Homes Without Hands: Being a Description of the Habitations of Animals, Classed According to Their Principle of Construction - Page 107

"Heere I end of this hawke, because I neither accompte her worthy the name of a hawke, in whom there resteth no valor or hardiness, nor yet deserving to have any more written upon her propertie and nature. For truly it is not the property of any other hawke, by such devise and cowardly will to come by their prey, but they love to winne it by main force of wings at random, as the round winged hawkes doe, or by free stooping, as the hawkes of the Tower doe most commonly use, as the falcon, gerfalcon, sacre, merlyn, and such like."

The Shrikes have a peculiarity which is not shared by any other predaceous bird. When they have slain their prey, no matter whether it be bird, beast, reptile, or insect, they take it to some thorn-tree and there impale it, pressing a long and sharp thorn into the body, so as to hold it firmly. The Great Gray Shrike will thus impale the smaller birds, frogs, field-mice, and other creatures which are nearly as large as itself, and in some instances it has been known to kill and impale the thrush. It does not always employ thorns for this purpose, but will use sharply-pointed splinters of wood, or even an iron spike if no better instrument can be found.

Why it should have recourse to such a singular mode of holding its prey is quite a mystery. Some have said that the digestive organs of the Shrike are incapable of dissolving fresh meat, and that the bird is obliged to render its prey semi-putrid by exposure before it can venture to make a meal. But, as the Shrike frequently eats a little bird or insect as soon as caught, this theory falls to the ground.

Whatever theory may be right or wrong, the fact remains that the Shrikes impale the creatures which they have killed, and prefer to hang them near their nests. The Red-backed Shrike is not so formidable a foe to birds as its larger relative, but makes insects its chief prey. The nest of this Shrike always affords a curious sight, and as the bird is plentiful it may easily be seen.

There is not the least difficulty in finding a Shrike's nest, for the owner really seems to use every means which can attract attention. In the first place, it is a bird of insatiable curiosity. It will follow, or rather precede, a human being for half an hour at a time, keeping always some thirty or forty yards in front, settling near the top of a hedge, and wagging its long tail up and down as if to make itself more conspicuous. Last year I amused myself by making a Shrike move up and down a long hedge for a very long time, while I was insect-hunting among the flowers. Whenever the Shrike begins to act in this manner, it may generally be presumed that a nest is at no great distance.

Then, if perchance the careful observer should note these signs and approach the spot where the nest is placed, the bird sets up a hideous squall, just as if it intended to inform the searcher that he was right at last. The alarm cry of the blackbird is quite enough to draw attention as the bird flies through the underwood; but, at all events, it is only a short cry, and the bird is soon out of sight; but the Shrike remains on or near the nest while it continues to utter its harsh screams, and flies away noisily when the intruder is close at hand.

The nest itself is large, and not concealed with any care, while around it are stuck humble-bees, cocktail beetles, ground beetles, and a variety of other insects, each impaled upon a thorn, and forming admirable indications to the nest-hunter. Sometimes, but seldom, young birds are impaled instead of insects, and in such cases they are always callow nestlings, and are fixed by a thorn run between the skin and the flesh, instead of being pierced through the body, as is the method employed with insects.

There is a popular idea that the bird always has nine impaled creatures at hand, and that when it eats one it catches another, and with it replaces the one which has been eaten. In consequence of this notion, which prevails through several counties, the bird is called Nine-killer. The generic name, Enneoctonus, is composed of two Greek words which have a similar signification. So strongly is this idea held by some persons, that I have seen a treatise upon instinct, where the Shrike was gravely produced as an example of arithmetical powers possessed by birds. These theories generally fail when confronted by facts. I have seen numberless Shrikes' nests; and though in some cases there may have been nine impaled animals, in some there were more, and in others less.

The nest itself is neatly, though loosely built of roots, moss, wool, and vegetable fibres, and is lined with hair. I have mostly noticed it about five feet from the ground; and, although it is said to be closely hidden, have always found it a peculiarly conspicuous nest.

THE last branch-building bird which will be mentioned in these pages is the well-known HEDGE SPARROW, or HEDGE ACCENTOR, as it ought rightly to be called (Accentor modularis). The bird derives its popular name from two peculiarities, one of person and the other of habits. As its general tints are brown and black, the name of Sparrow has been given to it, although it rightly belongs to the warblers. It may easily be distinguished from the sparrow by its slender form, its blue-gray color, and the absence of the black patches that mark the head and throat of the true sparrow.

It is very plentiful in England, and that it should be so is rather remarkable on account of the exposed situation and conspicuous form of its nest. The red-backed shrike is remiss enough in placing its nest; but the Hedge Sparrow seems to be utterly heedless on the subject, and appears absolutely to invite the attention of its foes, which are many.

First and foremost comes the bird-nesting boy, whose eyes are generally so sharp that to conceal a nest from him is no easy matter. Then the Hedge Sparrow is one of the earliest builders, and so hasty is it in its proceedings that I have seen the half-finished nest filled with the snows of early spring. The bird had been in such a hurry to set up housekeeping that she would not even wait until the leaves were sufficiently large to shelter the nest, and, as might be expected, the snow found an easy entrance into the unprotected edifice. In consequence, moreover, of this passion for early building, the nest is so conspicuous an object in the leafless hedge that the most casual glance can not fail to detect it, while the natural foes of the bird, namely, the boy, the stoat, the cat, cuckoo, and others, find it the easiest of their prey.

The boy, for example, who might not be able to reach the nest of the shrike, which is placed some five or six feet from the ground, has no difficulty whatever in harrying that of the Hedge Sparrow, which is seldom more than two feet from the ground. Moreover, although the older nest-hunters will not trouble themselves about eggs so common as those of the Hedge Sparrow, the novices, and even many who ought to know better, can never resist the round, shining blue shells, as they lie snugly packed away in their basket-like receptacle.

Then there is the cuckoo, that flies about the hedgerows, peering into every nest, and looking out for a foster home for her eggs, which she can not hatch, and for the young which she can not cherish. There is, perhaps, no nest which is easier to be seen or more accessible when discovered than that of the Hedge Sparrow, and the consequence is, that the cuckoo's egg is oftener to be found in the nest of the Hedge Sparrow than in that of any other bird. This circumstance is certainly unfortunate to the Hedge Sparrow, who is obliged to give up the whole of her nest to a supposititious offspring, and to bestow upon a single intruder all the care and attention which would otherwise have been lavished upon the five rightful occupants.

Besides the cats, rats, and weasels, there are direful feathered foes, such as the shrike, which steals away the young and carries them to its home, where it hangs them up in its natural larder, and the magpie, which will sometimes work great havoc among the young or eggs. Now and then the owl makes a meal of a young bird, as I can testify from personal experience, and the viper is always ready to glide up the stems of the shrubs amid which the bird has built, to insert its baleful head into the nest, and to swallow the callow young.

Still, as the Hedge Sparrow generally produces two broods of young in a year, and sometimes three, all her offspring are not destroyed by these foes, and she may have the satisfaction of rearing some of her own. The nest is nicely, substantially, but not elegantly made, as, indeed, might be inferred from its lowly position. Nests upon or near the ground are very seldom made with much attention to elegance of architecture, the greatest trimness of nest-building skill being displayed in those homes which are placed upon lofty branches or suspended from slender twigs. It is a rather large nest, and is made of moss, wool, hair, and similar materials. As is generally the case with the group of birds to which the Hedge Sparrow belongs, the eggs are five in number, and, on an average, three young in each brood attain maturity.

Pensile Spider's Nest.

CHAPTER XXX. BRANCH-BUILDERS.

SPIDERS AND INSECTS.

Remarkable Spider Nests in the British Museum.—Seed-nests and Leaf-nests.—Nests of the TUFTED SPIDER.—Form and Coloring of the Spider.—Its curious Limbs.—Nests illustrative of the Hexagonal Principle.—Nest of the ICARIA.—The Equal Pressure and Excavation Theories.—Nest of MISCHOCYTTARUS and its remarkable Form.—Nest of the RAPHIGASTER.—Summary of the Argument.—The PROCESSIONARY MOTH.—Reasons for its Name.—How the Larvæ march.—Damage done by them to Trees.—A natural Remedy.—The CALOSOMA and its Habits.—The GIPSY MOTH.—Its Ravages upon Trees and Mode of destroying it.—The Social Principle among Caterpillars.—Mr. Rennie's Experiments.—The LACKEY MOTH.—Supposed derivations of its popular Name.—The Eggs, Larvæ, and perfect Insects.—Habits of the Moth.—The BROWN-TAILED MOTH.—Locality where it is found.—Its Ravages abroad.—Nests of the ICARIA as they appear in Branches.—The APOICA: its remarkable Nests.—Moth Nests from Monte Video.

WE have already seen several nests built by SPIDERS, some of which are made in the earth, others are strictly pensile, and others may fairly come into the present group. The specimens from which the drawings were made are in the collection of the British Museum, some in the upper and others in the lower rooms. Of the architects, the manner in which the nests were made, and the reasons why they were so singularly constructed, I can say nothing, because no record is attached to the specimens. Still, they are so curious that they have found a place in the work, and it is to be hoped that the very fact of their publicity will induce travelers to search for more specimens and to describe their history.

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