100 



Baby Birds at Home 



vour to establish breeding haunts in places 

 where they are invariably shot by game- 

 keepers. 



The nest is generally built in a tall 

 tree on the edge of a wood, or in some 

 isolated situation affording the bird a good 

 outlook. Sometimes it is placed on a ledge 

 in the face of a precipice, and when the 

 sitting bird is frightened off she very seldom 

 flies straight away, but generally drops 

 straight down for several yards and then 

 takes her departure. Sticks, twigs, mud, 

 and occasionally bits of old rope, form the 

 outside of the nest, which is lined with 

 dead grass, wool, horse-hair or cow's-hair. 

 It is a deep structure, thus preventing the 

 eggs from rolling out when the branches 

 upon which it rests are being violently 

 swayed by the wind. 



Four or five greyish green eggs are laid, 

 spotted with smoky brown marks. 



The chicks are fed by both parents, and 

 when the mother bird has been shot by a 

 gamekeeper, the writer has known the male 

 go off and secure a stepmother to help him 

 to rear his family. 



