56 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



his wings were fully expanded and almost vertically ; he 

 kept his position by working just the tips rapidly. The 

 tail was slightly fanned and much depressed, thus showing 

 a considerable amount of white at the base. He held 

 the victim in the right foot only, and his leg was stretched 

 out to its full length downwards. The other leg was 

 not at full stretch but bent slightly at the ankle. The 

 hen dived beneath him and passed on with the food. 

 What I did not actually see was whether she took it 

 from his foot or he dropped it and she caught it as she 

 passed. They were so close together that I am inclined 

 to think she took it direct from his foot. 



The amount of plucking done by the cock varied very 

 much. At the beginning he usually brought birds fully 

 plucked, almost fully skinned, dravm and beheaded. 

 This might be varied by a bird not nearly so fully dressed. 

 Later, after all the young were a few days old, it was 

 impossible to foretell how much prepared the corpses 

 would be. Sometimes they were absolutely untouched, 

 and at other times partly or fully dressed and occasionally 

 even partly eaten. That he never, under any circum- 

 stances, feeds the young I am absolutely certain. If 

 the hen is killed he will continue to bring food to the 

 nest until the young are dead or can fly. In such cases 

 the young usually die, as they camiot feed themselves 

 until they are quite tvi^enty-one days old. Two cases 

 were brought to my notice last summer. One nest we 

 were obsei*ving, and the young were upwards of thirteen 

 days old when the hen was killed. When we examined 

 the nest a day or two later, not knowing the hen was 

 dead, we found all the young dead and a pile of six 

 dressed fuiches and buntings on the edge of the nest. 

 A keeper, on whose word I can absolutely rely, told me 

 that in 1915 he shot a hen in the morning and 

 the cock in the evening. He then got up to the 

 nest which contained four young in the dovn. On 

 the edge was a pile of five small birds, Chaffinches 

 or Linnets. 



