84 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



one that gets the food. This one then crouches over it, 

 holding it with both feet and spreading its wings and 

 tail out and down so as to hide the food completely, as 

 well as protect it, from the others. The attitude is very 

 similar to that of one of the old Hawks overcoming 

 strong game on the ground. If only one young one is in 

 the nest when the cock arrives and another comes to the 

 tree afterwards, this attitude is always assumed, but not 

 if either parent bird conies (Fig. 5). At this stage and until 

 the use of the nest as a dining-table is given up, bones 

 are allowed to accumulate there. It also always seems 

 to me that, on the whole, bigger game is now brought 

 to the nest. Pigeons, either taken out of the nest or 

 those that have not long left the nest, Jays, Blackbirds, 

 Thrushes, young Starlings, to a large extent take the 

 place of the Finches, Tits, Warblers, etc., that are brought 

 so often in the nestling period, though of course small 

 birds still figure largely in the bill of fare. It is also 

 very noticeable that almost invariably the heads of large 

 victims are removed but not those of the smaller birds. 

 Another striking point is that the larger the victim the 

 more it is prepared for eating before being brought to 

 the nest. For example. Jays and Pigeons have no 

 flight feathers on the wings, these being either pulled 

 out or cut off about an inch from the flesh. The young 

 do not trouble much about picking the wings of these 

 larger victims, but breastbones invariably bear marks 

 of the Hawks' bills on them and are picked very clean. 

 If the young are well supplied they often leave the heads 

 of the Finches. The old birds themselves, it should be 

 remarked, cut off and leave the front of the head and the 

 bill of hard-billed birds like Greenfinches wdien they eat 

 them. This is very different from the practice of Owls, 

 from whose pellets whole skulls can be obtained in 

 numbers. 



The notes of the young when they answer the cock's 

 call vary greatly individually. It would almost seem 

 -as though each bird of the family had a different note. 



