FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 175 



ping at them, as far as I can see, unsuccessfully), 

 it being now nearly two hours since the female 

 fed them, and they all having voided excrement, 

 became restless and kept looking up expect- 

 antly. 



The young are not pretty full face, and look 

 very cruel ; their claws look very large. (I 

 might insert here that the major portion of 

 their irides appeared to me at this age about 

 " kitten " blue ; as they got older it gradually 

 got greenish, and finally assumed a decided 

 yellow, but not as deep as the yellow of the 

 adult hen which was about No. 3 Chrome 

 Yellow nor as orange as the adult cock, which 

 was about Cadmium No. 2. (W.P.C.) ) 



At 3 the female arrived with a young bird 

 plucked about the size of a juvenile blackbird 

 or thrush, but I could not see the feet. The 

 female tore up the food for the young. 



At 3.20, as the nest was in shadow, although 

 the light was very fast, I went out to stretch 

 my legs, as I did not expect the hen to return 

 before 5. In so doing, I disturbed the female 

 from a near tree. 



3.45 I returned. At 4.7 the male arrived 

 and pitched on the far side of the nest, behind 

 the tree. He did not tear up the food he had 

 in his claws, but dropped it in the nest and 

 floated straight on to the lower limb of the 

 nearest tree. I was delighted to have ample 

 opportunity of viewing the male, as I had under- 

 stood that he did not bring food to the nest. 

 He stayed for fully two minutes about 25 

 feet away from me, and cleaned his beak on 

 the dead fir limb he had pitched on. He was 

 a lively rufous specimen, and, while glad he 

 gave me such ample chance to verify his sex, 



