80 BRlllSH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



days. It had eaten the whole of a young House-Sparrow 

 except the head and neck, which however were stripped 

 of the skin. Picking this up by the neck the youngster 

 managed to jerk it down its throat until the head oi the 

 Sparrow was against its bill. It then opened its mouth 

 wider to jerk the head in, but this it could not do, partly 

 because the head of the Sparrow was rather too big, and 

 partly because the neck hit the inside of the young 

 Hawk's mouth and so thrust the head out again. This 

 effect was also produced by the Hawk holding its ovtH 

 head rather downwards towards the nest. After a time 

 the bird threw the head down and left it, but shortly 

 returned, and after much effort broke it up and swallowed 

 it bit by bit. 



The young do not use an alarm note until brooding is 

 finished. Then they get noisier and noisier as they grow 

 older, and call " kew-kew " whenever they are disturbed, 

 but in quite a different key to the old hen and cock. 

 When the observer comes in sight they draw away and 

 lie on their sides with the beaks open and the tongue 

 working rapidly. The tongue collects moisture, some- 

 what like saliva in nature, and this sometimes drips out 

 but is occasionally spat at the intruder. Later they 

 will show their objections in various ways. Sometimes 

 they stand up with wings fully extended and almost 

 meeting behind their backs and the mouth working as 

 before. At other times they try to crawl away on the 

 branches or even to fly or scramble out of the nest and 

 flutter to the ground. 



When heavy rain commences, they bunch close together 

 with their heads in the centre and wait to be brooded. In 

 the day, when the sun is hot, they usually try to keep 

 on the cooler parts of the nest, but when the power 

 of the sun is getting less they all try to get into any 

 sunshine that falls on the nest. 



Wlien they are able to stand, the amoimt of preening 

 increases greatly. Almost the whole of the time not 

 spent in feeding or sleeping is spent in this and cleaning 



