FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 121 



On May 17 E.H.C. paid further attention to this nest, and 

 his notes were as follows : 



I went into the tent at 11.10, the hen being on the nest ; 

 she quitted whilst I was arranging myself, but returned whilst 

 I was checking focus. I then found part of the bushes hiding 

 the tent were in the way, and had to come out of the tent to 

 re-arrange them, which sent the hen off again. 



At 11.40 she returned with a black tortrix larva (? T. 

 viridana) ; she stayed on the nest till 11.45 and then quitted. 



At 11.50 the cock brought food, which he gave to the hen, 

 who had now returned. The cock sang gaily as he came, and 

 afterwards sat up in the birch decorations of the tent and 

 sang beautifully within a few inches of my ear. The hen left 

 the nest shortly, and the cock then brought a tortrix larva 

 and fed the young in the same manner as the hen, but did 

 not enter the nest. (The cock obtained his larvae from 

 bramble bushes and they corresponded with Buckler's figure 

 of Scopula prunalis.) 



At 12 noon the hen returned to the nest with a w T hite tortrix 

 larva, fed the young and nestled on them, and appeared to 

 doze, but every time a fly passed the nest she made an 

 ineffectual dab at it and then relapsed into sleep. 



At 12.10 the hen quitted, and at 12.15 the cock arrived 

 and fed the young. 



At 12.20 the hen returned, fed the young, and stopped to 

 nurse them, she left in a few minutes and returned at 12.25 

 with another whitish tortrix larva. 



At 12.27 the cock came with food, singing as he came ; the 

 female left the nest and the cock fed the young, sang in the 

 decorations of my tent, and then left, accompanied by the hen. 



At 12.30 the hen returned, fed the young, and nestled on 

 them. She nearly dozed off when a fly crossed in front of 

 the nest, she was all alive in a moment and made an ineffectual 

 dab at it, and then nodded off again. 



(This is exceedingly like the behaviour of a nightingale 

 Daulias luscinia observed by W.P.C. in 1913.) When the 

 cock bird came and sang close at hand the hen said " weet 



