BIRDS. 



517 



Sofan 



Birds, to confound this bird with the capriimdgtu minor 

 Migr atory. j4 me ,icanus ofCatesby, both making them only va- 

 _ " v ~" ' rieties, and not a distinct species, which they un- 

 doubtedly are. Kalm says, " their shape, colour, 

 6ize, and other qualities, make it difficult to distin- 

 guish them from each other." In shape, as being 

 birds of the same genus, they certainly have some re- 

 semblance, and they are both migratory. But they 

 differ in every other thing ; the plumage of the Ame- 

 rican is by many shades darker, more spotted, and 

 also in respect of size somewhat larger, than the Eu- 

 ropean goat-sucker. What particularly distinguishes 

 the first, is its peculiar call, whip-poor-will, from 

 which the Anglo-Americans give it that name. They 

 fly during the day, which none of our species ever 

 do. About the beginning of September the Euro- 

 pean goat-sucker disappears in Scotland. 



The foregoing are our principal migratory summer 

 land birds. We now come to the most noted, and, 

 we believe, the only summer water fowl, excepting 

 perhaps the puffin, which we can with absolute cer- 

 tainty determine to be migratory. The gannet, so- 

 lan, or soland goose, (pe/icanus Bassanus). We ap- 

 prehend they breed in no other part of the world but 

 Scotland, and there only in the rocky and steep isles 

 of the Bass, Ailsa, and St Kilda. Pennant says, on 

 the authority of Dr Pocock, bishop of Meath, that 

 a few hatch on the Skelig isles, off the coast of Ker- 

 ry, in Ireland. This we rather doubt, although we 

 hall nehher offer to affirm nor contradict it. Smith, 

 in his History of Kerry, seems to leave us in the dark 

 respecting this matter. Gesner, Aldrovandus, and 

 Jonston, call it anser Bassanus she Scoticus. The 

 chops of the solan goose are notched, or jagged like 

 a saw. The plumage of the old birds is of a dirty 

 white, except the greater quill feathers, which are 

 black ; but the whole body remains of a dark brown 

 colour, somewhat spotted, until the second year of 

 their age. They have a pouch under the chin, in 

 which they can carry several sprats, pilchards, or her- 

 rings ; with these they feed their young, who draw 

 them out of this bag in a most artful manner. Their 

 legs and toes are black, edged with a stripe of beau- 

 tiful green. Their wings are so very long, that when 

 they light on the ground they have much difficulty 

 tn rising again. They lay, or at least hatch, but one 

 egg. They appear in the firth of Forth in the 

 month of March, and depart in the end of September. 

 It has been said, however, that since the herrings 

 f late years have continued there in winter, many 

 of the gannets bred upon the Bass never leave it. 

 When they quit our firth, they fly along the coast of 

 England, remain some time in the channel, especially 

 about Cornwall, where they find immense shoals of 

 pilchards ; and, when these become scarce, they then 

 betake themselves farther to the south, and have been 

 observed in December fishing for sardines, (a species 

 of the genus clupea,) off the Berlingas, and the rock 

 of Lisbon. We have seen several of the old birds 

 are such as have changed their colour to 

 white) during winter, in America. Indeed, we have 

 eaten them there, and at that time had no doubts of 

 their being emigrants from Scotland. The young 

 gannets, while scarcely fledged, are brought from the 

 to tbe Edinburgh market. They for a vry 



long tract of years used to be sold at Is. 8d. but the Birdj, 

 price is now somewhat advanced, generally about i!s. M'g'" 1 J- 

 each. In these isles they have a very dangerous me- '" 



thod of taking gannets. Before they are able to fly, 

 a person is let down from the top of the perpen- 

 dicular rocks, hanging upon a long rope, which is 

 tied about his waist, and, while thus suspended in 

 the midway air, he is lowered, or drawn higher, from 

 cleft to cleft, according to the management of those 

 who hold it from above, and upon whom his sole de- 

 pendence of preservation is placed. On the rough 

 surge beneath a boat attends, into which, after kill- 

 ing them, he drops the birds from the nests above ; 

 he sometimes, however, fixes them to a string, or 

 puts them into a bag, which he has slung over his 

 shoulders for that purpose. 



Of our migratory land birds that come to pass flie The red*- 

 winter with us, the first is the red wing, swine pipe, wing, 

 wind or wood thrush, {turdus iliacus). Its whole 

 appearance is similar to that of our common song 

 thrush, but only smaller, and reddish under the wings. 

 In its own country, Sweden, where it breeds, it sings 

 most delightfully from the top of its favourite tree, 

 the maple. It is almost mute while with us, and is 

 a solitary bird, keeping at the bottom of hedges, or 

 in bushes, excepting upon its arrival and departure, 

 when they congregate. They are commonly seen a 

 few days before the fieldfare, or juniper thrush, (tur- The field*. 

 dus pilaris,) who continue in large flocks during far? - 

 their residence here ; they frequently perch upon 

 trees in the day time, but always roost upon the 

 ground during the night. These two last-mentioned 

 birds are also migratory in Italy, and other parts of 

 the south of Europe ; they were the turdi of the Ro- 

 mans, which they fed with so much care and atten- 

 tion in their aviaries. When they became fat, they 

 were highly esteemed by the epicures of these days. 



The woodcock (scolopar rusticota) appears gene-The wood- 

 rally with the Michaelmas moon, which favours its- cock, 

 flight across the German or northern sea. When 

 they land on our coast, they seem stupid and worn 

 out with fatigue. This is somewhat surprising, as 

 their passage is so much shorter than that of those 

 birds from the southern climes, who are always fresh 

 and vigorous when they first make their appearance 

 in this country. Mr Pennant says, that woodcocks 

 take the advantage of a mist, or of a thick night, in 

 accomplishing their passage. We, on the contrary, 

 have constantly observed more numerous arrivals 

 when there were clear moonlight nights, than in dark 

 and foggy weather. We aho think, that their flight 

 depends more on that luminary than on the wind; 

 that is to say, if it does not blow very hard while 

 the moon shines. Their departure from the northern 

 part9 of Europe, Norway, Sweden, &c. commences 

 about the first week of October, and detached birds, 

 as they seldom congregate, continue to migrate until 

 the end of November. When they first arrive here 

 they drop upon heaths, and among furze and other 

 bushes, and, after having settled and rested for two 

 or three days, betake themselves to coppice or wet 

 woods ; there, and about the adjacent springs, they 

 continue for the winter, unless often flushed, and 

 driven off by men and dogs. Woodcock shooting is 

 a favourite sport with our fowler?. The vast num 



