302 BRITISH BIRDS. 



very rapidly, for on the following day it was able to stand 

 on a plucked bird, previously cut open, and tear it to 

 pieces. After this I had verj^ little trouble with it, for 

 six days later it ate an entire bird with only the larger 

 feathers removed. By this time it threw up castings, 

 composed of the bones and feathers of the birds I gave it, 

 and also of the wing-cases of beetles which it must have 

 captured itself. 



Its method of eatmg a bird was always preciseh^ the 

 same, the head being attacked and eaten first, after which 

 the body was plucked leisurely, the youngster regalmg 

 itself from time to time with small pieces of meat from the 

 breast and neck. The whole of the body being plucked 

 almost clean, the wings were torn off and swallowed, 

 followed b}^ the legs, claws and all, then the breast, and, 

 finally, the abdomen. Several times I noticed it 

 deliberately swallow a flight- or tail-feather, as though 

 under the impression that it was necessar}^ for its well- 

 being to do so — perhaps to bind together the castings. 

 The beaks of strong-billed birds were carefully separated 

 from the skull and rejected, as were also the sternum and 

 cranium of any large bird, though these only after they 

 had been " nibbled " clean of meat. 



With regard to the acquirement of the power of flight, 

 the wings were exercised freely from the sixteenth day 

 onwards, the bird eventually succeedmg in raising itseK 

 by them for a few seconds and, at the age of thirty-two 

 days, flying to the top of its deserted pen, a height of 

 about three and a half feet. The foUowdng day it made 

 several flights, one of at least fifty yards, and from that 

 time it flew round the garden constantly, in possession of 

 its fuU liberty. 



The way in which the art of hovering was acquned was 

 interesting, the bird spreading its wings, either whfle 

 perching or on the ground, and as soon as a gust of wmd 

 came rising two or three inches and beating the wings 

 vigorously, supported b}^ the A\ind. In this way it 

 eventually learnt to hover at wiU, and was seen to drop 



