January 27, 192 1] 



NATURE 



697 



ing particular attention to the flight and tail 

 feathers. 



Very interesting, too, is the sight of the hen 

 making efforts to shield the young from the direct 

 rays of a hot sun. A\'hen they are small enough 



I IG. 3.— Broo ing in heavy thunderstorm. 



for her to do so, she makes a sunshade of her 



wings and body that will protect them all. She 



first gets directly between them and the sun, and 



then she partly opens and depresses her wings, 



and moves forward until the 



young are completely in the 



shade. There she stays in a sort 



of crouch over them until the sun 



has moved behind some foliage. 



The whole time she is in great 



distress, for her entire body seems 



to pant, and her tongue works 



rapidly to and fro. 



If the young are too big for 

 her to shelter all of them com- 

 pletely, she does what she can. 

 She gets between the sun and the 

 middle of the nest, partly 

 spreads her tail, and opens her 

 wings slightly, standing with her 

 f(!et apart. The young then take 

 I urns to make use of the shade 

 her body affords (Fig. 4). She 

 stays like that as long as it is 

 necessary, and, as before, seems 

 to suffer greatly from the heat the 

 whole time. 



The young do not foul the 

 nest with excrement, so that 

 the old bird has not to remove it 

 to the edge of the nest and eject 



washed during the nestling period unless rain 

 comes to clear it away. When the nestlings are 

 nearly ready to leave the nest, less care is taken 

 about keeping it spick-and-span. They are able 

 to feed themselves, and are allowed to do so. 

 What bones they do not swallow 

 are permitted to accumulate on 

 the nest, and by the time the nest 

 is finally deserted it may be 

 covered deep with bones of vic- 

 tims, and many more bones will 

 be found on the ground below the 

 nest. 



The cock is the procurer of 

 food, but he takes no part in 

 breaking it up. If the hen is 

 killed during the nestling period 

 he will continue to bring food so 

 long as the nestlings are alive. 

 If they are less than twenty days 

 old they probably all die. If they 

 are over that age they can tear 

 enough food off to keep going, 

 and the majority would survive. 

 if the cock is killed, the hen 

 perforce becomes the hunter, 

 and provides food for the 

 young and herself. I have 

 heard, on very credible authority, 

 that it is by no means un- 

 common in this case for the hen to get an un- 

 mated cock to help her. 



There is only one brood in the year. A bird 

 that is robbed lays again, but usually a smaller 



Fia ^.—Suadlng with Itgt apart, tail tliihtly fannad and win(> ilightly opantd for each nettling 

 to make uM of her shadow in turn. 



They back 

 it clear of 

 the rim from a very early age. The branches all 

 round and below the nest become almost whitc- 

 NO. 2674, VOL. 106] 



number of eggs, of which a far larger percentage 

 prove infertile. If robbed again she will continue 

 to produce eggs until July, when moulting nor- 

 mally commences. 



