74 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



approached nearer to the nest, and were shot one 

 after another to the number of five." 



Now, what strikes me as more especially worthy 

 of notice in this case, is the fact that the young 

 birds are not supplied with food at a distance 

 from the nest after they have left it, but that while 

 these yet haunt its neighbourhood, and are still 

 incapable of providing for themselves, the old ones 

 convert it at once into a larder and refectory, 

 which they stock with a constant supply of freshly- 

 killed prey, to which the others resort when 

 pressed by hunger, and are there fed by their pa- 

 rents, and probably receive their first lessons in the 

 art of plucking and breaking up their dinner. 



This will appear to be a wise provision of Na- 

 ture, if we reflect upon the difficulties and delays 

 that would attend the operation of feeding the 

 young birds separately at this stage of their ex- 

 istence when their appetite is probably the keenest 

 far from the nest, and at a considerable distance 

 from each other. 



