238 Nesting of the Eagle OivL 



until spontaneous comliustion romovcd them. Two years ago 

 she had a fertile egg. and by la sad mischance it was broken', 

 a couple of days before it was due to hatch. Therefore this 

 spring-, when I found her again on her nest, I merely remarked 

 " poor old lady," and beyond supplying the cook Avith the special 

 titliits for his wife which he expects while she is engaged in 

 the nursery, I thought no more about her. Time went on, 

 the hen had sat her fuU eight weeks and I l>egan to expect 

 the usual finale, M'hen my suspicions were aroused by the 

 rapidity with which the food disappeared. The birds eat 

 next to nothing Avhile breeding and make up for it during the 

 moult and autumn, but now the cock never wearied of taking 

 in supplies, and the hen frequently uttered the special clucking 

 call which means "bring food at once and plenty of it." Could 

 it be ? I made up my mind to find out. This was easier said 

 than done. Eagle Owls are not lightly coerced, and nothing 

 would induce the hen to come off the nest while I was any- 

 where within view. At last I hit upon a plan. I kept her 

 waiting an hour or two beyond the usual feeding time and only 

 brought round her food when she began to cill urgently for 

 it. Then instead of giving it to the cock for her I offered 

 it myself, dangling it above her head as she squatted. She 

 stood up and stretched to reach the dainty (a large field vole): 

 and I caught sight of an extremely addled egg and a young 

 bird probably two or three days old. Its mother took the vole, 

 crunched it, and putting her head down, fed her baby without 

 paying any attention to me: afterwards the cock brought her 

 a young rabl)it Avith which she busied herself. I did not see 

 the young one again for nearly a week, when it had grown 

 greatly and was evidently thriving. 



On the 15th of May its mother moved it into the outer 

 part of the aviary where the cock had prepared a fresh scrape 

 which served as a day nursery. This was particularly inter- 

 esting to me, as it explained why the cock had always dug 

 this second place alx)ut ten days after the hen had given up 

 sitting, and seemed so anxious for her to occupy it. Hitherto 

 I supposed that he wanted her to go to nest again, but now 

 I see it is part of the routine of bringing up the young. 



Nothing more of importance occurred until the 20th, 

 when T saw the owlet very intently watching its mother break. 



