WONDERS OF THE BIRD WORLD, BOWDLER SHARPE

WONDERS
OF THE

WORLD

BIRD

BY
R.

BOWDLER

SHARPE,

LL.D., F.L.S.,

etc.

LATE ASSISTANT-KEEPER, SUB-DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATA, BRITISH MUSEUM

With

Illustrations hy

A. T. Ekves

NEW YORK
FREDERICK
443-449

A.

STOKES COMPANY

FOURTH AVENUE


Qmii^
i>7^

Sd5Z

Printed in Great Britain


I

©cDfcateJ)
TO THE MANY THOUSANDS OF

MY COUNTRYMEN
AND COUNTRYWOMEN

WHO HAVE HONOURED MY LECTURES
WITH THEIR PRESENCE,
IN

MEMORY OF THE MANY
HAPPY HOURS
SPENT IN

THEIR COMPANY


p
V

H


This

little

book contains the
Bird

Life,'

subjects, as delivered

by me

'

Curiosities

of

gist of

and

many

in

Kingdom during

the last ten years.

asked to publish

my

lectures,

a series of articles in
title

of

my

best-known

lecture,

name which

I

;

but

trust

I

have adopted

my

heart to give.

have often been

in

1895, under the

been used

has

for

new

that even under the

for this

work,

which

it

many

strain of

my

of

was the delight

Acting under medical advice,

no longer undertake the
I

ornithological

parts of the United
I

title

friends will recognize the lectures

of

on the

Curiosities of Bird Life.'

'

Since that date, however, this

another volume

lectures

and had even commenced

Good Words'

'

my

kindred

speaking

I

in public,

may
and

have, therefore, acceded to the request to publish the

substance of the lectures which
delivering

extempore.

I

I

was

in

the

habit

of

have thus been able to give

Preface

X

the authority for the statements which

and

I

were more or

less sketchy,

writings of those authors,
basis of

my

made

in public,

by giving quotations from the
whose experiences formed the

popular discourses.

trust that there are

I

I

have tried to amphfy the lectures, which of necessity

many

of

my friends who

will like

have a memento of the evenings which were always a

to

source of great pleasure to
the lectures,

now

me

for the first

I hope that
book form, will

and

at the time,

time issued

in

not be found to have lost their interest.
R.
Chiswick,
Oct. 12, i8q8.

BOWDLER

SlIARPE.


CONTENTS
CHAPTER
WONDERFUL

I

BIRDS

— Extinct

Forms — The ArchteopThe Secretary Bird The Seriama
teryx — The Phororachus

Kiwis — Rheas The Hoatzin
Ratite or Struthious Birds

The Migration of a Gold-crest

—

—

—
—

—

.

PAGE

i

CHAPTER n
WONDERFUL

lilRDS [continued)

The Megapodes or Mound-builders — The Whrile-headed Stork
The Dodo and its kindred Darters — Frigate Birds SteamerDucks Penguins

—

—

—

CHAPTER

24

III

DECORATION IN BIRDS

The

— Evolution of Species
— Lyre-birds — Motmots

difference in the colouring of the sexes

— Sun-birds — Birds
Puffins

of

Paradise

— The methods by which

Birds acquire their plumage

CHAPTER

62

IV

DECORATION IN BIRDS {continued)
Humming-birds — Difference in plumage between male and female
The Racket-tailed Humming-bird Bell-bird UmbrellaStandard-winged Nightjar
bird Great Crested Grebe
Huia

—

—

—

—

...........
—

90


Contents

xii

CHAPTER V
THE PLAYING-GROUNDS OF BIRDS
The meeting-places

of the Birds of Paradise

— The drawing-room

— The assemblies of
— Bower-builders — Gardeners

of the Argus Pheasant

Rock

.

CHAPTER
THE
The Orders and Families

PAGE

the Cocks of the
.

.

ii?

.

\'l

NESTI^'G OF BIRDS

mode

of Birds, with their

General remarks thereon

of nesting

— Guillemots and their eggs

CHAPTER

.

.

146

VII

WONDERFUL NESTS

—

which make no nest The breeding of the Hornbills
Hoopoes ^\'ood-Hoopoes and Cobras Kingfishers MudHoatzins Flamingoes Swallows and Martins
nest builders
Oven-bird Cemented nests— Edible Swiftlets Crested

Birds

—

—

—

—
—

—

—

—

—

16S

Swifts

CHAPTER
WONDERFUL NESTS

YIII
{coilfi/tlied)

— Hammer-heads — Fire

- wood
Gatherers
Moss-nest Builders Felt-nest Builders Penduline Tits
Rock Warblers Purse-nest Builders Weaver-birds GrassWarblers
Humming-birds as Engineers
Sun-birds

Stick-nest

Builders

—

—

Salvin's Swift

—

—

—

—

—

— Assemblages of Albatrosses and Terns
CHAPTER

.

207

IX

THE COURTSHIP AND DANCING OF BIRDS
Female — Hemipodes — Painted Snipes — Phala— Dancing of the Black Grouse — The " Spel of the
Capercaihe — The " showing-off of the Great Bustard — The
Bustard's pouch — The Ruff's display — The Crane's performance — The Rook
love — The dance of the Jacana — The

Superiority of the

ropes

"

"

in

"

Bailador"

in "

song and dance

"

......

220


Contents

xiii

CHAPTER X
MIMICRY AND PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE IN
COLOUR OF BIRDS

—

Mimicry in insects Curassow and Caracaia — Drongo and Black
Cuckoo Orioles and Helmeted Honey-eaters Owl-Parrot
Argentine Little
Thick-knees Pennant-winged Nightjar
261
Ptarmigan and Willow-CJrouse
Bittern

—

—

—

—

CHAPTER

—

....

XI

PARASITIC BIRDS

The Koel and

the

Myna — The Common Cuckoo — Its

and winter home
foster-parent

— The similarity of

its

— The ejection of the young
— The

Cow-birds parasitic on each other
or Savana Cuckoo of Jamaica

CHAPTER

INIigration

eggs to those of the
of the latter

— The

......

nesting of the Ani

295

XII

THE MIGR.VTION OF BIRDS

—

Scanty knowledge of the subject Summary of obser\ations by

Mr. W. Eagle Clarke Giitke's obser\-ations in Heligoland
Migration in the Mississippi Valley Migration in the
North Sea Mr. Abel Chapman's remarks on the flight of

—

—

—

...........
—

birds

CHAPTER

323

XIII

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

The

Collecting of Specimens

— The

six

Zoo-geographical Regions

— Regions and Sub-Regions — Provinces and
Sub-Provinces — Sclater's Scheme — Wallace's Amendments
Allen's Scheme — Dr. H. O. Forbes and the Lost Continent
of the

World

.

348


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

....

The Dance of the Cock-of-the-Rock
The Gold-crest

Frontispiece
I

Restoration of the Archccopieryx
Head of the A7-Lha:optcryx
Restoration of the Tooth-billed Di\er

4

.

4

.

Suggested restoration of Phororachus

5

inflatus,

Amegh

....
.....

The Secretary-Bird
The Seriama
The Kiwi
The Common Rhea,
Embryo of Hoatzin
The Hoatzin

9
1

'5

with the male bird in charire of the nes tlings

21

....

23
24
27

The Brush Turkey

Mound

mound

of Lipoa oce•llata in undisturbed state

ol Lipoa ocellata

A bird's-eye
Nestling

17

20

Nestling of Hoatzin
The Frigate Bird
Section through the

7

view of the

34
35

mound

of Lip^

Megapode

.....

The Whale-headed Stork
The Dodo
The African Darter

Rookery of King-Penguins

seen from abov

36
VJ
41

45
51

.

The Splendid Sun-bird
Head of the male of Cinnyris liarilaubi
Head of the male of C. cya7tola:mus
Head of the male of C. 7-eichcnbacJii
Head of C. obscurus, male and female
The Blue Bird of Paradise
.

57

62
66
67

67
68
71


List

XV

of Illustrations

P.\GE

.....

King of Saxony's Bird

The Lyre-bird
A Motmot at work

of Paradise

.

.

.

Ornaments of the Puffin's bill
The Poise of a Humming-bird
The Racket-tailed Humming-bird
Young Males of the Loiiiiigcsifi at

73
75

79

,

8i

•

The
The
The
The

Ecuadorian Umbrella-bird
Great Crested Grebe

play

95
101

.

105

......
.....

Standard-\vinged Nightjar

Huia
Ornamental markings
Finch
The Satin Bouer-bird

An

90
92

Intruder

.

1

109

"3

in the nestling of th e

Gouldian Weaver116
117

.

.

.

'-3

.

Nest of the Queensland Cat-bird
of the Satin Bower-bird

Double-arched Bower of the Spotted Bo«

i::7

The Bower

The Regent-bird

....

130
er bird

13^

^33

Arbour of the Gardener Bower-bird
Arbour of the Gardener Bower-bird (Section"!
Arbour of the Gardener Bouer-bird (Ground Plan)
The Cuckoo as a parasite
Nest of the Tailor-bird
Nest of a Crested Swift

An Enemy
''

A

bring

I

!

143
144

146
161

16S

70

.

''.....

you

fine

thing

this

sah.

Raritv

froi

Denkera
Baby Hombill

Storming the stronghold of the HornbiU
Dyak Basket
Hardwicke's Paradoxure

The death

of the

.

....
....
....
.

Tree-Swift

176
177

Wood-Hoopoes

Nest of Tanysiptcra sylvia
The Guacharo, or Oil-bird

Nest of the Guacharo
Nest of the Flamingo
Nests of the Indian Fair\"-Martin
Nests of the Edible Swiftlets
Oven-bird and its nest

The

175

I

79
S3

1S7

190
193
19S

200
201
20.^1


XVI

List

of Illustrations

...

PACE

Weaver-birds' Nests in Liberia
Nest of the Fire-wood Gatherer
Nest of the Yellow-throated Warbler
Nest of a Penduline Tit
Nest of the Cape Penduline Tit, or Cotton-bird
Nest of the Rock- Warbler
Nest of the Fan-tailed Warbler
Nests of Stelliila calliope
Loaded nest of Oreotrochihis pichincha
The Courting of the male Red-necked Phalarope by th e female
Indian Hemipodes
.

.....
.

214

....
....

215
216

220
222

.

......
....
....
.....
.......
.....
.....
......
.......
....
....
....
.......

.

229

Female of the Painted Snipe

The Male Blackcock dancing
The JVIale of the Great Bustard showing
The Courting of the Ruff
Bailadors at play

Female of Papilio ineropc
Female of^ mauris niavitis
The Black Cuckoo near the nest of the Drongo
The Black Drongo

The
The
The
The
The

Owl-Parrot

242
245

off.

249
259
261
261

268

.

269
271

Stone-Plo\'er, or Thick-knee

273
276

Pennant-winged Nightjar
Argentine Little Bittern

Hoopoe

Little Bittern in

279
281

....
....
....
......

reed-bed

.

.

.

,

283

.

Ptarmigan in summer plumage
Ptarmigan in autumn plumage
Ptarmigan in winter plumage
The Ani of Jamaica
Young Koel fed by Mynas

.....
.....

Young Cuckoo ejecting the nestlings
The Lighthouse on Heligoland
The Common Nightjar

of the

.

Zoo-geographical Regions of the Globe
The Giant Gallinule of New Zealand

.

Meadow

285

289
-93
295
Pipit

,

299
307
323
333
348
371


Wonders of

the Bird

CHAPTER
WONDERFUL

World

I

BIRDS

:s*i'^^^

The

Gold-crest

{/\i!^ii/i
The Migration of a Gold-crest — Extinct Forms— The Archaeopteryx
The Phororachus — The Secretary Bird The Seriama — Ratite or
Struthious Birds— Kiwis
Rheas The Hoatzin.

—

I

HAVE

—

frequently been asked,

—

"Which do you

the most wonderful bird in the world

question to answer, and

opinion every bird

is

I

? "

It

is

always shirk the reply,

wonderful, and the more

consider

a difficult
for in

my

we study

understand their inmost lives, their
the more wonderful do birds
appear.
I well remember a gentleman calling on me at the
Natural History Museum in October 1897, bringing with
their habits,

thoughts,

and try

their

to

instincts,

him a small bird

in

a cage.

It

was a

little

Gold-crest

{Regulus regulus), which had flown into the topmost car of


Wonders

2

of the

Bird

World

Wheel at the Earl's Court Exhibition on the
had never studied a
preceding night, about ID p.m.
I
Gold-crest alive at such close quarters before, and I thought
I had never seen such a wonderful little creature in my
As it hopped backwards and forwards in its cage, it
life.
carried its brilliant orange crest in a manner not depicted
in any drawing of the species with which I am acquainted,
the Gigantic

and, instead of displa3'ing the crest as an ornament of the

male sex, as most people imagine, the brilliant crown was
overshadowed by the raised feathers on the sides of the
head, and was by no means in evidence as one would have
expected it to be. The Gold-crest is a common enough
bird in Great Britain, and I have often seen it in a wild
state, but certainly I never realized what a beautiful little
creature it really was, until I had the opportunity of
examining it in captivity. Then again arose the thought

in the middle of a big
of the incidence of its capture
and the remembrance of this tiny
city in the darkness
for, of course, it was proceeding south
being's migration

—

—

;

by

night,

when the

great elevation lured
called

my

experience

fatal
it

in

glare

to its

of the electric light at a
capture.

Heligoland

in

And

then

1876, where

I

I

refirst

became acquainted with the phenomenon of bird-migration
in its fullest sense, when I spent a fortnight on that sea-girt
rock, and witnessed with Mr. Frank Nicholson and the late
Mr. Henry Seebohm, the autumn flight of many a migrant.
Heligoland

is

an isolated rock standing out

in the Baltic

mouth of the Elbe, and in 1876 possessed but a
tree of any size, which was growing half-way down the

Sea, off the
single

which connects the upland with the shore. In
during the daytime, settled many little weary
birds after their long journey across the sea, and as we went
down each day to the shooting-ground on Sandy Island,
several Gold-crests would be laid out for purchase by the
small boys of the island, who shot them with catapults.
staircase

this tree,


Forms

Extinct

3

Truly wonderful little travellers, if only their migration to

Heligoland is considered but we know that on the east
coast of England also, the Gold-crests arrive during the
autumn in vast numbers, travelling across the North Sea to
;

our shores.

Thus

in

every sense this

little

species

may

be

considered a wonderful bird, and there are numbers of
species just as wonderful in their flight and in their general

economy.
In talking of extraordinary birds, however, our

naturally revert to the past, and

we

minds

are tempted to inquire

as to the origin of bird-life on the earth, and as to the

aspect

of

the forerunners of

the

which we see around us to-day.
the

record

so

imperfect.

present race of

birds

In no Class of animals

Fossil

mammals and

is

reptiles

have been discovered in the beds of bygone ages, which
help greatly to the understanding of the present forms of
these animals on the earth, as evolved from those of past
times, but with birds the case is different.
Probably on
account of their lighter bodies, which may have been swept
away by rivers or torrents, the fossil remains of birds are
few, and we know very little of the species which inhabited
the globe in ancient times.

The
we

fossil

birds as yet dis-

where extinct
have been discovered, it has been
in the countries where both these groups flourish at the
present day.
The same may be said of the flightless

Emeus and Rheas, though we have evidence in the case of
the Ostrich that its range was once more widely extended
than it is in our own era. The discovery of a large extinct
species of Coot {Fulica) in the Chatham Islands, which
finds its nearest ally in an extinct form in Mauritius,
associated as it is v/ith other fossil forms of flightless Rails
{Rallidce) and other birds, suggests to us the possibility of
a former land connection between portions of the earth at
covered help us but

little,

Penguins, Tinamous,

etc.,

for

find that

present far distant and separated by seas of great depth.


Wonders

of the

Bird

World

Thus a problem of great interest is at once suggested, of
which I speak more fully in a subsequent chapter on the
'

Geographical Distribution of Birds.'

Figure of the Arch^BOJ'tcyyx.

From

a picture

by W. P. Pycraft.

Ai5>'

Certainly one of the most wonderful of birds must have
been the ArclicEopteryx, an archaic type of the Jurassic
age, and known only from the fossil
^^_
remains of two specimens discovered
in the lithographic slate of Solenhofen
in Bavaria. Like several other ancient
forms of bird life, the Archccoptcryx,ox
Lizard-tailed bird, possessed actual
Kead of A rchi^optcryx.
teeth, and it had a very reptilianThat it was a real bird, however, is proved
looking head.
by the impression of the feathers which are to be seen

^
^



The Phororachus
in

the slabs

of lithographic stone enclosing

in the British

Museum and

Suggested restoration oi Phororachus

in Berlin.

injiatjts,

Amegh.

It will

From

its

remains

be seen from

a sketch by

W.

P. Pycraft.

the illustration which has been drawn from the restoration

designed by

my

friend,

Mr.

W.

P. Pycraft,

and now

in

the


Wonders

8

of the Bird

World

that the
Bird Gallery at the Natural History Museum,
from
tail
of
kind
different
Archctopteryx possessed a totally
fan-shaped
a
having
of
Instead
that of any existing bird.
the present day, it
tail like that of our ordinary birds at

had a long

lizard-like

tail,

consisting

of

some twenty

rectrices, or
vertebra;, to which were attached in pairs the
It was apparently of the size of our Common
tail-feathers.
Rook {Trypanocorax frngilegus). Another peculiarity of

the fact that the three fingers of the
wing corresponding to the three fingers of existing birds,
were all furnished with a large claw, just as are the fingers

the ArchcEopteryx

lies in

In those few birds of the present

day which

have claws on the wing, never more than two

are found,

of

reptiles.

In at least one
being absent.
that on the third
have
a functional
claws
these
Hoatzin,
of
the
instance, that
value, being used by the nestling for climbing purposes.
Among the many fossil forms discovered in the Cretaceous
finger

beds,

two from North America particularly deserve

notice,

the genera Hesperoriiis and Ichthyoniis of Professor Marsh.
Both of these had actual teeth, and the first opinion of the

viz,

describer was that they formed a separate and distinct Order
of Birds, which he called OdontormtJies, but recent research

prove that Hesperomis was a kind of flightless
Diver, and Ichthyoniis was probably allied to the Cormorants
of our day.
More wonderful birds of the Eocene period
have also been discovered in Patagonia. These are called
Stereornithes, and of one of them Mr. Pycraft has attempted

tends

to

a restoration,

viz.

of the genus Plwrorachus, based upon

the remains discovered

by Professor Ameghino, and now

Natural History Museum.
It was in all probability
a giant form of Seriama, a bird peculiar to South America,
and one which has been variously placed by ornithologists

among the Hawks, or near the Bustards and Cranes. In
general aspect a Seriama is not unlike the Secretary Bird
in the

{Serpentarius secretarius) of Africa, and in

many

of their


The

Secretary

Bird

habits these curious birds resemble each other.

9

They

are

both amply crested, they have long legs and a graduated

m^
The
tail,

and the

bill

Secretary-Bird {Serpentaruis secretariw^').

is

Accipitrine and Hawk-like,

more

so in


lo

Wonders of the Bird World

is, moreover, a thorough ground
an inhabitant of the more open
country in Africa, and is everywhere protected on account
of its supposed utility in killing snakes, and especially
cobras.
The latter it is said to approach with the wings
spread out in front of it to act as a shield, and from under
this protection it rains a shower of blows of extraordinary
power with its feet, and generally ends by crushing the
reptile in a very short time.

Any one who has seen a
Secretary Bird strike a dead rat and reduce it to a pulp in
a few seconds, can bear witness to the hammer-like force
with which the bird brings down its feet on its victim. And
this is the more remarkable, because Mr. Layard says that
the young Secretaries have such brittle legs, that they snap,

the Secretary Bird, which

Hawk

if

in its

ways.

It is

the birds are startled into a run.

Stalking through
Secretary, thanks to

the
its

grass, the

long

legs,

great

enables

it

height

of

the

to take a wide

view of the surrounding country and it is thus able to
perceive its prey at a considerable distance.
It at once
elevates its crest and spreads its wings, and in the contest
which ensues, the cobra will have but little chance, though
on some occasions the Secretary comes off second best,
and has been known to die from the poison of the snake,
should the latter succeed in drawing blood. The bird is
capable of swallowing snakes five or six feet in length
and four inches in diameter, and it also devours rats and
lizards, tortoises, as well as locusts and other insects.
The South American Seriama {Cariama cristatd) is
a much smaller bird, and is an inhabitant of the open

Campos of south-eastern Brazil and Argentina.
An
allied species, Burmeister's Seriama {Cliunga burmeisteri),
is found
in the province of Tucuman.
Both forms of
Seriama are ground birds, and the common species inhabits

Chunga lives in the forest.
a harsh and screaming cry, and feed on insects

the grassy country, while the

They have


The Seriama

II

and berries, as well as snakes and other reptiles. They
have the same peculiar habit as the Secretary of pounding

The Seriama

their

nest

(Caj-ia/ua C7'istata).

prey to a pulp by striking it with their feet. The
placed in a low bush, and the two eggs are some-

is


Wonders

12

of the

Bird

World

what like those of the Rails {RallidcB), being rather rounded
and spotted. Their method of nesting is also different
from that of the Cranes and Bustards, but it does to
some extent resemble that of the Secretary, which builds a
huge nest in a bush or a tree, and also lays but two eggs,
which are white, slightly smudged with rust-colour. The
Seriama must in fact be considered as a survival of some
ancient form of bird life, of which probably Phororachus
and the other Stereoniithes were the forerunners.

Of the

Struthious or Ratite Birds

existing

stocks

at

the

present

^

there are four distinct

day,

the

viz.

Ostriches

and Rheas {Rheidce) in South
America the Emeus (DronimdcB) and the Cassowaries
{CasnariidcB] in the Australian Region; and the Kiwis
(ApterygidcE) in New Zealand.
In the latter country also
(^StruthionidcE) in

Africa,

.

lived within historic times the gigantic

Moas

{DinornithidcB),

which had close allies in the great Struthious birds of
Madagascar {ALpyornis and Mullei-ornis). Of the Moas
there were many species and several genera, varying much
in size, from the great Dinornis maxivms, which stood
twelve feet high, to the smaller forms, such ^?, Anovialopteryx
parva, which were not more than three feet in height.

Some of the lesser Moas possessed a hallux or hind toe, and
thus they resembled their smaller New Zealand cousins, the
Kiwis, and differed from the Ostriches, Emeus, and Rheas.
The
has,

cause of the extinction of the Moas in
yet, not received any satisfactory

as

New

Zealand

explanation.

One of the most recent discoveries of remains took place
on an exposed piece of rising ground, where a man, while
ploughing, happened to unearth a large bone, which he
sent to Dr. H. O. Forbes, who was then the Director of
the

On

Christchurch Museum at Canterbury, New Zealand.
proceeding to the place Dr. Forbes ascertained by

So called from the absence of a keel to the sternum or breastbone, which thus resembles a raft or flat-bottomed boat (ratis).
'


Ratite

or

Struthious Birds

13

probing the ground with an iron rod that the bones were
not scattered over the whole area, but were confined to a
comparatively small and narrow space, not exceeding

thirty yards in length. Yet, on digging down to this queer
sepulchre, remains of no less than six hundred Moas of all

were discovered, as well as those of Geese, Ducks,
other birds
so that, even if some
unforeseen catastrophe had overwhelmed this herd of
flightless Moas, the presence of birds of such strong flight
It seems
as Ducks and Hawks is still unaccounted for.
certain that the Moas survived until comparatively recent
times, as remains of the skin of the feet and actual

sizes

Birds of Prey, and

:

feathers of the birds have been discovered.

Although of

such size and massiveness that some of them out-topped
our Ostriches in height, the wings were certainly vestigial,'^
even if they were developed at all.
The Ratita which survive at the present day are all
birds of considerable size, some of them, like the Ostriches,
being gigantic. The latter birds are easily separated from
the other forms by their having only two toes, nor have they

This "after-shaft,"
duplicate of the
appearance
of
a
as it is called, has the
surface of the
inner
from
the
springs
main feather, and
small, and
very
is
In
most
birds
it
quill.
base of the same

any

is
it

"after-shaft

"

to the body-feathers.

often absent altogether, but in some of the Ratite birds
is strongly developed and acquires the same length as

This is the case in the
the shaft of the main feather.
thus appear to be
which
Moas,
and
Cassowaries,
Emeus,
clothed with double feathers.
entirely Australian, and are

The Emeus [Diommda;)

are

open
country, from many parts of which they have now been
exterminated. They have no visible wings and tail, both
inhabitants

of

the

" rudimentary,"
in the Ratite Birds are often spoken of as
well-developed
once
what
were
remahis
of
the
really
are
but as they
organs, I prefer to speak of them as "vestigial."
'

The wings