176 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



The bird is single -brooded, but if the eggs are taken the 

 hen will lay again very soon. It is extraordinary how 

 quickly a robbed bird will begin to lay again, even if the 

 eggs have been well incubated, and how near the second 

 nest is to the first. I remember a bird which, when 

 robbed the first time, built a new nest a few yards away, 

 and when this was taken, the eggs being on the point 

 of hatching, she returned to the same bush which she 

 had used for the first nest. The hen is a fairly close 

 sitter as a rule, and especially as incubation advances. 

 On the other hand, individual birds (as in other species) 

 vary very much in the amomit of molestation they will 

 endure. Some birds will desert the nest very readily, 

 even when the eggs are highly incubated, and others will 

 put up with almost anything. 



The old birds feed the young on beetles (chiefly), bees, 



wasps, bluebottles, spiders, flies, caterpillars, and snails. 



I have also known them bring stuff which looked like 



rotting animal matter and may have been from a mouse 



or bird in the larder. An insect is not broken up. It 



is killed by chewing or by beating against a branch, gate 



or stone and is then offered whole to a young one. If 



the latter cannot swallow it, the old bird seizes it again 



and chews it vigorously, thus decreasing the girth and 



increasing the length. Often the insect (such as a beetle) 



has to be picked up and chewed several times before the 



young bird can swallow it, and the parent bird shews 



great irritation as the chewing has to be repeated. Of 



course there are many parts of beetles, bees, bluebottles, 



etc., which are impossible for a nestling to digest. These 



parts are thrown up in the form of pellets and are often 



of amazing size compared with the bird that throws 



them up. When the nestling is young it cannot eject 



such a pellet and the old bird has to lift it out of the 



gap^. It then carries it away and drops it, usually after 



it has perched on one of its favourite alighting spots. 



Both cock and hen feed the young and clean the nest, 



remove pellets, etc., though at first the hen spends most 



