THE FALCONS 147 



round their eyrie uttering loud cries whenever disturbed, while the 

 eagle retreats in silence, and remains away till it deems it safe to 

 return. 



By June 4th these youngsters had so far advanced as to be able 

 to move about, though as yet walking unsteadily. One of them had 

 begun to feed itself, holding down its food under its talons, and 

 tearing off flesh with its beak, a feat which the young golden eagle 

 was unable to perform till a relatively much later date. Three days 

 later Dr. Heatherly notes still further progress, the young now stand- 

 ing up and flapping their wings for some seconds at a time, after the 

 fashion already noted in the case of the golden-eagle ; but at no time, 

 be it noted, did he observe any attempt at playing on the part of 

 these youngsters, such as Mr. Macpherson witnessed so often in the 

 case of the young golden-eagle. These youngsters, again, would now 

 often stand on one leg, and generally the left, a feat which the young 

 eagle never attempted ; but in another particular both eagle and 

 falcon agree, and this refers to the habit common to both, from now 

 onwards, of lowering the wings and covering the prey lest any attempt 

 should be made to steal it. 



Both parents took part in the arduous work of foraging for their 

 progeny, and puffins formed by far the largest number of these victims. 

 Young shags were occasionally brought by the tiercel, and occa- 

 sionally a razorbill was brought. The work of foraging for food 

 began at dawn and ended in the gloaming, about seven meals per 

 diem being provided on the average, which falls short of the two 

 meals per head per day which seemed to be the rule in the eagle 

 household. Birds brought to the young seem always to have been 

 plucked away from the nest, as in the case of the golden-eagle, but 

 the heads were not removed. For a time Dr. Heatherly was under 

 the impression that all birds were decapitated as well as plucked, as 

 with the golden-eagle, but he found afterwards that this was not 

 the case. 



Dr. Heatherly records no pigeons were brought to the nest, but 



