256 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



than the Kestrel's, pitched altogether in a different key. 

 Once she settled on a stone and once again on some 

 wire fencing. 



Descending, I climbed to the Crow's old home on 

 the left, and here were the eggs sure enough, three in 

 number and laid in line. They were considerably 

 smaller than the average Kestrel's, and were of a 

 much browner red than the last-named birds. A 

 few twigs, I think from the rim of the nest, had 

 been scraped into its centre, and one bit of green 

 grass had been added. A tuft of wool, too (this a 

 relic of the Crow's lining) was also visible. Several 

 of the Merlin's own breast-feathers and those of a 

 Greenfinch and Lark were scattered about the nest. 

 The female was now particularly noisy, and came 

 within about fifteen yards of me several times, but 

 the male never put in an appearance at all. 



I went home and fetched Messrs. Gwynne-Vaughan, 

 Owen, and Pike to inspect the " nest," the last-named 

 photographing it several times. On this occasion the 

 sitting bird left her charge when we were quite two 

 hundred yards away, and did not come so close as in 

 the morning, nor was she half so noisy. 



