British Sea Birds
Most of the species contained in the present chapter can only be described as Sea-birds during winter. In summer they are chiefly inland species, and resort to fresh waters. Again, the majority of these birds do not breed within the limits of the British Islands; they are winter visitors from more northern lands, and return to those lands in spring. Still there are a few species resident in our area eminently marine in their habits, and forming constant and pleasing features in the bird-life of the coast. United, the Ducks, Geese, and Swans form the well-defined family Anatidæ, which may be readily divided into half-a-dozen sub-families, all but one of which are represented at some time of the year on our seaboard. The most important external characteristics of the birds in this family are the peculiar laminated bill, the short legs, the webbed feet, and the dense compact plumage. The family is almost cosmopolitan in its distribution.
NON-DIVING DUCKSRepresentatives of no less than three of the four sub-families into which the Ducks have been divided by systematists, are found on the British coast-line. Each sub-family contains some thoroughly marine species. We will deal first with the Anatinæ, containing the Sheldrakes and non-diving Ducks. The birds in this sub-family are distinguished from all others by having the tarsus scutellated or plated in front, and by having only a narrow membrane attached to the hind toe. A peculiarity about these Ducks is that they never dive for their food. This is obtained only in shallow water, by submerging the fore half of the body and dabbling and probing amongst the mud and weeds. In the Sheldrakes the sexes are nearly alike in colour, but in the remaining species there is usually considerable difference in this respect, the males or drakes being handsome, showy birds, the females or ducks brown and comparatively sombre-looking. The Sheldrakes moult once in autumn, the remaining species the same, but the drakes of these latter change their small feathers twice, once in early summer and once in autumn. The young are hatched covered with down, and able, to a great extent, to shift for themselves.
SHELDRAKEThis remarkably handsome species, the Anas cornuta of S. G. Gmelin, and the Tadorna cornuta of most modern naturalists, is a resident on such parts of the British coasts as are suited to its needs. Unfortunately, continued persecution has driven this beautiful Duck from many a haunt along the coast, and it is now almost entirely confined during the breeding season to the more secluded districts, or to such places where man may accord it some measure of protection. Low sandy coasts, and extensive dunes by the sea, are the favourite resort of the Sheldrake; and, owing to its secretive habits and exceptional wariness, it is a species that may be very easily overlooked. During the breeding season, an observer may wander for hours up and down the haunts of this Duck without seeing a single bird. Once seen, however, it is easily identified – no other bird along the coast more readily. The harlequin arrangement of the colours is more eccentric, perhaps, than beautiful. The bill, to begin with, is crimson; the head and upper neck are dark metallic-green; the lower neck is white, and below this is a broad band of bay or chestnut; the rump, upper tail coverts, and tail (except the tip, which is black), part of the secondaries and innermost scapulars, the wing coverts, the sides of the belly and the flanks, are white; the remainder of the wings and outermost scapulars, and a broad line from the breast to the vent are black; the alar speculum is green; the tarsus and feet are pink. At a distance the bird looks like a patchwork arrangement of black, white, and red, which becomes even more pronounced when it takes flight, and in a slow, Heron-like way, with measured beats of the wings, passes out to sea, or down the coast to more secluded haunts. During the breeding season, this Duck frequents the sand dunes on the English coast, but is rare and local in the south; in Scotland it is commoner, and may be met with in almost all places suited to its requirements, including the Hebrides. In Ireland, however, it becomes local and uncommon, although widely dispersed. When the young are reared the bird becomes more widely distributed, but even then its preference for the sand makes it still local. The Sheldrake is known by many provincial names, among which may be mentioned “Burrow Duck,” “Bergander,” and “Shell-duck.” The origin of this Duck’s colloquial name is somewhat obscure, although Willughby and Ray attribute it to the bird’s strongly-contrasted plumage – “sheld” being the East Anglian equivalent for parti-coloured.5 The Old Norse name for this Duck was skjöldungr, from skjöldr, a piebald horse. The Sheldrake is certainly a social bird, but can scarcely be termed a gregarious one. Small parties may be seen feeding in the shallows or swimming in the sea. The bird obtains its food either whilst wandering along the shore – its gait is more elegant than that of most Ducks, owing to the comparatively longer legs – or when swimming in water just deep enough for it to reach the sandy bottom, when the fore part of the body is submerged, and the hind quarters held almost perpendicular. This food consists chiefly of sand-hoppers, crustaceans, molluscs, and small fish; but on shore the bird also eats grass, stems and leaves of aquatic plants, and worms. The Sheldrake rarely wanders far from the sea, its visits to the land seldom extending beyond the dunes or the rough saltings. The note of this Duck is a harsh quack, but in the pairing season an oft-repeated tremulous cry is uttered, and when the young are abroad a guttural kurr is heard.
The breeding season of the Sheldrake begins in April or May. Although instances of this bird breeding some distance from the coast are on record (Stevenson’s Birds of Norfolk), its ordinary nesting-places are never far from the sea. Its favourite breeding-grounds are sand dunes, links, flat sand-banks, and small islands in sea lochs, firths, or estuaries. The bird is not very social at this period, and although many pairs may occupy a comparatively small area of coast, each seems to keep closely to its own particular domain. The nest is made at the end of a burrow, a rabbit hole being frequently selected; but sometimes the bird is said to excavate one for itself, in which case it follows a nearly circular direction. Sometimes the nest is ten or fifteen feet from the entrance, and in places where rabbits are numerous, it is often an almost hopeless task to discover it, one burrow running into another in bewildering perplexity. At the end of the burrow a rude nest of dry grass is formed – a rabbit’s nest is not unfrequently utilised – which, as incubation advances, is thickly lined with down from the parent’s body. Few nests are more difficult to find; sometimes the parents will betray its whereabouts when one bird relieves the other; but, as a rule, the male is seldom seen near it, and both sexes are remarkably cautious in leaving or visiting it. The eggs are usually from six to twelve, but as many as sixteen have been known. They are creamy-white in colour, smooth and polished in texture. The down in the nest of the Sheldrake is a beautiful lavender-gray. The young are soon taken to the beach after they are hatched, where the little creatures are remarkably active in catching sand-hoppers.
WIGEONOf all the more typical birds in this sub-family, the present species, the Anas penelope of naturalists, is by far the best known along the coast. The male bird is a very pretty and conspicuous one, in his beautifully pencilled back and flanks, and distinguished from afar by his bright buff forehead and crown, and white wing coverts. The female is much less showily coloured. The Wigeon arrives upon our seaboard, from the Arctic regions, in vast numbers every autumn, and from that time forward to the following spring resides with us. This autumn migration of the Wigeon begins late in September, and lasts well on into November. The birds begin to leave us again in March, and most have departed by the end of the following month. The Wigeon, whilst with us, is one of the most gregarious of the Ducks, and flocks of vast size may sometimes be observed in our shallower seas close inshore, in estuaries and bays, but perhaps more frequently further out at sea. These birds obtain most of their food at night in such localities where they are subjected to much persecution, as often happens, for their flesh is valued as an article for the table, coming landwards at dusk, and retiring to the open sea at dawn. The flight of this species is rapid, yet almost noiseless, and the bird may sometimes be seen gliding down from the air to the water on stiff and motionless wings, but flapping them rapidly just as it drops, tail first, into the sea. Its note is highly characteristic, a shrill, far sounding mee-ow, or wee-ow. The food consists of grass, buds, and leaves of aquatic plants, grass wrack, crustaceans, and molluscs. Many Wigeons are caught in the flight-nets on the Wash, a locality which is, or used to be twenty years ago, a favourite resort of this Duck.
A few Wigeons remain in our Islands to breed, frequenting the northern counties of Scotland, including the Orkneys and the Shetlands, but the vast majority return to the Arctic regions to do so. Its favourite nesting-places are scrubby woodlands, swamps, and heaths, clothed with coarse herbage, studded with lakes and tarns, and intersected by streams. Although not gregarious at this period, the numbers of nests found scattered over a small area, suggests at least a social tendency. The nest is usually made close to the water-side, amongst heath or grass, or sheltered by a little bush, and is made of dry herbage and leaves, warmly lined with down plucked from the body of the female. The six to ten eggs are cream- or buffish-white, smooth in texture, but with little gloss. These are laid in May.
PINTAIL DUCKThis elegant species, the Anas acuta of Linnæus, by some modern writers generically distinguished as Dafila acuta, is, next to the Wigeon perhaps, the most abundant of the non-diving Ducks upon the coast. Like that bird it visits the British seas in some numbers in autumn, returning north in spring. From the extreme length of the two central upper tail coverts, which project two inches or more beyond the tail, this Duck has been termed the “Sea Pheasant” in some districts, although in others the name is applied to the Long-tailed Duck – a member of the next sub-family. The male is distinguished by his brown head, shot with bronze tints, black nape, and white stripe on either side of the neck, which runs into the white underparts; by the green speculum emphasised above with pale chestnut, and below with white, and finely pencilled black and gray upper plumage: the long pointed black scapulars, broadly edged with dull white, are also a noteworthy feature. The female is much less showily coloured, mottled-brown above, and grayish-white below, but the brown tail feathers, obliquely barred with white, readily distinguish her from allied species. The favourite haunts of the Pintail, during its sojourn with us, are the shallow estuaries, especially on our eastern and southern coasts. It arrives on our coasts chiefly in October and November, and leaves them in April. The Pintail is a remarkably gregarious species, congregating in large flocks during winter, and it has been observed that many of these gatherings are composed exclusively of male birds. It is a shy and wary bird, feeding principally at night, visiting the land or the shallows at dusk, and when so engaged, sentinels are generally on the look-out, ready to give the alarm. It obtains its food by dipping the fore half of the body under water, and exploring the mud with its bill; but sometimes stubbles and meadows near the sea are visited for the purpose. This food consists chiefly of aquatic plants, grass, insects, worms, molluscs, and crustaceans. This Duck swims well and buoyantly, looking very graceful on the water; it rarely dives, even when wounded; whilst on the ground it walks with long neck extended and tail raised. The Pintail flies well and rapidly, the wings making a peculiar and easily recognised swishing sound.
The Pintail migrates northwards in flocks, and reaches its Arctic breeding grounds as soon as the ice begins to break up, crowding on the little pools and narrow belt of open water, on the sides of the rivers, and filling the air like swarms of bees. A few pairs remain in the British Islands for the summer. Swampy moors, and the banks of lakes and ponds, are the favourite nesting-places of this Duck. The nest, made upon the ground amongst herbage, or under the shelter of a rock or bush, is composed of dry grass, withered leaves, sedges, and rushes, and lined copiously with down. The eggs are from six to ten in number, and are pale buffish-green, smooth, but lustreless. These are laid in May. The Pintail is by no means a noisy bird; a low chattering may be heard from a flock whilst feeding, a soft quack when the bird is alarmed; whilst the drake, during the season of courtship, utters a deep clük, preceded by a hiss, and followed by a low grating note. Outside our islands the Pintail has a very wide distribution, breeding in the Palæarctic and Nearctic regions, and wintering almost to the Equator.
Of the remaining five species of Ducks belonging to the present sub-family, which are either regular visitors to our islands, or residents in them, none can fairly be classed as being typically marine in their haunts. The well-known Mallard Anas boschas, the Teal Anas crecca, and the Shoveller Anas clypeata, visit the low-lying coasts, especially during severe weather, but they are all eminently fresh-water species, and form no dominant feature in the bird-life of the coast. Still less familiar to the sea-side naturalist are the Gadwall Anas strepera, and the Garganey Anas circia. The former species is rare in our islands, even during winter, whilst the latter is a summer visitor only, excessively local, but breeding sparingly in the Broads District, where, from the peculiar note of the male, it is known as the “Cricket Teal.” We will, therefore, pass on to a study of the next sub-family, which contains birds eminently marine in their habits and economy.
DIVING DUCKSThese birds, described somewhat ambiguously by certain authorities as Sea Ducks, for all the species are by no means exclusively marine, yet all are expert divers, form a fairly well-defined and homogenous group, or sub-family, termed by systematists, Fuligulinæ. They are characterised by having a pendant lobe, or membrane, attached to the hind toe, and by their anteriorly scutellated tarsi. All the Ducks in this sub-family habitually dive for their food, and their movements in the water are remarkably agile. The sexes generally present considerable difference in colour, the males, as usual, being the most handsome and conspicuous. The young are always hatched covered with down, and soon able to accompany their parents on the water. The females have a single moult in autumn, but the males a partially double one. Diving Ducks, in fact all species in the family, in first plumage, closely resemble the old female, and acquire the adult plumage after the first autumn moult. We will deal first with the resident species, as being constant features in the bird life of the coast and sea.
EIDER DUCKNo Duck is more thoroughly attached to the sea than this species, the Anas mollissima of Linnæus and Latham, but the Somateria mollissima of most modern ornithologists. Unfortunately it is somewhat restricted in its distribution, only breeding in one locality on the English coast, occurring more or less accidentally elsewhere. Ireland is not even so fortunate, for no nesting station is known round the entire coastline of the island. The Eider Duck is a decidedly northern bird, and is found, if somewhat locally, round the coasts of Scotland, extending to the outlying islands, including St. Kilda, where I have taken its nest. To most people, perhaps, the down of the Eider Duck, in the form of a coverlet, is more familiar than the bird itself. Although somewhat clumsy in appearance, the male Eider is a singularly handsome and conspicuous bird – conspicuous, one might say, when standing on the rocks or paddling about the still water near the shore, but even in a very moderately rough sea the bird is detected with difficulty, especially at a distance, for the white crests and dark waves effectually harmonise with, and conceal, its striking piebald plumage. The two predominating colours of the male Eider are black and white, the latter occupying most of the upper surface, the former most of the lower; the head, however, is variously marked with black, white, and pale green. The female is dark chestnut-brown, variegated with brownish-black. The Eider Duck is so thoroughly sea-going in its habits, that it rarely even flies over the land, except to reach its nest, and will rather follow the windings of the coast than cross even a narrow headland. In our islands it is practically sedentary, only wandering south a little way during winter. Its favourite haunts are rocky islands and coasts, where bays and quiet fjords offer it a haven of safety. The Eider is not so gregarious as many other Ducks, but it may be seen in parties all the year round, the drakes keeping company on the sea while their partners are on their nests, and when these latter come off them to feed, all join into a scattered company. The male bird is exceptionally wary at all times, but the female during the nesting period, becomes absurdly tame in districts where not persecuted, often allowing an observer to stroke her gently whilst she sits upon her eggs. The food of the Eider Duck consists of minute marine insects, crustaceans, and shellfish, especially mussels and small crabs. Most of this food is obtained by diving, the Eider being marvellously expert at this, not only descending to a great depth, but remaining for a long time below. A favourite method of feeding with this species is to draw shorewards with the tide. It may be watched gradually swimming towards the land in some sheltered bay, feeding as it comes, until the very edge of the breakers is reached. Then comes by far the prettiest sight of all, as the bird swims through each mighty wave just before it turns over and breaks upon the beach, floating light as a foam fleck on the huge rollers, now high up on the white crests, then momentarily lost to view in the green glassy depths. If alarmed on these occasions, the Eider generally swims quickly out from shore, but if further pursued or fired at, it instantly takes wing, rising from the water with little splash, and flying rapidly and steadily just above the surface to a safer refuge. The Eider is a day feeder, abroad at dawn, and continuing its labours well into the dusk. As a rule the Eider is a very silent bird. The usual note is a somewhat low kurr, but in the season of courtship the male utters a cooing sound when paying his addresses to his mate, as he swims round and round her, guarding her from the attentions of rivals. This cooing noise may be heard for a long distance across a quiet loch, especially, as often happens, if several drakes are together.
The favourite nesting places of the Eider Duck are low, rocky islands, well covered with marine vegetation, such as campion, thrift, and grass. Late in spring the flocks begin to separate more into pairs, although the immature non-breeding individuals may be observed to continue gregarious all the summer, and not to visit the nesting stations. The laying season is in May and June. The female alone selects a site for and makes the nest, the male rarely, if ever, visiting the spot, although he keeps in attendance on the sea near the islands, and joins her when she comes to feed. The nest is made upon the ground, sometimes amongst the dense beds of campion, sometimes in a crevice of the boulders, or on a ledge of rock. Occasionally, as I remarked at St. Kilda, it may be placed on the top of cliffs hundreds of feet above the sea. It is large and well made, consisting of coarse grass, dry seaweed, heather, and bits of dead vegetation, profusely lined with down and a few curly feathers from the body of the female alone. This lining gradually accumulates as the eggs are laid. Numbers of nests may be found close together, especially where the birds are tolerably common, as, for instance, at the Farne Islands, where, by the way, the Eider is known as “St. Cuthbert’s Duck.” The eggs are from five to seven, or rarely even eight, pale olive-green or greenish-gray in colour, and smooth and wax-like in texture. In many places the Eider is jealously protected for the sake of its precious down, especially in Iceland and Norway, and the taking of the eggs or down by unauthorized persons is an offence punishable by law. Outside our limits, the Eider inhabits most of the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic. The much rarer King Eider, Somateria spectabilis – an occasional visitor to the British Seas – claims a passing reference, for it is by no means improbable that the species actually breeds within our limits.
COMMON SCOTEROf all the hordes of Ducks that pour southwards in autumn, down the western coasts of Europe, and find a winter resort in the British Seas, the present species, the Anas nigra of Linnæus, the Fuligula nigra of many writers, and Œdemia nigra of others who regard the Scoters as generically distinct from the Pochard and allied forms, is certainly by far the commonest. It is known on almost all parts of the coast as the “Black Duck.” Few other Ducks are so absolutely marine as the Scoter; no weather is bad enough to drive it ashore, and it seldom visits the land at all, except for purposes of reproduction. It is a gregarious bird, and so large are some of its gatherings off the British coasts, that it literally blackens the sea with its numbers. To see such a mighty host of birds rise en masse from the water is a most imposing, nay, even a thrilling sight. The Common Scoter begins to arrive with us in September, and the migration continues right through the following month. The return passage begins in April and lasts into May. All the birds, however, do not pass northwards, for flocks of immature Scoters frequent British waters through the summer, whilst a few pairs of adults are even known to breed in the north of Scotland. The Scoter is found most abundantly off our eastern coasts, from the Orkneys to the Goodwins, and thence, but in smaller numbers, along the English Channel. The western districts are not visited so plentifully, the flat coasts of Lancashire, the north of Ireland, and the Solway area being its principal resorts. This Scoter is an adept diver; in fact, almost all its food is obtained in that way. Like the Eider the Scoter is fond of working shorewards with the tide, feeding as it comes, and retiring from the land again when its appetite is satisfied. The food of this Duck consists in winter chiefly of molluscs and crustaceans; but in summer the leaves, roots, and buds of aquatic plants are eaten, as are also insects. The Scoter flies well and rapidly, and is not unfrequently seen in the air, especially when in flocks. These sometimes circle and gyrate for some time after they are flushed before settling on the sea again. The usual note of the Scoter is a harsh kurr, modulated into a more musical sound by the drake during the pairing season.
Even during the breeding season the Common Scoter does not retire far from the sea. Its favourite breeding grounds are by the lakes and rivers amongst dwarf-willow and birch-scrub, and an island is always preferred. The nest is a mere hollow in the ground, into which is collected a little dry herbage. This, however, is plentifully lined with down before the female begins to sit. The bird is a late breeder, the eggs not being laid much before the middle of June. These are six to nine in number, grayish-buff in colour, smooth in texture, and with little gloss. Only one brood is reared, and the female alone appears to take the entire duty of caring for the ducklings. I should here remark that the adult male Scoter is uniform bright black, with the exception of an orange-coloured stripe – said to vary considerably in extent – along the central ridge of the upper mandible. The female is nearly uniform dark-brown. The Scoter is an inhabitant of Arctic Europe and West Siberia, visiting more southern latitudes in winter.
