WOOD AND WASTE 105 



two — usually two — leave the wicked nest. 

 What becomes of the smaller, later hatched 

 nestlings? I believe they are torn to pieces 

 and devoured by the larger chicks. On 

 some occasion, perhaps when parental delay 

 in supply of food has sharpened the 

 appetities of all, the youngest and most 

 feeble is taken. The next yoimgest is then 

 devoured, and so the horrid tale proceeds 

 until but three are left. The third chick 

 probably suffers from a combined attack 

 of the biggest pair, battened on their nest 

 fellows and oldest of the brood. 



There were but two in this nest under 

 observation in December — ^there had been 

 four or five eggs — and though they had been 

 gorged with raw meat to the very throat 

 late in the afternoon, there were the 

 following morning quarrels so violent that 

 I expected to see a tragedy enacted before 

 my very eyes. One of these surviving 

 nestlings was considerably the larger, but 

 the smaller, fiercer chick was the more 

 strong. The second day the larger was 

 weakening, and the smaller bird very nearly 

 got him do^vn on several occasions, seizing 



15 



