Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/373

Rh Kites in England, the like of which I have seen nowhere else. Our own birds are much larger than the German birds, more clamorous, more tending towards whiteness, and much greedier. For such is the audacity of our Kites, that they dare to snatch bread from children, fish from women, and handkerchiefs from off hedges and out of men's hands. They are accustomed to carry off caps from off men's heads when they are building their nests."

Another admirable specimen of Turner's discriminating skill may be found in his lucid refutation of the absurd theory that the Robin (Erithacus rubecula) and the Common Redstart (Ruticilla phœnicurus) did not represent distinct species, but were in fact identical. Turner truthfully explains to us the woodland habits of the Redbreast in the nesting season, adding that he spoke from personal knowledge: "Hæc quæ nunc scribo, admodum puer observavi." He describes the dress of both sexes of the Redstart, its habit of nesting in holes in trees and crevices of walls, its characteristic actions, and much besides; concluding with the remark that while the Redstart disappears from Britain before the arrival of winter, Redbreasts can be found all through the year, though it is not until the end of autumn, when the young Robins have almost entirely acquired the red plumage of the breast, that these birds withdraw from their summer haunts into the towns and villages. Again, he surprises us with the statement that he knew white Herons (Ardea) to occur in England in rare instances; but, ever anxious to guard against any misconception, he shrewdly points out that such white birds as he is referring to belonged to no foreign species of Heron, but agreed with their blue companions in every particular except their absence of coloration.

Had such a statement been made by anyone except Turner, we should at once have jumped to the conclusion that the so-called "white" Herons were neither more nor less than Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia); but in the present case the suggestion is mentioned only to be dismissed. For, in the first place, Turner was well acquainted with the Spoonbill as a British bird. It may well have been upon the authority of Turner that Gesner wrote that the Spoonbill ("Platea nostra") "is captured in England on the shore of the sea, and when kept in confine-