Birds by Land and Sea 



Upon examining the spot, we found two young 

 birds dozing on the ground little brown and grey 

 creatures scarcely to be distinguished from the ruddy 

 fragments of dead bracken which had been pressed 

 flat to earth, and, shaded by furze, bracken, and 

 thistle, served all the purposes, although scarcely 

 meriting the name, of nest. Most unfortunately, 1 

 had forgotten the screw of my tripod, and after 

 lying on the ground until I was well-nigh sick with 

 the heat of the sun beating down on my back whilst 

 rigging up my camera upon a base of stones, I had 

 the chagrin, just at the moment I had got it in 

 position and focus, of seeing one of the chicks rise, 

 and, spreading his wings, run into the cover fanning 

 them like a small ostrich. I could, therefore, only 

 photograph the remaining chick. 



No one would imagine, to judge from the small 

 snub, grey beak of this bird, what an enormous gape 

 it has. We handled one of the chicks, which opened 

 his beak to the full, and in his 'prentice fashion 

 showed us how his elders produced the strange 

 whirring sound which has caused them to be named 

 churn-owl, night-churn, etc. Gilbert White has 

 mentioned that, when the bird was uttering its 

 jarring note, he had " for many a half hour watched 

 it as it sat with its under mandible quivering." I 

 noticed this peculiarity in the two chicks when 

 preparing to photograph them. Their lower 

 mandibles were quivering with such rapidity as 

 not to be distinctly visible. I set it down at 



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