FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 163 



8.55 Hen ; 8.58 cock ; 9.1 hen ; 9.6 hen ; 9.12 cock ; 9.20 cock 

 again fed the young. The young have not stopped chattering ; 

 the noise rises and falls, growing most vociferous when the 

 parents arrive with food, but the young are no reliable guide 

 as to the arrival of the parents, as they give so many false 

 alarms. 



9.27 Hen ; 9.28 cock ; 9.33 hen ; 9.34 cock ; 9.40 hen fed 

 young. The sun now went off the nest so I left ; but while 

 I was packing up, both birds came to the nest and fed the 

 young ; they "churcked" whilst I was outside; but the moment 

 I went inside they took no notice, notwithstanding that my 

 feet were in full view. 



18th June. E.H.C. had another try at these birds. His 

 notes were as follows : The hen fed the young twice while 

 we were getting the gear up, which work we completed at 

 7.20. 7.25 Cock came to the nest with a good deal of 

 " churcking ; " both birds " churcked " a good deal whilst 

 we were setting up. 



7.28 Cock ; 7.37 hen ; 7.42 hen again. The young chattered 

 all the time. I did not hear more than t\vo at a time, and 

 usually only one, they are silent for a few seconds at rare 

 intervals. 



8. Cock and hen came in quick succession and fed one young 

 bird that came right up to the entrance and craned out so far 

 that I thought he would lose his balance. 8.5 Cock fed young. 



8.7 Hen fed young. From what I could hear and surmise 

 as to the behaviour of the young, as soon as one has been fed 

 a few times there is a good deal of scrambling and elbowing 

 in the nest and another young one comes to the entrance. 



8.10 One young bird put his head and neck a long way out, 

 and I could see his lovely little red crest. His head and 

 neck are well feathered. 



8.14 Hen fed young by regurgitation. 8.22 and 8.30, hen 

 fed young. 8.34 the cock. 8.39 The hen came with food, 

 and there was a struggle between two young as to which should 

 have the food. One of the young was looking out and 

 chattering, and I calculated he uttered 250 cries per minute. 



