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COMPUTATIONAL
MATHEMATICS
Models, Methods, and Analysis
with MATLAB and MPI
COMPUTATIONAL
MATHEMATICS
Models, Methods, and Analysis
with MATLAB and MPI

ROBERT E. WHITE

CHAPMAN & HALL/CRC

A CRC Press Company
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

White, R. E. (Robert E.)

Computational mathematics : models, methods, and analysis with MATLAB and MPI /
Robert E. White.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58488-364-2 (alk. paper)
1. Numerical analysis. 2. MATLAB. 3. Computer interfaces. 4. Parallel programming
(Computer science) I. Title.

QA297.W495 2003
519.4—dc21 2003055207

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material
is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable
efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the publisher cannot
assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use.

Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or by any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The consent of CRC Press LLC does not extend to copying for general distribution, for promotion, for
creating new works, or for resale. Specific permission must be obtained in writing from CRC Press LLC
for such copying.

Direct all inquiries to CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida 33431.

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used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infringe.

Visit the CRC Press Web site at www.crcpress.com

No claim to original U.S. Government works

International Standard Book Number 1-58488-364-2
Library of Congress Card Number 2003055207
Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Printed on acid-free paper
Computational Mathematics:
Models, Methods and Analysis
with
MATLAB and MPI

R. E. White
Department of Mathematics
North Carolina State University
[email protected]

Updated on August 3, 2003

To Be Published by CRC Press in 2003
Contents

List of Figures ix

List of Tables xi

Preface xiii

Introduction xv

1 Discrete Time-Space Models 1

1.1 Newton Cooling Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Heat Diffusion in a Wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 Diffusion in a Wire with Little Insulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4 Flow and Decay of a Pollutant in a Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.5 Heat and Mass Transfer in Two Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.6 Convergence Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

2 Steady State Discrete Models 51

2.1 Steady State and Triangular Solves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.2 Heat Diffusion and Gauss Elimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.3 Cooling Fin and Tridiagonal Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.4 Schur Complement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.5 Convergence to Steady State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
2.6 Convergence to Continuous Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

3 Poisson Equation Models 99

3.1 Steady State and Iterative Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3.2 Heat Transfer in 2D Fin and SOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3.3 Fluid Flow in a 2D Porous Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.4 Ideal Fluid Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.5 Deformed Membrane and Steepest Descent . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
3.6 Conjugate Gradient Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

v
vi CONTENTS

4 Nonlinear and 3D Models 145

4.1 Nonlinear Problems in One Variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
4.2 Nonlinear Heat Transfer in a Wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.3 Nonlinear Heat Transfer in 2D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
4.4 Steady State 3D Heat Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.5 Time Dependent 3D Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
4.6 High Performance Computations in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

5 Epidemics, Images and Money 189

5.1 Epidemics and Dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
5.2 Epidemic Dispersion in 2D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
5.3 Image Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.4 Restoration in 2D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
5.5 Option Contract Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
5.6 Black-Scholes Model for Two Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

6 High Performance Computing 237

6.1 Vector Computers and Matrix Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
6.2 Vector Computations for Heat Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
6.3 Multiprocessors and Mass Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
6.4 MPI and the IBM/SP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
6.5 MPI and Matrix Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
6.6 MPI and 2D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

7 Message Passing Interface 275

7.1 Basic MPI Subroutines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
7.2 Reduce and Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
7.3 Gather and Scatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
7.4 Grouped Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
7.5 Communicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
7.6 Fox Algorithm for AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

8 Classical Methods for Ax = d 313

8.1 Gauss Elimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
8.2 Symmetric Positive Definite Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
8.3 Domain Decomposition and MPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
8.4 SOR and P-regular Splittings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
8.5 SOR and MPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
8.6 Parallel ADI Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

9 Krylov Methods for Ax = d 345

9.1 Conjugate Gradient Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9.2 Preconditioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
9.3 PCG and MPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
9.4 Least Squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
9.5 GMRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
CONTENTS vii

9.6 GMRES(m) and MPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Bibliography 379
List of Figures

1.1.1 Temperature versus Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.1.2 Steady State Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.3 Unstable Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.1 Diffusion in a Wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.2 Time-Space Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2.3 Temperature versus Time-Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.4 Unstable Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.5 Steady State Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.3.1 Diffusion in a Wire with csur = .0000 and .0005 . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.3.2 Diffusion in a Wire with n = 5 and 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.4.1 Polluted Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.4.2 Concentration of Pollutant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.4.3 Unstable Concentration Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.5.1 Heat or Mass Entering or Leaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.5.2 Temperature at Final Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.5.3 Heat Diffusing Out a Fin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.5.4 Concentration at the Final Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.5.5 Concentrations at Different Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.6.1 Euler Approximations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

2.1.1 Infinite or None or One Solution(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

2.2.1 Gaussian Elimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.3.1 Thin Cooling Fin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.3.2 Temperature for c = .1, .01, .001, .0001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.6.1 Variable r = .1, .2 and .3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
2.6.2 Variable n = 4, 8 and 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

3.1.1 Cooling Fin with T = .05, .10 and .15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

3.2.1 Diffusion in Two Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.2.2 Temperature and Contours of Fin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.2.3 Cooling Fin Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.3.1 Incompressible 2D Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.3.2 Groundwater 2D Porous Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

ix
x LIST OF FIGURES

3.3.3 Pressure for Two Wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

3.4.1 Ideal Flow About an Obstacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.4.2 Irrotational 2D Flow vx − uy = 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.4.3 Flow Around an Obstacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
3.4.4 Two Paths to (x,y) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
3.5.1 Steepest Descent norm(r) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
3.6.1 Convergence for CG and PCG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

4.2.1 Change in F1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

4.2.2 Temperatures for Variable c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.4.1 Heat Diffusion in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
4.4.2 Temperatures Inside a 3D Fin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
4.5.1 Passive Solar Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
4.5.2 Slab is Gaining Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
4.5.3 Slab is Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
4.6.1 Domain Decompostion in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
4.6.2 Domain Decomposition Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

5.1.1 Infected and Susceptible versus Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

5.2.1 Grid with Artificial Grid Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.2.2 Infected and Susceptible at Time = 0.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
5.3.1 Three Curves with Jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
5.3.2 Restored 1D Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
5.4.1 Restored 2D Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
5.5.1 Value of American Put Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
5.5.2 P(S,T-t) for Variable Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
5.5.3 Option Values for Variable Volatilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
5.5.4 Optimal Exercise of an American Put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
5.6.1 American Put with Two Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.6.2 max(E1 + E2 − S1 − S2 , 0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
5.6.3 max(E1 − S1 , 0) + max(E2 − S2 , 0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

6.1.1 von Neumann Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

6.1.2 Shared Memory Multiprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
6.1.3 Floating Point Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
6.1.4 Bit Adder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
6.1.5 Vector Pipeline for Floating Point Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
6.2.1 Temperature in Fin at t = 60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
6.3.1 Ring and Complete Multiprocessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
6.3.2 Hypercube Multiprocessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
6.3.3 Concentration at t = 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
6.4.1 Fan-out Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
6.6.1 Space Grid with Four Subblocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
6.6.2 Send and Receive for Processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

7.2.1 A Fan-in Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

List of Tables

1.6.1 Euler Errors at t = 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

1.6.2 Errors for Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
1.6.3 Errors for Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

2.6.1 Second Order Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

3.1.1 Variable SOR Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

3.2.1 Convergence and SOR Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

4.1.1 Quadratic Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

4.1.2 Local Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
4.2.1 Newton’s Rapid Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

6.1.1 Truth Table for Bit Adder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

6.1.2 Matrix-vector Computation Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
6.2.1 Heat Diffusion Vector Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
6.3.1 Speedup and Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
6.3.2 HPF for 2D Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
6.4.1 MPI Times for trapempi.f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
6.5.1 Matrix-vector Product mflops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
6.5.2 Matrix-matrix Product mflops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
6.6.1 Processor Times for Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
6.6.2 Processor Times for Pollutant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

7.6.1 Fox Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

8.3.1 MPI Times for geddmpi.f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

8.5.1 MPI Times for sorddmpi.f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

9.3.1 MPI Times for cgssormpi.f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

9.6.1 MPI Times for gmresmmpi.f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

xi
Preface

This book evolved from the need to migrate computational science into under-
graduate education. It is intended for students who have had basic physics,
programming, matrices and multivariable calculus.
The choice of topics in the book has been influenced by the Undergraduate
Computational Engineering and Science Project (a United States Department
of Energy funded effort), which was a series of meetings during the 1990s.
These meetings focused on the nature and content for computational science
undergraduate education. They were attended by a diverse group of science
and engineering teachers and professionals, and the continuation of some of
these activities can be found at the Krell Institute, http://www.krellinst.org.
Variations of Chapters 1-4 and 6 have been taught at North Carolina State
University in fall semesters since 1992. The other four chapters were developed
in 2002 and taught in the 2002-03 academic year.
The department of mathematics at North Carolina State University has
given me the time to focus on the challenge of introducing computational science
materials into the undergraduate curriculum. The North Carolina Supercom-
puting Center, http://www.ncsc.org, has provided the students with valuable
tutorials and computer time on supercomputers. Many students have made
important suggestions, and Carol Cox Benzi contributed some course materials
°
R
with the initial use of MATLAB . MATLAB is a registered trademark of The
MathWorks, Inc. For product information, please contact:

The MathWorks, Inc.

3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA 01760-2098 USA
Tel: 508-647-7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.mathworks.com <http://www.mathworks.com/>.

xiii
xiv PREFACE

I thank my close friends who have listened to me talk about this effort, and
especially Liz White who has endured the whole process with me.

Bob White, July 1, 2003

Introduction

Computational science is a blend of applications, computations and mathemat-

ics. It is a mode of scientific investigation that supplements the traditional
laboratory and theoretical methods of acquiring knowledge. This is done by
formulating mathematical models whose solutions are approximated by com-
puter simulations. By making a sequence of adjustments to the model and
subsequent computations one can gain some insights into the application area
under consideration. This text attempts to illustrate this process as a method
for scientific investigation. Each section of the first six chapters is motivated
by a particular application, discrete or continuous model, numerical method,
computer implementation and an assessment of what has been done.
Applications include heat diffusion to cooling fins and solar energy storage,
pollutant transfer in streams and lakes, models of vector and multiprocessing
computers, ideal and porous fluid flows, deformed membranes, epidemic models
with dispersion, image restoration and value of American put option contracts.
The models are initially introduced as discrete in time and space, and this allows
for an early introduction to partial differential equations. The discrete models
have the form of matrix products or linear and nonlinear systems. Methods in-
clude sparse matrix iteration with stability constraints, sparse matrix solutions
via variation on Gauss elimination, successive over-relaxation, conjugate gradi-
ent, and minimum residual methods. Picard and Newton methods are used to
approximate the solution to nonlinear systems.
°R
Most sections in the first five chapters have MATLAB codes; see [14] for
the very affordable current student version of MATLAB. They are intended
to be studied and not used as a "black box." The MATLAB codes should be
used as a first step towards more sophisticated numerical modeling. These
codes do provide a learning by doing environment. The exercises at the end of
each section have three categories: routine computations, variation of models,
and mathematical analysis. The last four chapters focus on multiprocessing
algorithms, which are implemented using message passing interface, MPI; see
[17] for information about building your own multiprocessor via free "NPACI
Rocks" cluster software. These chapters have elementary Fortran 9x codes
to illustrate the basic MPI subroutines, and the applications of the previous
chapters are revisited from a parallel implementation perspective.

xv
xvi INTRODUCTION

At North Carolina State University Chapters 1-4 are covered in 26 75-minute

lectures. Routine homework problems are assigned, and two projects are re-
quired, which can be chosen from topics in Chapters 1-5, related courses or
work experiences. This forms a semester course on numerical modeling using
partial differential equations. Chapter 6 on high performance computing can
be studied after Chapter 1 so as to enable the student, early in the semester,
to become familiar with a high performance computing environment. Other
course possibilities include: a semester course with an emphasis on mathemat-
ical analysis using Chapters 1-3, 8 and 9, a semester course with a focus on
parallel computation using Chapters 1 and 6-9 or a year course using Chapters
1-9.
This text is not meant to replace traditional texts on numerical analysis,
matrix algebra and partial differential equations. It does develop topics in these
areas as is needed and also includes modeling and computation, and so there
is more breadth and less depth in these topics. One important component of
computational science is parameter identification and model validation, and this
requires a physical laboratory to take data from experiments. In this text model
assessments have been restricted to the variation of model parameters, model
evolution and mathematical analysis. More penetrating expertise in various
aspects of computational science should be acquired in subsequent courses and
work experiences.
Related computational mathematics education material at the first and sec-
ond year undergraduate level can be found at the Shodor Education Founda-
tion, whose founder is Robert M. Panoff, web site [22] and in Zachary’s book
on programming [29]. Two general references for modeling are the undergradu-
ate mathematics journal [25] and Beltrami’s book on modeling for society and
biology [2]. Both of these have a variety of models, but often there are no
computer implemenations. So they are a good source of potential computing
projects. The book by Landau and Paez [13] has number of computational
physics models, which are at about the same level as this book. Slightly more
advanced numerical analysis references are by Fosdick, Jessup, Schauble and
Domik [7] and Heath [10].
The computer codes and updates for this book can be found at the web site:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~white.

The computer codes are mostly in MATLAB for Chapters 1-5, and in Fortran
9x for most of the MPI codes in Chapters 6-9. The choice of Fortran 9x is
the author’s personal preference as the array operations are similar to those
in MATLAB. However, the above web site and the web site associated with
Pacheco’s book [21] do have C versions of these and related MPI codes. The
web site for this book is expected to evolve and also has links to sequences of
heat and pollution transfer images, book updates and new reference materials.
Chapter 1

Discrete Time-Space
Models

The first three sections introduce diffusion of heat in one direction. This is an
example of model evolution with the simplest model being for the temperature
of a well-stirred liquid where the temperature does not vary with space. The
model is then enhanced by allowing the mass to have different temperatures in
different locations. Because heat flows from hot to cold regions, the subsequent
model will be more complicated. In Section 1.4 a similar model is considered,
and the application will be to the prediction of the pollutant concentration
in a stream resulting from a source of pollution up stream. Both of these
models are discrete versions of the continuous model that are partial differential
equations. Section 1.5 indicates how these models can be extended to heat and
mass transfer in two directions, which is discussed in more detail in Chapters
3 and 4. In the last section variations of the mean value theorem are used
to estimate the errors made by replacing the continuous model by a discrete
model. Additional introductory materials can be found in G. D. Smith [23],
and in R. L. Burden and J. D. Faires [4].

1.1 Newton Cooling Models

1.1.1 Introduction
Many quantities change as time progresses such as money in a savings account
or the temperature of a refreshing drink or any cooling mass. Here we will
be interested in making predictions about such changing quantities. A simple
mathematical model has the form u+ = au + b where a and b are given real
numbers, u is the present amount and u+ is the next amount. This calculation is
usually repeated a number of times and is a simple example of an of algorithm.
A computer is used to do a large number calculations.

1
2 CHAPTER 1. DISCRETE TIME-SPACE MODELS

Computers use a finite subset of the rational numbers (a ratio of two in-
tegers) to approximate any real number. This set of numbers may depend on
the computer being used. However, they do have the same general form and
are called floating point numbers. Any real number x can be represented by an
infinite decimal expansion x = ±(.x1 · · · xd · · · )10e , and by truncating this we
can define the chopped floating point numbers.
Let x be any real number and denote a floating point number by
f l(x) = ±.x1 · · · xd 10e
= ±(x1 /10 + · · · + xd /10d )10e .
This is a floating point number with base equal to 10 where x1 is not equal
to zero, xi are integers between 0 and 9, the exponent e is also a bounded
integer and d is an integer called the precision of the floating point system. As-
sociated with each real number, x, and its floating point approximate number,
f l(x), is the floating point error, f l(x) − x. In general, this error decreases as
the precision, d, increases. Each computer calculation has some floating point
or roundoff error. Moreover, as additional calculations are done, there is an
accumulation of these roundoff errors.
Example. Let x = −1.5378 and f l(x) = −0.154 101 where d = 3. The
roundoff error is
f l(x) − x = −.0022.
The error will accumulate with any further operations containing f l(x), for
example, f l(x)2 = .237 10−1 and
f l(x)2 − x2 = 2.37 − 2.36482884 = .00517116.
Repeated calculations using floating point numbers can accumulate significant
roundoff errors.

1.1.2 Applied Area

Consider the cooling of a well stirred liquid so that the temperature does not
depend on space. Here we want to predict the temperature of the liquid based on
some initial observations. Newton’s law of cooling is based on the observation
that for small changes of time, h, the change in the temperature is nearly
equal to the product of the constant c, the h and the difference in the room
temperature and the present temperature of the coffee. Consider the following
quantities: uk equals the temperature of a well stirred cup of coffee at time tk ,
usur equals the surrounding room temperature, and c measures the insulation
ability of the cup and is a positive constant. The discrete form of Newton’s law
of cooling is
uk+1 − uk = ch(usur − uk )
uk+1 = (1 − ch)uk + ch usur
= auk + b where a = 1 − ch and b = ch usur .
1.1. NEWTON COOLING MODELS 3

The long run solution should be the room temperature, that is, uk should
converge to usur as k increases. Moreover, when the room temperature is
constant, then uk should converge monotonically to the room temperature.
This does happen if we impose the constraint

0 < a = 1 − ch,

called a stability condition, on the time step h. Since both c and h are positive,
a < 1.

1.1.3 Model
The model in this case appears to be very simple. It consists of three constants
u0 , a, b and the formula
uk+1 = auk + b (1.1.1)
The formula must be used repeatedly, but with different uk being put into the
right side. Often a and b are derived from formulating how uk changes as k
increases (k reflects the time step). The change in the amount uk is often
modeled by duk + b
uk+1 − uk = duk + b
where d = a−1. The model given in (1.1.1) is called a first order finite difference
model for the sequence of numbers uk+1 . Later we will generalize this to a
sequence of column vectors where a will be replaced by a square matrix.

1.1.4 Method
The "iterative" calculation of (1.1.1) is the most common approach to solving
(1.1.1). For example, if a = 12 , b = 2 and u0 = 10, then

1
u1 = 10 + 2 = 7.0
2
1
u2 = 7 + 2 = 5.5
2
1
u3 = 5.5 + 2 = 4.75
2
1
u4 = 4.75 + 2 = 4.375
2
If one needs to compute uk+1 for large k, this can get a little tiresome. On
the other hand, if the calculations are being done with a computer, then the
floating point errors may generate significant accumulation errors.
An alternative method is to use the following "telescoping" calculation and
the geometric summation. Recall the geometric summation

1 + r + r2 + · · · + rk and (1 + r + r2 + · · · + rk )(1 − r) = 1 − rk+1

4 CHAPTER 1. DISCRETE TIME-SPACE MODELS

Or, for r not equal to 1

(1 + r + r2 + · · · + rk ) = (1 − rk+1 )/(1 − r).

Consequently, if |r| < 1, then

1 + r + r2 + · · · + rk + · · · = 1/(1 − r)

is a convergent geometric series.

In (1.1.1) we can compute uk by decreasing k by 1 so that uk = auk−1 + b.
Put this into (1.1.1) and repeat the substitution to get

uk+1 = a(auk−1 + b) + b
= a2 uk−1 + ab + b
= a2 (auk−2 + b) + ab + b
= a3 uk−2 + a2 b + ab + b
..
.
= ak+1 u0 + b(ak + · · · + a2 + a + 1)
= ak+1 u0 + b(1 − ak+1 )/(1 − a)
= ak+1 (u0 − b/(1 − a)) + b/(1 − a). (1.1.2)

The error for the steady state solution, b/(1 − a), will be small if |a| is small,
or k is large, or the initial guess u0 is close to the steady state solution. A
generalization of this will be studied in Section 2.5.

Theorem 1.1.1 (Steady State Theorem) If a is not equal to 1, then the so-
lution of (1.1.1) has the form given in (1.1.2). Moreover, if |a| < 1, then the
solution of (1.1.1) will converge to the steady state solution u = au + b, that is,
u = b/(1 − a). More precisely, the error is

uk+1 − u = ak+1 (u0 − b/(1 − a)).

Example. Let a = 1/2, b = 2, u0 = 10 and k = 3. Then (1.1.2) gives

u3+1 = (1/2)4 (10 − 2/(1 − 1/2)) + 2/(1 − 1/2) = 6/16 + 4 = 4.375.

The steady state solution is u = 2/(1 − 12 ) = 4 and the error for k = 3 is

1
u4 − u = 4.375 − 4 = ( )4 (10 − 4).
2

1.1.5 Implementation
The reader should be familiar with the information in MATLAB’s tutorial. The
input segment of the MATLAB code fofdh.m is done in lines 1-12, the execution
is done in lines 16-19, and the output is done in line 20. In the following m-file
1.1. NEWTON COOLING MODELS 5

t is the time array whose first entry is the initial time. The array y stores the
approximate temperature values whose first entry is the initial temperature.
The value of c is based on a second observed temperature, y_obser, at time
equal to h_obser. The value of c is calculated in line 10. Once a and b have
been computed, the algorithm is executed by the for loop in lines 16-19. Since
the time step h = 1, n = 300 will give an approximation of the temperature
over the time interval from 0 to 300. If the time step were to be changed from 1
to 5, then we could change n from 300 to 60 and still have an approximation of
the temperature over the same time interval. Within the for loop we could look
at the time and temperature arrays by omitting the semicolon at the end of the
lines 17 and 18. It is easier to examine the graph of approximate temperature
versus time, which is generated by the MATLAB command plot(t,y).
MATLAB Code fofdh.m
1. % This code is for the first order finite difference algorithm.
2. % It is applied to Newton’s law of cooling model.
3. clear;
4. t(1) = 0; % initial time
5. y(1) = 200.; % initial temperature
6. h = 1; % time step
7. n = 300; % number of time steps of length h
8. y_obser = 190; % observed temperature at time h_obser
9. h_obser = 5;
10. c = ((y_obser - y(1))/h_obser)/(70 - y(1))
11. a = 1 - c*h
12. b = c*h*70
13. %
14. % Execute the FOFD Algorithm
15. %
16. for k = 1:n
17. y(k+1) = a*y(k) + b;
18. t(k+1) = t(k) + h;
19. end
20. plot(t,y)
An application to heat transfer is as follows. Consider a cup of coffee,
which is initially at 200 degrees and is in a room with temperature equal to
70, and after 5 minutes it cools to 190 degrees. By using h = h_obser = 5,
u0 = 200 and u1 = u_obser = 190, we compute from (1.1.1) that c = 1/65.
The first calculation is for this c and h = 5 so that a = 1 − ch = 60/65 and
b = ch70 = 350/65. Figure 1.1.1 indicates the expected monotonic decrease to
the steady state room temperature, usur = 70.
The next calculation is for a larger c = 2/13, which is computed from a new
second observed temperature of u_obser = 100 after h_obser = 5 minutes.
In this case for larger time step h = 10 so that a = 1 − (2/13)10 = −7/13
and b = ch70 = (2/13)10 70 = 1400/13. In Figure 1.1.2 notice that the
6 CHAPTER 1. DISCRETE TIME-SPACE MODELS

Figure 1.1.1: Temperature versus Time

computed solution no longer is monotonic, but it does converge to the steady

state solution.
The model continues to degrade as the magnitude of a increases. In the
Figure 1.1.3 the computed solution oscillates and blows up! This is consistent
with formula (1.1.2). Here we kept the same c, but let the step size increase
to h = 15 and in this case a = 1 − (2/13)15 = −17/13 and b = ch70 =
(2/13)1050 = 2100/13. The vertical axis has units multiplied by 104 .

1.1.6 Assessment
Models of savings plans or loans are discrete in the sense that changes only occur
at the end of each month. In the case of the heat transfer problem, the formula
for the temperature at the next time step is only an approximation, which gets
better as the time step h decreases. The cooling process is continuous because
the temperature changes at every instant in time. We have used a discrete
model of this, and it seems to give good predictions provided the time step is
suitably small. Moreover there are other modes of transferring heat such as
diffusion and radiation.
There may be significant accumulation of roundoff error. On a computer
(1.1.1) is done with floating point numbers, and at each step there is some new
roundoff error Rk+1 . Let U0 = f l(u0 ), A = f l(a) and B = f l(b) so that

Uk+1 = AUk + B + Rk+1 . (1.1.3)

1.1. NEWTON COOLING MODELS 7

Figure 1.1.2: Steady State Temperature

Figure 1.1.3: Unstable Computation

8 CHAPTER 1. DISCRETE TIME-SPACE MODELS

Next, we want to estimate the

accumulation error = Uk+1 − uk+1

under the assumption that the roundoff errors are uniformly bounded

|Rk+1 | ≤ R < ∞.

For ease of notation, we will assume the roundoff errors associated with a and
b have been put into the Rk+1 so that Uk+1 = aUk + b + Rk+1 . Subtract (1.1.1)
and this variation of (1.1.3) to get

Uk+1 − uk+1 = a(Uk − uk ) + Rk+1 (1.1.4)

= a[a(Uk−1 − uk−1 ) + Rk ] + Rk+1
= a2 (Uk−1 − uk−1 ) + aRk + Rk+1
..
.
= ak+1 (U0 − u0 ) + ak R1 + · · · + Rk+1

Now let r = |a| and R be the uniform bound on the roundoff errors. Use the
geometric summation and the triangle inequality to get

|Uk+1 − uk+1 | ≤ rk+1 |U0 − u0 | + R(rk+1 − 1)/(r − 1). (1.1.5)

Either r is less than one, or greater, or equal to one. An analysis of (1.1.4) and
(1.1.5) immediately yields the next theorem.

Theorem 1.1.2 (Accumulation Error Theorem) Consider the first order finite
difference algorithm. If |a| < 1 and the roundoff errors are uniformly bounded by
R, then the accumulation error is uniformly bounded. Moreover, if the roundoff
errors decrease uniformly, then the accumulation error decreases.

1.1.7 Exercises
1. Using fofdh.m duplicate the calculations in Figures 1.1.1-1.1.3.
2. Execute fofdh.m four times for c = 1/65, variable h = 64, 32, 16, 8 with n
= 5, 10, 20 and 40, respectively. Compare the four curves by placing them on
the same graph; this can be done by executing the MATLAB command "hold
on" after the first execution of fofdh.m
3. Execute fofdh.m five times with h = 1, variable c = 8/65, 4/65, 2/65, 1/65,
and .5/65, and n = 300. Compare the five curves by placing them on the same
graph; this can be done by executing the MATLAB command "hold on" after
the first execution of fofdh.m
4. Consider the application to Newton’s discrete law of cooling. Use (1.1.2) to
show that if hc < 1, then uk+1 converges to the room temperature.
5. Modify the model used in Figure 1.1.1 to account for a room temperature
that starts at 70 and increases at a constant rate equal to 1 degree every 5
1.2. HEAT DIFFUSION IN A WIRE 9

minutes. Use the c = 1/65 and h = 1. Compare the new curve with Figure
1.1.1.
6. We wish to calculate the amount of a savings plan for any month, k, given a
fixed interest rate, r, compounded monthly. Denote these quantities as follows:
uk is the amount in an account at month k, r equals the interest rate com-
pounded monthly, and d equals the monthly deposit. The amount at the end
of the next month will be the old amount plus the interest on the old amount
plus the deposit. In terms of the above variables this is with a = 1 + r/12 and
b=d

uk+1 = uk + uk r/12 + d
= auk + b.

(a). Use (1.1.2) to determine the amount in the account by depositing $100
each month in an account, which gets 12% compounded monthly, and over time
intervals of 30 and 40 years ( 360 and 480 months).
(b). Use a modified version of fofdh.m to calculate and graph the amounts
in the account from 0 to 40 years.
7. Show (1.1.5) follows from (1.1.4).
8. Prove the second part of the accumulation error theorem.

1.2 Heat Diffusion in a Wire

1.2.1 Introduction
In this section we consider heat conduction in a thin electrical wire, which is
thermally insulated on its surface. The model of the temperature has the form
uk+1 = Auk +b where uk is a column vector whose components are temperatures
for the previous time step, t = k∆t, at various positions within the wire. The
square matrix will determine how heat flows from warm regions to cooler regions
within the wire. In general, the matrix A can be extremely large, but it will
also have a special structure with many more zeros than nonzero components.

1.2.2 Applied Area

In this section we present a second model of heat transfer. In our first model we
considered heat transfer via a discrete version of Newton’s law of cooling which
involves temperature as only a discrete function of time. That is, we assumed
the mass was uniformly heated with respect to space. In this section we allow
the temperature to be a function of both discrete time and discrete space.
The model for the diffusion of heat in space is based on empirical observa-
tions. The discrete Fourier heat law in one direction says that
(a). heat flows from hot to cold,
(b). the change in heat is proportional to the
cross-sectional area,
10 CHAPTER 1. DISCRETE TIME-SPACE MODELS

change in time and

(change in temperature)/(change in space).
The last term is a good approximation provided the change in space is small,
and in this case one can use the derivative of the temperature with respect to
the single direction. The proportionality constant, K, is called the thermal con-
ductivity. The K varies with the particular material and with the temperature.
Here we will assume the temperature varies over a smaller range so that K is
approximately a constant. If there is more than one direction, then we must
replace the approximation of the derivative in one direction by the directional
derivative of the temperature normal to the surface.
Fourier Heat Law. Heat flows from hot to cold, and the amount of heat
transfer through a small surface area A is proportional to the product of A, the
change in time and the directional derivative of the temperature in the direction
normal to the surface.
Consider a thin wire so that the most significant diffusion is in one direction,
x. The wire will have a current going through it so that there is a source of
heat, f , which is from the electrical resistance of the wire. The f has units of
(heat)/(volume time). Assume the ends of the wire are kept at zero tempera-
ture, and the initial temperature is also zero. The goal is to be able to predict
the temperature inside the wire for any future time and space location.

1.2.3 Model
In order to develop a model to do temperature prediction, we will discretize
both space and time and let u(ih, k∆t) be approximated by uki where ∆t =
T /maxk, h = L/n and L is the length of the wire. The model will have the
general form

change in heat content ≈ (heat from the source)

+(heat diffusion from the right)
+(heat diffusion from the left).

This is depicted in the Figure 1.2.1 where the time step has not been indicated.
For time on the right side we can choose either k∆t or (k + 1)∆t. Presently, we
will choose k∆t, which will eventually result in the matrix version of the first
order finite difference method.
The heat diffusing in the right face (when (uki+1 − uki )/h > 0) is

A ∆t K(uki+1 − uki )/h.

The heat diffusing out the left face (when (uki − uki−1 )/h > 0) is

A ∆t K(uki − uki−1 )/h.

Therefore, the heat from diffusion is

1.2. HEAT DIFFUSION IN A WIRE 11

Figure 1.2.1: Diffusion in a Wire

A ∆t K(uki+1 − uki )/h − A ∆t K(uki − uki−1 )/h.

The heat from the source is
Ah ∆t f .
The heat content of the volume Ah at time k∆t is
ρcuki Ah
where ρ is the density and c is the specific heat. By combining these we have the
following approximation of the change in the heat content for the small volume
Ah:
ρcuk+1
i Ah − ρcuki Ah = Ah ∆t f + A ∆t K(uki+1 − uki )/h − A ∆t K(uki − uki−1 )/h.

Now, divide by ρcAh, define α = (K/ρc)(∆t/h2 ) and explicitly solve for uk+1
i .
Explicit Finite Difference Model for Heat Diffusion.
uk+1
i = (∆t/ρc)f + α(uki+1 + uki−1 ) + (1 − 2α)uki (1.2.1)
for i = 1, ..., n − 1 and k = 0, ..., maxk − 1,
u0i = 0 for i = 1, ..., n − 1 (1.2.2)
uk0 = ukn = 0 for k = 1, ..., maxk. (1.2.3)
Equation (1.2.2) is the initial temperature set equal to zero, and (1.2.3) is the
temperature at the left and right ends set equal to zero. Equation (1.2.1) may
be put into the matrix version of the first order finite difference method. For
example, if the wire is divided into four equal parts, then n = 4 and (1.2.1) may
be written as three scalar equations for the unknowns uk+1 1 , uk+1
2 and uk+1
3 :
uk+1
1 = (∆t/ρc)f + α(uk2 + 0) + (1 − 2α)uk1
uk+1
2 = (∆t/ρc)f + α(uk3 + uk1 ) + (1 − 2α)uk2
uk+1
3 = (∆t/ρc)f + α(0 + uk2 ) + (1 − 2α)uk3 .
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
species. In winter, hooded crows visit the east coast of England in
large numbers, and are specially abundant on the Lincolnshire coast,
where they feed on shellfish and animal refuse left by the tide on
the extensive mud flats. These seaside crows that wait on the tide
come to us from the north of Europe, and leave our shores in spring.
Excepting in the matter of colour—one bird being wholly black
and the other grey on the back and under parts—the black and grey
crows are identical in size, language, and in all their habits, and
what has been said of the carrion crow applies to the present
species.

Rook.
Corvus frugilegus.

Black with purple and violet reflections; base of the beak,

nostrils, and region round the beak bare of feathers, and covered
with a white scurf; iris greyish white. Length, eighteen inches.

The rook is common throughout the British Islands, and is our

best-known large land bird, being everywhere the most abundant
species, as well as the most conspicuous, owing to his great size,
blackness, gregariousness, and habits of perching and nesting on
the tops of trees, and of feeding on open grass spaces, where it is
visible at a long distance. Without being a favourite of either the
gamekeeper or the farmer, he is, in a measure, a protected species,
the rookery being looked on as a pleasant and almost indispensable
appanage of the country-house. It was not always so. In former
times the rook was regarded as a highly injurious bird, and in the
reign of Henry VIII. an Act of Parliament was passed to ensure its
destruction. But this is ancient history. The existing sentiment, which
is so favourable to the bird, probably had its origin centuries back in
time, and the rook has everywhere come to regard the trees that are
near a human habitation as the safest to build on. It is surprising to
find how fearless of man he is in this respect, while retaining a
suspicious habit towards him when at a distance from home. I recall
one rookery on a clump of fir-trees so close to a large house that,
from the top windows, one can look down on the nests and count
the eggs in many of them; yet for miles round the area is a well-
wooded park, where the birds might easily have found scores of
sites as well or better suited to their requirements.

Fig. 56.—Rooks and Nest.

The birds usually return to the rookery in February, and in March,
or even earlier if the weather should prove mild, they begin to repair
the old nests and build new ones. The nests are placed on the
topmost branches of the tree—elm, oak, birch, or fir; but an elm-
tree is generally made choice of. The tree to suit the rook must be
tall—if possible, the tallest tree in the place—for it is the instinct of
the bird not only to have his house far out of reach of all possible
terrestrial enemies, but so placed that a wide and uninterrupted
view of earth and sky may be obtained from it. As things now are his
winged enemies do him little hurt, but it was not always so. In the
next place, the branches must afford a suitable foundation to build
on: they must be strong, and forked, so as to hold the fabric
securely during high winds and sudden violent storms; furthermore,
there must be a clear space above or at the side, to enable the bird
to approach and leave it without striking against the surrounding
boughs. It is a well-known fact that rooks will desert a rookery when
the trees are decaying, even when, to a human eye, they appear
sound. The most probable explanation which has yet been offered of
this fact is, that a considerable amount of pliancy in the branches is
necessary for the safety of the nest; for if the branches do not yield
and sway to the force of the wind, the nest is in danger of being
blown bodily out of its place: in the decaying tree the upper
branches become too stiff, from the insufficient supply of sap.
The building and repairing time is one of great and incessant
excitement in the rookery; and it is curious to note that birds of such
a social disposition, and able to live together in concord at all other
times, are at this period extremely contentious. As a rule, when one
bird is abroad foraging for sticks, his mate remains on guard at the
nest. Among these watchers and the birds that are leaving and
arriving there is much loud cawing, which sounds like ‘language,’ in
the slang sense of the word; and it might appear that they were all
at strife, and each one fighting for himself. But it may be observed
that a majority of the birds respect each other’s rights, and never
come into collision, and that there are others, in most cases a very
few, who depart from these traditions, and are, like freebooters,
always on the watch to plunder sticks from their neighbours’ nests,
instead of going afield to gather them. The presence of these
objectionable members of the community may account for some of
the curious episodes in the life of the rookery—as, for instance, the
fact that all the birds will sometimes combine to persecute one pair,
and demolish their nest again and again as fast as it is made.
The nest, when completed, is a large structure, two feet or more
in diameter, made of sticks, and lined with dry grass. The eggs are
four to six in number, and are bluish green, spotted and blotched
with greyish purple and dull brown.
During incubation the male assiduously feeds his sitting mate,
and occasionally changes places with her; and after the young are
out of the shells both parents are engaged incessantly in collecting
food for them. From early morning until dark they may be seen
flying to and from the rookery, on each return journey carrying a
cluster of worms and grubs in the mouth.
When the young are fully fledged they are seen perching
awkwardly on the branches near the nest, occasionally making short,
tentative flights, and apparently anxious to go forth into that wide
green world spread out beneath their cradle and watch-tower. They
are, happily, ignorant of the doom that awaits them; for the time is
now near when the blood-tax must be levied on the community—the
price which is paid for protection; and, the young only being eatable,
the slaughter must fall on them. As a rule, a few of the young
escape death, as, when the shooting begins, and the old birds rise in
haste to scatter in all directions, a few of the most advanced young
birds that are already strong on the wing follow their parents to a
place of safety.
After the breeding season, which is usually over at the beginning
of June, the rookery is forsaken; in some cases the birds disappear,
and do not return until the next spring; more often they pay an
occasional visit to the rookery, and some rookeries are visited almost
daily by the birds. But for the rest of the year their roosting-place is
elsewhere, often at a considerable distance. In districts where rooks
are abundant there is generally one great roosting-place, where the
communities inhabiting the country for many miles around are
accustomed to congregate at the end of each day. As the evening
draws near the birds begin to arrive from two, or three, or more
directions, in detachments or long, loose trains, flying steadily, at an
equal height above the ground. Where they settle the tree-tops are
black with their numbers; and as fresh contingents pour in the noise
of the cawing grows louder and more continuous, until it is in
volume like the sound of a surging sea. At intervals large numbers of
birds rise up, to hang like a black cloud above the trees for some
minutes, but as the evening darkens they all finally settle down for
the night; still, in so vast an assemblage there are always many
waking individuals, and a noise of subdued cawing may be heard
throughout the hours of darkness. With the returning light there is a
renewal of the loud noise and excitement, as the birds rise up and
wheel about in the air before setting out on their journey to their
distant feeding-grounds.

Raven.
Corvus corax.
 Fig. 57.—Raven. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.
Black with purple reflections; tail black; iris with two circles, the
inner grey, the outer ash-brown. Length, twenty-five inches.

The raven has the reputation, true or false, of being one of the
longest-lived birds; certainly it is one of the hardiest, and capable of
adapting itself to the greatest extremes of temperature. Its range in
the northern hemisphere extends from the regions of ‘thick-ribbed
ice’ to the damp, hot woods and burning coasts of Southern Mexico
and Central America. The tropical jaguar may help it to a meal at
one extremity of its range, the polar bear at the other. Compared to
such diversities of climate and of other conditions, those of the
British Islands are as nothing. From the Isle of Wight and the
southern coast to the northern extremity of Scotland, and beyond, to
‘utmost Kilda’s lonely isle,’ the raven has lived in what, to a bird of
his grit, must have been a very pleasant garden with a mild and
equable temperature throughout the year. Formerly he was a fairly
common bird in all parts of our island, and it is probable that some
protection was accorded to him by owners of large estates, in spite
of his evil reputation, on account of some such sentiment as now
exists with regard to the rook. A pair of ravens in a woodland
district, Seebohm says, ‘was often considered the pride and pest of
the parish.’ But the sentiment, if it existed, was not strong enough,
and the constant persecution of the bird by its two principal
enemies, the gamekeeper and the shepherd, joined by a third during
the present century in the ‘collector,’ has gradually driven it from all,
or well-nigh all, its ancient inland haunts, and it now exists in its last
strongholds, the rugged iron-bound sea-coast on the northern coasts
of Scotland and the neighbouring islands. A few—a very few—pairs
are still to be met with on some of the cliffs on the south and south-
west coasts of England, and on the Welsh coast; but even in the
rudest and most solitary localities inhabited by it the bird can keep
its hold on life only by means of a wariness and sagacity exceeding
that of most other wild and persecuted species.
Like most of the members of its family, the raven is omnivorous,
feeding indiscriminately on grubs, worms, insects, grain, fruit,
carrion, and animal food of all kinds. Being so much bigger and
more powerful than other crows, with a larger appetite to satisfy, he
is more rapacious in his habits, and bolder in attacking animals of
large size. He will readily attack a small lamb left by its dam, and
pick out its eyes; but, as a rule, his attacks on lambs and sheep are
confined to the very young and to the sickly or dying. He also
attacks hares, rabbits, and birds of various kinds, when he finds
them ailing or wounded by shot. He is fond of eggs, as well as of
nestlings, and plunders the nests of the sea-birds that inhabit the
cliffs in his neighbourhood. But the greatest part of his food consists
of dead animal matter cast up by the sea, and carrion of all kinds: a
dead sheep will afford him pasture for some days, and keep him out
of mischief—for he can be hawk or vulture as occasion offers.
 In appearance the raven is a larger rook or carrion crow; he is a
fine bird, and his large size, the uniform blackness of his plumage,
and his deep, harsh, and human-like, croaking voice, strongly
impress the imagination. But the effect produced on the mind by the
raven is, doubtless, in part due to the bird’s reputation, to its ancient
historical fame, its large place in our older literature, and to the
various sombre superstitions connected with it. When feeding on a
carcase his appearance is not engaging: there is a lack of dignity in
his sidling or ‘loping’ motions, and savage haste in tearing at the
flesh, with a startled look round after each morsel. When disturbed
from his repast the slow, cumbrous, flapping flight as he rises
strongly reminds you of the vulture. He makes a nobler figure when
soaring high in the air, or along the face of some huge beetling cliff
that fronts the sea; for then his flight has power and ease as he falls
and rises, playing, like a giant chough or jackdaw, with his mate.
The raven pairs for life, and uses the same nest year after year. A
pair or two may still breed in a tree somewhere in Scotland or in the
north of England, but, in almost all cases, the bird now makes his
nest on a ledge of rock on some cliff on the sea-coast. It is a rude,
bulky structure, formed of sticks and heather, and lined with grass
and wool. The eggs are four to six in number, bluish green in
ground-colour, more or less thickly spotted and marked with dark
olive-brown.
The raven is the earliest bird to breed in this country: the nest-
building begins in January, and the eggs are laid in February or
March.

Besides the eight species described, a ninth member of the

corvine family has been included among British birds; this is the
nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), a very irregular straggler to
our shores from northern Europe.
 Skylark.
Alauda arvensis.

Upper parts varied with three shades of brown, the darkest of

which lies along the shaft of each feather; a faint whitish streak over
the eye; throat white; under parts yellowish white tinged with
brown; the throat and sides of neck with dark brown lanceolate
spots, which form a gorget just above the breast. Length, seven
inches and a quarter.

Fig. 58.—Skylark. ⅓ natural size.

The skylark is so universally diffused in these islands, and so
abundant, well known, and favourite a species, that anything beyond
a brief and prosaic account of its habits would appear superfluous.
His image, better than any pen can portray it, already exists in every
mind. A distinguished ornithologist, writing of the sparrow, declines
to describe its language, and asks his reader to open his window
and hear it for himself. In like manner, I may ask my reader to listen
to the lark’s song, which exists registered in his own brain. For he
must have heard it times without number, this being a music which,
like the rain and sunshine, falls on all of us. If someone, too curious,
should desire me not to concern myself with the images and
registered sensations of others’ brains, but to record here my own
impressions and feelings, I could but refer him to Shelley’s ‘Ode to a
Skylark,’ which describes the bird at his best—the bird, and the
feeling produced on the listener. Some ornithologist (I blush to say
it) has pointed out that the poet’s description is unscientific and of
no value; nevertheless, it embodies what we all feel at times,
although we may be without inspiration, and have only dull prose for
expression. It is true there are those who are not moved by nature’s
sights and sounds, even in her ‘special moments,’ who regard a
skylark merely as something to eat with a delicate flavour. It is well,
if we desire to think the best that we can of our fellows, to look on
such persons as exceptions, like those, perhaps fabled, monsters of
antiquity who feasted on nightingales’ tongues and other strange
meats.
The skylark inhabits open places, and is to be met with on
pastures, commons, downs, and mountain slopes; but he prefers
arable land, and is most abundant in cultivated districts. In winter
his song may be occasionally heard in mild weather; in February it
becomes more frequent, and increases until the end of March, when
it may be said that his music is at full flood; and at this high point it
continues for several months, during which time successive broods
are reared. A more inexhaustible singer than the lark does not exist;
and when we consider how abundant and widely diffused the bird is,
the number of months during which he is vocal, and the character of
the song—a rapid torrent of continuous sound—it is almost possible
to believe that the melody from this one species actually equals in
amount that from all the other song-birds together.
 The nest, made in April, is a slight hollow in the ground in a
cornfield, or among the grass of a meadow, or any open place, and
is composed of dry grass and moss, lined with fine grass and
horsehair. The eggs are four or five in number, greyish white,
spotted and clouded with greenish brown. Two or three broods are
reared.
In September the skylarks begin to assemble in flocks and shift
their ground. At this season they migrate in large numbers; but
many remain throughout the year, except in the more northern
districts. Large flocks of migrants from the Continent also appear
during the winter months.
In winter the lark feeds chiefly on seeds; in summer he is an
insect as well as a seed eater.

Woodlark.
Alauda arborea.

Upper parts reddish brown, the centre of each feather dark

brown; a distinct yellowish white streak above the eye, extending to
the back part of the head; under parts yellowish white streaked with
dark brown. Tail very short. Length, six and a half inches.

In appearance the woodlark is a lesser skylark, with a shorter tail

in proportion to the body, and no apparent difference in colour,
except that the spots on the breast and the pale streak over the eye
are more conspicuous. It ranks with the six or eight finest British
songsters, but is the least known of all. The tree-pipit, sometimes
called woodlark, is a much better known songster. When the
woodlark is seen and heard he is taken by most people for the
skylark. The mistake is easily made, the song having the same
character, and is a continuous stream of jubilant sound, delivered in
the same manner; for the woodlark, too, soars, ‘and soaring, sings.’
He differs from the skylark in his manner of rising: that bird goes up
and up, not quite vertically, but inclining now to this side, now to
that, with intervals of suspension, but still as if drawn heavenwards
by an invisible cord or magnet; the woodlark ascends in circles, and
finally does not attain to so great a height. He also sings on his
perch on a tree, and rises from the tree to sing aloft, and in this
habit he is like the tree-pipit. Although the woodlark’s song
resembles that of the larger bird in character, there is more
sameness in the flow of sounds, and it is not so powerful; on the
other hand, the sounds are sweeter in quality. Of the two, he is the
more constant singer, and may be heard in mild weather throughout
the autumn and winter months. His usual call is a melodious double
note.
The woodlark is very local in its distribution; it is nowhere
common, and its range in this country is a somewhat limited one. In
the north of England it is very rare, and in Scotland it has only once
been observed breeding. In Ireland it breeds in some localities. It
inhabits wooded parks and the borders of woods and commons, and
grass-lands in the vicinity of trees and hedgerows; for although it
feeds, roosts, and nests on the ground, it must, like the tree-pipit,
have trees to perch on; and, like that bird, it has a favourite perch,
where it may be confidently looked for at any hour of the day during
the spring and summer months.
The nest is placed in a slight hollow in the ground, under a bush,
or sheltered by grass and herbage, and is formed of dry grass and
moss, and lined with finer grass and hair. The eggs are four or five in
number, buffish or faint greenish white in ground-colour, freckled
and spotted with reddish brown, with purple-grey under-markings.
Three, and even four, broods are said to be reared in the season.
In autumn and winter the woodlarks unite in families or small
flocks, and at this season they have a partial or internal migration,
the birds that breed in the northern counties moving south. In the
southern and south-western counties they remain stationary, and it
is observed that during a spell of mild weather in winter these small
flocks break up, but re-form at the return of cold.
Besides the two indigenous larks, we have as rare stragglers the
following four species: the crested lark (Alauda cristata), an
inhabitant of Europe and Asia; the short-toed lark (Calendrella
brachydactyla), from southern Europe; the white-winged lark
(Melanocorypha sibirica), a Siberian species, obtained once in
England; and the shore-lark (Otocorys alpestris), an irregular winter
visitor from North Europe, Asia, and America.

Swift.
Cypselus apus.

Sooty brown; chin greyish white; tarsi feathered; bill, feet, and
claws shining black. Length, seven and a half inches.

The swift arrives in this country about the end of April or early in
May, and from that time onwards, throughout the spring and
summer months, day after day, from morning until evening, he may
be seen overhead, in twos, threes, and half-dozens, pursuing his
mad, everlasting race through the air. Even as late as ten o’clock in
the evening, or later, when his form can no longer be followed by
the straining sight, his shrill, exulting cry may be heard at intervals,
now far off, and now close at hand, showing that the daylight hours
of these northern latitudes are not long enough to exhaust his
wonderful energy. It has even been supposed by some naturalists
that, when not incubating, he spends the entire night on the wing.
This is hard to believe; but if we consider his rate of speed, and the
number of hours he visibly spends on the wing, it would be within
the mark to say that the swift, in a sense, ‘puts a girdle round the
earth’ two or three times a month. Year after year the swifts return
to the same localities to breed, and there are few towns, villages,
hamlets, or even isolated mansions and farmhouses in the British
Islands where this bird is not a summer guest. The bunch of swifts
to be seen rushing round the tower of every village church are
undoubtedly the same birds, or their descendants, that have
occupied the place from time immemorial; and it is probable that the
annual increase is just sufficient to make good the losses by death
each year. It is hard to believe that a life so strenuous can last very
long, and impossible to believe that birds so free of the air are
subject to many fatal accidents. A spell of intense frost is very fatal
to them in spring, but the cold is their only enemy in this country.
The black swift, or ‘develing,’ or ‘screecher,’ as he is sometimes
named, with his exceedingly long, stiff, scythe-shaped wings, still
‘urging his wild career’ through the air, is a figure familiar to
everyone. And his voice, too, is a familiar sound to every ear. It is
usually described as a harsh scream. Wild and shrill and piercing it
certainly is, but it varies greatly with the bird’s emotions, and is at
times a beautiful silvery sound, which many would hear with delight
if uttered by the song-thrush or nightingale.
The swift breeds in holes in church-towers and in houses, its
favourite site being under the eaves of a thatched cottage; it also
nests in crevices in the sides of chalk-pits and sea-cliffs, and
sometimes in hollow trees. A slight nest of straw and feathers, made
to adhere together with the bird’s saliva, is built, and two eggs are
laid; they are oval in form, white in colour, and have rough shells.
One brood only is reared in the season, and the birds depart at the
end of August, but stragglers may be met with as late as October.

The white-bellied swift (Cypselus melba) is known in England as

a rare straggler from Central and Southern Europe. A still rarer
straggler from Eastern Siberia, where it breeds, is the needle-tailed
swift (Acanthyllis caudacuta); of this species not more than two or
three specimens have been obtained in this country.
 Nightjar.
Caprimulgus europæus.

Ash-grey spotted and barred with black, brown, and chestnut;

first three primaries with a large white patch on the inner web, the
two outer tail-feathers on each side tipped with white. Length, ten
and a quarter inches.

Fig. 59.—Nightjar. ⅕ natural size.

The nightjar, or goatsucker, is the representative of a type widely
distributed on the earth; we have only one species, just as we have
but one swift, one kingfisher, one wryneck, and one cuckoo. And,
having but one, and this being so singular a bird, unlike all other
species known to us, in structure, colouring, language, and habits,
he excites a great deal of interest, and is very well known, although
a night-bird, nowhere abundant, and a sojourner with us for only
about four months and a half out of the twelve. He arrives in this
country about the middle of May, and inhabits commons, moors, and
stony places, and is also to be met with in woods. He is found in all
suitable localities throughout Great Britain, but is more local in
Ireland. Year after year he returns to the same spot to breed, faithful
as the swift to its church-tower and the wryneck to its hollow tree,
although the unforgotten spot may be on level waste land with a
uniform surface. During the daylight hours he sits on the ground
among bracken or heather, or by the side of a furze-bush, or in some
open place where there is no shelter; but so long as he remains
motionless it is all but impossible to detect him, so closely does he
resemble the earth in colour. And here we see the advantage of his
peculiar colouring—the various soft shades of buff and brown and
grey, which at a short distance harmonise with the surroundings,
and render him invisible. When perching on a tree he makes himself
invisible in another way: his habit is to perch, not crossways on a
branch, but lengthways. He rises from the ground when almost
trodden on, and goes away with a silent flight, darting this way and
that in an eccentric course, and looking more like a great grey
mottled and marbled moth than a bird. After going a short distance
he drops to earth just as suddenly as he rose. After sunset he may
be seen on the borders of woods, by the side of hedges, and in
meadows near the water, pursuing his insect prey, dashing rapidly
along, with quick turns and doublings, as of a lapwing at play. At this
hour his curious reeling, spinning, or whirring song may be heard, a
little like the song of the grasshopper warbler in character; but the
warbler’s song is a whisper by comparison. ‘The sound,’ Yarrell truly
says, ‘can be easily imitated by vibrating the tongue against the roof
of the mouth; but the imitation, excellent as it may be close to the
performer, is greatly inferior in power, being almost inaudible to
anyone twenty yards off, while the original can be heard in calm
weather for half a mile or more.’ Of the other curious vocal
performance of the nightjar the same author says: ‘On the wing,
while toying with his mate, or executing his rapid evolutions round
the trees, ... the cock occasionally produces another sound, which,
by some excellent observers, has been called a squeak, but to the
writer is exactly like that which can be made by swinging a
whipthong in the air.’ Most of the names the bird is called by have
reference to its summer song—spinner, wheelbird, night-churn, and
churn-owl.
The nightjar deposits its two eggs on the bare ground; their
colour is white or cream, blotched, mottled, clouded, and veined
with brown, blackish brown, and grey. One brood is reared in the
season. The return migration is in September.

A single specimen of the red-necked nightjar (Caprimulgus

ruficollis), an inhabitant of South-western Europe, has been obtained
in this country; and (in 1883) one specimen of the Egyptian nightjar
(Caprimulgus ægyptius), was shot in Nottinghamshire.

Spotted Woodpecker.
(Great Spotted Woodpecker.)

Dendrocopus major.

Crown and upper parts black; a crimson patch on the back of the
head; a white spot on each side of the neck; scapulars, lesser wing-
coverts, and under parts white; belly and under tail-coverts crimson.
Female: without crimson on the head. Length, nine and a half
inches.

The present species is less common than the green woodpecker;

and as it seldom goes to the ground, and usually confines its food-
seeking to the higher branches of trees, it is rarely seen. Nor is it
nearly so loquacious as the larger bird, nor so richly coloured,
although handsome and conspicuous in its black-and-white dress,
with a touch of glossy crimson on the nape. It frequents woods,
hedgerows, and plantations, also pollard willows growing by the side
of streams. It may be met with in most English counties, but in the
northern counties and in Scotland it is very scarce. In Ireland it does
not breed, although occasionally seen there as a migrant in winter.
These migrants come from northern Europe, sometimes in
considerable numbers, and are diffused over the British Islands; the
birds of British race are believed to remain in this country
throughout the year.

Fig. 60.—Spotted Woodpecker. ⅕ natural size.

Like most woodpeckers, this species feeds principally on insects
found in crevices of the bark and decayed wood of trees. In the
season he becomes a fruit and seed eater, and visits gardens and
orchards to steal the cherries; and also feeds on berries, nuts,
acorns, and fir-seeds. He is, for a woodpecker, a silent bird; his usual
call is a sharp, quick note, repeated two or three times. The most
curious sound he makes is instrumental: it is the love-call of the bird,
produced by striking the beak on a branch so rapidly as to produce a
long jarring or rattling note.
The eggs are laid in a hole in a tree, not always made by the
bird; they are six or seven in number, and creamy white in colour.

Barred Woodpecker.
(Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.)

Dendrocopus minor.

Forehead and lower parts dirty white; crown bright red; nape,
back, and wings black with white bars; tail black, the outer feathers
tipped with white and barred with black; iris red. Length, five and a
half inches.

When Yarrell wrote that the neglect of the name of barred

woodpecker, which had been used by some authors for the present
species, was to be regretted for brevity’s sake, it was a pity that he
did not go so far as to reintroduce it in his great work. For doubtless
many a writer on birds has groaned in spirit at the necessity laid
upon him to use two such cumbrous names as great, or greater,
spotted woodpecker, and lesser spotted woodpecker. Partly on this
account I lament Yarrell’s timidity, and partly for a personal reason,
since my boldness in using the neglected name will be taken by
some readers as an exemplification of the familiar truth that fools
rush in where angels fear to tread. But no one will deny that the
book-names of these two woodpeckers are bad, and to some extent
misleading, since the birds are as unlike in markings as they are in
size. The first is as big as a fieldfare, and is spotted; the second is
scarcely larger than a linnet, and is distinctly barred.
 The barred woodpecker is found in most English counties as far
north as York; in Scotland and Ireland it is a rare straggler. It is
nowhere common, and appears to be even rarer than it is, owing to
its small size and its habit of frequenting tall trees. Its usual note is a
sharp chirp, resembling that of the blackbird when going to roost; its
love-call, as in the case of the spotted woodpecker, is instrumental,
and produced in the same manner. The sound varies in tone and
pitch according to the character of the tree performed on, and has
been compared to the sound made by an auger when used in boring
hard wood; also to the creaking of a branch swayed by the wind.
The barred woodpecker in most cases makes a nesting-hole for
itself in the branch or trunk of a soft-wooded tree. Six or seven
smooth, creamy white eggs are laid.

Green Woodpecker.
Gecinus viridis.
 Fig. 61.—Green Woodpecker. ⅙ natural size.
Upper parts olive-green; rump yellow; under parts greenish grey;
crown, back of the head, and moustaches crimson; face black.
Female: less crimson on the head; moustaches black. Length,
thirteen inches.

The chief characteristic of this beautiful woodland bird is his

extraordinary energy. His entire structure, from the straight, sharp,
powerful bill, and long, barbed tongue, to the climbing feet and stiff
tail-feathers, used as a support to the body when clinging vertically
to the trunk of a tree, is admirably adapted to the laborious trade he
follows. And this peculiar form has its correlative in a strength,
boldness, and determination in attacking a hard piece of work that
are nothing less than brilliant. One is astonished at the force of the
sounding blows he delivers on the tough bark and wood in his
search for hidden insects; yet this is one of the common, small,
everyday tasks of his life, and not comparable to the huge labour of
digging a breeding-hole deep into the heart of a large branch or
trunk of a tree. This energy and intensity of life shows itself also in
his motions, gestures, and language. His very qualities of eagerness
and determination in splitting up the wood in which his prey lies
concealed, and the loud racket he is compelled to make at such
times, call upon him the undesirable attentions of the species that
are his enemies: he must, when hammering on a tree, be
exceedingly vigilant all the while, less some prowling sparrow-hawk
or swift-descending falcon shall take him unawares. The wood he
exerts his strength on does not absorb his whole attention: his eyes
are all the time glancing this way and that, and on the slightest
appearance of danger he is nimble as a squirrel to place the trunk or
branch between himself and a possible enemy. After a few moments
of hiding his red head becomes visible as he peeps cautiously round
the trunk, and if the danger be then over he goes back to his task.
In the presence of a winged enemy he finds his safety in clinging to
the trunk, round which he can move so rapidly, as on the wing he is
a heavy bird; but hawks are now rare in England, and his chief
persecutors are men with guns.
The language of the green woodpecker, or yaffle, as he is called
in the southern counties, adds greatly to his attractiveness; his
ringing cry is a sound to rejoice the hearer. Many of the
woodpeckers have extremely powerful voices, and the cry of the
great black woodpecker of continental Europe has been described by
one familiar with it as being like the ‘yell of a demon.’ This ‘demon’
must, I imagine, be a very blithe-hearted one, and its ‘yell’ an
expression of wild, joyous, woodland life which we should be glad to
listen to in England. Our bird’s voice is not so powerful; but who has
not been made happier for a whole day by hearing his ‘loud laugh,’
as one of our old poets has called his cry? It is a clear, piercing
sound, so loud and sudden that it startles you, full of wild liberty and
gladness; and when I listen for and fail to hear it in park or forest, I
feel that I have missed a sound for which no other bird cry or
melody can compensate me.
This species is found in woods and parks throughout England as
far north as Derbyshire and the south of Yorkshire; farther north he
is very rare as a breeder, and in Ireland is only known as a straggler.
In seeking his food he climbs obliquely up the trunk, until, having
mounted to the higher branches, he passes with a dipping flight to
the next tree, invariably alighting near the roots. In summer he
feeds a great deal on the ground, especially on ants, of which he is
very fond. The breeding-hole is usually made in a soft-wooded tree;
it is carried straight to the heart of the wood, and is then extended
downwards to the depth of about a foot. In most cases it is found
that the heart of the tree selected by the birds is rotten, although
outwardly no signs of decay may appear. The hole ends in a
chamber in which the eggs are deposited on a slight bed of chips;
the eggs are four to seven in number, are oval in form and have
pure white polished shells. The young when fledged come out of
their cell in the tree’s heart, and creep about the bark for some days
before they are able to fly.
The same breeding-hole is used for several years, if not taken
possession of by a pair of marauding starlings, which not
unfrequently happens.

Wryneck.
Iÿnx torquilla.

Upper parts reddish grey, irregularly spotted and lined with

brown and black; a broad black and brown band from the back of
the head to the back; under parts dull white, tinged with buff, and
barred with dark brown, except on the breast and belly, where the
markings become arrow-headed in form; outer web of the quills
marked with rectangular, alternate black and yellowish red spots;
tail-feathers barred with black zigzag bands; beak and feet olive-
brown. Length, seven inches.
 Fig. 62.—Wryneck. ⅓ natural size.
The wryneck is placed by anatomists next to the woodpeckers,
and is like them in the form of its feet and the habit of perching
vertically on the trunks of trees; but he does not dig into the wood
with his beak, nor does he support himself with his tail, the feathers
of which are soft, as in most perching birds. He is a singular bird,
differing from all others in form, colouring, language, and habits. His
variously coloured plumage, so curiously and beautifully barred and
mottled, is most like that of the nightjar; but his beauty appears only
when he is seen very near. At a distance of twenty-five or thirty
yards he is obscure in colouring, and is more remarkable for his
attitudes and gestures, when seen on a tree trunk deftly and rapidly
picking up the small ants on which he feeds. When thus engaged he
twists his neck, turning his head from side to side in a most singular
manner; hence the name of wryneck. When taken in the hand he
twists his neck about in the same manner, and hisses like a snake,
as he also does when disturbed during incubation; and on this
account he has been called snake-bird. When held in the hand he
sometimes swoons, and appears to be dead until released,
whereupon he quickly recovers and makes his escape. Even more
characteristic than his contortions, hissings, and ‘death feignings,’ is
his voice. It is an unmistakable and familiar sound of early spring, as
distinctive as the shrill cry of the swift and the cuckoo’s call—a clear,
high-pitched, far-reaching note, reiterated many times—a sound that
makes itself heard at a distance of a quarter of a mile. As a rule, this
note is heard a few days before the cuckoo’s call, and on this
account the wryneck is known in the southern counties, where he is
most common, as the cuckoo’s mate, or messenger, or boder, and is
also called the cuckoo’s maid.
The wryneck feeds chiefly on ants and their larvæ, and, like the
green woodpecker, he goes to the anthills on commons and
uncultivated grounds; the insects are taken with the long, retractile
tongue, which is covered with an adhesive saliva, and which the
bird, when feeding, darts out and withdraws with lightning rapidity.
A hole in the trunk of a tree, often near the roots, is a favourite
nesting-place. The eggs are seven to ten in number, and are
deposited, without any nest, on the rotten wood. They are pure
white, and have glossy shells. The same breeding-hole is used year
after year.
The wryneck is most common in the southern and south-eastern
counties; in the West of England and in Wales it is rarer. In the
northern counties of England it is also rare and local; in Scotland it
does not breed, and in Ireland it is not known.

Kingfisher.
Alcedo ispida.
 Fig. 63.—Kingfisher. ¼ natural size.
Back azure-blue; head and wing-coverts bluish green spotted
with azure-blue; under and behind the eye a reddish band, passing
into white, and beneath this a band of azure-green; wings and tail
greenish blue; throat white; under parts rusty orange-red. Length,
seven and a half inches.

The kingfisher is by far the most brilliantly coloured bird in the

British Islands; and those who see it living and moving with the
sunlight on it can form an idea of the wonderful lustre of many
tropical species, which certainly cannot be done by gazing on the
labelled pellets of dead and dimmed feathers, called ‘specimens,’ in
cabinets and museums. Unhappily, this rare splendour of the
kingfisher, which gives it value, has served only to draw destruction
upon it. As Yarrell long ago said, it is persecuted chiefly because of
its beauty, and the desire to possess a stuffed specimen in a glass
case. It is found in suitable localities throughout Great Britain where
it has not been exterminated to gratify the vile taste that prefers a
mummy to a living creature. In Ireland it is rare and local as a
breeding species, but as an autumn and winter visitor is found
throughout the country. It frequents streams and rivers, and the
margins of lakes, and, more rarely, the seaside. It is a solitary bird,
and, like the dipper, restricts itself to one part of the stream where it
gets its food. Day after day it returns to the same perch, where it
sits watching the surface, silent and immovable as a heron. It looks
out for its prey both when perched and when flying at a height of a
few feet above the surface, and often hovers motionless for a few
moments before darting down into the water. With the minnow it
captures held crossways in the beak it flies to a perch, and, after
beating it against the branch or stone, swallows it, head first,
sometimes tossing it in the air and catching it as it falls. It also preys
on aquatic insects and small crustaceans. The pairing-time is early,
and in February or March the birds make choice of a breeding place,
usually near their fishing-ground, but sometimes at a distance of a
mile or more from the water. A hole is dug in a bank to a depth of
from one to three or four feet; but sometimes the birds find a hole
suited to their purpose, or a cavity under the roots of a tree growing
on an overhanging bank, which they occupy. The hole made by the
birds has an upward slope, and ends in a chamber about six inches
in diameter. Here is formed the nest, of the strangest material used
by any nest-making bird. The kingfisher, like the owl and cuckoo and
many other species, casts up the indigestible portions of its food—
the minute bones of minnows in this case—in the form of small
pellets. The pellets are thrown up in the nest-chamber, and, when
broken up and pressed down by the sitting-bird, are shaped into a
cuplike nest. The eggs are six to eight in number, pure white and
translucent, and globular in form.
Probably the kingfisher pairs for life, as the same breeding-hole is
used year after year, although the two birds are not seen together
out of the breeding season.
 The cry is a shrill but musical piping note, two or three times
repeated, somewhat like the sandpiper’s cry.

Two specimens of the belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon), an

American species, have been obtained in Ireland.
Three other birds remain to be noticed in this place; they are
members of three distinct families, and are amongst the most
beautiful of the rare occasional visitors seen in our country:—
The roller (Coracius garrula), a jay-like bird, blue and chestnut-
brown in colour. It breeds in Southern and Central Europe, and is
known only as a rare straggler in the British Islands.
The bee-eater (Merops apiaster)—A good many examples of this
elegant and richly coloured bird have been obtained in England. It is
an abundant species in Southern Europe, where it breeds in colonies
in sandbanks, like our sand-martin.
The hoopoe (Upupa epops).—This species has some claim to a
place among British birds, as it is an annual visitor to our country,
although in small numbers. It is a singular and beautiful bird, and it
is sad to think that, but for the persecution it has encountered year
after year, it would most probably have established itself as a regular
breeding species in the southern counties of England.
 Fig. 64.—Hoopoe.

Cuckoo.
Cuculus canorus.

Upper parts bluish ash, darker on the wings, lighter on the neck
and breast; under parts whitish with transverse dusky streaks; quills
barred on the inner webs with oval white spots; tail-feathers
blackish, tipped and spotted with white; beak dusky, edged with
yellow; orbits and inside of mouth orange yellow; iris and feet
yellow. Young: ash-brown barred with reddish brown; tips of
feathers white; a white spot on the back of the head. Length,
thirteen and a half inches.
 Fig. 65.—Cuckoo. ⅙ natural size.
There are many cuckoos in the world, and in some countries it
would be possible to see three or four, or even half a dozen, distinct
species in the course of a single day. We have but one, and have
made much of it. ‘Perhaps no bird,’ says Yarrell, ‘has attracted so
much attention, while of none have more idle tales been told.’ And
he might have added, that of no other bird so much remains to be
known. Our cuckoo interests us in two distinct ways: he charms us,
and he affects the mind with his strangeness. He is a visitor of the
early spring, with a far-reaching, yet soft and musical, voice, full of
beautiful associations, prophetic of the flowery season. To quote Sir
Philip Sidney’s words, applying them to a feathered instead of to a
human troubadour: ‘He cometh to you with a tale to hold children
from their play and old men from the chimney-corner.’ Seen, this
melodist has the bold figure, rough, feathered legs, and barred
plumage of a hawk. This fierce, predacious aspect is deceptive: he is
a timid bird, with the climbing feet of the woodpecker and wryneck.
Strangest of all, the female has the habit of placing her eggs in other
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