FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 173 



times quite shut and sometimes just to say open. After 

 three-quarters of an hour she moved towards the nest with 

 a sinuous mode of walking that seemed more like a glide than 

 a walk. When she first arrived she made a curious noise 

 like a little growl, but afterwards made no sound. About 

 8.50 the bird reached the nest and sat down between the 

 camera and the nest, where she appeared to have gone fast 

 asleep. A few minutes later she went on to the nest and 

 covered the eggs, first turning them. I stayed in the tent till 

 11 o'clock, when, as there was nothing more to be seen than 

 that the bird was still fast asleep, I slipped out without 

 disturbing her. 



25th July. I again visited this nest with the intention of 

 trying to photograph the bird leaving the nest. I w r as 

 successful in snapshotting her as she flew away, but 1 -225th of 

 of a second is not quick enough exposure to ensure absence 

 of movement. W.P.C. afterwards spent 4 hours in the tent 

 in a frightfully hot sunshine, but the female did not return 

 to the nest ; she had gone to sleep with the male bird under 

 a fir tree close at hand. 



9th August. These young were fully feathered and about 

 half grown, laid down side by side about four feet from the 

 tent, and the same distance from the nest, which shewed the 

 remains of the egg shells. The female, which rose from the 

 young birds, only flew a short distance with feeble flight and 

 sank into the long grass. Both the young kept quite still 

 until W.P.C. touched one with his finger, when it became 

 very fierce and spread its wings, and opened its mouth very 

 wide and made a hard breathing sound. 



Nest B. 



18th July. W.P.C. took this nest in hand at 9 a.m., and 

 it then had two downy youngsters about 2 to 3 days old. 

 The young were in the long grass within a few inches of the 

 nest, which still contained the broken egg shells. Up to 

 one o'clock the female had not returned, so W.P.C. came 

 out for lunch ; whilst he was away the female returned, so 

 we tried to get her as she rose, but had no luck. W.P.C. then 



