176 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC, 



I was disappointed that he gave me no chance 

 to expose a plate on him. At 4.11 female 

 came and sat on the tree on the right hand 

 side of the trunk. She then floated on to a 

 tree close to where the male was, and watched 

 the tent very closely. At 4.30 the female was 

 still on her perch, and I regretted the absence 

 of the Reflex and the 17in. Telecentric. At 

 4.23 female went off, calling as she went, and 

 the young replied. The flight of these birds 

 is as silent as thought ; one hears a call of 

 " kerwee " from the young, the little heads go 

 up, then a shadow passes over the tent and the 

 birds are there on the nest without a whisper 

 of a sound, unless they happen to call as they 

 come. (We remarked on several occasions how 

 keen the sight of the small birds was. They 

 seemed not only to spot the parent bird at a 

 distance at which to our eyes the cock bird 

 was the merest speck, but also to be able to 

 look for and see the parents right under the 

 sun, a feat quite beyond the human eye.) 



4.27 The female arrived with a young small 

 bird plucked, tore it up, and fed the young from 

 her beak. 



4.45 I gave up. 



July 1 F.G.P. (Who recorded both solar time and 

 summer time as a check. I have dropped the 

 latter. Ed. PHEN. NOTES.) 

 9.40 Got into the tent. 



10.20 Female brought a plucked bird about 

 the size of a thrush. She stayed pulling it to 

 pieces and feeding the young birds for about 

 two minutes. Towards the end of this time 

 the male called from a distant point and then 

 came gradually nearer. The female stopped 

 feeding the young and listened to the male 



