

HIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 199 



June 3 We erected a hiding tent near this nest. 



June 4 One young bird had just hatched at 9.45. 

 The parent covered eggs and nest with dry 

 shaving grass and weed, and dived off on our 

 approach. E.H.C.'s notes run as follows : 

 " 10.9. The parent birds appeared in the offing 

 at the entrance of the gully in which the nest 

 was situated. 10.11. What proved to be the 

 female started swimming into the gully, halting 

 every little while to look round. She swam 

 over the weedy parts of the gully, but passed 

 the clear spaces by diving. She halted about 

 20 feet from the nest and watched the tent 

 very carefully, then took a dive and came 

 up close to the nest. She then swam round 

 the nest a few times and, having satisfied 

 herself that all was well, she climbed up on to 

 the nest, disposed of the covering of the nest 

 round the sides of the nest and settled down on 

 four eggs (stained rust-red by the iron in the 

 water) and drew the chick under her wing. 

 E.H.C. gave her 10 minutes on the nest and 

 then gave a fast instantaneous exposure, and 

 a few brief moments after the female quitted 

 without covering the eggs or chick, and dived 

 and swam to the gully mouth. Just as she 

 left the nest a hawk came over twittering ; 

 and this bird (Accipiter nisus) had, I think, more 

 to do with the dabchick quitting than the 

 shutter. 10.28, the female came back up the 

 gully again, taking the same route and swimming 

 and diving as before. 



At 10.35 she was on the nest again, and kept 

 turning her head sideways and looking up into 

 the sky as if she still had the Sparrowhawk in 

 mind. The arrival of a pair of Jays in a fir 

 tree on the bank opposite the nest did not 



