FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 137 



she went. The note of the young bird is slower and less shrill 

 when the parents arrive, but their incessant stridulation is 

 very trying to the human ear perhaps I should say my ear, 

 since the pitch never varies and it is very shrill indeed. 



The cock came at 11.14.40, 11.22, 11.45, 11.26, and 11.41. 

 The hen came at 11.17, 11.22.30, 11.25, 11.34, and I believe 

 11.40. At 11.50 the young were silent for one minute and 

 fairly quiet for two, but a Phylloscopus Irochilus struck up 

 close to my tent and started them going in full blast again. 

 At 12, one of the parents brought a large moth, but was 

 so fidgetty I never determined which it was, and it made 

 three attempts to give it to the young bird before it was 

 successful ; not from any lack of eagerness on the part of the 

 young bird, but the parent seemed to have some difficulty 

 in getting the moth into a satisfactory position. 



The cock came at 12.15, 12.18, 12.27, and 12.50, hen at 

 12.16, 12.20, 12.45, and 12.50. I then went to lunch, as a 

 heavy storm seemed working up. I did not return till 3.5. 

 At 3.15 arid 3.45 the hen fed the young, and at 3.22 the cock. 

 At 3.56 something must have upset the birds, as the cock (?) 

 came up, but announced arrival by a " churck ;" after feeding 

 the J 7 oung it hunted the tree with the nest in, but found nothing. 

 At 4.4 the hen came, at 4.4.40 the cock, and at 4.5 the hen. 

 again ; she went off " churcking." At 4.9 one of the birds 

 pitched in the tree and went off, and at 4.15 one flew past 

 the tree. At 4.45 the hen came to the nest with a mouthful 

 of what I felt sure were Scoparias, and after leaving the tent I 

 met one of the birds outside with a noctua about the size of 

 Acronycta psi in its beak. 



June 24, 1 started work at 6.25 a.m. Unfortunately the 

 cock arrived as I was settling and left with a good deal of 

 " churcking " as a result ; the old birds announced their 

 arrival and were very suspicious and very quick, giving me 

 little chance to determine their sex, and less to see \\hat 

 they brought. The young were on this date almost as big 

 as the parents and almost indistinguishable in voice, and 

 w r ere sufficiently advanced in their education to pick up flies 



