THE FALCONS 149 



We have already indicated some points which remain to be settled, 

 and there are yet others on which we hope some observer will endea- 

 vour to enlighten us. For instance, Are the very young ever brooded ? 

 Do the adults give instruction to the young in the art of feeding ? Do 

 they shade them from the sun and rain ? 



The falcons are all exemplary parents. The hobby combines 

 prudence with courage in a most convincing fashion, if we may judge 

 by the case quoted by Seebohm of a pair in a forest near Munich 

 which fed their young by dropping food from a height into the nest 

 placed in a lofty beech in order to avoid being shot by the forester 

 and his overseer, who set themselves the task of watching in turn to 

 shoot them ! The marsh-harrier has been known to adopt a similar 

 device. This nest has furnished us with another remarkable fact. 

 Though for eight years in succession both adults were shot, and no 

 young were reared, yet each summer brought a new pair ! And 

 similar instances have been recorded in the case of the merlin, and 

 other birds of prey. Generally, of course, only one bird is killed at a 

 time, the survivor speedily finding a new mate ; but occasionally both 

 must surely fall. But there must be some curiously fascinating factor 

 about certain nesting-sites which proves an irresistible lure even to 

 the most wary bird. 



In the matter of parental care the merlin may be said to agree 

 with the hobby on the one hand and the kestrel on the other, so far 

 as records of the habits of these birds tell us at present, and that is 

 not much. But what seems to have been a kind of nuptial display on 

 the part of the male merlin has been recorded, 1 wherein the bird 

 started suddenly up from a grassy mound, flew close to the ground 

 for about twenty yards, then, soaring up to a great altitude, it hovered 

 for a few seconds, calling " kek, kek, kek" after which a return was 

 speedily made to the ground. But the performance was repeated 

 several times without variation. When the spot was approached a 

 female, which had been sitting on three fresh eggs, was flushed. 



1 Zoologist, 1904, p. 24. 



