HABITS OF SPARROW-HAWK. 



31 



VOL. X.J 



the birds advance in age she picks the pellets up and, 

 with a quick side jerk of the head, throws them clear of 

 the nest. After most meals (after all, at first) she makes 

 a more or less careful examination of the well of the nest, 

 and to do it thoroughly she has to shift the young, which 



Fie. 4. SPARROW-HAWK. 



*' She tears a ruorsel off and holds it to the youngster's hill." 

 (Photographed hy J. H. Owen.) 



she does much more gently than most birds — the warblers 

 for example. 



As incubation advances, the hen sheds down about the 

 nest, until at hatching time it is really a beautiful sight to 

 see her sitting in the middle of a Avell flecked nest (Pig. 1). 

 This down is removed very soon after the young are 

 hatched, and it is done in the following way. When the 

 hen completes plucking a bird on the nest, she throws away 

 such feathers as she does not swallow or feed to the young, 



