British Sea Birds

COMMON TERN

This Tern, known as the Sterna hirundo of Linnæus, by most British ornithologists, although there can be little doubt that the great Swedish naturalist applied the term indiscriminately to this and the Arctic Tern, is one of the best known British species, especially round the English and Welsh coasts. It becomes rarer in Scotland, where it is largely replaced by the Arctic Tern. The Common Tern, distinguished by its white underparts from the Arctic Tern, is migratory and arrives on the British coasts towards the end of April, retiring south in Autumn. Its favourite haunts during the summer are the various groups of low rocky islands, and the more secluded portions of the coast where sandbanks and shingle occur. Save on passage, this Tern is seldom seen far from the vicinity of its nest colony. The flight of the Common Tern is exceedingly buoyant and graceful, the long slender wings and acutely forked tail assisting greatly in the general effect. Like the Swallows the tarsus of the Terns is remarkably short, so that on the ground the birds seem awkward, and rarely attempt to walk far; on the sea, however, they are quite at home and swim well. There are few prettier sights along the shore than a flock of Terns busy in quest of food. Where the beach is rocky, and the water somewhat deep inshore, the birds may be watched with ease. In a serried throng they flutter to and fro; ever and anon a bird falls down like a fragment of white glittering marble into the sea with a loud splash, and in a moment rises again with its finny prey. Bird after bird keeps dropping so; now and then a bird remains swimming on the water; now and then two birds chase each other in rapid flight. And so for miles the Terns will continue to follow the shoal until hunger is satisfied, or the fish retire to greater depths. The food of this species is chiefly composed of small fish, but insects and crustaceans are also devoured. The note of the Common Tern is a shrill krick or kree-ick, most frequently uttered when the bird is flying alarmed over its invaded nesting place.

The Common Tern is rather a late breeder, its eggs not being laid until the end of May or early in June. It breeds in companies of varying size, the suitability of the site being in some measure a determining cause. This Tern is equally capricious in the site selected for the nests; sometimes one spot is chosen, sometimes another; but there can be little doubt that the bird pairs for life, and evinces considerable attachment for its accustomed haunts. I have found almost invariably that the Common Tern habitually lays its eggs farther from the water than the Arctic Tern, and always prefers to conceal them amongst vegetation of some kind. Islands are always preferred to the mainland, doubtless because of their greater safety. We cannot class this bird as an elaborate nest builder, a mere hollow, scantily lined with a little withered grass or weeds, being the only provision. The two or three eggs vary from buff to grayish-brown in ground colour, blotched and spotted with several shades of rich brown and gray. But one brood is reared, and as soon as the young are strong upon the wing, the nesting places are deserted, and the movement south begins.

Terns migrate leisurely in autumn, often remaining a day or so here and there, on and off the coast, and are then seen in localities which they never frequent during summer.

THE ARCTIC TERN

This Tern, widely known to systematists as the Sterna arctica of Temminck, was unaccountably confused with the preceding species, until the German naturalist, Naumann, appears first to have pointed out their specific distinctness. The Arctic Tern is par excellence the Tern of our northern coasts, say from the Farne Islands and Lancashire onwards to the Orkneys and the Shetlands. I am not aware that it breeds anywhere on the English coast between Spurn and the Scilly Islands, but there are a few scattered colonies on the west coast of England and Wales. This pretty Tern may be distinguished from its near ally, the Common Tern (which it closely resembles in size and general appearance), by its grayer under parts and perceptibly longer outermost tail feathers. Like all its congeners, the Arctic Tern is a summer migrant to the British seas and coasts, arriving from the south late in April or early in May. It prefers very similar haunts to those of the preceding species – low rocky islands with sandy or shingly beaches, and with a fair amount of grass and other marine vegetation upon them. It is equally gregarious in its habits, breeding in colonies, and returning regularly to certain districts to rear its young. Its slenderer form, and proportionately longer wings and tail, make it even more elegant looking in the air than its congener. It catches its food in the same Hawk-like or Gannet-like manner, pouncing down into the water and seizing the tiny fish as they swim near the surface. No Tern dives, and it is certainly exceptional for the bird completely to immerse itself; usually it flutters on the surface for a moment, then rises again. Small fish and crustaceans form the principal food of this species. Its note is very similar to that of the preceding Tern – a shrill and monotonous krick, often prolonged into two syllables.

The nesting season of this Tern begins in June, and fresh eggs may be found throughout that month. Rocky islands seem everywhere to be preferred for nesting places, and the same habit of changing the exact hatching ground prevails in this as in the preceding species. The Farne Islands are, or used to be, a great breeding station of the Arctic Tern, and there I have taken great numbers of its eggs. The bird probably pairs for life. It differs somewhat in its nesting arrangements from the Common Tern, inasmuch that it never makes any nest. No lining of any kind is placed in the hollow which contains the eggs, and this hollow is generally selected ready made. Another peculiarity is that the eggs are far more generally laid nearer to the water; and this applies not only to the Farne Islands, but to every breeding place of this Tern that I have visited. The two or three eggs are laid in any little depression in the coarse sand or shingle on the line of drift, or amongst small pebbles, or even on the bare ground or rock. These eggs vary from buff to olive, and even pale bluish-green in ground colour, heavily blotched and spotted, especially at the larger end, with dark brown, paler brown, and gray. They are decidedly smaller than those of the Common Tern, more elongated in shape, and are much more olive in general colour. When disturbed from their eggs the Arctic Terns become very noisy, and rise in fluttering crowds above the sacred spot, continuing to fly to and fro, screaming anxiously until the intruder retires.

ROSEATE TERN

It is with some hesitation that I include this species, the Sterna dougalli of Montagu, in the present work, because if it really does visit our coasts now to breed, it is so exceedingly rare and local, that any ordinary observer of bird life by the sea could scarcely hope to meet with it. It is interesting to remark that the Roseate Tern was first made known to science from a skin that was sent to Montagu, from the Cumbrae Islands, in the Firth of Clyde. It was subsequently found breeding on the Farne Islands by Selby; it formerly bred on the Scilly Islands, as well as on Foulney and Walney; but so far as I can ascertain there is no direct evidence that it breeds at any of these places now. It may be distinguished from the Common Tern by its rosy under plumage; but as this is very apt to fade, a still more infallible distinction, according to Mr. Saunders, is the white inner margin to the primaries.

The Roseate Tern is a very late migrant, not reaching its breeding places until towards the end of May. In its flight and habits generally, it very closely resembles those of the preceding species; but its note is hoarser than that of the Common Tern. The favourite breeding grounds of this Tern appear to be low rocky islets and – so far as our islands are concerned – it is partial to nesting among a larger colony of Arctic or Common Terns. It does not appear to make any nest, but deposits its two or three eggs on the bare ground, usually in a little hollow amongst the shingle. These eggs very closely resemble those of the Common Tern; so closely in fact that no reliable means of distinguishing them can be given.

LESSER TERN

This species (Sterna minuta) is by far the smallest of the Terns that visit the British coasts in summer to breed. It cannot be said to be anywhere common, and its breeding stations are few and far between. Curiously enough, it is not known to breed on that great resort of British sea fowl, the Farne Islands. There can be no doubt that this Tern is slowly becoming rarer, and in view of this fact I do not feel justified in assisting its extermination, by naming a single locality known to me where it now breeds. The bird-loving reader will, I am sure, appreciate this reticence. Small colonies of this pretty Tern are situated here and there round the British coasts, and in one or two more inland localities. The partiality of the Lesser Tern for the coast of the mainland, rather than for islands, as a nesting ground, contributes largely to the decrease in its numbers. It arrives on our coasts in May, and is readily distinguished from all its congeners by its small size. In its habits it is certainly gregarious, but nowhere are its gatherings as extensive as in the other common British species. Like its congeners it is eminently a bird of the air, flying up and down in restless uncertain flight, living almost entirely on the wing during the daytime, only seeking the sands or the sea to sleep or to rest. It may be watched flying along the coast, a short distance from land, in a slow irregular way, every now and then poising for a second, and then dropping into the water with a tiny splash to seize a fish or a crustacean. Its note is not quite so harsh as that of the larger species, and may be described as a shrill pirr, most frequently uttered when its breeding places are invaded. Its food is composed of small fish, insects, sand-lice, and crustaceans, most of which is secured whilst the bird is on the wing.

The Lesser Tern begins breeding in June. Like all the other species it returns unfailingly to certain spots along the coast each summer, and may, therefore, be presumed to pair for life. Its favourite breeding-grounds are extensive stretches of sand, varied with slips and banks of coarser shingle. It makes no nest, not even so much as scratching a hollow for its eggs, but lays them on the bare ground. It is most interesting to remark that this Tern never lays its eggs on the fine sand, but always on the bits of rough beach – where the ground is strewn with little stones, broken shells, and other débris of the shore – where their colour harmonises so closely with surrounding objects that discovery is difficult. The eggs are from two to four in number – I have on two separate occasions taken clutches of the latter – but three may be given as the average. They vary from buff to grayish-brown in colour, blotched and spotted with various shades of darker brown and gray. During the hottest hours of the day the female sits but little upon them, and it is remarkable how quickly these shore birds will rise from their nests at the first sign of impending danger – the alarm doubtless being given by the male bird from the air above. It is a most exceptional thing to see a conspicuously coloured bird rise from its nest in a bare situation; the eggs are generally coloured protectively, and resemble the objects around them; the presence of the showily attired parent would inevitably lead to their discovery. Early in autumn, when the young are strong upon the wing, the return journey to the winter home on the African coast begins, and it is during these migration journeys that the bird is, perhaps, most commonly observed along the British seaboard.

BLACK TERN

Allusion may here, perhaps, be permitted to the Sterna nigra or Hydrochelidon nigra of ornithologists. The Black Tern formerly bred commonly in our marshes and fens, but has long ceased to do so. The “Car Swallow,” as it used to be widely called in the fens, belongs to the group known as Marsh Terns – birds that rarely frequent the sea coast at all, so that its absence from our avi-fauna, although greatly to be deplored, could scarcely be remarked by the observer of marine species alone. The White-winged Black Tern and the Whiskered Tern complete this division, known as “Marsh Terns.” Both these latter are occasional wanderers to the British Islands.

CHAPTER II.

PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS

Characteristics and Affinities – Changes of Plumage – Structural Characters – Oyster-catcher – Ringed Plover – Kentish Plover – Golden Plover – Gray Plover – Lapwing – Turnstone – Phalaropes – Gray Phalarope – Red-necked Phalarope – Curlew – Whimbrel – Godwits – Black-tailed Godwit – Bar-tailed Godwit – Redshank – Sanderling – Knot – Curlew Sandpiper – Dunlin – Purple Sandpiper – Other Species

In the present chapter we commence the study of an entirely different class of birds. The Gulls are for the most part seen flying in the air or swimming upon the sea, but the Plovers and the Sandpipers spend the greater part of their time on the ground. Again, Gulls, when adult, are remarkably showy birds, but the Plovers and allied species are just as inconspicuous. Many of the haunts frequented by Gulls are utterly unsuited to the Plovers and Sandpipers. These principally delight in low sandy coasts, mud-flats, slob-lands, and salt marshes. Rocks and ranges of cliff have no attraction for these little feathered runners of the shore; they obtain their food on the shallow margin of the sea, on the sand and shingle, the mud and the ooze, or at low water among the weed-draped stones. They are emphatically beach birds. Such parts of the coast that have little or no beach uncovered at high water, on which they may rest whilst the tide is turning, or at low water on which they can seek for food, are but little frequented by these Limicoline birds. Consequently we find them much more abundant on the flat eastern coasts of England, and some parts of the southern coasts, with their miles of sand and mud and wide estuaries, than on the much more rock-bound north and west.

The Plovers, with their allied forms, the Sandpipers and Snipes, and between which no very pronounced distinction is known to exist, constitute a well-defined group of birds, perhaps on the one hand most closely allied to the Gulls, and on the other hand to the Bustards. There are more than two hundred species in this group, distributed over most parts of the world. The Limicolæ (under which term we include the Plovers, Sandpipers, and their allies) present considerable diversity in the colour of their plumage, and in a great many species this colour varies to an astonishing degree with the season. The most brilliant hues are assumed just prior to the breeding season; the winter plumage is much less conspicuous. To a great extent this colour is protective, the brighter plumage of summer in many species harmonising with the inland haunts the birds then frequent: the duller hues characteristic of winter assimilating with the barer ground – the sands and mud-flats. It is worthy of remark that the species which do not present this great diversity in their seasonable change of plumage – such as the Snipes and Woodcocks – confine themselves to haunts clothed with vegetation all the year round; or – as in the case of the Ringed Plovers – to bare sands and shingles. In their moulting the Limicolæ are most interesting. It is impossible to enter very fully into the details of this function in the present volume, nor is it necessary, for the purpose of this study of marine bird-life, to do so. A few of the most salient facts, however, may be mentioned. The young of all Limicoline birds are hatched covered with down, and are able to run soon after their breaking from the shell. They consequently spend little time in the nest, after they are hatched. This down varies considerably not only in the pattern of the colour, but in the colour itself. Some of these chicks, or young in down, are beautifully striped or spotted; others are sprinkled or dusted with darker or lighter tints than the general colour. In all, however, the colours are eminently protective ones, and harmonise so closely with the hues of surrounding objects that discovery is difficult; more especially so as the chicks possess the habit of crouching motionless to the ground when menaced by danger. The first plumage of the young bird in the present order, approaches more or less closely in colour that of the summer plumage of the adult. At the beginning of autumn, however, these bright colours begin to be changed for a dress which resembles the winter plumage of their parents. This is not effected, however, by a moult, but by a change in colour of the feathers, only the very worn and abraded ones being actually replaced. In the spring following, these immature birds moult into summer plumage, similar to that of the adults, although the wing coverts retain their hue, characteristic of summer or the breeding season, until the next autumn, when for the first time these feathers are changed for the gray or brown ones of winter. It should here be remarked that the wing coverts of the adults seem only to be moulted in the autumn, so that this portion of their plumage is always the same colour after the bird reaches the adult stage of its existence. The phenomenon of the alteration of colour in the plumage of birds, and especially in Limicoline species, without moulting or an absolute change of the feathers, is a profoundly interesting one. One of the most remarkable facts in connection with this phenomenon is the restoration of the worn and ragged margins of the feathers in some Limicoline species to a perfect condition without a change or moult of the notched and damaged feather. Schlegel was the first naturalist, apparently, to discover that this wonderful renovation took place, but his statements seem to have been doubted by naturalists. Fortunately Schlegel’s opinions have been fully confirmed by Herr Gätke; and the reader interested in the subject is referred to that great naturalist’s remarks thereon in his book on the birds of Heligoland.1 This seasonal change of colour may be produced both by a moult and by actual transition, without cast of feather, even in the same bird: the restoration of ragged feathers and development of colour upon them may also be progressing at the same time. Thus the black markings on the head and neck of the Golden Plover are the result of colour alteration, but the black on the breast is attained by moult. The colour changes in the Sanderling, the Knot, the Dunlin, the Redshank, and numerous other allied birds, are perfectly astonishing: in the Redshank especially so, the profusely barred upper plumage being developed without change of feather, and the feathers reacquiring a pristine freshness and perfectness which seem almost incredible without a complete moult!

Comparatively speaking, the haunts frequented by Limicoline birds during summer, or the season of reproduction, are not, in the strict sense of the term, littoral ones. But few species breed on the actual coast – in our islands they are represented by such birds as the Oyster-catcher and the Ringed Plover; the vast majority rear their young in inland localities, on moors and downs, by the side of rivers, streams, and lakes, in swamps, and so on. As soon, however, as the duties of the year are over great numbers of species resort to the sea coasts, where, in all districts suited to their requirements, they form one of the most characteristic avine features. It is amongst birds of this order that the habit of migration is exceptionally pronounced, some species journeying every year many thousands of miles between their summer haunts, or breeding grounds, and their winter homes, or centres of dispersal. In the present group of birds the wings are generally long and pointed, a form best adapted for prolonged and rapid flight, whilst the legs are usually long – in some species, as, for instance, the Black-winged Stilt, exceptionally so – enabling the birds to wade through shallows and over soft mud and ooze. In some species the feet are semi-webbed, as in the Avocets, in others they are lobed, as in the Phalaropes. The bill varies to an astonishing degree amongst birds of this class, and seems specially modified to meet the varying methods by which food is obtained. Thus we have presented to us the decurved bill of the Curlew type, the recurved bill, characteristic amongst others of the Avocet or the Godwits, the nearly straight bill of such forms as the Oyster-catcher and the Phalarope, hard and chisel-like in the former, and finely pointed in the latter; then, again, the bill in many species is hard and horny, in others it is acutely sensitive, full of delicate nerves, as in the Snipes and many others. The bill of the typical Plovers differs strikingly from that of the Sandpipers and Snipes, inasmuch that it tapers from the base to the end of the nasal groove, then swells towards the tip. It is utterly impossible in a work like the present, which only attempts a slight sketch of marine bird-life on British coasts, to deal adequately with the astonishing amount of variation, even in this single organ of Limicoline birds. We will, therefore, now proceed to notice the most characteristic species found on the tideways of our islands, either as resident species, as passing migrants, or as winter visitors. It will, perhaps, be most convenient, as well as most interesting, to deal first with those species that are resident on our coasts, as being the most characteristic forms of this group of shore birds.

OYSTER-CATCHER

During summer, this species (the Hæmatopus ostralegus of Linnæus and other systematists) south of the Yorkshire and Lancashire coasts, is decidedly local and rare; but north of those localities it becomes one of the most common and characteristic birds of the shore, even extending to the Shetlands, the wildest of the Hebrides and St. Kilda. It is of interest to remark that in some parts of Scotland the Oyster-catcher drops its marine habits, and frequents the banks of rivers and lochs. There is, perhaps, no more conspicuous, no more handsome, no more noisy bird along the coast, than the Oyster-catcher. It is worthily named “Sea Pie,” its strongly contrasted black and white plumage recalling at once the Magpie of the inland fields and woods. The favourite haunts of this species are long stretches of low, rocky coast, relieved here and there by patches of shingle and long reaches of sand, broken with quiet bays, creeks, and lochs, where a large amount of beach is exposed at low water. One may generally find an Oyster-catcher about rocky islands; it is also very partial to resting on these, between the tides. Few birds look daintier or prettier than the present species, as it stands motionless on some weed-grown rock, its pied plumage, rich orange-coloured bill, and flesh-pink legs, coming out boldly against the olive-green masses of algæ. It is not often, however, that we can approach sufficiently close to see such details; as a rule the bird rises piping shrilly into the air, before it is actually seen, and long before unaided vision can distinguish colours distinctly. During summer the Oyster-catcher can scarcely be regarded as gregarious, but in winter, when its numbers are increased by migrants from the north, flocks of varying size may be met with. When flushed, the flight of this bird is very erratic and very rapid, performed by quick and regular strokes of the long-pointed wings; and perhaps it is now that the colours of the bird are seen to best advantage. The call note is heard most frequently and persistently as the bird hurries away in alarm, or careers about the air overhead, anxious for the safety of its eggs or young. This note cannot readily be confused with that of any other bird upon the coast. It may best be described as a loud shrill heep-heep-heep. The food of the Oyster-catcher is composed of mussels, whelks, limpets, crustaceans, and small fish, together with various tender buds and shoots of marine plants. Its chisel-shaped bill enables it readily to detach limpets from the rocks, or force open the closed valves of the mussel or the cockle. Oyster-catchers often frequent certain spots on the coast to feed, visiting them as soon as the tide admits, with great regularity. It may here be remarked that this bird wades often through the shallows, but never swims, as far as I know, unless wounded.