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.
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.
Half a century ago this fine bird, the Haliaetus albicilla of ornithologists, was very generally distributed round our northern coasts; in earlier years than that it bred in certain parts of England, possibly on most of our highest headlands. Trap, gun, and poison have done their sad work only too well, and now the White-tailed Eagle is banished almost entirely from the land. The birds that still survive are mostly confined to the Hebrides, to the wild waste of islands and sea along the western seaboard of Scotland. Occasionally stray birds are noticed, during autumn and winter, on the coast of England, but these are almost invariably immature individuals on their migration south. The White-tailed Eagle almost exclusively frequents maritime districts, where it may be seen at a vast height soaring on never-tiring wing, or standing on some rock pinnacle. It preys upon every bird or animal that it is able to capture—newly-dropped lambs and fawns, hares, rabbits, grouse, and waterfowl. But its favourite fare, perhaps, is carrion—stranded fish and other garbage on the shore, dead sheep, and so on. This Eagle makes its eyrie on some stupendous ocean cliff, and, as the birds pair for life, the spot is occupied years in succession. The nest is a huge pile of sticks and branches, lined with dry grass, wool, and other soft material. The two eggs, laid in March or April, are white. This Eagle may be distinguished from the Golden Eagle by its bare tarsi. The note is a yelping or barking cry. Outside our limits, this bird is found in the northern portions of Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.