd on a fête day. The flesh is most unpalatable, but it is frequently the only resource of ships' crews who find themselves short of provisions in these inhospitable regions. As to the eggs of most of the Palmipedes, they are said to be excellent.