FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 133 



It called in a sort of whistle " curk curcur curk wouch wouch 

 wouch wouch wouch," which is very quiet compared to the 

 usual noisy "yaffle," the well known note of this bird ; the nest- 

 lings, when they hear this low note, make a murmuring sound. 



She quitted whilst I was plate changing, and sat on the 

 tree opposite till 9.57, when the cock arrived with a noisy 

 " yaffle." The female watched the tent most intently till 

 10.20, when both birds had a little conversation which con- 

 sisted of " cur wick wick wick " in varying tones soft and low ; 

 hardly recognisable as notes of the noisy viridis. The birds 

 also make a noise similar to that made by young goslings. 



At 10.45 the hen fed the young. I left the tent from 11 to 

 11.45 to stretch my cramped limbs, and at 11.50 one of the 

 birds came, but W.P.C. moving in the neighbourhood startled 

 the hen. At 12.20 both parents fed the young, coming down 

 the nesting tree backwards. 



W.P.C. entered the tent at 1.15, his notes are as follows : 



" At 2.5 one of the parents came. At 2.40 the hen fed the 

 young and remained about 5 minutes. I observed that the 

 young were grsyish white with grey cheeks, and with little 

 green from the eye backwards and practically no red crest. 

 The bill, especially the lower mandible, was very immature. 



Shortly after this, one of the mature birds made a frightful 

 noise as if terror stricken, and I think it may have been due 

 to the appearance of a hawk. I never heard any woodpecker 

 scream so. The noise, however, ended in the usual yaffle. I 

 left at 3, having been up since 4.30 a.m." 



July 5. Notwithstanding a steady downpour we went at 

 9.30 a.m. to this nest, and W.P.C., after waiting in the hope 

 the weather might clear, which it did not do all day, went 

 into the tent at 11.30. 



At 11.22 the young birds began to look out. They had 

 made considerable progress and had decidedly red topknots ; 

 the bills were darker, the green decidedly more pronounced 

 on their heads and cheeks, but the chins w r ere still grey. 



At 11.30 the hen arrived soaked through and looking quite 

 black; she announced her arrival with a "kwoo kwoo kwoo" 



