112 BIRDS OP THE WATER 



outstretched talon, they keep their distance. 

 When the chicks are tiny amorphous 

 creatures, the prey is torn up and fed to 

 them. Later it is dangled in the beak and 

 the young are encouraged to grow fierce 

 and rush up and seize it. When much 

 older that is no longer necessary, and upon 

 the given signal, laissez aller, instantly the 

 youngsters throw themselves upon it. 



Always, however, after the parent bird's 

 arrival there is a pause — grace before meat 

 as it were — and this rule the chicks, 

 however hungry, never attempt to transgress. 

 Besides manners, probably the weightier 

 matters of the law are not neglected and 

 justice administered impartially. 



On one occasion I saw the male come in 

 with food, which, after the usual pause for 

 grace, was annexed by the larger chick, and 

 after a few protests from the other, was 

 devoured in a corner. It had been barely 

 finished when the female falcon swooped 

 from the sky and lit on the edge with 

 another dead bird, and this dead bird I 

 noticed was purposely kept away from the 

 chick just fed and deliberately held out 



